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Livelihood Activities of Self-Help Group Members in Gaya District, BiharA Situation and Potential Analysis of Three Sub-Sectors

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New Delhi, December, 2012

Livelihood Activities of Self-Help Group Members in Gaya District, Bihar

A Situation and Potential Analysis of Three Sub-Sectors

Contents

Executive Summary 1

Objectives and Methodology 5

Chapter – 1 : District Profile: The Gaya District 7

Chapter – 2 : Goat rearing 21

Chapter – 3 : Agarbatti 38

Chapter – 4 : SRI Paddy 53

Chapter – 5 : Assisting the Community based Institutions for Sub sector interventions 62

Chapter – 6 : Strategy for taking up the Initiatives on a Larger Scale 63

Chapter – 7 : Special needs of the Community 64

Annexure – 1 : The Pashu Sakhi Model 65

Annexure – 2 : Guidelines for District level Sub-sector Study 67

1

1 Bataya is a practice of shared enterprise where families with limited liquidity and access to credit enter into an agreement with well-to-do families where the former takes on production responsibilities and the latter provides finance. The income is shared in a ratio that is usually dictated by the well-to-do households and often staked against the interests of the weaker households. In the case of cattle, the calves are retained by the rearer and parent animals are given to the financier

Executive Summary

Gaya district evokes images of toiling masses working hard to meet their ends. This continues in all seasons – summer or winter and among all social groups including women and children. Moving ahead from the tourist spots one comes across poverty and hunger, hardship and deprivation. Children dropping out from the school and working in fields is quite common. Opportunities for social mobility appear few and far between. Need for sustenance rather than surplus generation drives the rural families thus resulting in low income available for meeting essential goods and services. Not only the visual images but statistics too reveal the same. 2/5th population remain poor. 86% in rural areas and 78% overall derive their livelihood from primary sector, 4% from the secondary sector and 18% from tertiary sector which reveal the story. The situation gets worse for women. 7 out of 8 women continue to rely on primary sector with large majority lacking land ownership thus resulting in 56% engaged as agricultural labourers. A mere 4% woman is engaged in secondary sector in activities which include basket weaving, manufacture of ropes, leaf plates, papad, Agarbatti, fruit and vegetable vending, dal crushing, khadi, working on handloom and power loom. In tertiary sector only 8% of women are engaged in employment (one-third of men). Gross inequity continues in land ownership with 86% being marginal and small farmers. Low land size continues to be the biggest constraint faced by the poor in their attempt to improve their agriculture based livelihood opportunities. The other allied sources on which women continue to be dependent on include the traditional livestock activities milch animal rearing, Goat-rearing and piggery. The potential activities for women in secondary sector include stitching and cutting for garment industry, embroidery, weaving, applique (traditional embroidery) carpet, blanket and rug making. The study identified three sub-sectors considering women engagement in economic activities. They include a) Goat-rearing, b) Incense-stick making and c) System of Rice Intensification Paddy.

Findings of the Study

Goat-RearingGoat rearing is a women-centred economic activity pursued by the ultra-poor households from mahadalit, dalit and other socially and economically backward class households. Women engage in all the stages – from pre-production to post production. They buy, rear, manage and sell the goat. The goat ownership is either individual or shared (Bataya system1). Some of the barriers related to this include:

(i) Inability to break away from an unfair Bataya system due to lack of access to affordable credit;

(ii) inability to scale activity where benefits are proportional to the human resources deployed;

(iii) poor physical infrastructure such as shelters and feeding troughs;

(iv) poor access to veterinary services and scientific animal rearing resulting in high mortality rates;

(v) lack of entrepreneurial skills among women to take Goat-rearing as a business;

(vi) Non-transparent markets and local haats which are not able to provide fair price.

With tremendous potential to improve productivity and returns, carefully designed interventions can be initiated on three fronts: (i) Institutional support, (ii) Technical support and (iii) infrastructure support.

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a. Institutional support: This will include (i) creation or consolidation of SHGs of women goat-rearers, (ii) expanding the outreach of micro-credit agencies to break away from Bataya system, (iii) strengthening veterinary agencies of the government and civil society organization to respond to veterinary care demands (iv) establishing linkages with organized markets where price negotiations are transparent (v) creating a federated structure for empowering and strengthening goat-rearers to provide capital intensive equipment and facilitate collective procurement and marketing.

b. Technical support: Expert counselling and skill development of women rearers and SHG leaders on breed selection, scientific husbandry practices, importance of preventive measures like vaccination and hygiene, collective bargaining skills and village level Para-vet workers.

c. Infrastructure: Provide design inputs and finances for goat-rearers to install necessary shelter that helps maintain animal hygiene and reduce vulnerability to common diseases that cause high mortality and morbidity among animals.

Incense Stick (Agarbatti) Sub-SectorAgarbatti subsector in Gaya district offers employment opportunities for women from mahadalit, dalit and muslim households. While

Agarbatti subsector involves varied activities in the stages of preproduction, production, processing and marketing – Gaya district ranks second, after Bangalore, in production of raw Agarbatti. It provides home-based employment to a large number of women in the district and therefore any improvement in this sub-sector will yield significant economic benefits. Preproduction stage includes procurement of raw materials from input suppliers – both internal and external, followed by rolling of Agarbatti by women in their households. The raw materials are usually supplied by manufacturers or middlemen. The finished raw Agarbatti is supplied back to manufacturers for further processing which involves scenting and packaging. Since the scenting and packaging units are located outside the district, women from the district are hardly involved in this higher level value addition process. The marketing system consists of wholesale distributors and retailers. With a lopsided distribution of returns women who contribute nearly 80% of the total labour component in the production of Agarbatti, receive only an estimated 10% of the final sale value. Incense (scenting), packing, marketing offers opportunities for further value addition of 90% indicating scope for expanding participation of women.

Thus the key concerns of Agarbatti rollers in Gaya district that needs to be addressed are: (i) low returns on labour;(ii) absence of credit linkage which indirectly

contributes to dependence on village level agents;

(iii) absence of collective bargaining system to ensure payment of fair wages

(iv) Perception of Agarbatti rolling as casual labour and not as a micro-enterprise;

(v) disconnect between Agarbatti rollers and the market which creates conditions for exploitative labour practices;

(vi) High prevalence of child labour, contributing to poor health and low school enrolment;

(vii) Occupational health hazards among families engaged in Agarbatti rolling.

These concerns can be addressed to a large extent by the following interventions:

3

2 SRI is a combination of several practices including changes in nursery management, time of transplanting, water and weed management. The fundamental practices remain more or less the same like in the conventional method; it just emphasizes altering of certain agronomic practices of the conventional way of rice cultivation. SRI is a system of production with four main components, viz., soil fertility management, planting method, weed control and water (irrigation) management

a) Improving financial access of households or groups to credit so that they can graduate from being a labourer to group entrepreneurs

b) Build enterprise management capabilities among the women

c) Involve women in higher level value addition processes, particularly at scenting and packing stages

d) Provide centralized infrastructure, owned and operated by a federated structure of SHGs, to enter higher levels of the value chain (e.g., scenting and packing)

e) Brand promotion with the objective of entering the market through tie-ups

These interventions are best done through creation and strengthening of community level institutions of the women who are engaged in Agarbatti rolling. A three tier structure with SHGs at primary level, federation of SHGs at secondary level can provide capital and market access for dealing with higher levels of the value chain.

System of Rice Intensification (SRI)2 Rice cultivation is an important activity in Gaya district with 70% area under the same. With an average land holding of only 1.02 hectares held by 86% small and marginal cultivators, land fragmentation severely constrain farmers from investing in land development works or buying irrigation infrastructure. The vicious cycle of poor investment, poor returns, further degradation of land and reduction in productivity is a very common phenomenon in these regions. SRI is emerging as an exception.The incremental benefit of adoption of SRI is very high. The cost of cultivation is low, are highly adoptable with both local and hybrid varieties, capitalizing on surplus labour. Besides increasing incomes, it also enhances food security. The SRI intervention addresses the following concerns:-

1. Small and fragmented land holdings making agriculture less remunerative and discouraging land investment.

2. Poor crop husbandry practices resulting in low productivity at a mere 11.2 quintals per hectare.

3. Poor irrigation facilities and inefficient water use practices.

4. Low incidence of labour-saving, productivity-enhancing tools and equipment such as weeders.

5. Unorganized post-harvest interventions.

A program to promote SRI can address the mentioned concerns to a large extent. It can jump-start institutional interventions that create conditions for rice cultivators to not only increase production and net profit but also take increasing control of their production and marketing processes. This will go a long way in ensuring sustainability of the benefits. Such institution building and capacity building inputs can be instrumental in channelling financial and technical resources to farmers on a collective basis. Here again the SHGs could be the basic unit which can then be federated to derive larger benefits of bulk input supply and marketing of produce.

Certain over-arching issuesThe socio-economic conditions of these ultra-poor families are fragile and susceptible to economic and social stresses. The key concerns are related to housing, health and education. Majority live in kaccha houses and become victims of climatic adversities. Monsoon rains puts considerable financial and human resource burden. Ability to invest gets affected and compromises on both habitat and health of the family. A mid-term to long term loan can go a long way towards strengthening the livelihood activities.

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Similarly, sound livelihood activity and enhanced income generating capacity have a remedial impact on the problems of child labour. As a consequence, some intervention in education needs to accompany the livelihood strengthening programme. Demand for such services came from the community indicating awareness and willingness to participate in the program to address the same.

Impact of these interventionsIncome streams to these socially excluded segments can make a significant dent in the poverty levels. The quality of life of the community in general, and women and children in particular of individual households, will see a marked change. The participating families will start investing in improving their health, sending children to school, modernizing homes and acquiring assets that will reduce their hardship and providing some leisure that they so acutely need. It will relieve huge state funds that are currently spent to maintain a subsistence life-style. It can then be used to

improve infrastructure that in turn will further boost the economy and make it more efficient to conduct business in the district.

Ways forward• There could be more sampling for analysis

of various livelihood systems. • There is need to document lessons from the

field on various sub-sectors by scouting case-studies and cross-sectoral lessons, documenting them and making available to practitioners.

• There need to be handholding support for community groups and livelihood promotion organizations to ensure changes in traditional practices, attitudes and trade relationships.

• Action research on the ground to test innovative approaches which enable unravelling hidden flaws, take midcourse corrections, take corrective steps.

• Strategy for scaling up or taking up sub sector activities on a larger scale benefiting communities. The interventions to be built on existing experiences.

5

Objectives and Methodology

Scope and Objective of the Study

The broad objective of the study is…

…to map major livelihoods in Gaya district of relevance to SHG women and suggest end-to-end solutions with respect to financial and non-financial services and to suggest a methodology and approach for livelihood mapping and demand analysis.

The specific objectives are to

• Understand typical livelihood portfolio of households engaged in the identified subsectors

• Map the production, processing and distribution system.

• Appreciate the value additions at different stages of the value chain.

• Identify constraints in various stages of the value chain.

• Propose an alternative institutional mechanism which can support SHG women engaged in the subsector.

Short listing of sub-sectors

Initially subsectors were shortlisted based on the review of secondary data and consultations with Government departments, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and bankers. The subsectors identified included a) Goat-rearing, b) Agarbatti rolling c) System of Rice Intensification paddy cultivation.

Methodology

The standard subsector methodology was followed to carry out the study. The steps included: -

i) Preparing a preliminary sub-sector map

ii) Refining understanding of sub-sector

iii) Analysing sub-sector dynamics and leverage points

iv) Choosing intervention point

The drawing of sub-sector map was followed with discussion with important stakeholders.

Sampling Strategy

The study locations were identified based on the intensity of the prevalence of economic activity, representation of diverse blocks, diversity of socio-economically disadvantaged groups and remoteness from market locations. The villages visited are detailed in the table below.

Study Tools

The following study tools were used for data collection:

• Focused Group Discussions (FGDs)

• Key informant interviews

Significant people interviewed

About 10 FGDs were held with community representing 8 locations. Interactions with value chain players in Goat-rearing included ‘livestock haat’ managers, traders, meat shop

Sampling Locations

S.No Goat rearing Agarbatti SRI Paddy

Village Block Village Block Village Block

1 Pali Belagunj Pali Belagunj Banki Bazar Banki Bazar

2 Shivrampur Belagunj Katari Gaya town Parsana Banki Bazar

3 Agni Belagunj Khevariyan Bodhgaya

4 Parasama Banki Bazar Parsana Banki Bazar

6

owners etc., Interaction with value chain players in Agarbatti making included interactions with factory owners of scenting units attached to Indian Tobacco Corporation Limited (ITC), small scale scenting unit and trader involved in raw Agarbatti manufacturing. Interactions with other stakeholders included representatives

from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), Agriculture Technology Management Association (ATMA), and Animal Husbandry Department, Women Development Corporation (WDC), Bihar Rural Livelihood programme (BRLP) and District Industrial Centre (DIC).

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Chapter 1 - DISTRICT PROFILE: GAYA

1.1 Historical BackgroundGaya is located in south Bihar and has huge historical importance. From the 6th century BC to 18th century AD, Gaya occupied an important place in the cultural history of the region. Sisunga dynasty founded by Sisunga exercised power over Patna and Gaya around 600 BC. Bimbishara, who lived and ruled till 519 BC projected Gaya to the outside world, and Gaya attained an important place in the history of civilization with the area experiencing the bliss of Gautam Buddha and Bhagwan Mahavir during the reign of Bimbishara. After a short spell of Nanda dynasty, Gaya and the entire Magadh region came under the Mauryan rule with the reign of Ashoka (272 BC – 2 BC). He visited Gaya and built the first temple at Bodh Gaya to commemorate Prince Gautama’s attainment of supreme enlightenment.3

Gaya formed part of the district of Behar and Ramgarh till 1864. It was given the status of independent district in 1865. Subsequently, in May 1981, Magadh division was created by the Bihar state Government with the districts of Gaya, Nawada, Aurangabad and Jehanabad. All these districts were at the level of sub-division when the Gaya district was created in 1865.4

1.2 Geographical ProfileThe district of Gaya is spread in an area of 4,976 square kilometres. The district is found between 84.4 to 85.5 degree towards east longitude and 24.5 to 25.1 degree towards north latitude. It is bordered by Jehanabad district in the North, Chatra district of Jharkhand in South, Nawada

district in East and Aurangabad district in the West. The District has 24 blocks, 332 Panchayats, 27 Police Stations & 4 Subdivisions.5

The district may broadly be divided into two distinct zones, viz. northern part - constituting Gaya Sadar and Tekari subdivisions which are comparatively older settlements with more fertile land, and the southern part - constituting Sherghati and NeemchakBathani subdivisions, which have a hilly terrain and are comparatively less fertile.

From the centre of the district to extreme south, the district is dotted with barren rocky hillocks. These hillocks are the great determinants of the climatic conditions of the district. They absorb and radiate icy cold and hot winds during the winter and summer seasons respectively, causing extreme climatic conditions. This is evident by the fact that the maximum temperature is 47 degree Celsius during summers whereas the minimum temperature is recorded as low as 4 degree Celsius during peak winters. Owing to its long distance from the sea, the district enjoys continental monsoon type of climate, with an average rainfall in the district is 944mm.

1.3 Demographic Profile

1.3.1 Population

The population of the District is about 43.79 lakh which is 4.2% of the total population of the state. The district has a vast population located in rural areas at 86.3%. While rural population is about 38 lakh, the urban population is about 5.79 lakh. The population density is 880 per square kilometre. Urbanization is limited with high concentration of the people in rural areas. Though reflective of the state trend, the level of urbanization is quite low in comparison to the national trend.

2011 Census category

Gaya Bihar India

Population – Total

4,379,383 10,380,4637 1,210,193,422

Population – Rural

3,803,888 (86.30%)

92,075,028 (89.54%)

833,087,662 (68.8%)

Population – Urban

575,495 (13.70%)

11,729,609 (10.46%)

377,105,760 (31.2%)

(Source: Census 2011)

3Government of India Census 2011, Bihar4Official website of Gaya district administration 5Official website of Gaya district administration

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1.3.2 Age distribution

The distribution of age as per 2001 census and estimations for 2001 is as follows: -

Age groupNumber (2001)

Estimated No. 2011

% of Population

0-4 years 444,584 560,542 12.8%

5-15 years 998,947 1,259,497 28.8%

15-59 years 1,786,754 2,252,783 51.4%

60 years and above

243,143 306,561 7.0%

(Source: Census 2001 – estimations for 2011 based on decadal growth rate and percentage distribution based on 2001 data)

The economically active age group (15-59) is about 22.52 lakh. This is the potential labour force available for work in Gaya district.

