(This blog is by Sumita Dawra, an IAS officer till recently Head of Economic Wing in the Indian Mission at Beijing. The article is based on her recent visit to Almora district, Uttarakhand in October 2014. These are her personal views.)In the month of
Ashoj in the Himalayas of the Almora district in Uttarakhand, the women are busy - harvesting crops, collecting fodder for the coming winter, and storing stacks of hay high up on tree trunks to keep it safe from wandering cattle. They also must clean the harvest before Diwali. As we climb up to reach Dharmad village, we are unsure how many will make it to the meeting in the local
Anganwadi centre. Along with a group of students interning at the local voluntary organization called Grassroots, we sit on the floor and chat till the others join us. We learn that much of the management of the village economies is left to women, as men folk migrate to the plains in search of jobs.
The
Anganwadi teachers are soon joined by another 10 women, including the gram sarpanch, Gitadevi. "We knit till 1.00 am, as we only get time at night," says one self-help group member, "then wake up early morning to knit as well." The supplemental income from knitting woolens is important for the households of the 46 women who knit on an average two sweaters a month, in addition to their agricultural and household responsibilities. Women group leaders bring wool from the Grassroots office 25 km away, and also aggregate the output of knitted woolens, besides millets, honey, walnuts, garlic and so on for marketing from the common platform of '
Umang.'
Later in the day, sitting in a workshop anchored by Anita and Kalyan Paul, the convenors of Grassroots, I listened in to a discussion among the community mobilizers on how they could link their 100-odd villages to the 'Make in India' campaign.
"We could market millets, if we had processing machines," said one man. "Our area also has massive production of soybean," added another. "The current market price for soybean is Rs 32-35 per kilogram, but if it could be processed to 'tofu' and sent to Delhi, it could easily sell at Rs 70 per kilogram."
"We also grow oats and barley, besides millets, and if we could organize biscuit-making machines, we could make biscuits and cookies," was another idea. Healthy millet-based biscuits have a market among health-conscious Indian adults in urban areas, too busy to make millet roti for themselves, pointed out Kalyan.
As I was absorbing all this, I was told that
Umang guided local women self-help groups to produce jams, honey, walnuts and fresh condiments, besides woolens, for sale at their outlets on the hilly roads frequented by tourists. The marketing platform has been institutionalized for the women to manage it themselves, explained Anita. Their vision for large-scale production of strawberries, organic vegetables, turmeric and herbs through a consolidation of holdings of members, along with the produce from
elaichi and walnut trees, pointed the way to more exciting volumes for sale.
Next day, a visit to Rawalsera village to see bio-gas models is on the cards - a village with the deepest of blue skies. The household we visit is one where a new way of installation of bio-gas through prefabricated units has been done. The woman of the house has to feed the new unit 50 kg
gobar just once a week, compared to the old model built by the local mason which demanded 50 kg on a daily basis! The new units are much more efficient and easy to install since they are pre-fabricated. And here was seen a great potential to manufacturing similar units for bio-gas in the hills through locally-organized manufacturing marts.
The NGO has now encouraged village self-help groups to grow chamomile. Having procured 8.5 quintals, they now dream of marketing the chamomile tea sachets abroad, and produce chamomile oil, too. Their vision is to have chamomile do for the economy of the villages in Almora district what lavender has done for the villages of Provence in France.
Umang women process one million walnuts a season, by first cracking open the walnuts, vacuum packing them, with orders coming in from different parts of India. The voluntary organization aims to mechanize the walnut-cracking process and include many more small and marginal mountain farmers, aggregating at least ten million walnuts each season.
Agriculture in India is dominated by a predominance of small and marginal farmers. Empirical studies reveal that given access to appropriate technologies and innovative marketing channels, farm productivity can be increased, with small plots of farmland being no deterrent. India is the world's second-largest producer of fruits and vegetables, and the largest in mango, banana, pomegranate, coconut and spices. A chance to process, package and export agricultural and horticultural products in hilly and other far-flung areas could bring a big boost to incomes and employment of rural households.
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