2,100 Bihar Women Launch Their Own Farming Company

Women farmers in Bihar's Sitamarhi district worked hard but watched middlemen pocket most of their profits. So in July 2023, they decided to become the middlemen themselves.

Sangita Devi founded Diyamaati Farmer Producer Company Limited with 30 women from ten villages who had never heard words like "shareholders" or "board of directors." Today, the company connects over 2,100 women shareholders and reaches nearly 4,000 rural farmers across 32 villages.

The women didn't start with a grand business plan. They started with a simple question: if we have to buy seeds and fertilizer every year anyway, why not sell them ourselves?

Getting there meant overcoming deep skepticism. Most women had never touched a bank account or made a digital payment. The team from Samagra Shikshan Evam Vikas Sansthan held village meetings explaining that this wasn't another government handout but their own company where their voices would count.

"The biggest challenge was winning the women's trust," says Program Manager Prashant Anand. "When they saw every decision was transparent and their opinion valued, their confidence grew."

The company spotted another opportunity in goat rearing, a key income source for village women. Poor quality feed meant unhealthy animals and lower profits. So Diyamaati developed "Damdaar Dana," a balanced animal feed made from local resources that improved goat health and weight gain while costing less than market alternatives.

The Ripple Effect

The changes run deeper than profit margins. Women who never entered a bank now manage digital payments and business decisions. They attend board meetings and vote on company strategy. Their families see them differently. Their villages see them differently.

This transformation is happening across Bihar, where the state government's JEEViKA program has organized millions of women into Self-Help Groups. The central government aims to create 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations nationwide, giving small farmers the collective power to negotiate better prices and access better resources.

Diyamaati proves the model works when women lead it. The hard work was always theirs; now the profits are too.