1.3.3 Sex ratio

The sex ratio in the district stands at 938 with rural sex ratio at 948 and urban sex ratio at 878. Urban sex ratio shows a very low figure indicating prevalence of gender based discrimination. The sex ratio is reflective of the national trend overall and at rural level. However, urban sex ratio is

far below the national level. Declining sex ratio is of crucial importance indicating the huge need for empowering women through SHGs.


Gaya Bihar India

Sex Ratio – Total 938 919 940

Sex Ratio – Rural 948 926 947

Sex Ratio – Urban 878 868 926


1.3.4 Religion

The major religions are Hindus: 30.63 lakh, Muslims: 4.03 lakh as per census 2001. The estimated religious distribution in 2011 is about 38.63 lakh Hindus and 5.08 lakh Muslims.

1.3.5 Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population

The Scheduled Caste population stands at 29.6% and scheduled tribe population at 0.1%. The three largest Scheduled Castes are Bhuiyas, Dusadh and Chamar with a population of 4.58 lakh, 1.92 lakh and 1.71 lakh. The estimated Scheduled Caste population is 12.96 lakh.

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Gaya (2001)Gaya (2011 estimated)

Bihar

Scheduled Caste

10, 29,675 (29.6%)

12,96,297 (29.6%)

13,048,608 (12.6%)

Scheduled Tribe

2,945 (0.1%) 4,379 (0.1%) 758,351 (0.8%)

(Source: Census 2001 – estimations for 2011 based on decadal growth rate extrapolated from 2001 data)

1.3.6 Literacy rateThe literacy rate stands at 66.3% with rural literacy at 63.5% and urban literacy at 83.9% as per census 2011. Gender based figures indicate a lower level of literacy for female at 55.9% in comparison to male at 76%. Of importance to rural livelihood promotion is the lower-than-average literacy rate for women, indicating the challenge ahead in empowering and building capacity of women-focused programs and SHGs.


Gaya Bihar India

Literacy rate – Total

66.35% 63.82 % 74%

Literacy rate – Total – Male

76.02% 73.39 % 82.1%

Literacy rate – Total – Female

55.90% 53.33% 65.5%


1.3.7 Literacy levelsAverage literacy rate of Gaya district is 66.35% (male literacy rate is 76.02% and female literacy rate is 55.9%). Average literacy rate of Gaya in 2011 was 66.35% compared to 50.45% in 2001. If things are looked at gender wise, male and female literacy rates were 76.02% and 55.90% respectively. For 2001 census, same figures stood at 63.27% and 36.66% in Gaya District. Total literate in Gaya District were 2,399,682 of which male and female were 1,427,447 and 972,235 respectively.

1.3.8 Health IndicatorsThe district indicates a poor health status. There are about 24.9 births and about 7.4 deaths per thousand populations in a year. Infant mortality and under 5 mortality remains high at 55 and 70 respectively which is reflective of the state trend.

1.3.8.1 Birth and Death rates

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

Total Rural Urban Total Male Female Rural Urban

24.9 26.1 20.6 7.4 8 6.8 7.7 6.4

(Source: Bihar Economic Survey 2011-12)

1.3.8.2 Infant mortality rates

Total Male Female Rural Urban

Gaya 55 53 57 57 48

Bihar 55 53 56 56 44


1.3.8.3 Under 5 mortality rates

Total Male Female Rural Urban

Gaya 70 69 71 72 62

Bihar 77 74 81 80 57


1.4 Resources

1.4.1 LandThe total geographical area of the region is about 4.93 lakh ha. The net sown area is 3.17 lakh hectares which is 64.2% of the geographical area. The forest land is around 0.78 lakh hectares which is 15.8% of the region’s geographical area. In comparison to the gross area available for cultivation, a lesser area has been brought under cultivation (76%).6

Land Utilization (Ha.)Total Area Reported 493,774 Forest Land 77,836 Area Not Available for Cultivation 99,741 Permanent Pasture and Grazing Land

2,201

Current Fallow 106,604 Net Sown Area 317,009 Total or Gross Cropped Area 414,632

(Source: Potential linked Credit Plan of NABARD-2012-13, Gaya district)

6Potential linked Credit Plan of NABARD - 2012-13, Gaya district

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1.4.2 Irrigation and Water resources

Gaya district has shortage of natural irrigation sources. Rivers flow only during the monsoon season. The rivers which flow through the district is Falgu with two constituent streams Lilajan and Mohana. The poor irrigation facilities along with power shortage aggravate the situation. The primary source of irrigation is the tube-well. Irrigated land in Gaya district is 43.4% of the total agriculture land.

Open wells and tube wells are the main sources of irrigation. A major part of agricultural land is dependent upon monsoon. The average rainfall in the district is in the range of 1050-1150 mm. However the last two years have been drought years. There are no major or medium irrigation projects in Gaya district.

Source CanalWells &

Tube wellsOther

sources Total irrigated

area

Area (in ha)

NIL 177,161 2,787 179,948

(Source: Potential linked Credit Plan of NABARD - 2012-13, Gaya district)

1.4.2.1 Rainfall pattern

The rainfall remains low with recent years indicating a drought situation.

2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Avg.rainydays

Actual rainfall

Avg. rainy days

Actual rainfall

Avg. rainy days

Actual rainfall

Avg. rainy days

Actual rainfall

Avg. rainy days

Actual rainfall

45.4 1073.7 51.0 1133.4 54.9 1025.8 35.6 702.8 40.9 366.3

(Source: Bihar Statistical Handbook, 2010)

1.4.3 Forest

Gaya district has low forest cover, which is about 15.8% of the total geographical area. This is well below the national average of 21.05%.7

1.4.4 Soil

The district has a rather fertile soil. Alluvial occurs at the confluence of the rivers. The grains of alluvium become coarser from north to south. Soil of the district is classified into five groups according to texture:

Sandy Loam: Admixture of sand and clay, predominantly sandy, found alongside the river beds.Sandy soil: locally known as balu found in the river.Loamy soil: Found near the hills and formed by rain washings from higher areas.Kewal soil: It is a mixture of clay and loam and is very productive.Foothill Balthar soil: It is found between the plains and the dissected plateau. It is acidic in nature.

7India State of Forest Report, 2011, Forest Survey of India (FSI)

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8 68% of villages do not have pucca roads, 74 % villages do not have power supply, 96% villages do not have landline connectivity

1.5 Infrastructure

1.5.1 Roads & Railway

The total road length is around 700 kilometres of which about one-sixth is covered by the national highway.

Type of roadNational Highway

State Highway

MDR

Length in Kilometre 119.5 255.1 254.83


One of the main railway routes of Grand Chord section of Indian Railways passes through the district headquarters and other blocks of the district. The Grand Trunk Road i.e. NH-2 (now adopted in Prime Minister’s Golden Quadrilateral project) passes through the district. The district headquarter is connected by road and rail with almost all the parts of the country. It also has an international airport which has regular flights from Sri Lanka and Thailand, besides being on seasonal service by Indian Airlines. Although the district has road links through the NH and railway links to major cities of India, it is marked by poor communication and road network in the interior parts.8

1.5.2 Electricity

Total inhabited villages Total electrified villages

2,903 1,207


The electrification status is very low with only 41.6% villages actually electrified. The area also witnesses a high level of power cuts. This coupled with poor interior road network has had a compounding adverse impact on development of business opportunities, both at the small scale level as well as medium / large scale.

1.5.3 Health infrastructure

Population per health institution at 8500 and number of doctors per lakh population at 4 remains inadequate.

District Hospitals

Referral Hospitals

Sub-divisional Hospitals

Primary Health Centre

Health Sub Centre

Additional Primary Health

CentreTotal

Population per health institution

No. of Doc-tors per 1 lakh

population

Gaya 1 2 0 24 439 49 515 8,504 4

Bihar 36 70 29 534 8,858 1,409 10,936 9,628 4


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1.5.4 Banking and other outreach institutions

There are about 532 bank branches and credit sources inclusive of agricultural cooperative societies. Excluding PACS, about 25 banks have about 200 branches.

Agency

No. of Banks / Societ-

ies

No. of Branches

Total Rural Semi-urban Urban

Commercial Banks 19 123 71 7 45

Regional Rural Banks

1 59 57 1 1

District Central Coop. Bank

1 9 0 7 2

Cooperative agriculture and Rural development banks

1 6 2 3 1

Primary Agricultural cooperative society

332 332 332 0 0

Others 3 3 0 0 3

All Agencies 357 532 460 18 47


1.5.5 Amenities and infrastructural facilities in inhabited villages

The extension of infrastructural amenities at village level in 2001 shows low extension of

electricity, non-existence of primary school in over a 1,000 villages and inadequacy of health infrastructure. Though data for 2011 is not yet out, but anecdotal accounts indicate that there is marked improvement in this area.

Category No. of Villages

Total inhabited villages 2,680

Drinking water facilities 2,680

Safe drinking water 2,678

Electricity (Power Supply) 539

Electricity (Domestic) 227

Electricity (Agriculture) 340

Primary school 1,635

Middle schools 277

Secondary / Sr Secondary schools 104

College 278

Medical facility 278

Primary Health Centre 55

Primary Health Sub-Centre 107

Post, telegraph and telephone facility

380

Bus services 270

Paved approach road 711

Mud approach road 2,121


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4.1% of the working population is involved in the secondary sector. Females (4.7%) are involved in a higher proportion in this sector than males at 3.8%. However, it is to be noted that most of the persons involved in secondary sector are into home based manufacturing. Tertiary sector is a completely male dominant activity. While overall 17.8% of the total male working population is involved in tertiary sector, in the case of female it is only 7.6%.

Gaya district lacks new employment opportunities. The traditional employment opportunities in the villages are primarily agriculture-based. Irrigation is one of the major constraints (only around one-third of the agricultural land is irrigated) in realizing the potential of agriculture to support increasing livelihood needs of the region, which - in the absence of any other alternatives - is making the subsistence of the rural poor still more difficult.

Occupational Distribution in Gaya district

No. engaged in sector (Total)

% occupational distribution

No. engaged in sector (Male)

% occupational distribution

(Male)

No. engaged in sector (Female)

% occupational distribution (Female)

Primary 997,989 78.1% 622,491 73.3% 375,498 87.7%

Cultivators 559,239 34.3% 304,726 35.9% 134,024 31.3%

Agricultural

Labourers

438,750 43.8% 317,765 37.4% 241,474 56.4%

Secondary 42,364 4.1% 32,098 3.8% 20,266 4.7%

Tertiary 227,286 17.8% 194,882 22.9% 32,404 7.6%

(Source: Census 2001: Percentages based on Census data)

Work Participation Rates in Gaya district

Population details 2001 2011 (estimations)

Population Male Female Population Male Female

Total Population 34,73,428 17,92,163 16,81,265 43,79,383 22,66,865 21,12,518

Total working population 12,77,639 8,49,471 4,28,168 16,11,613 10,74,494 5,38,692

Work participation rate 36.8% 47.4% 25.5% 36.8% 47.4% 25.5%

(Source: Census 2001 – 2011 estimations based on 2001 distribution patterns)

1.6.1 Work participation rates

The total work participation rate in Gaya district is 36.8%. While it is 47.4% for males it is 25.5% for females. Though census doesn’t capture the invisible economic activities taken up by women, the figure indicates lower level of economic participation of women.

1.6.2 Occupational distribution

78.1% population (73.3% male and 87.7% female are dependent on agriculture) as their primary occupation. 43.8% are agricultural labourers with a clear gender difference (56.4% females involved in agriculture labour in comparison to 37.4% of the males). 34.3% are cultivators (35.9% males and 31.9% females are cultivators). Hence looking at gender wise distribution a higher percentage of females are involved in the primary sector (87.7% in comparison to 73.3%).

1.6 Workforce

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1.7 Sectoral Analysis

1.7.1 Agriculture

78.1% of the population in Gaya district is dependent on the primary sector. The primary sector based livelihoods include agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry. A vast majority of the population in Gaya district is dependent on primary sector sources as chief source of income. While 34.3% are cultivators, 43.8% are agricultural labourers. In terms of land holding pattern, about 86% are marginal and small farmers.

The agro-climatic conditions in Gaya district are suitable for production of various cereals, pulses, vegetables and fruits. The following table shows the trends in land holding pattern.

Land holding pattern in Gaya district

Classification of Holding Holding

Nos. % to Total

< 1 Ha 217,849 71

>1 Ha and < 2 Ha 47,007 15

>2 Ha 44,909 14

Total 309,765 100


Area (in ’000 ha) and production of crops in metric tons – 2008-09

CropArea (Ha)

Production (MT)

Productivity (per ha) in metric tons

Rice 125 222 1.78

Wheat 60 141 2.35

Gram 4 3 0.75

Barley 1 1 1

Maize 5 7 1.4

Masoor 4 4 1

Arhar 2 2 1

Potato 6 40 6.7

(Source: Potential linked Credit Plan of NABARD-2012-13, Gaya district)

Over 76% of the land in the district is available for cultivation. The average land ownership per household is quite low in Gaya district which is about 1.34 hectares. In terms of land distribution pattern, 86% are small and marginal farmers. Agriculture which forms an important occupation is primarily rain-fed. The primary crop grown in the area is rice and wheat. Other crops include maize, pulses, and vegetables. Only those farmers having irrigation facility go in for two crops. The irrigation sources include wells, tanks & canals.

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Only the well-to-do farmers are able to install tube-wells. The region has been witnessing a drought situation since the last few years and it is a recurring theme for Gaya.

Some of the gaps related to agriculture include: a) low agricultural productivity; b) non-availability of seeds and fertilizers in a timely manner, c) inadequacy of the existing governmental system for extension facilities, d) insufficient quantities of seeds and fertilizers, e) lack of guidance to deal with pest attacks f) traditional farming practices, g) inadequate access to credit from formal sources h) poor and often exploitative markets that function in a non-transparent manner.

Though there have been initiatives by Government to provide credit at reduced interest rates, these attempts have not been sufficient to reach out to the ones who need it. There have been some efforts towards extending extension services by Government Agriculture Department, KrishiVigyan Kendra, NGOs and private players such as input / tractor dealers. However, these efforts are insufficient and fail to reach the poor and marginalized households.

Hence opportunities exist for interventions in the areas of a) increasing agricultural production; b) market linkages for provision of inputs; c) introducing modern agricultural practices; d) provision of agricultural credit for crop and agriculture investment.

1.7.2 Animal Husbandry

People depend on animal husbandry to supplement their income from agriculture and forestry.

1.7.2.1 DairyThe area has an under-developed dairy sector. Gaya Dairy was started two decades ago covering the area of Magah Division which consist of five Districts i.e. Gaya, Jahanabad, Arwal, Aurangabad and Nawada. Each district has its unit except Arwal that is counted with the Jehanabad. In Gaya district, there are 24 blocks but the Gaya dairy operates only in 19 blocks. Barachatti, Dumaria and Bathani are the blocks where the operation has yet to be started due to some technical and accessibility problem.

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The unit produces only three items: Milk, Curd, and Lassi. Despite the capacity for milk chilling of 20,000 litres in a day it is not able to procure more than 15,000 litres of milk in a day. Despite the local production it is depending on adjoining districts to meet the deficit of 4,000 litres of milk.

Table: Livestock population in Gaya District

Exotic Indigenous Total

Cattle 31,409 717,794 749,203

Buffaloes NA NA 352,937


There is shortage of basic infrastructural facilities. The work of animal husbandry department in the district is unsatisfactory. There are limited veterinary services for improvement of breeds, artificial insemination and disease prevention and control etc., despite having a network of 36 dispensaries, 1 hospital and 1 mobile hospital and about 72 field veterinary centres, the services are poor due to shortage of medicines and doctors. For example, among 25 artificial insemination centres in the district, 17 are not in a functional state.

Opportunities exist for strengthening diary sector through: a) promotion of artificial insemination and cross-breeds, b) strengthening of milk cooperatives, c) strengthening of milk routes, d) promotion of veterinary services and provision of credit for purchase of cross-bred and e) promotion of training and extension.

1.7.2.2 PoultryDuring the last two decades poultry has emerged to be a significant trade. At the domestic level, women manage a small number of birds, often less than 10 through very rudimentary and even unscientific management practices. At an organized industrial level, there are about 100 chicken centres and 50 poultry farms where management is slightly more organized and generates employment at the rate of 2 or 3 labourer per centre or farm.

