G.A.Patil, S.G.Shukla, K.S.Chapalgaonkar
Since centuries the Bhil, Pawara and Gavit tribal communities have been living in Satpuda hills of Dhadgaon and Akkalkuwa regions in Maharashtra. They primarily depend on forests for their livelihoods. Other sources of livelihood are agriculture and manual labour. Factors like deforestation and lack of alternative livelihood options forces the tribals to migrate on seasonal basis.
Forest areas of Dhadgaon and Akkalkuwa are famous for growing custard apple, local mango, Mahua flowers, etc. The communities have been making a living by collecting and selling the minor forest produce including mango, mahua flowers and seeds, tendu leaves, gums, etc.
In 2003, the Maharashtra Institute of Technology Transfer for Rural Areas (MITTRA), an associate of BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune started working aimed at the socio economic upliftment of the people through sustainable management of natural resources – Jal (water), Jameen (land), Jungle (forest), Janawar (animals) & Jan (people). Under Jan Utkarsha project, a special activity designed for tribal upliftment, was being carried out in 51 tribal blocks located in 15 districts of Maharashtra State.
While working in the Satpuda Hills, MITTRA observed that tribals collected custard apple fruits from the forests and marketed through middlemen. Generally the price was fixed on lumpsum basis, e.g. Rs. 20/- for 10 kg. Bamboo baskets. This practice was totally carried out in an unorganized way.
To help these communities realize a better price, MITTRA first tried to understand the existing situation. There were a large number of Custard Apple trees along with mango and tamarind in the forest area. Plants grown in forest did not have any ownership but plants grown nearby a village were owned by people belonging to that village.
The production of fruits on an average was 20-25 truck loads. Having a short shelf life the fruits had to be sold fast. Farmers didn’t have knowledge about fruit maturity, plucking time, storage, grading, packaging etc. Being unaware of the regular markets, the tribals carried out marketing in the most unorganized way.
Shared Ownership
Understanding the situation, MITTRA wanted to help the farmers in realizing a better price. Since 2003, many Self Help Groups of men and women were formed by MITTRA in this area. Awareness was created about custard apple marketing through focus group meetings. A number of trainings were organized by MITTRA covering various aspects like harvesting, grading, packing, storage and record maintenance.
The ownership of the trees rested with the community. All the villages had the right on the produce of the custard apple. The communities decided to share the produce equally. To enable this to happen smoothly, the SHG members allotted the responsibilities to all members based on internal discussions. They formed 3 groups with mutual understanding and shared the work. One group was responsible for keeping a watch as guard. Second group was involved in plucking the fruits and supply to packing center. The third group was responsible for grading, packing & marketing. Persons having some exposure of markets, account keeping, were selected for selling the fruits in the big market. The responsibility of all members was by rotation, thus, everybody got a chance to contribute in each activity.
SHG members reviewed the activities periodically, for checking violation of rules.
Collective Harvesting and benefit sharing
These fruits were marketed collectively at taluka and district places like Shahada, Dondaicha, Nandurbar and Dhule. In traditional marketing, the price they got was between Rs. 1.5 to 2 per kg. Due this group marketing with gradation and packing, they were able to get Rs. 10 to 15 per kg. The benefits were shared equally among the SHG members.
The experience showed that those groups who maintained grade, & quality of fruits received good profits. Attractive packing, timely supplies helped a lot to increase the profit. Appropriate location of sale, beautiful pandals, informative banners helped in attracting the customers. Every group having got an opportunity to sell this way got more confidence in marketing. Though there were some constraints in the beginning like middlemen trying to break the unity of tribals, the communities were united enough to overcome them.
Conclusion
MITTRA played a catalytic role in the entire process. Besides providing the technical guidance, the NGO co-ordinated the groups, provided seed money, as well as brought the initiative to the attention of the local government.
Since two years, the activity has become popular among the farmers. Though MITTRA was involved in the entire process initially, later on the group handled it confidently and replicated this experience in marketing other minor forest produce as well.
G.A.Patil, S.G.Shukla, K.S.Chapalgaonkar &
Members of Nandurbar Regional Team
MAHARASHTRA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FOR RURAL AREAS
BAIF-MITTRA BHAVAN, Opp. Niwas Homes, Behind Bodhale Nagar, Off. Nasik-Pune Highway, Nashik 422011.
Phone No.(0253) 2416057, 2416058; Fax No.(0253) 2416056.
E-Mail: mittra_nsk@dataone.in
