Pune, Mar 11:On International Women’s Day (8th March) and Savitribai Phule remembrance Day (10th March), a district-level one-day Managerial Skill Development Training programme was organised for Women Board of Directors of Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) across eight districts under the Hon. Balasaheb Thackeray Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) Project. The initiative aimed to strengthen leadership and decision-making capabilities among women farmers.
The programme combined an online inaugural session with offline district-level training modules. Women directors gathered to enhance managerial, communication, and leadership skills essential for agribusiness operations.
In the inaugural session, Shri. Uday Deshmukh, Additional Project Director SMART, emphasised that projects with active women participation in governance perform better and become more sustainable. He urged women to play decisive roles in shaping the future of FPOs.
Smt. Ujjwala Bankhele, Agribusiness Management Expert and District Superintendent Agricultural Officer, highlighted that 2026 has been declared the Year of Women Farmers. Paying tribute to Savitribai Phule, she encouraged women to adopt digital marketing platforms to expand markets and improve income. She stressed digital and financial literacy, and the importance of quality, quantity, and continuity in supply chains for sustainable enterprises.
Smt. Shalini Kadu, Project Director and Additional CEO of DRDA, ZP, Pune underlined resilience and determination in entrepreneurship. She noted the emergence of nearly two lakh “Lakhpati Didis” as successful entrepreneurs and encouraged women leaders to create their own success stories.
Smt. Pranjal Shinde-Chobhe, Additional Commissioner (Development), Pune Divisional Commissioner’s Office, spoke on institutional convergence. She highlighted how initiatives like UMED and MAVIM can support women’s entrepreneurship. She pointed out women’s strengths in resource utilisation, financial discipline, and savings-oriented behaviour, which are valuable in agribusiness. She also emphasised value addition and processing to reduce losses from perishable produce.
Smt. Bharati More, Director of Shree Shivai Masale FPC, described her organisation’s journey in building a women-led enterprise. With over 1,200 members, the FPC has developed spice processing capacity of 500 kg per hour. She said the enterprise empowers marginal women farmers with sustainable income opportunities, achieved after four years of struggle with strong SMART project support.
Smt. Debarati Ghatak, Market Linkage Advisor at Palladium Consulting India Pvt. Ltd., highlighted that women-led FPCs possess strong grassroots understanding of agricultural production, which strengthens market linkages. She stressed quality assurance and value addition, citing processed products like mango pickles. She noted that women-led enterprises are diversifying markets through both export and domestic institutional buyers.
Entrepreneur Smt. Sandeepa Kanitkar from KanBiosys talked about agriculture and women and one should grow beyond struggles and keep developing.
Mr. Rohini Kumar Sahu, Advisor Palladium International and National Resource Person NIRDPR, emphasised on continuous improvement and competitiveness.
Dr. Swapnil Pandey, Capacity Building Expert at Palladium Consulting India Pvt. Ltd., urged women BoDs to believe in themselves and implement managerial skills, starting with organising awareness workshops in their community-based organisations with Palladium team and DIU.
These workshops were fully supported by all government project officials and from Palladium Consulting Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Biswajeet Behera, Project Director, Mr. Rakesh Ganguly, Project Lead, Mr. Ram Mohite, Team Leader, and Team Palladium.
Following the online inaugural session, offline trainings were conducted in eight districts. Trainers included Mr. Nilesh Koli (Nagpur), Mr. Atul Chaudhari (Amravati/Akola), Ms. Jyoti Bhute (Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar), Mr. Mangesh Lambade (Latur/Nanded), Mr. Ranjeet Arekar and Mr. Viraj Shirudkar (Kolhapur), Ms. Nilam Kshirsagar (Pune), and Mr. Shubham More (Thane/Sindhudurg), supported by Palladium team members.Dr. Manjusha More did anchoring for the programme.
Training sessions covered communication, team building, coordination, leadership, and decision-making, equipping women directors with practical managerial tools for effective enterprise management.
The programme is expected to strengthen governance within women-led FPCs and contribute to building a more inclusive and resilient agribusiness ecosystem across Maharashtra.