This sector is seriously underserved by government agencies whose functioning is characterized by

a) inadequate service by Animal Husbandry (AH) Department to provide cross breed poultry, b) inadequate vaccination facility for poultry at veterinary institutions, c) absence of hatchery in the district, d) no facilities for training farmers on poultry.

Poultry is a sector that can be developed significantly in Gaya. To begin with, the district has high demand for poultry products due to high inflow of tourists and the presence of large military establishments in the district. Opportunities exist in the area of; a) initiating hatchery, b) promotion of concentrated feed, c) training and extension facilities, d) continuous supply of power, e) sufficient number of dispensaries and first-aid centres, and f) organizing marketing interventions that improves returns for the entrepreneurs.

1.7.2.3 Sheepery, Goat-rearing and PiggeryIn Gaya district sheep-rearing, goat-rearing and piggery are major sources of income for the poorer and asset-less households and minor sources of income for the other households. There is a good scope for promotion of sheep-rearing, goat-rearing and piggery in the district. As mentioned above, there is a demand for these products domestically and also for markets in Kolkata. Demand far exceeds the supply. Rearing goats, sheep and pigs for its meat are popular secondary occupations for a large section of the population who are poor. Goat and sheep are reared by almost all caste groups among the poor. Pigs are predominantly reared by Manjhi and Mahadalits. Demand for goat and sheep meat is high in the entire district as well as in distant markets as it is has a wider consumer base. Pork, on the other hand, is largely consumed by the poor due to its relative lower price and consumer preferences. The current status of minor cattle rearing for its meat can be described as very rudimentary. The popular perception is that these animals are hardy and require little or no special care. This perception is however inconsistent with principles of scientific and organized enterprise development. As a result, the productivity is low and mortality rate is quite high especially in the case of pigs. There is a huge gap between the actual and potential productivity. The sector has received less-than-required attention from

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government and private sector. The fact that there are no reliable current statistics on the prevalence and problems also indicates the low priority it receives from development planners. The sector is marked by the absence of: a) proper veterinary services, b) better breeds, c) meat processing facilities, d) training and extension facilities, and e) organized market.

Hence opportunities exist in the area of: a) veterinary extension, b) promoting crossbreed, c) promoting meat processing, d) promoting training and extension.

1.7.3 Key clusters in Gaya districtThe key economic activities in the unorganized sector in which a good number of households

9MSME list of clusters10Citizens charter, Weavers service centre, Bhagalpur

are engaged in activities including khadi& village industries, handloom, power loom, handicrafts, cottage industries, incense-stick making and sculpture-making. Under the DIC rural industrialization drive, stone sculpturing cluster of Neemchakbatani and Tilkut (sweet savoury) cluster of Dhangra and Tikari have been identified for development.The key clusters to be taken up as innovative clusters by micro, small and medium enterprises in India are that of shoe repairing services, furniture & fixtures – wooden NEC, steel structures9. Gaya district has been identified as a cluster for manufacturing silk dress material, sarees, furnishing gamcha, lungi, bed sheet etc by Weavers Service Centre, Bhagalpur10.

Table: Economic clusters in Gaya

SectorCluster locations

DetailsBlock Village

Handloom and Power loom

Manpur Buniyadganj About 10,000 power looms and 700 handlooms

Sadar Chakand

Belaganj Laxmipur, Tikuli and Gobraha

Wazirgunj Imadpur

Tikari Panchanapur, Jamuara, Tikari

Dobhi Gongwa

Stone sculpturing Neemchakbathani Pattharkatti and surrounding villages

700 artisans involved in making sculptures from black and white stone

Statue making, Wood carving

Gaya town Chand chowra locality 100 artisans

Incense-stick making

Gaya Gaya block 20,000

Khadi and village industries

Buniyadganj Manpur Ambar charka, dyeing and printing, soap production, incense stick, khadi production, polyster cloth, honey collection

Brass sculptures Wazirganj Kenarchatti 200 households

Mohanpur Dhangra 30 households

Tikari 50 households


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1.7.4 Economic activities women are engaged in

Census data and other sources of statistics regarding work force and occupation do not give a correct picture of the gender dimensions. Women contribute a significant component of household level economic activities and are even the mainstay of livelihood in many families. Besides playing an equal or even bigger role in agriculture activities as compared to men, women also engage in rather specialized occupations. The table below gives the breakup.

1.7.5 Potential livelihoods in sectors

The potential opportunities which offer scope for livelihood promotion are in the following table.

11Calculation based on women population of Gaya as per 2011 census (21 lakh), estimated population in economically active age group (51%) and poverty percentage (42%)

Economic Activities of Women in Gaya

Traditional activities with high women participation

Traditional livestock activities managed by women

New activities with potential for high women participation.

Basket making, rope making, leaf plate making, fruit and vegetable selling, dal crushing, papad making, aggarbatti making, khadi, handloom, power loom.

Milch animal rearing, goat-rearing, piggery

Stitching and cutting, embroidery, weaving, applet, carpet making, blanket making, rug making


Potential Livelihood Opportunities

Sector Type of economic activities

Agriculture and Agro processing

Rice mill, Dal mill, Chooda mill, Oil extraction, Flour mill, Masala making, Papad making, Tilkut (sweet) makin, Bakery and confectionary, Potato chips, Tomato sauce, Jam and jelly making, Agriculture implements etc.,

Animal husbandry and Dairy products

Animal fodder, Kukkutahaar, Ice cream, Bone mill, Leather products

Forest products based Wooden furniture, cane basket and furniture, Bamboo products, leaf plate

Mineral based Stone sculptures, Statue making and arts, Chimnibatti, Ceramics, Hayum pipe

Textile based Handloom, Power-loom, Blanket, kaleen, readymade garments, etc.,

Chemical based Detergent, Soap production, Polythene, Incense sticks, Medicines

Electronics based Radio, TV, VCR assembling and servicing, Voltage stabilizer, Ceramic insulator, Laminate works

Engineering based Steel cupboard, Trunk, Furniture, Gate, Grill, Re-rolling plant, automobile service centre, railway sleeper. Aluminium sheets, vessels etc.


1.8 SHGs in Gaya DistrictSHGs have been formed under NABARD SHG Bank linkage and SGSY programs in Gaya district under various governmental and non-governmental organizations.

SHGs offer immense potential as units for promotion of livelihood activities of women. However, there is need for further expansion of outreach of SHGs in Gaya district and need for promoting and strengthening of SHG federations. An estimated 1.34 lakh members (@ 15 per SHG for 8.9 thousand SHGs) have come under SHG Bank linkage program. This is far behind the potential for covering 4.5 lakh members.11

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The reasons for their inclusion are:

• SRI paddy is said to have emerged as a mass movement in Gaya district with women actively engaging in SRI paddy cultivation. SRI paddy offers high scope for women involvement.

• There are said to be about 4.5 lakh persons from Bhuiyan community - a traditional goat rearing community in the district.

• An estimated 50,000 women are said to be involved in Agarbatti rolling activity in the district. Mahadalit, dalit and muslim communities specially pursue this as an subsidiary economic activity.

The study did not examine bamboo basket making, vegetable cultivation and handloom.

1.9. Potential activities for womenThe economic activities pursued traditionally by women include basket making, rope making, leaf plate making, fruit and vegetable selling, dal crushing, papad making, agarbatti making, khadi, handloom, power loom. The livestock related activities include milch animal rearing, goat-rearing, and piggery. The new activities that women are taking up include stitching and cutting, embroidery, weaving, applique, carpet making, blanket making, rug making. The 6 economic activities with involvement of women are said to be SRI Paddy, Agarbatti making, goat-rearing, bamboo basket making, vegetable cultivation and vending and handloom work.

The study looks at three sub-sectors namely SRI Paddy cultivation, goat-rearing and Agarbatti.

Commercial Banks Regional Rural BanksDistrict Central

Cooperative BanksOthers All Agencies

5670 2375 67 800 8912

(Source: Update on SHG bank linkage in Gaya district prepared by BRLP)

SHGs linked to various sources of banking facilities:

An overview under SGSY for the financial year 2010-11

No. of members of SHGs assisted (For economic

activities)

No. of individual swarozgaris assisted (For economic

activities)No. of members trained

No. of individual swarozgaris trained (self-employed)

Total SC Women Total SC Women Total SC Women Total SC Women

2,239 1,342 896 371 223 148 2,239 1,342 896 371 223 148


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Chapter 2 - Goat rearing subsector

2.1 Overview of the subsector

2.1.1 Goat rearing and meat status in India

India is the richest country in the world in livestock wealth, both in numbers and germplasm. India had 120.8 million goats in 1997 and it increased to 124.35 million as per census of 2003, making it rank second in the world. Goat meat production stands at the level of 0.47 million tonnes. The slaughter rate of goat is at the level of 39.7 % as compared to 31.8% for sheep and 11% for buffaloes respectively. Goat also produce 2.55 million tonnes of milk and 0.1288 million tonnes of skin as per F.A.O. 189 records 2002 report. The trend in consumption of mutton and goat meat shows increase from 4,67,000MT in 1981 to 6,96,000 MT in 2002 indicating annual compound growth rate of 1.28 % during 92-02. Sheep and goat meat production had reached 7,00,400MT during 2002 in India.

The distribution of goats has been found across the coutry as shown in map of India. Each dot represents 10,000 goats.

The contribution of agriculture sector to national GDP is around 25% and the share of

livestock in agricultural GDP is 23%, of which small ruminants contribute about 10% to the total value of livestock sector. At the national level, small ruminants account for 14% of the meat output, 4% of the milk output and 15% of hides and skin production in the country. But it receives only about 2.5% of the public spending on livestock sector, which is much less than the share of small ruminants in the value of output of the livestock sector. The growing demand of meat and meat products in the country and the share of the small ruminants (mainly sheep and goat) within this holds good potential to develop small ruminant sector in the rural areas with the objective of increased returns to the rearing communities.

Per capita meat consumption in India is relatively low at less than 5 Kg/ year as compared to other developing countries such as Pakistan (13.7 Kg), China (38.6 Kg) and Brazil (58.6 Kg). Based on the minimum requirement of 20g animal protein per capita per day sourced from milk (10 g), meat (4 g), fish (4 g), and eggs (2 g), the estimated demand for meat is 7.7 million metric tonnes as against the present production of 4.6 million metric tonnes. However, this ‘demand’ picture is based on the assumption that the quantities mentioned herein are actually being consumed, which may not necessarily be true. However, the report wants to highlight the fact the requirements are immense and the markets have not been able to cope with the demands.

2.1.2 Meat Export Trade

Export of Indian meat to Gulf countries has proved to be a thriving business over the last several years. Now, the meat is also exported to Malaysia and Singapore. At present, more than 60 countries are importing meat from India. Many corporate firms have set up modern integrated meat complexes having state-of-the-art facilities for livestock holding, slaughter, carcass deboning, packing, chiller and frozen storages, by-products processing, effluent treatment etc.

Source: Sheep and Goat Breeds of India, Animal Production And Health Paper 30, Food and Agriculture Organization.

Distribution of Goat Population in Country

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Meat export from India 2003 -04

Commodity Qty (Metric Tonnes) Value (Rs. Cr.)

Buffalo Meat 3,43,817 1,537

Sheep/Goat Meat 16,820 110

Poultry Products 20,240 202

Processed Meats 986 8

Animal Casings 733 12

Total 3,82,596 1,869

Source:http://mofpi.nic.in/ContentPage.aspx?CategoryId=173

2.1.3 Goat rearing and meat status in Bihar

Having the 5th largest goat population in the country, Bihar has about 7.63% of India’s total goat population. With 42.6% of the human population below the poverty line, there is a tremendous scope of goat farming to bridge the large gap between demand and supply of meat.

The state with its vast area under rain-fed system has 60% of the goat population concentrated in rain-fed districts. Hence there is a tremendous scope of goat farming that can meet up the large gap between demand and supply of meat in the state. Due to lack of round the year employment or income, small and marginal farmers and landless labourers opt for small-scale goat farming for income generation.

The total goat population in Bihar is about 1.17 Crores. The density of goat population varies as per regions. The districts Kishanganj, Sitamarhi, Madhepura, Saharsa, Araria, Supaul and Sheohar have the highest density of goat population with over 150 goats per sq.km. Village goat is mostly of Bengal breed. However, crosses with other breeds like Jamunapari, Barbari, Sirohi and Jakharana are also available.

The number of goats slaughtered in each year in Bihar ranges between 3to 4.5 lakhs. The following table shows the pattern of goats slaughtered in slaughter houses.

Goats slaughtered in Slaughter houses in Bihar

2001-02 2003-04 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

4,78,857 3,03,994 3,39,276 3,67,436 3,79,367 4,18,419 4,32,094


The supporting infrastructure created in Bihar

to support goat-rearing includes about 39 veterinary hospitals and 814 dispensaries.

2.1.4 Goat rearing and meat status in Gaya District

• Gaya district has a goat population of about 4.9 lakhs. Division-wise highest concentration of goat population can be found in Sadar and NeemchakBadani divisions. The main goat variety is Bengal breed.

Revenue Division

Black Bengal

Jamunapuri Others Total

Sadar 22,002 260 133,346 155,608

Tikari 36,391 97 18,563 55,051

Shergai NA 64,081 64,081 128,162

Neemchak Badani

4,928 3,831 143,729 152,488

Total 63,321 68,269 359,719 491,309

(Source: Department of Animal Husbandry, Gaya

• Goat-rearing activity is mainly pursued by vulnerable social groups in Gaya district i.e., the Dalits and Maha-dalits. They are primarily pursued by landless classes. Bhuiya, a traditional goat-rearing community has a population of 4.58 lakh.

• The average number of goats is in the range of 1-3 per goat-rearing family. These act as subsidiary source of income to supplement income from wage work. Goat-rearing is yet to develop on a commercial basis.

• Goat is acting like a poor man’s cow in Gaya district. Women are playing an active role in goat-rearing in Gaya district which includes both rearing as well as marketing.

• Veterinary health services in Gaya include one veterinary hospital and 38 dispensaries. Improvement of goat breed has not been pursued.Crossing sometimes is done at farmer’s level.

• Marketing of goat is done by the unorganized sector and middleman oriented.

• There is absence of scientific feeding practices. Female or child of the family mainly rears the goat. Feed requirement is met up mostly by grazing for 6-8 hours a

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Note: “Local Haat” that mean the haat is like a platform for all the goat marketing transactions across the Producers and traders

Landscape of a Hilly village in Gaya district with high goat population

2.1.4 Subsector map of Goat meat

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day on common property resources on the bunds of rivers, ponds or nearby forest. Very little concentrate like broken rice or maize or wheat or pulse chunnies is given along with rice bran and mustard cake. Some farmers who have land, either own or taken on lease, occasionally offer green fodder like Sudan or Berseem.

• Little care is taken to prevent diseases of goat in smallholder production system. No vaccination of FMD or PPR is given. The main limitations to effective livestock health management are inadequate focus on preventive measures, lack of medicines and equipment in rural veterinary clinics, and ignorance among the farmers.

2.2 Pre -Production StageGoat-rearing activity at pre-production stage is concerned with few aspects like (i) profile of people involved in goat-rearing (ii) Capacity of the goat-rearers (iii) housing for goats (iv) Financial services for establishment of goat unit and (v) awareness and availability of quality goat and breeding buck.

2.2.1 People involved in goat rearing

The Yadav, Paswan, Majhi, Das, Ravidas, Chowhan and Thakur communities have been adopting goat-rearing as a traditional livelihood. Most

of the Yadav and Thakur families are able to initiate the goat rearing activity with their own investment earned from agriculture and other livelihood activities.

Majority of the families from the communities like Paswan, Majhi, Das and Ravidas are poorest of the poor and their investment capacity is very low, thus these communities get the mother goat from the Yadav and Thakur families and rear for a period of 6 to 8 months, once the mother goat gives birth to two kids, they will be shared among the givers and rearers, the mother goat is given back. This system is called as “Bataya” The Bataya system has been found major source of arranging goats to the backward classes and scheduled caste communities. (Please refer Table -1 for essence of Bataya (shared) system in goats)

2.2.1.1 Goat rearing as a women-centred activity:At the household level the women’s involvement in goat-rearing activity is high. Women are involved in all the stages of the goat-rearing activity right from the stage of buying the goat either through bataya system or buying the goat from local haats, feeding and managing the goat, selling the goat either in the village or in the nearest haat.

There are three players involved in goat production of goat in the district. These include small farmers, share-rearers and large goat farmers.

