COMMUNITY RADIO IN EMPOWERING FARM WOMEN THROUGH MUSHROOM PRODUCTION
Barh community radio station was established in 2011 at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Barh, Patna to broadcast programmes on different issues of agriculture and allied sectors, health, hygiene and nutrition for three hours daily. Growing mushroom on agriculture byproducts is a handy enterprise, low initial investment, self employment creating, supplementary income generating, and nutritious food giving to the family. On listening to the talks on Radio, farm women visited KVK to enquire about mushroom production and after going through training, 55 women started oyster mushroom production at their hut for their own consumption and selling the surplus in their villages. Among them, 35 farm women started producing on medium scale to earn money by selling the produce in the local market. A small group of 10 farm women started producing mushroom at commercial scale and consulted vegetable shops and even hotels in nearby city for regular supply. This turn resulted in their financial empowerment. The large scale production of mushroom earned more than 1.25 lakh per woman in one season. These results clearly indicate that there is an impact of radio in empowering farm women.