Gram Nidhi is helping rural women milk profit, literally
Pulkit Vasudha
Ahmedabad, August 28: Until 2004, Kanuben Katesia, of the remote Gundala village in Rajkot district, earned Rs 50 a day as an agricultural labourer on others’ farms. On her own 2 acres of land, she grew cotton, a water-intensive crop, completely unsuited to the drought-prone arid zone in South Gujarat. The meagre savings Kanuben tried to stow away were drained away by expensive fertilizers and pesticides.
In 2004, she bought a cow with a small loan and began to process its milk along with other women in a small mandal.
“With the support of my mandal, entrepreneurial training and market exposure, I have paid back my loan and multiplied my profits. Today, I negotiate the sale of milk, laddus, ghee and sharbat with potential customers in Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat and Ahmedabad on the cell phone I bought last year,” says Kanuben. Though her products are priced higher than market rates, urban dealers are clamoring for every kilo of pure cow ghee she sells.
The noticeable prosperity in 25 villages of Jasdan block of Rajkot district has been facilitated by the Gram Nidhi project. From being farmers deep in debt and dependent on water availability, these villagers have now become eco-entrepreneurs.
The small loans they took in mid-2004 have long been repaid, but the primarily agricultural community continues to reap the benefits of the sustainable eco-development project.
Gram Nidhi was one of twenty most innovative small-scale development projects awarded a grant of US $20,000 by the World Bank in 2004.
Developed by the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), a national institution committed to environmental development, the project won the silver prize at the Asia Pacific Forum for Economic Development (APFED) convention in China on August 25 for its success as an economic enterprise for sustainable livelihood in the economically fragile semi-arid rural areas in Gujarat.
“Since CEE has been working for twenty years in the Hingolgadh Nature Education Sanctuary in Rajkot, we had a thorough understanding of the environment in the region,” says program head Atul Pandya.
“Gram Nidhi was implemented in Jasdan block nearby. The Paryavaran Vikas Mandals (PVMs) which had been formed in 1997 were now mobilized in five villages in the first year to give small loans to 102 enterprises for organic farming and animal husbandry.”
Mainly cotton farmers, the villagers were earlier forced to pay interest as high as 48 per cent to moneylenders. “The PVMs’ microfinance groups loaned Rs 5,000 at interest rate of 7 per cent to any farmer interested in organic farming,” says field coordinator Suman Rathore.
The CEE provided technical and marketing support, environmental education, scientific input, and regular monitoring to each farmer under the project.
Since 2004, the project has spread to 25 villages. Over 225 small enterprises have joined Gram Nidhi and other villagers have seen the benefits of the eco-projects.
“Shortage of funds is the only hurdle in integrating more farmers and replicating the plan throughout the block,” says Atul Pandya. “Gram Nidhi has proved that sustainable development is a profitable enterprise and even the uneducated, landless poor are bankable.”
Source: Indian Express