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2.2.1.2 Small farmersThe small farmers purchase five/six goats through their own investment, try to maximize its number and returns on the activity. As these small farmers are engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry activities and find it difficult to get spare time to devote on goat rearing activity, they hand it over to more economically downtrodden communities involved in goat-rearing under bataya system within the village.

2.2.1.3 Share rearersThe share rearers are the poorest of the poor from mahadalit and dalit households. They find it difficult to shell out the money required for purchasing of goat. They get the same from Yadav, Thakur families under Bataya system. Share rearers normally take 3 to 5 goats from others for rearing them. In rare instances the share rearers make their own investment to buy goats from the market. The investments required for the same are pooled through wages generated through MGNREGS.

The share-rearers explain that making self-investment and rearing their own goats is more profitable than rearing the goats through bataya system, but the poor investment ability is the key constraint to setup their own unit.

2.2.1.4 Large goat farmersLarge goat farmers are most often located in hilly areas because ofeasy access to fodder, they prefer their flock size to around 20 to 30 in numbers. However adoption of improved practices is low. Selling of goat herd is resorted to as a coping mechanism against spread of communicable diseases.

2.2.2 Capacity of the goat-rearers

Share-rearers rear lesser number of goats than their capacity. They rear about 1-5 goats though they have the capacity to rear 4 to 10 goats. Despite being interested to rear more goats than the current numbers, the following reasons are acting as constraints: -

• lack of access to the financial services

• Shelter problem

• High mortality rate

The large goat farmers are able to establish their units just by increasing their initial stock without selling. The field visit observations indicate lack of formal financial intermediation in goat farming. Even the large goat farmers despite the willingness to expand their goat rearing activity find it difficult to access financial services from formal financial institutions.

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2.2.3 Shelter arrangement for goats

The living conditions of share-rearers are very poor. Houses are constructed of mud and roofed with the wheat grass especially among the Paswan, Majhi, Das and Ravidas communities. The goats live under the same housing structure. With uncovered roofs the goats are exposed to rains during the monsoon season resulting in health problems. Being economically well placed,Yadav and Thakur families are able to create a separate shed for their livestock. This is also true in the case of small farmers and big farmers who are able to create separate shed for their goats along with their cows and bullocks.

2.2.4 Financial services

Providing goat loans is not seen as a viable proposition by bankers. Goat farmers see goat as ATM (Any Time Money). Bankers feel that since the goats could be sold at any point of time to meet consumption needs, it may not fetch income significant for goat farmers to repay back to the bank. Even the moneylenders at village level do not consider loaning for goats as good venture due to small loan size and high liquidity of assets. Goat rearing community has also low penchant for goat loan because of two main reasons (i) high interest burden and (ii) high risks due to seasonal diseases and poor veterinary services.

2.2.5 Awareness on identification of quality goats

The community usually identifies quality goat based on three parameters i.e., size, weight and healthy look of the goat. The community needs to be aware of this based on a scientific understanding of how much a healthy goat should weigh, look and achieve physical growth. Lack of awareness on these makes them purchase goats of poor health. Goats were also found to be underfed and of low genetic potential due to inbreeding and indiscriminate selection of does and bucks. There has been hardly any attempt of capacity building of community on scientific goat farming practices. They have also not been aware of how the market operates in the arena of goat trade. As a result the activity operates at a lower level than its real potential.

2.2.6 Constraints at the pre-production stage

In the goat rearing activity the major constraints identified at pre-production state can be classified in following heads –

A. Financial constraints – Financial services for goat business have not been forthcoming from the formal sources and coming to a limited extent from informal sources. Starting from quality doe and buck induction, investment is required for housing and working capital is also required. At community level, critical investment is missing on capacity building, grazing land & fodder development, goat health care services and input management and critical market infrastructure development.

B. Non-financial constraints (knowledge, skills and attitude development for Goat Enterprise) Public investments to build capacities of goat farmers / goat farmer collectives are missing. Efforts in building capacities towards scientific goat rearing, building abilities towards accessing better and profitable markets are missing.

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Overall constraints

• Lack of access to credit from the formal financial institutions is a key constraint. As a result they are not able to take up goat rearing to the extent possible.

• Goat rearing practices have been largely drawn from the traditional wisdom related to goat rearing. While this has transferred knowledge related to aspects like – rearing of goats, identification of goats, it has not been able to address health problems of goats. Absence of scientific knowledge on goat rearing many times results in risks leading to even death of animals. This is totally due to lack of knowledge in proper selection of goat and treating the animal.

• Poorest of the poor goat rearing families are not able to build shelters for the goats. Lack of protection from climatic conditions like rains, cold etc., results in poor health and high mortality of goats.

2.3 During Production

2.3.1 Goat-rearing is not seen as an enterprise

Goat-rearing has not been seen as a potential enterprise to meet the household income needs among share-rearers and small farmers. It is largely seen as a subsidiary livelihood activity and an asset which could be disposed to meet emergency cash needs in urgent / unexpected household situations. It was observed in field visits, that women were getting goats aged lesser than 6 months for sale in the ‘haats’.

2.3.2 Community awareness on goat rearing and management

2.3.2.1 Vaccination of goats

The community awareness on the importance of vaccination as a preventive measure to protect

from diseases is missing. This leads to high mortality rate among goats. This is said to be around 20 to 25 per cent in normal situations. In situations of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) the mortality is even said to be as high as 60%. In both situations the loss of herd is severe resulting in significant loss for goat farmers.

There is gap both at the demand as well as the supply side. Vaccines and veterinary services to extend vaccination are found missing on the supply side. On demand side, awareness and adoption of such practices is missing from the community side.

2.3.2.2 Feeding practices

The community feeds the animals from the waste lands and forest lands especially during summer and winter seasons. As it is difficult to rear the animal in waste lands and forest lands during rainy season, the community collects leavesand fodder and feeds the goats in the sheds. Leftover / decayed food in households is also used for feeding the goats. Decayed food cause bacterial infections among the goats. Stall feeding has not been practiced by the communities because of two main reasons (i) investment is required for stall feeding that the community is not in a position to make (ii) present market price of goats in the area is not competitive to the investment made for the stall feeding.

The community is not aware as to the type of feed that needs to be provided for ensuring good physical growth of goats – with respect to both height and weight.

2.3.2.3 Disease occurrence among the goats

The disease occurrence was tracked through collecting data on symptoms of diseases. Symptoms were mapped with diseases. These diseases have been causing immense mortality of goats. Institutional and technical constraints have also been furnished in the given table.

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Annual Goat Disease severity cycle in Gaya

Prevalent diseases Season of high severity Constraints

(Institutional)Constraints (Technical)

PPR (Viral) Early Rainfall, Winter, Sub acute form throughout the year

Collective vaccine demand is very low

PPR vaccine and cold chain system is unavailable in the state

Goat Pox (Viral) Summer, early winter Community Awareness of disease management low

Vaccines are not in supply

Coccidiosis Winter Low awareness about hygiene & sanitation in goats

High humidity helps it to increase

Bacterial diarrhoea Throughout the year Absence of training facility for goat farmers

Low sanitation and use of rotten home waste as feed

Tympanitis (Gas formation)

Winter Absence of village based extension services

Poor feed management condition

Acidosis Summer Low feed quality awareness

High grain intake post-harvest, Rice feeding

A Goat haat in operation

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2.3.2.4 Access to veterinary services

• Veterinary department

There are about 37 veterinary hospitals / dispensaries in the district. Most of the blocks have at least 1 dispensary with a few having 2 dispensaries. The health infrastructure is poor in these hospitals. Cold chains and refrigeration necessary for maintaining vaccinations is missing. Irregular electricity supply also does not help. Medicines, though available, take care of only the general diseases like cold, fever, viral fever, loose motions (diarrhoea).

• Private medicine stores

Private medicine stores are another source for accessing medicines. Veterinary medical stores are missing and veterinary medicines are maintained in general medicine stores.

The protection and promotion of goat health demands two preconditions - (i) supply of veterinary services (ii) demand of the veterinary services. The supply side players include the animal husbandry department and veterinary hospitals. The demand side players include the goat rearing community. On supply side while vaccines have not been made available, the medicines have been made available for disease treatment. On demand side, community is completely unaware of the need for vaccination and treatment services. Even when seasonal illnesses strike the goats, the community does not demand medicines from the veterinary dispensaries. Neither veterinary dispensaries nor private medicine stores are approached to address illnesses. This condition prevails due to lack of awareness on goat management.

Little difference exists in goat rearing practices across the three different goat farmers. The level of understanding on goat production and management is found to be similar. Illiteracy coupled with strong traditional practices prevents the goat farmers to adopt the advocated practices.

2.3.3 Risk mitigation

To address the high mortality rate i.e., 20 – 25 per cent among the goats, the community has not adopted any risk mitigation methodology like goat insurance. It is observed that there are gaps in both demand and supply side in placing the risk mitigation measures in goat subsector. At demand side the community is not aware of the need of goat insurance services thus the demand has not been created to the goat insurance services. On the supply side the insurance companies are not willing to launch their products because the operating costs estimated would be high because, reaching scattered goat rearers in remote locations involve high operating costs. There has been absence of attractive schemes by the Government to motivate the farmers to come under the fold of insurance.

2.3.4 Constraints at the production stage

• The goat rearing activity has been integral part of the livelihood portfolio of the poorest of the poor and the marginalized sections in the district. The limited ability of investment and poor entrepreneurial ability of these sections strongly impacted the goat rearing subsector adversely to limit it as a subsidiary activity rather than as an independent and potentially entrepreneurial activity.

• The community awareness on goat rearing and management is very low. Both supply and demand side factors are equally responsible for this. At the demand side the community is not aware of the need of scientific approach in goat rearing, need for utilization of veterinary services to improve the goat health and prevention of diseases. On the supply side the animal husbandry department, veterinary hospitals have not reached the community with their services. Goat producers as a result have taken to this activity at a risk.

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• There is a mismatch between the knowledge seekers / suppliers. Community lacks awareness on advocated practices related to identification of goats, vaccination, feeding, preventive measures against diseases etc. The existing health infrastructure has not been able to reach out to them.

• The non-existence of risk mitigation services may cause the poorest of the poor sections to further go down economically due to the death of goats.

2.4 Post production/ trading level

2.4.1 The Weekly Haats

At the post-production stage, the role of “haat” is found vital in bringing the sellers and buyers together and creating an opportunity for selling and buying of goats. The haat is a geographic location allotted to private players to run livestock markets. Permission for the same is given by the authorities through a tender process. The validity period is one year. Person owning the tender is named as “Bazar SamithiThekedar” and this contract is for one year. The Bazar SamithiThakedar monitors the sale transactions of goats and collects cess charges from the buyers. Haat provides following services for the sellers and buyers:

• Physical space to keep the animals for sale

• Water facility to the animals

• Shelter to keep the animal in case of illness to the animal (for a day)

The haat does not provide veterinary and first aid services occurring due to extreme climatic conditions like hot summer, heavy rains, cold winds etc., Shelters available within haats is not sufficient to even accommodate 10-15% of the animals.

The Haats in the Gaya district are found as platforms to connect the suppliers/sellers which include share-rearers, small goat farmers and large goat farmers with the buyers such as local meet shop owners, local traders and outside district traders

2.4.2 Trading of goat

Trading of goat at Gaya district takes place at

(i) Local haats/ markets and

(ii) Outside markets.

Trading at local haats/ marketsThe main buyers in these haats include the local meat shop owners, local traders, and outside district traders.

Local meat shop owners: This group creates a major demand for goat in the haats. Meat shop owners from important towns like Gaya, SherGhati, Bodh Gaya, Tikari, and semi-urban locations like Belagunj visit the local haats and purchase goats from the sellers. The local meat shop owner purchases about 15-80 goats to meet the demand for goat meat for the week. This also reduces the transaction costs incurred by them on transport and feeding.

Local traders: The local traders fall into two categories (i) Goat farmers, who want to rear 1-4 goats at their households and (ii) petty traders who wish to buy goats from local haats and supply the same to goat meat shops. This category however is small.

Outside district traders:Outside district traders visit the local haats through use of transportation facility. They buy about 20-60 goats from local haat and supply the goats to meat shop owners located outside the district.

Trading at outside markets: Sometimes the goats brought from the local haats are even sold in neighbouring states like Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh to cater to the meat demand there. These are supplied to the “bulk live goat traders” who supply the goat to the other major towns like Patna, Jahanabad, Lucknow, Munger etc.

2.4.3 Transport

The transport has been found to be a major constraint for the growth of the subsector. The sellers buy goats by walking, by bicycle and by auto. The local meat shop owners in groups of 2-3 jointly hire a mini truck/van, visit the haats for procurement of goats and keep their operating costs low.

Road and rail transportation is used by outside district traders for transport of goats.

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2.4.4 Price of the goat

The market price of the goat offered to the sellers has been found to be comparatively low. The major buyers include local meat shop owners. The local traders try to keep the price low to maximize their profits. Sometimes they may even postpone purchase of goats to get goats at lowest price possible. They prefer visiting different haats rather than pay a better price to the seller. Sometimes outside district traders prefer to pay a better price than the local traders if they get good number of goats.

In the entire subsector across the different players the ‘local goat meat shop owner’ takes away the bulk of the share of the product value. The product value at different levels is depicted below.

Way to Goat Meat market is so slippery in Gaya

Selling price of the goat (Live body weight basis) among different players in goat meat subsector

ProducersLocal & outside

tradersMeat shop owners

3 months

kid

6 months

kid

Price realised by producer of Adult goats (per kg BW)

Price realised by traders per kg BW

Price paid by consumers per kg BW

1. Share of Rs per kg live weight in consumer paid price

25 50 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160

Profit per kg live BW 26 36 10 20 30 10 13 16 20 23

2. Profit per goat (average 15 Kg Live wt)

400 550 150 300 450 150 200 250 300 350

3. Time gap for profit realisation

8 to 12 months 10 to 15 days 3 to 7 days

4. Volume of operation 1 to 20 annually 10 to 50 Monthly 7 to 60 Weekly

Row 1 – First two columns refers to price paid to kid rearer (below 6 months) per kg live weight. In some cases producer also have two levels, one who produces kids by keeping goats and second level, who purchase and grow them upto one year age and sale it to traders. Two columns are for 3 months and 6 months age kids.

In essence it shows that if farmer sales kid at an early age he gets least price per kg body weight. Trend in the area has been found that traders vie for such small kids as prices paid are very less and price of tender meat is high

and easy to sale by processing it in front of 2 to 3 customers

Row 2 and 3 – Row 2 shows per kg live body weight profit range realised at various actor level. As per table a farmer gets profit in the range of Rs 20 to 30 per kg live Body weight (BW). But to get this profit he has to wait for 8 to 12 months. Looking into scale of 1 to 20 goats, Average profit in 8 to 12 months is Rs 20 to 600 per kg of goats and assuming 15 kg average weight profit, as producer one earns Rs 300 to 9000 by goat farming.

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2.4.6 Constraints at post production/ trading level

• Firstly, finding the goat as an instant income earner for emergency household needs, many times the community fails to determine the price of the goat to yield maximum benefit out of the activity. Secondly limited awareness among the producers in determining the price and no information on the market prices turned the haats/ markets as buyer friendly markets.

• Non-existence of support services like weighing machines, and no information on market prices, and demand trends is also making the community less confident to determine better price for the goats.

• The exposure and access of meat shop owners to different markets makes them as price fixing factors mostly, thus the community get less price and the meat shop owners are getting maximum benefit out of the entire goat activity.

• Lack of community based institutional structures for aggregation and collective marketing of goats is also a key factor for voiceless-ness among the community either to demand the support services from the government and also to fix better price during sale of goat.

However local and outside traders earns (Depending on market factors & seasonality) in the range of Rs 10 to 30 per Kg live BW of goats . However time gap in profit realisation is 10 to 15 days and turnover is 10 to 50. That means effectively s/he earns in the range of Rs 100 to 1500 per Kg and for 15 Kg average body weight goats , it gets multiplied to 1500 to 22500 in one cycle .

Similarly meat shopkeepers (processors in other sense) earn in with wide variation of Rs 10 to 23 per Kg live BW. As the volume is high and operating cycle is low, the profit realised is much higher than producer or traders. If we assume average of 33 goats weekly slaughtered at his shop, for average 15 kg goats, he earns Rs 7425 weekly (Average of per Kg profit*Average body wt*Average number of goats).

So a meat shop owner in this value chain earns not just by margin but more by short operating cycle and high number of goats slaughtered Operational units), while producer earns less due to large operating cycle and less no of units handled.

2.4.5 Estimating the value of the goat

The primary producers have been found to be failing to determine the real value (actual market value) for the goat. This is due to a few important reasons

• Women are the primary producers of the goat and their level of market intelligence is very low due to high level of illiteracy.

• As the goat producers don’t have exposure to markets and trends in goat market they are not able to fix the price of the goat.

• The primary producers are not able to calculate actual costs they have incurred in terms of their time, interest on the principle amount, transport costs incurred to bring the product to the market etc.

• Limited or lack of information on the market price of the goat being offered in local as well as other nearest haats.

• Lack of access to required infrastructure like weighing machines to fix the market price on the basis of weight parameter.

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2.5 Institutional Support Mechanisms

2.5.1 InfrastructureIn the case of goat rearing activity the infrastructure like shelter, transport are essential to prevent risk and also to realize better price for the goat. As the goat rearing activity is not considered to be an important activity in the district economy either by the community or by the government, no efforts have been made so far for building required infrastructure. Common goat shelters at village level/ panchayat level were never found even in the areas where the goat population is high.

2.5.2 Technology Transfer and capacity buildingThe following are few institutions working for assisting the community in transfer of technology/knowledge and building the capacities of the community:

ATMA: Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) has been established in each district as an autonomous institution providing flexible working environment involving all the stakeholders in project planning and implementation. The ATMA is a unique district level institution, which caters to activities in agriculture and allied departments adopting a Farming System Approach. ATMA is closely

working with the government departments like agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and other development players like CSOs in the Gaya district.In collabouration with the animal husbandry department, ATMA has started working on promotion of goat rearing activity as a micro enterprise activity. ATMA has taken lead in promoting 10 goat farms with individual farmers. ATMA as the technical supporting agency has facilitated bank linkage for financing the proposed farms. The Animal Husbandry department is also a key player in the project. Each of the farm consists of 10 – 12 goats and a buck with the unit cost of 25000/-. ATMA has provided 3-day training to the identified farmers on identification of quality goat, vaccination, feeding and management of goat farm.

Women Development CorporationWomen Development Corporation (WDC) is a registered society promoted and funded by the Government of Bihar. WDC is working in identified blocks and thriving for promotion of three tier institutional structures by bringing women in to the SHG fold as a foundation tier. On the top of SHGs a cluster level federation and on the top of it independent federations are being promoted. The WDC is assisting the SHGs with Rs. 20,000/- ‘Initial Capitalization Fund’ (ICF) which is a repayable loan. This is being

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provided to the SHGs to lend to their members for livelihood activities.

2.5.3 Constraints in institutional support• Institutions like WDC and ATMA are working

with lesser number of households. But there are lakhs of households requiring financial and technical support

• Efforts have been made to bring the goat rearing households on to one platform. This is to facilitate learning and introduce technological and other changes in the sub-sector

2.6 RecommendationsGoat rearing as a subsidiary livelihood option has been facing various constraints at all the stages of the subsector which include pre-production, production and post-production stages. The following recommendations are being made to strengthen the sub-sector based on the observations: -

2.6.1 Door step health care and extension services for Goat rearing

• Goat rearing requires low cost door step first aid services and enhanced access to knowledge and skills. There is an absolute lack of such services especially to poor and women goat farmers. Unless assured and reliable women friendly health and extension services are established, any investment in goats may not fetch the desire benefits and may even lead to indebtedness of goat farmers.

• It is recommended that a village based women led health and extension service model on line of Livestock Nurse (PashuSakhi) as propagated by Goat Trust (www.goattrust.org) or BakariMitra as propagated by BAIF should be taken on scale in the area.

• The community needs to be thoroughly sensitized to see goat-rearing as an entrepreneurial activity. Seeing it as an ATM (Any Time Money) only results in getting limited returns on the goat. An entrepreneur only sells his / her goat at its actual price. Therefore building the entrepreneurial abilities is vital to bring business abilities among goat farmers.

2.6.2 Credit ServicesTo assist the community to rear the goats as per their fullest capacity, the key constraint found is lack of credit facility. Efforts need to be made to assist the community in accessing the credit services on a sustainable basis from the formal financial institutions. As the SHG promotion is gaining momentum in the district with the involvement of various players like WDC, Ajivika (BRLP), that opportunity can be effectively utilized for assisting the community to broaden the scope of the goat rearing activity. The unit cost required for assisting an individual household is worked out by having a series of consultations with the community as well as other stakeholders involved in the subsector. The proposed unit is to assist the household with three female goats with age of one year. To reduce the risk, vaccination, deworming and insurance services can be integrated in the proposed unit.

Proposed financial product to assist one household

Particulars UnitsCost

estimated in Rs.

i. Female goats (1year old) 3 6000.00

ii. Vaccination 2 times 30.00

iii. Insurance 5% on goat cost

300.00

iv. Deworming One service 20.00

Unit management costs (ii, iii, iv services for next generation goats)

1400.00

Total unit cost 7750.00

The unit can yield a total amount of Rs.15,900 and the community will have Rs. 8,150/- worth of goat asset after deduction of the investment costs. (The investment costs include unit cost i.e.Rs. 6,350/- and the vaccination, insurance and deworming costs for the 12 other goatsamounting to 4*350 = 1400/-. The total investment costs Rs. 6350/- + Rs. 1400/- = Rs. 7750/-)

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Growth & economic projection of the proposed unit

Particulars 0

Year6

months12

months18

months 24

months

i) Mother goats 3 3 3 3 3

a) Value of goats 6000 5400 4800 4200 3600

ii) 1st Generation 3 3+3 3+3+3 3+3+3+3

b) Value of goats 900 3000+900 3600+3000+300 4500+3600+3000+300

iii) 2nd Generation 3

c) Value of goats 900

Total number of goats (I + ii + iii) 3 6 9 12 15

Total Value of the goats (a+b+c) 6000 6300 8700 11100 15900

Note: The current reality in relation to purchase / sale of goats reflects that sale value of 1st generation goats tends to be lower than the cost price of mother goat purchased at its infant stage. This is due to disadvantageous position of seller in goat market – where market is buyer friendly rather than seller friendly. Therefore the least price that a goat rearer gets for his goat has taken in to consideration.

By keeping the poorest of the poor and ultra-poor households in mind the above financial product was developed and two units of support i.e. Rs. 15,500/- can be offered to the households who demonstrate better interest and adoption of best practices in rearing the goats.

2.6.3 Education and Training on advocated practices

To address the knowledge gap of the community in goat rearing and management it needs to be addressed in a systematic manner. The key gaps at different levels include

• Identification of quality goats

• Preventive care

• Scientific Feeding practices

• Animal health management

• Scientific Breeding practices

To address these gaps carefully and to develop a nurturing mechanism to the goat rearing community the Pashu Sakhi (www.goattrust.org) model can be adopted. An investment on training tools and materials appropriate to context shall be critical. Competitions amongst goat farmers for improved quality goats and adoption of improved practices should be critical element of approach.

2.6.4 Role of women in goat trading & marketing

Women, although in limited number, have shown propensity of taking lead roles in goat trading

and marketing in Gaya and its adjoining districts. As trading determines the adoption of practices and ultimate price realisation by goat farmers, it is strongly recommended that selected SHG members can be further trained, capacitated and financed for goat trading in the cluster.

2.6.5 Infrastructure development

In the case of goat rearing activity, shelter is an important input vital for preventing the seasonal diseases among the goats. There is a need for development of common goat shelters in the villages where the poorest of the poor families take them up like in Pali village of Belagunj block, or Parasama village of Banki Bazar block. This helps the community to keep their goats in common goat shelters and prevents them from climatic difficulties.

2.6.6 Community based institutional model

Due to lack of community based institutional model, many times the community becomes passive in procurement of goat, accessing services and fixing better market price for their goat. To address these issues and to build community’s confidence in managing the subsector the three tier institutional structure may be a feasible and viable structure for promoting the goat rearing activity as a potential livelihood option for the targeted poorest of the poor and marginalized sections.

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Institutional tier Size/ scope/ Features Expected roles

Self Help Group Women will be the members of SHG To facilitate savings and internal lending activity

10 – 14 members in one SHG. Leverage financial services from the formal financial institutions

SHG will be an unregistered body Platform to share and learn from each other specific to goat rearing activity.

Women from the families somehow related to goat rearing activity will only come in to the group fold.

To help the members in determining the price of the goat before they go to the market by using the services made available by the cluster federation.

The SHGs may not be concerned with caste, community or religion

Must be from one village and preferably from the nearest living location.

Cluster level SHG federation

The cluster federation will be promoted for every 5 to 6 villages

To support the SHGs in terms of effective management of financial and goat rearing related activities.

All the members of the SHGs will be the general body of the cluster federation

To assist SHGs in getting link with the banks for credit services.

The cluster federation will continue like an unregistered body.

To establish simple infrastructure like weighing machines in each of the village to help the member to estimate actual value of the goat.

The executive body will be formed with the 4 – 5 member (one from one SHG) representation from each village.

To conduct village level awareness programmes on best practices.

To explore the possibilities for aggregation and bulk sales

To act like a bridge between the SHGs and the block level federation

To deliver veterinary services through community veterinary nurse system

Block level federation

The block level federation will be on the top of all the cluster federations in the block

Assist SHGs and cluster federations in educating the communities on best practices in goat rearing.

The executive body will be formed from one representative from each cluster federation.

To workout and initiate ‘community based insurance service’ for risk mitigation.

Will be a registered entity, can be a producers company/ cooperative federation.

To explore better markets and thrive for enhance the price of the produce

To train the veterinary nurses with the support of the external resource agencies.

To coordinate with the haat care takers to ensure better services for the goat sellers.

To support the SHG members at the haats to get better prices.

To establish linkages with different stakeholders to realize the training and resources for enhancing the production ability of the members

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Strengths of the institutional structure The proposed institutional structure has been viewed from different perspectives before proposing. The strengths of the proposed community institutional structure are:

• Primarily bringing women in to SHG fold will help them to be part of the mainstream model. This will also help women members to have better opportunity to access credit services from the formal financial services and also opportunity to leverage the funding support from the BRLP.

• The cluster federation as a middle level structure takes care of adoption of best practices by the SHGs in terms of both financial and goat rearing activities. Unless this kind of monitoring and mentoring support is extended, SHGs cannot run on their own in the initial stages.

• The key gaps identified in the goat rearing subsector will be carefully addressed by the institutional structure. For example on initiation of the ‘veterinary nurse’ services the mortality among goats will be reduced. Similarly establishment of weighing machines will help the women members to estimate the correct value of their goat.

• The top institutional structure being a registered entity, coupled with large representation of goat farmers, can liaison with various government agencies to leverage schemes to benefit their members.

• Bringing large number of goat farmers on to a common platform will give a lead to develop a community insurance model to bring out goat insurance services for goat at affordable prices.

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3.1 An overview of the Subsector: National Context

NCAER in its study of Agarbatti market observed that the value of Agarbatti industry is placed at Rs 1,800 crores and the rate of growth is 20% on a year-on-year basis. There is no precise data about the industry, but the All India Agarbatti Manufacturers Association estimates that it has annual turnover of about Rs. 2,000 crores, and has grown at an annual rate of between 10-15% during the period 2003 to 2008. About one-fifth of the production is exported. Agarbatti Industry has responded well to increased demand for its products both in rural and urban areas, mainly because of the continued availability of cheap labour force dominated by women and children.

‘Agarbattis’ also known as ‘Incense Stick’ are made from aromatic plants and essential oils extracted from plants or animal sources. When lighted, they release fragrant smoke which is used in religious activities, prayers, therapeutic and aesthetic purposes. These have been used since times immemorial as an integral part of Hindu deity worship. In India, there are about 10,000 Agarbatti manufacturing units in the country including tiny, small and medium enterprises, besides another 200 well-established ones having over 50 branded Agarbattis. Nearly 12

lakh people are directly or indirectly employed by the industry.12

India is exporting a wide range of Agarbattis or incense sticks that have natural, exotic fragrances extracted from jasmine, sandalwood (chandan) and rose. The incense sticks are packed in attractive packaging.13 India exports a wide variety of natural Agarbattis made chiefly from rose, sandalwood and jasmine. Although it is the world’s biggest exporter of incense, supplying more than half of world’s total Agarbatti consumption, there are only a few major production units in the country. Only about twenty percent of the entire market is occupied by the well established brands while the rest is governed by the small scale rural units. Agarbatti manufacturing still remains a labour intensive cottage industry in India, employing mainly rural women and children. Agarbatti (Incense sticks or scented batti) is commonly known as “Dhoopbatti”. Agarbatti has been used since long in religious prayers at the household level and as a room freshener. The journey of Agarbatti manufacturing which began from Thanjavur region of Tamil Nadu in South India has gradually spread to other parts of the neighbouring states. Agarbatti industry now prevails in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Bihar.

Chapter 3 - Incense Stick (Agarbatti) subsector

12 National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) study13 G.P. Gandhi, Indian Agarbattis in Foreign Lands, Market Survey

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It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 small businesses in India which carry out the final process after the non-perfumed sticks have been rolled mainly by self-employed women, working at home. These businesses put in the perfume and package the final product. 80-90% of the raw Agarbattis are made by women at their home on a part-time basis. It is estimated that at least 1 lakh tonnes of Agarbattis are produced in India every year.

This creates about 16 million days of work and provides supplementary livelihood to about 2 lakh people. Over and above that, an additional 10 million work days are used in making the bamboo sticks which are in turn the basis for the raw Agarbattis.

3.1.1 Agarbatti sub-sector: District Context

Gaya houses the second largest small scale industry for production of raw Agarbattis in India after Bangalore. Agarbatti business in Gaya started in 1940s14 and operates in the informal sector. The enterprises are located in both rural and urban areas. The labour force engaged is largely unorganized, and do no accrue any of the social security benefits enjoyed by their counterparts in organized private undertakings. There are more than 1000 units15 operating in the sector, with unregistered units outnumbering the registered ones. As per the DIC report of 2006-07 there were 156 registered units. These units are spread across rural and semi-urban households, providing employment opportunities to few lakh household16 based women workers (and their children) in the 5 districts under Magadh commisionary. The industry thus leads to home-based income generating opportunities for very large numbers of women. In addition to these women, a further 4-5 million people are employed in other segments of the sector. In total, women constitute 90% of the workforce, with approximately 80% working as home based family labour. The production requires simple technologies and low capital investments, the Agarbatti industry is highly labour intensive.

Agarbatti produced in Gaya is exported to Delhi,

Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta and Indore for aromatization with various fragrances before packing and marketing in India and abroad. This is one of the traditional trades of Gaya like woodwork and textile. The trade has grown at a much faster pace in last couple of decades.

It is estimated that out of the total population of 4-5 lakhs of the district about 10% are engaged in some or the other component of this cottage industry. Muslims, Scheduled castes and Maha-dalits17 form the main work force. The SC population in Gaya district is 29.64% and Muslims constitute 11.62% of the total population. Women from these communities are engaged in different components such as rolling, scenting, sizing, colouring, packaging etc. of incense sticks. There are very negligible scenting units in Gaya – such as the Bhandara brand. These are largely located outside the district/ state. On an average in a day an individual is able to roll about 2-3 kg of raw material into the incense sticks for which they are paid Rs. 14-16 per Kg. The maximum amount earned per day is about Rs 50.18

3.1.1.1 Salient features of the Agarbatti sector in Gaya District

• Highly unorganized

• Agarbatti sub-sector cuts across various industries – namely Bamboo stick manufacturing, charcoal manufacturing, jigat powder manufacturing, scenting and packaging industry.

• Specialization largely with lower value tasks within the district and higher value tasks outside the district / state.

• Despite being the second largest producer of raw Agarbattis within India, the larger value addition in terms of scenting and packaging takes place outside the district.

• A major source of remunerative employment for poor women and disadvantaged members of rural society

• By providing off-farm income generation options these livelihood systems absorb surplus agricultural workers, mainly the rural poor who do not have regular on-farm employment.

14NAs said by MrHaq who is in the business for last 50 years – Market study of Incense stick making in Gaya - TLS15As said by MrHaq who is in the business for last 50 years – Market study of Incense stick making in Gaya - TLS16As elicited by talking to retailers, dealers and rollers - Market study of Incense stick making in Gaya - TLS17The poorest dalits are declared as mahadalits in Bihar. They constitute about 31% of total dalit population in Bihar. http://www.ssvk.org/pdf_doc_files/mahadalits18_dalits_of_bihar_no.pdf18Women Development Centre, Agarbatti mechanization in Gaya District

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• In Gaya, it is estimated that 2 lakh women most of whom are contract or sub-contract labourers are employed in the small-scale processing enterprises.

• Agarbatti industry operates in the informal sector. The enterprises are located both in rural and urban areas. The labour force engaged is largely unorganized.

• There are also cultural and ethnic factors associated with the employment structure of the industry. Families from the Maha-dalit and minority communities from Gaya district are found to be predominantly engaged in the sector.

• Manufacturing is done on a piece-meal basis, with individual families being contracted to assemble Agarbatti sticks.

• The daily income of an Agarbatti worker remains low and erratic. On an average a household can roll 2-3kgs of Agarbattis in a day and the wages for per kg of rolling for super fine (Barik) is Rs. 18, for medium Rs. 15 and for super medium Rs. 16.As per grading on an average a roller earns Rs15 / kg and Rs. 30-Rs. 45/- per day.

• The lack of research and development institution has not allowed Gaya to enter into the scented Agarbatti production on a large scale.

• Gender employment patterns within

Agarbatti production indicate that women are largely employed as wage labourers with little exposure to markets. Women-run enterprises are absent.

• Existing models within the sub-sector in terms of the division of labour offer little opportunities to promote women-led enterprises and promote exposure of women beyond Agarbatti rolling.

• Despite some initiatives to engage SHGs, increasing the returns for women members, it needs to focus on increasing exposure levels – with a focus on women empowerment.

• High prevalence of child labour in Agarbatti raw production.

• Women and children exposed to a variety of occupational health problems with inadequate systems to take care of their needs.

• Raw Agarbatti producers obtain very little value for their produce despite the economic engagement of the household.

• This sector has tremendous potential and is capable of creating livelihood opportunities in the rural pockets, especially for the women. It is a cottage industry, as a result of which large-scale rural employment can be created to generate self-employment and increase the standard of living among the rural communities. The existence of strong

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19Wikipedia

informal market players is a big constraint in uniting the large number of Agarbatti rollers in the district.

3.2 Sub-Sector Map

3.2.1 Pre-Production sub-system

The pre-production system involves procurement of raw materials namely charcoal, jigat powder, norua and bamboo sticks from various parts of the country as well as abroad.

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen It is usually an impure form of carbon as it contains ash; however, sugar charcoal is among the purest forms of carbon readily available, particularly if it is not made by heating but by a dehydration reaction with sulphuric acid to minimise introducing new impurities, as impurities can be removed from the sugar in advance. The resulting soft, brittle, lightweight, black, porous material resembles coal.19

The binding material in Agarbatti manufacture is Jigat. Jigat in Kannada and Telugu means sticky. Jigat is trade name of powdered barks of Machilusmacrantha and Litseachinensis. Jigat powder is a sticky substance which helps in sticking the dough consisting of charcoal powder and norua powder. The bark of Machilusmacrantha (Lauraceae), a large tree, found in Bihar and the Deccan Peninsula has been of importance for the survival of the Agarbatti (incense stick) industry in India. Powdered bark of M. macrantha known as JIGAT in trade, functions as an adhesive or binder in Agarbatti manufacture. When mixed with water it forms an ideal material to bind wood charcoal, aromatic roots and herbs to the bamboo splint. Besides good binding properties, it combines well with other raw materials and does not influence the natural aroma of perfumed sticks. Over the years, the expansion of Agarbatti industry has inflated the demands for Jigat, thereby leading to indiscriminate onslaught on Machilus trees for their bark. The result is high mortality of this species which is a valuable component of the evergreen and semi-evergreen forests of the Western Ghats and the north-eastern states.20

Bamboo sticks are procured primarily from Tripura. The North-eastern States have pioneered

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in the production of raw bamboo sticks due to the abundance of bamboos in these areas. The State of Tripura is contributing 80% of total requirement of raw bamboo sticks for hand rolled Agarbatti. The assorted Agarbatti are made in rural pockets of Tripura as a house hold activity. Four grades of bamboo sticks are made as per the market demand with different rates, lengths and thicknesses. The required raw materials (bamboos) are collected from the adjoining forest or local market. The raw sticks come to the local haat(market) on a weekly basis. The agents collect the sticks as per rates and specifications.21

Processes Players involved Details

Procurement of charcoal powder

Internal procurers, External procurers

Procured from Kanpur, Bhutan and Jharkhand

Procurement of jigat powder


Procured from Assam, Nepal and Jharkhand

Procurement of norua


Procured from Bangalore

Procurement of bamboo sticks

Internal procurers, External procurers, Forest department

Procured from Assam and Tripura (Kumarghat)

Supply of raw materials to Home based Agarbatti rollers

Raw material contractors, Agents, Home based producers

Raw material contractors send the same to village level agents

Village agents provide the raw materials to home based producers

The different players involved in pre-production state and their roles are as below: -

Sub sector players

Role

Raw material suppliers

Mostly located outside the district/ state. They are also located within the district.

Supply various types of raw materials as required by raw Agarbatti manufacturing units as required.

Raw materials procured from different locations – charcoal from Kanpur, Jharkhand and Bhutan; Jigat powder from Jharkhand, Assam and Nepal; Bamboo sticks from Assam and Tripura; Masala powder from Bangalore.

Raw material procurers

Raw material procurers procure the raw materials from external and internal sources.

Supply the same to unregistered and registered manufacturers

3.2.2 Production Process

Processes Players involved Details

Raw material supply to Village level agents

Contractors, Village level agents, Transporters

Raw material is transferred from manufacturers to village level agents

Raw material supply to Home based producers

Village level agents, Home based producers

Raw material is transferred from village level agents to home based producers

Dough preparation Home based producers

Charcoal, Jigat and Masala powder are mixed and a dough prepared

Agarbatti rolling Home based producers – women and children

The dough is rolled onto bamboo sticks

Raw Agarbatti drying

Home based producers

Raw Agarbatti are dried in sunlight

Raw Agarbatti hand over to village level agents

Village level agents, Home based producers

Raw Agarbatti is transferred to village level agents

Raw Agarbatti handover to registered / unregistered units

Contractors, Village level agents, Transporters

Raw Agarbatti is transferred to manufacturers

20http://www.nrdcindia.com/pages/jigat.htm21Jenner, V.G & Reza, Md. Selim., Agarbatti: A sustainable bamboo cluster based rural enterprise

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The players involved in this stage and their respective roles are as follows: -

Sub sector players

Role

Raw Agar-batti manu-facturers

Handover the raw materials to home based producers through village level agents.

Collect the finished raw Agarbattis through village level agents.

Sort out the raw Agarbattis based on quality checks.

Package and send the raw Agarbattis to scenters.

Village level agents

Act as a link between the raw Agarbatti manufacturers and home based producers.

Supply the raw materials to home based producers.

Collect the finished raw Agarbatti from home based producers and send it to raw Agarbatti manufacturers.

Home based producers

Includes women and children in Households.

Primary producers of raw Agarbattis.

Prepare dough, roll Agarbattis, dry and return the finished products to village level agents.

Following types of raw Agarbattis are manufactured in the District based on the size of the stick in milli metre:-

Particulars Description

Hand rolled Agarbatti (8)

Thin (Counting per kg, 1400-1700)Medium (Counting per kg, 1100-1300)Super (Counting per kg, 800-1100)





The contractors transfer the raw materials to village level agents. The village level agents transfer the raw materials to home based producers. On an average each household is

provided about 50 kilos of raw materials which includes charcoal, jigat powder, bamboo sticks and masala powder. Charcoal, Jigat powder and masala powder are mixed to prepare dough. The dough is rolled onto the bamboo sticks. These are then dried. 1 kilo of Agarbatti includes 300 grams of charcoal, 400 grams of jigat and 300 grams of bamboo sticks. The home based producers at the end of the production cycle of 15 days hand it over to village level agents. The village level agents transfer it to registered / unregistered units.

3.2.3 Processing system

Processes Players involved

Details

Raw Agar-batti sorting

Manufacturers, Sorting workers

Raw Agarbatti sorting involves removing out damaged Agarbatti and tying them in one kilo bundles. Sorting is done based on parameters such as burning consistency, length consistency, thickness, burning time, split bamboo.

Packaging Packaged in bags

Packaged in bags consisting of 40 kilos of Agarbatti

Transporting to Agarbat-tiscenters

Manufacturers, Transporters

Raw Agarbatti is sent to scenting industry mostly in Bangalore and to a little extent within Gaya

Scenting Scenting units, Scenting workers

Scents are mixed in as per required combinations (formulas) to get the necessary smell

The raw Agarbatti are dipped into the solution

The scented Agarbatti are dried

Packaging Scenting units, Packaging units, Packaging workers

Packing the scented Agarbatti in the packages

These are bundled in 1 kilo packs and handed over to village level agents. The village level agents transfer it to small scale units. These

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are sorted based on quality check parameters. These are bundled in 1 kilo packs with 40 kilos of raw Agarbattis in each bag and sent to the scenting units. The scenting units are largely located outside the district. There are a few units within the district largely running small scale units with its own brand or have tie ups with larger industries. There are also a few scenting units located within the neighbouring Munger district. However, the raw Agarbattis are largely sent to Karnataka and to some extent in UP. The scenters have various types of perfumes which are mixed in the specified proportions. The Agarbattis are dipped into the solutions that are prepared. These are then dried and packed.

Apart from various perfumes such as sandal, the perfuming unit may also use oil, honey, gangam, vaseline, citric acid, Tonalizeo BS, Babul powder.

Sub Sector Players

Role

Scenting units Prepare fragrance solutions and perfumes based on chemical formulas.

Dip the raw Agarbatti into the solutions.

Pack the scented Agarbatti and send it to wholesale distributors.

Packagers Manufacture packaging materials for the scenting units.

Transporters Transport raw Agarbatti to scenting units.

Transport scented Agarbatti to wholesale distributors.

3.2.4 Market Sub-system

Processes Players Involved Details

Transportation to wholesale distributors

Scenting units, Transporters, Wholesale distributors

The scented Agarbattis are sent to wholesale distributors

Procurement from wholesale distributors

Wholesale distributors, Retailers

Retailers acquire the same from wholesale distributors

The scented and packaged Agarbattis are transported to wholesale distributors. Wholesale distributors may be exclusively or inclusively dealing with Agarbattis. From here these are purchased by retail distributors.

The role of the players involved in this stage includes the following: -

Subsector Players Their Role

Whole sale distributors

Procure scented Agarbattis from small scale scenting units and large manufacturers

Supply the scented Agarbatti to retailers.

Retailers Purchase the scented Agarbatti from wholesale distributors.

Make it available for the ultimate consumers.

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Map of Agarbatti subsector – Gaya district

19Wikipedia

45

Value addition in different stages of value chain

Agarbatti variety

Price per kg (in Rs.) – raw

material preproduction

stage

Price per kg (in Rs.) –

production stage – raw Agarbatti

Price per kg (in Rs.) –

processing – scenting stage

Price in kg (in Rs.) –

processing - packaging stage

Price in kg (in Rs.) –

marketing stage

Thin (Counting per kg, 1400-1700)

30 70 150 195 250

Medium (Counting per kg, 1100-1300)

28 60 138 180 235

Super (Counting per kg, 800-1100)

26 56 130 175 225

(Note: The number refers to the number of Agarbatti per kilo. The thinner ones fetch more number of Agarbatti per kilo and has higher price. Even the wages for the thinner ones are higher. Kindly also note that the actual price after marketing may be much higher than referred above).

3.3 Value Chain

The field visits by the team revealed the pattern of value addition in different stages of the value chain process as detailed in the above table.However, the above mentioned is only a general pattern. The real price largely depends on the quality of raw materials used, the type of perfumes used, the brands, the marketing strategy used etc., In the whole value chain i.e., from the stage of pre-production to consumption, women are involved in lower end processes as Agarbatti rollers. They are also assisted by children. Manufacturers outsource the production processes to home based workers. A few may be involved for quality control. Home based Agarbatti workers are given the raw material comprising of bamboo sticks, jigat powder and charcoal by contractors for rolling. The equipment used is a low wooden board 3 sq. ft. in size around which the workers squat rolling the sticks on the board. Rolled raw Agarbattis are supplied by the contractors to the factories where the perfuming drying and packaging are carried out. Women workers are also employed in factories as packers. The raw material and labour costs involved in rolling raw Agarbattis together constitute only 10% of total costs with manufacturers controlling all the high value processes (perfuming 30%, packaging 30% and marketing & overheads 30%) within the factory premises. The bulk of the consumption is domestic with only 10 -15% being for the higher value export segment. Consumers tend to be concentrated in rural areas and belong to the lower and middle income stratas.22

22H.G. Hanumappa, A bamboo based industry in India, INBAR working paper 9, 1996

In the case of incense stick making, while the final price (paid by the final consumer to the retailer) is in the order of Rs. 420 per kg, the returns to labour at the rolling stage is only Rs. 14 (less than 5 per cent of the final price). Labour is involved at the above stage, with a significant presence of women folk of the poor households who pursue this activity to supplement the incomes from the primary sources of livelihoods. A very small proportion of manual labour is involved at the stage of perfuming, where the labour gets a daily rate wage of Rs. 120 per day. The labour involvement, though intensive in terms of magnitude of efforts put in across the entire production chain, is however not reflected in terms of the returns. Involvement of poor households is found to be at the lower ends of the value chain of incense stick production (given the need for limited skills at the rolling stage), and therefore yielding low returns to this group.

Value addition – Super Agarbatti

AspectUnit cost (per kg)

Value added

Raw Agarbatti Rs. 42 10%

Agarbatti price after scenting

Rs. 168 30%

Agarbatti price after packaging

Rs. 294 30%

Agarbatti price after marketing

Rs. 420 30%

(Note: The table tries to show how value addition takes place at different stages of the value chain. The actual value addition may vary but do broadly reflect the trend)

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Graphical representation of value addition at each stage of the value chain

materials required by the Agarbatti sector are primarily drawn from the forest based resources whether bamboo sticks, charcoal or jigat. Due to restrictions on extracting forest resources there is a need arising to get the raw material resources from outside states. Sometimes it needs to be procured from outside the country also e.g., recently jigat is being imported from countries such as Vietnam. The manufacturers have started feeling the heat of non-availability, shortages, price increase etc. The shortage of raw material is a major hindrance for the development of the sector.

3.4.1.2 Technology

It was largely expressed by the traders that the technologies could be of little value. The technologies in existence for production of raw Agarbatti aren’t in a position to produce quality raw Agarbatti. Hand rolled Agarbatti produce a better quality of raw Agarbatti. Hence it was expressed that they would continue to rely on hand rolled Agarbatti instead of going for machinery.

3.4.1.3 Policy Context

From the perspective of the manufacturing / trading actors, the liberalization of the economy and deregulation has had a positive expansionary impact on the Agarbatti sector with increased exports, revenues and employment generation. Certain legislations related to labour laws are seen as constraints: such as Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Equal remuneration Act (1976); Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970.

3.4.1.4 Lack of support industries

Most of the supporting industries such as perfume industry and packaging industries are located outside the Gaya district. This results in dependence on outside states. For the purpose of perfuming, it needs to be sent to Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat etc.Even for packaging purposes, the materialsare procured from outside the district till recently. Only recently the packaging materials are being gathered to a limited extent from within the district.

3.4 ConstraintsThe nature of constraints varies for the Traders/ Manufacturers and Agarbatti rollers.

3.4.1 Constraints of Traders / Manufacturers

3.4.1.1 Raw Materials

Traders were of the view that there is shortage of raw materials of late. The raw materials are not available locally. Hence it has to be procured from other states. There has also been increase in the cost of the raw materials. The raw

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3.4.2 Constraints of Agarbatti rollers

3.4.2.1 Low income for the produce

The Agarbatti rollers receive low income for the produce. Despite the engagement of the whole household in the production process, they receive about Rs. 50 per day. Even if the household works for the whole month without a rest day, they manage a maximum of Rs. 1,500 a day.

3.4.2.2 Lack of involvement of Agarbatti rollers in high end value processes

The Agarbatti rollers are not involved in higher end value processes. The raw Agarbatti fetches only 10% value as compared to the price it fetches once it undergoes through scenting, packaging and reaches the ultimate market. This is despite the labour time involved – which is 80% of the total time involved.

3.4.2.3 Lack of credit linkage

Despite the lower level of income, the Agarbatti rollers continue to depend on village level agent linked to the manufacturer. In times of financial need, the village level agent / manufacturer meets the small credit needs of the roller. As they meet credit needs from the village level agent, they continue to maintain the relationship with village level agent / manufacturer and accept whatever wages are offered.

