Services

Krishi-Sakhi (“Women Friends”)

Krishi-Sakhi (“Women Friends”)

Summary


Krishi-Sakhis are trained local women who act as community agriculture advisors, enterprise facilitators and quality stewards. They bring technical support, improve traceability for certified projects, and create stable livelihoods for women while strengthening farmer networks.
 

Why Krishi-Sakhi matters


Women are essential to farm households, but they often lack access to technical services and markets. Krishi-Sakhis bridge this gap by delivering farm advice, managing demonstrations, supporting certification integrity, and running local enterprises that add income and resilience to rural families.

 

CSR • Women Empowerment

Krishi-Sakhi: Women-led advisory, training and community leadership

Empowering women as trusted agricultural advisors and community leaders to drive sustainable farming and social impact.

Main roles & activities
  • Advisory & extension: Seasonal agronomy, pest scouting, organic IPM and soil-health guidance.
  • Demonstrations & training: Run demo plots and host farmer learning sessions.
  • Quality & traceability: Maintain farm registers, ensure harvest segregation and support certification sampling.
  • Local enterprise: Operate community inputs (compost, activated biochar), aggregation points and simple value-addition.
  • Data & monitoring: Collect geo-tagged photos, digital forms and activity logs for monitoring and audits.
  • Community leadership: Mobilise women’s groups, deliver gender-sensitive messaging and strengthen household decision-making.
Training & tools provided
  • Intensive Training of Trainers (ToT) on organic and regenerative practices and post-harvest handling.
  • Practical field mentoring, demo-plot exposure and periodic refresher training.
  • Digital tools for reporting, including smartphone apps with photo and GPS capture.
  • Business and record-keeping skills to run community enterprises sustainably.
Impact & Value Creation

Benefits, measurable impact and long-term sustainability

Benefits

For women: Stable income, leadership skills, financial independence and technical expertise.

For farmers: Faster adoption of best practices, better post-harvest quality and easier access to inputs and markets.

For projects & buyers: Stronger ICS compliance, reliable field data and improved traceability for certifications and carbon claims.

Impact indicators

  • Number of Krishi-Sakhis trained and active.
  • Households reached per Krishi-Sakhi per season.
  • Demo plot adoption rates and yield changes.
  • Volume of community inputs produced (vermi-compost, activated biochar).
  • Data quality indicators (geo-tagged records, sample compliance rates).
  • Women’s income change and leadership roles within groups and FPOs.

Sustainability & scale

Krishi-Sakhi programs evolve from grant-based stipends to blended income models—combining service fees, enterprise commissions and project salaries—ensuring long-term financial self-sufficiency. Scaling is achieved through peer training, cluster supervision and integration with existing SHGs and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).

Interested in starting a Krishi-Sakhi program or learning how this model can improve farmer outcomes and supply-chain integrity? 

Contact CottonGuru to design a customized Krishi-Sakhi program for your community or project.

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