Trupti Jain

Updated March 2017

In India, more than 6.72 million hectares of land is affected by salinity and seasonal water logging and nearly 5 million small and marginal farmers, especially women farmers, have to bear the consequences of extreme weather patterns.
An innovative water management system is freeing smallholders in India from the challenges of seasonal water logging and water scarcity, transforming uncultivable land and ensuring food security for ultra-poor farmers.
Naireeta Services, a social enterprise co-founded by 46-year-old Trupti Jain, is providing a sustainable solution for these drought and flood-affected farmers using an ingenious handmade pipe which lasts for up to 30 years. Bhungroo – which means straw or hollow pipe in Hindi – enables rainwater to be filtered, injected and stored underground for use during lean periods.

empowering women

As well as boosting agri-income by an average of 300% and helping impoverished farmers become self-sufficient, Bhungroo is having a far reaching social impact on women in these communities. Women play an important role in the agricultural sector in India, in terms of both labour and indigenous knowledge about cropping patterns. “But somehow it’s not recognised by our community, our society and organisations. They are working as labourers on their own farm land, although they own their land. They don’t have their own stake or recognition."
“We just want to formalise their services so that they will get recognition and economic empowerment. It’s my dream that each and every woman who is contributing in the agricultural sector should be recognised.”
Following the Gandhian principle of Antyodaya – welfare of all through serving the weakest of the society – these “Women Climate Leaders” as Trupti likes to call them, have also been trained to spread the message about Bhungroo in villages in disaster-affected areas.

Global reach

Emancipating women farmers from abject poverty and giving them confidence and dignity is the mission of Naireeta Services and with Bhungroo, this is now becoming a reality. “We have engaged with nearly 3,000 smallholders and agricultural women labourers. Bhungroo has the potential to reach all the women smallholders across the globe.”
Seventeen technical designs of Bhungroo are now available for diverse communities within various agro-climatic zones, and there are plans in place to train more rural women to become World Climate Leaders to deliver Bhungroo to ultra-poor women smallholders.
Over the next five years, the model developed by Naireeta Services is expected to transform the lives of hundreds and thousands of rural poor, helping them access life-long food security and significantly boosting their income. Trupti also hopes to enter into partnerships with like-minded agencies from across the globe.