3.4.2.4 Lack of exposure to market

As mentioned earlier,Agarbatti rollers continue to be engaged in the lower end value processes, which is restricted to merely rolling. As a result it offers them very limited opportunities for developing an understanding of the markets and market behaviour.

3.4.2.5 Absence of supporting industries

The related industries namely the scenting industries and packaging industries are not located within Gaya district. As a result women have limited scope to get engaged with higher end value addition processes.

3.5 Social and Environmental contextThis activity is pursued by Maha-dalit and minorities - who form the most disadvantaged, economically and socially weaker segments of population in Gaya district. In the absence of a regulatory environment ensuring protection of informal sector workers and largely falling in the unorganized sector, they do not have any social security benefits. There are violations of various laws which include the Minimum Wages Act.

The problems of Agarbatti workers are not confined to wages & lack of social security alone, their working conditions remain extremely dismal. Confined to dark dingy rooms without proper ventilation & lack of safety gear, health hazards pose serious risks. The common health problems that these women face include body pain, back pain, body ache, chest pain, dizziness and exhaustion, head ache, neck pain, pain in abdomen, shoulder pain & pain in the limbs due to the repetitive nature of work, skin & dust allergy.

The Agarbatti rolling process involves high prevalence of child labour. Both girls and boys 6 years and above are engaged in this occupation. They are burdened to support their families in the process of raw Agarbatti production. Sometimes these are at the cost of diverting time away from study and play – necessary for healthy development of children. Having grown in an environment where the surrounding community is largely involved in Agarbatti rolling, they show a tendency to continue this family occupation reducing social mobility.

The sector is seen as being on the path towards unsustainable growth in relation to availability of raw materials. The species Maclilusmakarantha, the tree source for jigat powder, has declined. The material is expected to dry up relying on dependence on other countries. Increased cutting of trees to meet the need for bamboo sticks and burning of trees for meeting charcoal needs is bound to contribute to negative effect on environment.

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3.6 Recommendations

3.6.1 Form community based institutions of Agarbatti rollers

There is a need to form community based organizations of Agarbatti rollers. They need to be brought under a three tier institutional set up. These are at the level of SHGs (Self-Help Groups), Panchayat level organizations (PLOs) and Agarbatti cooperatives (at block level).

3.6.2 Promoting engagement of women with market

Under the present set up the engagement of women with the market is absent. As a result awareness levels on markets are limited. There is need to engage women with market processes – which involves procurement of raw materials and selling of finished raw Agarbatti. With a federated cooperative structure for the SHGs, market linkages can be established at a central level, giving the women entrepreneurs better negotiating positions and larger share of returns from the value additions. Since the market is currently dominated by informal and small scale traders, it will be a challenge to break their control through traditional marketing routes. Tie-ups with more organized channels, similar to the venture launched by the corporate group of ITC, holds much promise.

3.6.3 Extend credit and insurance to Agarbatti rollers

As group entrepreneurs, women members can procure raw materials on their own if a line of credit is available. This will help break their dependence on private supplier who provides the raw material and appropriates huge margins of profit. Agarbatti rollers also need to be extended credit products for meeting various productive and well-being needs (education, health). The vulnerability of Agarbatti rollers to occupational health issues poses a major challenge. This necessitates bringing them under health insurance coverage. This is apart from the fact that occupational environment should be improved to ensure health and safety.

3.6.4 Promote common storage places

Agarbatti rollers find it difficult to dry the rolled Agarbatti during the rainy season. Due to shortage of space within the houses, they are not in a position to dry the rolled Agarbatti. Hence they usually resort to accepting limited amounts of raw materials for Agarbatti production during rainy season. This reduces their income. Promotion of common storage locations will enable them to address the problem.

3.6.5 Promote involvement of women in higher end value addition processes

At present involvement of women is merely restricted to rolling process, which is at the lower end of the value chain processes. Their involvement in value addition processes such as perfuming, packaging is limited. There is a need to promote their greater involvement in these value addition processes. As outlined in the point 6.2 above, forward linkages to higher levels of value-chain can be facilitated through centralized operations by the cooperative federations.

3.6.6 Promote financially literacy and entrepreneurship training

There is absence of women led enterprises in Agarbatti sub-sector. Promoting the same would go a long way in building entrepreneurship of women. This will be possible among other things, also the need to offer them financial literacy and entrepreneurship training.

3.6.7 Promote business development services

Business development services which meet the requirements of aspiring micro-entrepreneurs can enable promotion of women led Agarbatti enterprises.

3.6.8 Build linkages with bigger players

Efforts could be made to build direct linkages with bigger players like ITC, Cycle brand of Agarbatti. The community institutions could take up the roles – earlier largely performed by middlemen. The roles being performed by village level agents could be taken up local persons representing SHGs within the village.

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3.7 Community led Enterprise Model

LevelInstitutional Structure

Parameters Expected role

1 SHG (Activity based)

Agarbatti rollers to form SHGs Aggregation of groups with similar economic background and economic interests.

Homogeneity of the groups to be maintained based on social background

Formation of the base economic activity based social capital of Agarbatti rollers.

Provide an opportunity to discuss and debate issues of common economic interest related to the activity (besides other SHG activities).

2. Panchayat level organization of Agarbatti rollers

One nominee from each SHG of Agarbatti rollers in the village to be part of the Panchayat level organization of SHG rollers

This will enable them to build a larger level economic activity grouping of Agarbatti rollers.

PLOs of Agarbatti rollers to act as mediating agencies between home-based Agarbatti producers and Agarbatti manufacturing small units.

PLOs take up the role traditionally performed by Agarbatti village level agents but this time it is community controlled.

3. Cluster level federations of Agarbatti rollers

The cluster to be formed in identified block levels where the activity is highly prevalent.

The federations to be registered as cooperatives of Agarbatti rollers

Cluster level federations to act as agencies which aim at expanding the role of women beyond rolling into higher value addition processes.

Towards this the CLFs build capacities of women rollers to engage with the markets.

Federations to act as agencies which establish direct contacts with small / medium / large factories engaged in Agarbatti production.

Federations play a role in bulk procurement of raw material inputs from wholesale suppliers and sell off finished raw / perfumed Agarbatti to large factories, wholesale sellers.

Federations work toward building financial literacy of the SHGs (including the economics of Agarbatti rolling business and group entrepreneurship) among SHG women engaged in Agarbatti rolling. This will be with the aim to build micro-entrepreneurs and micro-business rather than restricting them as wage workers.

Federations to also act as agencies which take care of occupational health needs of Agarbatti rollers through engaging services of medical practitioners.

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3.7.1 Rationale for the said Model

The traditional model as is visible in Gaya district offers little opportunity for women Agarbatti rollers to make a shift from that of wage workers to that of micro-entrepreneurs. The working conditions are poor with little scope for getting engaged in value addition processes.

Being largely engaged with the lower end processes and totally cut away from the market based processes, scope for enhancing their role in the markets and empowering women is limited. It is in this context, an institutional model which brings women with similar economic activity and economic interests at various levels will help in expanding their role.

Moreover, certain initiatives have already started in Gaya district with the partnership of Bihar Rural Livelihood Program (BRLP), Women Development Center (WDC) and District Industries Centre. Agarbatti mechanization has been introduced in 5 clusters. Accordingly 50 machines have been introduced in each cluster totalling 250 machines. The plan is to expand the same to 10,000 machines. While these

initiatives are appreciable in terms of reducing the drudgery of women, it will do little in terms of expanding the role of women Agarbatti rollers in the market sphere. It is here that PLOs of Agarbatti rollers could act as linkage institutions between the Agarbatti manufacturers and the Agarbatti producers; Federations of Agarbatti rollers could act as agencies which build the financial literacy, business and entrepreneurial capacities of Agarbatti rollers. Mechanization by increasing the productivity is likely to bring about reduction in per kg labour cost which in turn will affect the traditional Agarbatti rollers. Cluster level federations could also take up a larger role in terms of negotiating and fixing up a better return on produce.

3.7.2 People Public Private Partnership Model (PPP Model)

The proposed three tier institutional model would aim to build community enterprises. For this it would establish relationships with the other – public and private players.

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Role of PPP players

People

-This includes SHGs, PLOs, SHG Federations

-Demand for enterprises to emerge from the community.

-Demand for capacity building requirements to emerge from the community.

-Community to come out with an action plan for setting up Agarbatti enterprises.

-Community to establish partnership with Public and Private players.

-Community to identify locations for setting Agarbatti enterprises.

Public

-This includes various government agencies such as DRDA, DIC, KVIC,MSME etc.,

-Government institutions will provide the necessary aid required for setting community enterprises.

-Aid could be financial in terms of subsidy-cum-loans, physical in terms of space or equipment

-This also includes livelihood promotion institutions which could be NGOs or any other players engaged in livelihood promotion.

-LPOs to handle capacity building needs of CBOs.

-LPOs to facilitate marketing linkages.

-LPOs to provide business and entrepreneurial capacities of community enterprise members.

-LPOs to provide business development services to CBOs.

-LPOs to take up motivation campaigns; Information, education and communication; facilitate participatory planning and implementation; building linkages with resource institutions

Private

-This includes small / medium / large scale private enterprises which are involved in Agarbatti production and marketing.

-Private players would have direct relationship with the Federations thus eliminating the scope for involvement of middlemen.

-Private players pass on a larger share of the benefit tapping the potential of Federations.

3.8 ConclusionAs suggested above, promoting institutions of the poor Agarbatti rollers, offering financial services (credit and insurance), financial literacy and business development services, infrastructural services (storage spaces), promoting engagement with markets and higher end value addition processes can go a long way in overcoming the difficulties faced by Agarbatti rollers and to attain a higher returns on their labour. Sub-sector intervention should move beyond the objective to enhancing the income levels to also include the need to reduce women’s drudgery, address occupational health concerns and address the issue of child labour.

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4.1 An overview of SRI Paddy cultivation in IndiaThe System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a new and evolving alternative to conventional methods of rice cultivation. SRI was developed in Madagascar in the early1980s by Father Henri de Laulanie, a French priest. As Shambu Prasad, Prajit K Basu and Andrew Hall note: “SRI has evolved over two decades, involving 15 years of observation, experimentation and mastery in Madagascar. It rapidly spread to 21 countries in the next six years.” Uphoff and CIIFAD started popularizing SRI to other parts of the world in 1997, calling it the answer to the needs of farmers in the 21st century.23

Rice cultivation is the most important agricultural operation in the country, not only in terms of food security but also in terms of livelihood. It plays a major part in the diet, economy, employment, culture and history of India. Ninety percent of rice produced is consumed within the country. With 44 million hectares India ranks number one globally in paddy area and with 141.1 million

Chapter 4 - SRI Paddy subsector

tons (2007) stands next only to China in total paddy production.24

The area under rice accounts for 34 percent of India’s food crop and 42 percent of its cereal crop areas. There has been no net increase in the area of rice cultivation in the last 30 years. Yet rice contributes nearly 15 percent of India’s annual gross domestic product (GDP) and provides 31 percent of the total calorie supply. Paddy production has increased in India 4.5 times in the last 57 years - from 30.9 million tons (1950) to 141.1 million tons (2007). Enhancement in rice production is mainly credited to a productivity-led increase since harvested rice area for the corresponding period has expanded from 31 m ha to about 44 m ha accounting for only 42 percent increase. However, productivity improvement in rice is now increasing at a much slower rate (deceleration) than during earlier decades.25

The country needs to increase its food grain production to 450 million tons by the year 2050 to meet its food security. Increase in paddy production will have to come from the same area

23H HimanshuThakker, http://www.sandrp.in/sri/sriintro24SRI Factsheet India, http://www.sri-india.net/documents/INDIA.pdf25Ibid.,

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or even a reduced area. This means the future of rice production has to come by improving yields. The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) – introduced in India in 2000 when the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) initiated experiments involving SRI principles – provides an option to improve yields whilst simultaneously reducing other inputs.

The TNAU’s experimental results in 2000 were followed by an evaluation on farmers’ fields and in 2003, TNAU passed SRI for adoption by rice farmers in of the state. Andhra Pradesh was next, when the Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University (ANGRAU) introduced SRI in farmers’ fields during Kharif 2003. The Andhra Pradesh experience generated nationwide interest and today, SRI is gaining popularity in the rice growing states of the country and is being practiced in more than 150 rice-growing districts (rice is grown in 564 districts in the country) by hundreds of thousands of farmers from all over the country. The results are very encouraging. Several agricultural universities and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes have also taken up research on SRI. Many organizations, governmental and nongovernmental (NGOs), are involved in actively promoting SRI. Indeed, NGOs are playing a leading role in promoting SRI particularly supporting small and marginal farmers in many states. Since its inception in 2000, SRI has proved itself and is today part of the National Food Security Mission, as a method to improve rice production.26

4.2 Factsheet – Rice cultivation in IndiaThe important place rice cultivation has in Indian agriculture sector is evident from the table below. With 33% of the total cultivable land in India under rice, it ranks right at the top. Its significance comes from the fact that it is both a source of livelihood for a large number of farmers and also as an important part of food security for the producers as well as the country. By extension, the importance of rice cultivation is even more in Bihar with 57% of the area under rice cultivation. However, the point of serious concern is that despite its central role in the state’s agriculture sector, the

productivity (11.20 Qtls/Ha) is almost half the national average. It is even more dismal when compared to states such as Punjab (40.10 Qtls/Ha) and Haryana (30.01 Qtls/Ha).27

Rice cultivation in India and Bihar

INDIA BIHAR GAYA

Total geographical area (million ha)

329 9.359 0.493

Total cultivable area (million ha)

126.92 5.55 0.171

Total paddy area (million ha)

42.56 3.21 0.054 (2010)* 0.124 (2009)

Paddy area (%) to total cultivable area

33.5% 57% 31% (2010)* 70% (2009)

Total paddy production (million tons)

95.33 3.60 0.060 (2010)* 0.220 (2009)

Paddy productivity (Quintals /ha)

22.06 11.20 11.17 (2010)* 17.69 (2009)

Source: (1) Ministry of Agriculture, GoI and Department of Agriculture, GoB, 2010.(2) Economic Survey 2011-2012, Government of Bihar, 2012.

*The table provides figures for Gaya for two reporting years (2008-09 and 2009-10). Theagriculture season of 2010 was severely affected by climatic conditions and therefore cannot be considered as representative of the district. The figures for the year 2008-09 are therefore provided for a more informed discussion.

A large number of rice cultivators have land holding of less than an acre. With such fragmented landholding and high levels of poverty among this group, one of the most cost-effective ways to improve their economic condition is to support interventions that will help poor farmers improve their productivity without a corresponding increase in cultivation costs or without requiring inputs that are beyond the reach of these farmers. System for Rice Intensification or SRI is one such tested method. It enables rice cultivators to achieve a quantum jump in productivity without any radical change in the practices except additional labour. Since the marginal cost of agriculture labour is very low, the benefit in terms of increased production and sale value is extremely high. As mentioned

26Ibid.,27See http://eands.dacnet.nic.in/At_A_Glance-2011/4.6(a).xls for more details.

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in the introduction to this chapter, studies conducted by universities and civil society organizations have demonstrated the advantage of SRI techniques quite convincingly. The state government of Bihar has formally endorsed this and provided services to promote it on a large scale.

4.3 System for Rice Intensification or SRI

4.3.1. The concept and technology:

SRI is a collection of several evolving practices in nursery management, time of transplanting, water and weed management. It is a different way of cultivating rice crop though the fundamental practices remain more or less same like in the conventional method; it just emphasizes altering of certain agronomic practices of the conventional way of rice cultivation. SRI is not a fixed package of technical specifications, but a system of production with four main components, viz., soil fertility management, planting method, weed control and water (irrigation) management.

The innovation and adaptation of key steps in SRI are based on the following principles that impacts productivity:

1. Rice plant seedlings should be transplanted very young (usually just 8-12 days old) with just two small leaves

2. Seedlings should be transplanted carefully and quickly to inflict minimum trauma to the roots.

3. Seedlings should be transplanted singly, with only one per hill instead of 3-4 together to avoid root competition.

4. Seedlings should be widely spaced to encourage greater root and canopy growth.

5. Seedlings should be transplanted in a square grid pattern (25x25 cm or wider in good quality soil)

These key crop husbandry steps improve the health of the seedlings and eventually the production by altering the bio-physical properties of the soil and plant-growth in the following ways:

1. Soil is kept moist but well-drained and aerobic, with good structure and enough organic matter to support increased biological activity. The quality and health of the soil is the key to best production.

2. Only a minimum amount of water is applied during the vegetative growth period, and thereafter only a thin layer of water is maintained on the field during flowering and grain-filling. Alternatively, to save labour time, some farmers flood and drain (dry) their fields in 3-5 day cycles with good results. Best water management practices depend on soil type, labour availability and other factors, so farmers should experiment on how best to apply the principle of having moist but well-drained soil while their rice plants are growing.

3. Soil nutrient supplies should be augmented, preferably with compost, made from any available biomass. Better quality compost such as with manure can give additional yield advantages. Chemical fertilizer can be used and gives better results than with no nutrient amendments, but it does not enhance soil structure and microbial communities in the Rhizosphere as applying organic matter accomplishes. At least initially, nutrient amendments may not be necessary to achieve higher yields with the other SRI practices, but it is desirable to build up soil fertility over time. Root exudation, greater with SRI, enhances soil fertility.

4. Since weeds become a problem in fields that are not kept flooded, weeding is necessary several times, starting 10-12 days after transplanting, and if possible, every 10-12 days until before the canopy closes. Using a rotary hoe -- a simple, inexpensive, mechanical push-weeder -- has the advantage of aerating the soil at the same time that weeds are eliminated. (They are left in the soil to decompose so their nutrients are not lost.) Additional weedings beyond two can increase yield more than enough under most conditions to more than justify the added labour costs.

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4.3.2. Key components of SRI

The above figures give a graphical presentation of the key components of SRI practice that operationalizes the science and concepts listed in the earlier section.

4.3.3 SRI expansion in India

Besides the pioneering initiatives in Tamil Nadu, the NGO PRADAN introduced SRI inthe Purulia district of West Bengal state in 2003. Over the years, the practice gained popularity in the state and neighbouring states including Bihar. State government of Bihar endorsed the idea through a support programme call SRIVIDHI that provided inputs and extension services to participant farmers. There are reports of farmers improving 28Media has reported a world record production of 224 quintals per hectare in Nalanda district. http://www.bihartimes.in/Newsbihar/2012/April/newsbihar16April8.html

Source: http://info.worldbank.org/etools/docs/library/245848/applying.html#

their productivity exponentially28 and that the new techniques are slowly gaining acceptance amongst farmers who were skeptical during the initial years of its introduction.

With a high preponderance of small land holding and low-input agriculture practices in Bihar, including Gaya district, the propagation of SRI approach to rice cultivation is an appropriate choice of options to improve income in a sustainable manner. As the table below shows the Cost-Benefit of a transition from traditional rice cultivation practices to SRI technique is extremely attractive. It not only reduces the cost of cultivation (12.45% less), but also increases the production by a very large margin (50.6% more).

Key components of SRI

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4.3.4 Benefits of SRI

Comparative analysis of SRI

Parameter Non-SRI SRIDifference of SRI over Non

SRI (%)

Irrigation requirement (Rs /Ha)

800 800 0

Input costs (Rs / Ha) 8,670 6,920 20% less

Other costs of cultivation (Rs/Ha)

16,025 14,600 8.9 % less

Total cultivation cost (Rs /Ha)

25,495 22,320 12.45% less

Productivity (Qtls/Ha) 37.00 55.75 50.6 % higher

Sale Value of produce (Rs/ha)

37,000 55,750 50.6 % higher

Benefit cost ratio 1.66 2.82 70% higher

Source: Field trails and studies conducted by Indian Grameen Services, Jharkhand.

The benefits of SRI is further optimized when the extension services are packaged with other interventions that address some of the persistent constraints and barriers faced by farmers in Gaya, and more so by small and marginal farmers. These include high cost of irrigation, spurious seeds and fertilizers in the market, and lack of adequate storage capacity. Therefore, by creating physical infrastructure for augmenting irrigation sources, storage warehouses, developing institutional arrangement for quality inputs supply and capacity building of PRIs or farmers organizations to be good extension agents, the benefits of SRI can be further improved.

4.4 Need to expand the adaptation of SRI in Gaya.With such a proven track record for increasing the productivity and income, SRI has demonstrated its relative strengths as a preferred choice of intervention for small land holding farmers. Increased focus on promoting this activity can be further justified by the fact that a transition from traditional rice cultivation to SRI is best suited for poor farmers with small land

holdings because it requires minimal addition to their agriculture implements and virtually no additional money for inputs. While it does not add significantly to additional employment opportunities, it alleviates the problem of under-employment of rural population by tapping the available labour surplus and converting it into additional production and income. With the same labour force, cultivators are able to secure higher income, thereby improving the marginal cost benefit of agriculture labour.

4.5 Recommendations for popularizing SRI in Gaya

4.5.1 Ensuring participation of wider stakeholders

An expanded program for SRI will enlist the participation of Revenue officials involved in land settlements and consolidation, Agriculture input Suppliers, Government/NGO Extension Agents, Credit Institution and fellow farmers extension agents. Since the tradition of share-cropping is very prevalent in Gaya, the relationship between lessee and landlord needs to be made more transparent so that the terms of lease of land is fair and the entitlements of both parties secure through enforceable contracts. Community organizers can help in mediating the terms of lease. As things stand today, government agencies and their staff are not geared towards providing specialized support services for SRI. Even though the Government of Bihar has actively advocated adoption of SRI technique and even made budgetary provisions for a program (SRI Vidhi), the capacity of the existing extension staff and agricultural universities and research stations are geared towards traditional crops and practices.

4.5.2 Augmenting irrigation

Even though additional irrigation is not a pre-requisite for SRI techniques in itself, augmentation of irrigation sources will have tremendous positive impact on the productivity. Therefore a comprehensive SRI programme can provide financial support in this regard.

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4.5.3 Additional services

Additional services that can be bundled with extension and irrigation are:

(i) crop insurance,

(ii) warehousing facility,

(iii) de-husking / de-shelling machines,

(iv) transportation facilities for collective marketing, and

(v) tie-up with rice mills and other key players in down-stream value-chain,

(vi) transparent marketing and reforms in the mandate and functioning of Primary Agriculture Cooperatives (PACS)

to ensure cost-efficient and timely input supply and marketing services including remunerative procurement price and timely payment so that incidences of distress-sale of rice production can be minimized.

The table on the next page gives a SWOL (Strength, weakness, opportunities and Limitations) analysis for an expanded SRI promotion program in Gaya district.

SWOL Analysis of promotion of SRI techniques in Gaya district

Pre-production stage Production stage Processing stage Marketing stage

Strengths Favourable Agro-climate Huge area under cultivation of paddy

Economy of scale due to higher production

Collective bargaining due to larger batch size.

Well established network of agri-input suppliers

Farmer aware of latest seed/fertilizer/ pesticide options

Presence of civil society agencies.

Weaknesses Lack of Agri-extension support

Higher irrigation cost Lack of adequate storage facility.

Presence of middlemen traders at different levels

High transportation cost of agri-inputs for most areas

Low yield as compared to state’s average and the area of production

Lack of credit availability to withhold stock

High incidence of distress sale

Spurious seeds and fertilizers

Misperceptions about soil chemistry and nutrient requirements.

Lack of processing facility

Difficulty in accessing credit

Opportunities Collective input procurement

Pooled irrigation with effective methods/ Provision of electricity for irrigation

Huge potential of dairy industry and therefore growing feed requirement

High seasonal price fluctuation

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4.5.4 Community-based institutional model

Though Gaya District is nationally known for SRI Paddy cultivation, the income levels of the paddy cultivators from this district continues to be below potential. Despite tremendous scope for better returns from other segments of the agri-value chain, lack of appropriate institutional base has restricted the gains of SRI to only farm level-productivity enhancement. Keeping this constraint in mind the following three-tier institutional model is suggested:

Tier – 1: Farmers’ Clubs (FC): The Farmers’ Clubs are the foundation for the three-tier structure. One member from each farming family will be given membership in the FC and the women and men are equally given opportunity to get membership. The family will have an opportunity to decide whether the male or female member were to join the FC. To ensure adequate participation and representation, the size of the farmer club will be in kept between 10 – 20 members. The farmer club is expected to

• Have a name. Example: Jai KisanFarmers Club

• Open a bank account in the name of the FC

• Elect two members democratically by the general body to lead the group

• Have regular monthly meetings

• Encourage members to make monthly savings

• Have internal lending activity with the

saving amount and try to leverage financial support from the banks/ NGOs/other funding agencies to prevent farmers’ dependency on moneylenders.

• To provide a platform for the farming communities to discuss issues related to farming of paddy through SRI technique (this can also be done by calling formal special meetings and informal discussions).

• Take the lead role in motivating its own members to be part of the training programmes and aggregation activities.

Tier – 2: Village Level Federation: The village level federation is the next level tier to the FC and will be an unregistered federation. The village level federation will be formed with representation from FCs in the village. While members from all the FCs form the general body of the Village Level Federation, one leader and one member from each FC will form the executive committee of the federation. Further, the executive committee will elect the office bearers to take care of day-to-day functions of the village level federation.

The village level federation is expected to:

• be a bridge between the Farmer Club and the apex level institution

• support the FCs to emerge as self-managed groups in terms of both financial and non-financial activities

• generate some financial resources from the FC members in the form of membership fee and share capital

Pre-production stage Production stage Processing stage Marketing stage

Opportunities Provision of crop loan through revolving fund for small and marginal farmers

Better crop-rotation and inter-cropping practices; Use of bio-fertilizers, bio-pesticides and micro-nutrients

Forward linkages with rice mills

Interim payment through marketing loans

Provision of storage structure

Limitations Volatility in farm produce prices

Degrading soil quality with over-application of fertilizer has already affected yield of paddy

Cartelization of existing processing units

Collective marketing through rural business hubs and producer groups

Policy changes effecting input costs

Erratic power supply for processing

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• to take a lead role in facilitating supply of farm equipment that are essential for SRI cultivation with the support of the apex federation

• act as a rating agency for the FCs and help the FCs in establishing bank linkages

Tier – 3: Producer Company: The next level tier to the village level federations is the apex organization in the form of a Producer Company (PC). PC will be a registered organization under companies act as a “Farmer Producer Company”. The farmer producer company is expected to have at least 3000 farmers as shareholders in the company. The promoting agency can then decide accordingly on how many villages need to be brought into the fold of the producer company. The producer company is expected to take-up the following roles to bring better benefits to the farming communities:

• Understand the financial and non-financial needs of the farming communities for effective adoption of SRI

• To enable farmers to have better access to required farm equipment like ploughing tools, weeders, markers etc.

• Arrange inputs to the farming communities through bulk procurement to reduce input costs and ensure quality and timely use.

• Aggregate farmers produce and estab lish market linkages to realize better price for the produce.

• Deliver the services with the support of the village level federations and FCs.

• To create storage facilities at village level and manage them effectively.

• In long run, mobilize funds to take up processing activity and establish such processing units

• To establish collaborations with different players to leverage resources and government schemes to establish storage and processing units etc.

Strengths of the institutional structure: The above mentioned institutional structure has been proposed keeping in view the following strengths of such a model:

• Create equal opportunity for men and women to be part of the institutional structure as per their choice.

• Savings activity is ensured at FC level that cultivates the habit at the household level. This will further enable the FC to have some funds to lend to their members; thereby preventing farmers’ dependency on moneylenders and agents.

• The Village Level Federation will be a nurturing agency to the FCs and provide required handholding support to shape the FCs as self-managed and responsible farmers groups.

• The institutional model will provide balanced financial and technical services. The FCs will take lead role in financial services and the producer company will take care of technical support services

• The structure shall enable farming communities be a part of the next level of the value chain i.e. production to processing and marketing. This process will fetch additional income to the farming communities.

• By ensuring a minimum number of 3000 farmers, the scale of operations will improve self-sustainability of the institution.

• Managing many legal entities will be difficult task for the communities. Thus the apex institution i.e. Producer Company will be the only legally registered entity.

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Institutional arrangement determines the success of any livelihood project and its sustainability. In the entire process of livelihood mapping across three subsectors, different institutional structures were suggested based on the dynamics of the subsector, the opportunities for the community to move to the next stages of the subsector value-chain, the capacities of the community and scope of convergences. However, the livelihood promoting agency will have to carefully strategize the capacity building programme in a manner that the community level institutions are able to eventually become self-governed viable business organizations.

Current status of community based institution: Except in a few instances like Women Development Corporation (WDC), Watershed projects and locations with NGO intervention, community based institutions are not strong enough to carry out their mandate. In many locations across the district, poor and marginalized sections are still unorganized. Therefore, there is no readily available ground to launch either the subsector activities in the district or directly provide support to the SHGs or SHG federations to start the subsector activities. After understanding the current status of community based institutions’ conditions, the following suggestions are made for all the subsectors:

• There should be a facilitating agency, which may be a government project team or an NGO to implement the subsector interventions. Without such field level support, it is highly unlikely that the SHGs can be helped directly to create strong self-governing higher tiers of institutions.

• To launch any subsector activity, at least the first six months must be dedicated to the process of community mobilization and to build the skeletal structure of the institutions. This period can be effectively utilized for familiarizing the community with the idea of the project objectives and the role of the community and their institutions in implementation of the proposed project.

Chapter 5 - Assisting the Community based Institutions for Sub sector interventions

Even after the 6 months, the community capacity building process will continue as per the progress of the project.

• Capacity building calendars must be developed with appropriate milestones and performance standards to train the community and their institutions to take active part in the project implementation process as demanded by the institutional dynamics of an evolving project.

• Capacity building is a structured process and every step in this process has its own role in impacting the project’s success. Therefore, to conduct the capacity building events for the proposed multi-tiered institutions, a team of professionals should be made available for delivering the inputs.

• Mere class room trainings are not enough and the community and their institutions need to be provided handholding support in converting their learning into action.

• The learning needs of the community and their institutional structures are not static and they change according to the progress of the project. Therefore the project implementation agency must be aware of the dynamics and need to respond appropriately.

• Farmer trainers or Farmer Facilitators have to be developed by having a series of Training of Trainers (ToTs). These ‘trainers’ shall be identified by the project team based on certain traits that are required for this objective. These trainers will perform and manage ‘echo trainings’ wherein the project trainers will hand-hold these trainings until the time the farmer trainers are capacitated to develop and manage these trainings on their own.

• The phase-over plan should be determined carefully so as to hand over the steering responsibilities to the community. Accordingly, the entire capacity building strategy needs to be designed in a manner that it is synchronous with the tapering support functions of the facilitating agency.

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Looking at each subsector intensively through a subsector approach made it clear that Goat-Rearing and SRI paddy cultivation are potential interventions for scaling up in the district and bringing many families into this livelihood activity. Agarbatti subsector needs to be considered for improvising the efficiency rather than up-scaling, i.e., a bit more of innovation on both the social and technical side first needs to be exercised.

Up-scaling a livelihood activity requires intensive investments in financial and human resources. Therefore having handful of success models is important to serve as demonstration. A robust subsector activity requires a well-planned long-term strategy. Thus the following strategy can be adopted for scaling up of the subsector interventions and to bring many families into the activity:

1. Scaling up any subsector intervention is a mid-term to long-term initiative and the readiness and capacity of the Livelihood promoting agency in terms of both monetary and human resources deployment must be carefully evaluated.

2. Potential locations (group of villages/ panchayats/ blocks) for initiating the project intervention need to be carefully identified to ensure a match between resource endowment and project requirements

3. On identification of the potential locations, they need to be shortlisted on the basis of

a. possibilities of community mobilization and institution building

b. aggregation

c. marketing, and

d. accessibility to infrastructure

4. In the shortlisted locations the project interventions can be initiated as per the recommendations made for each subsector. Further, the process of the project implementation needs to be documented and the difficulties faced carefully analysed.

Chapter 6 - Strategy for taking up the initiatives on a larger scale

This process can give lead to an effective scaling up plan.

5. A rigorous monitoring and analysis of difficulties encountered in the project implementation process must include parameters on community mobilization, institution building and management, resource mobilization, aggregation, processing, value addition and marketing, leveraging of government schemes, risk factors and policy implications. Timely detection of deviation from the designed process or an unexpected change in the local socio-economic-political environment must be followed by a prompt corrective measure based on the learning from the monitoring and learning systems.

6. Constant engagement with all contributing players in the project will help pool collective resources and seek consensus on solutions to overcome difficulties. This is important for institutionalization and internalization (ownership of decisions) of the lessons learnt.

7. