How social barriers hamper the widow to increase her poultry flock

Tarabela Ghosh is a frail 37 year old woman. She is a widow and has the responsibility of bringing up 3 sons who are minors. She lives in a one room house with an attached kitchen. This is her share in her in-laws house. Her father-in-law, mother-in-law, and three brother-in-laws with their respective families stay in the same house. Each brother runs his own kitchen and the family shares a common yard. The family does not own any land. The house is 50 meters away from the main road and has coconut, betel nuts and guava trees growing around them. Tarabela rarely gets her share of the fruit produced but she does not protest since she has to live with the family and does not want to antagonize them. They do not support her financially or morally.

Tarabela Ghosh’s husband died 9 years back after suffering from a prolonged illness. He owned an auto-rickshaw which was sold when he was still alive and the money went towards his treatment. When her husband died, Tarabela was left with three young sons all under 10 years of age and no means of livelihood. Her mother-in-law taught her to make par-boiled rice from paddy and Tarabela earns her living by making and selling par-boiled rice from home. Last year she took loan of Rs 3,000/- from an NGO to buy pots and pans for her rice business.

The death of her husband brought a major change in Tarabela’s life but one thing that remained constant was her flock of hens. Ever since she can remember, she has had 8-10 hens all the time. Previously it was  Desi but now it is a mixed flock of  Desi and Kuroiler. She saw Kuroiler the first time at her mother’s house and liked its color, size and built. Her mother informed her of Kuroiler ability to lay more number of eggs that were of a good size and taste. At the same time the Mother Unit person who is also her neighbour advised her to try rearing Kuroiler. He pointed out that she would not have to spend money on feed as there was enough broken rice and paddy left over from her par-boiled rice enterprise. Moreover he was willing to give her a few chicks on credit to be paid once she sold the Kuroiler. That was the beginning of Kuroiler keeping and she has continued with them. She sources her Kuroiler from Mother Unit person at a rate lesser than what it would cost to other people. She is able to sell her Kuroiler and eggs from home.

Tarabela neither vaccinates her flock nor does she de-worm them.  Desi and Kuroiler are kept together in a pen (enclosure) made up of bamboo and mosquito net in her kitchen. Her management practices include cleaning the pen daily, giving mash initially and paddy and broken rice later on, dusting the birds with ash to clean them and allowing Kuroiler to scavenge only for one or two hours daily. She opines:

“Kuroiler is Royal bird and should not be seen scavenging”

She does not trust anyone as far as feeding is concerned. For this reason she avoids overnight visits away from her home. She is very attached to her birds and looks after them tirelessly. Tarabela earns around Rs 700/- from her rice business. Therefore any income from the sale of eggs or birds is welcome. She uses it to buy vegetables, pulses clothing and school items for the children. Her father helps her whenever he can. He has kept Tarabela’s eldest and youngest sons with him to lessen her burden. The eldest son helps his grand father in his hardware shop while the youngest son is a student.

The son who stays with Tarabela is in class VII and is 15 years old. He neither helps Tarabela with the rice business nor with her poultry. According to Tarabela, her son feels that he is too educated to do such menial jobs. Tarabela is fed up of her son and does not know how to cope up with the situation. She opines:

“Only a person who has a useless son knows the pain of having one”

Tarabela would increase her rice business if only any of her sons join her. It is a labour intensive work and now she cannot handle the heavy pots on her own. Other option that she would like to exercise is to increase her Kuroiler flock. Here too she is constrained by the flock size of her sister-in-law. She cannot have more number of Kuroiler than her sister-in-law as it would create tension in the family. Being a widow cannot be seen doing well by them and therefore will continue with 9 birds only. Tarabela dreams of the day when she would not have to work and still get to eat. May be when one of her sons earns well enough to support her. Tarabela is powerless as she cannot increase her flock size because of social barriers. Being a widow she cannot question the unfair distribution of the produce. Her social standing in the family is at the bottom.

Contributed by - Coordination Team

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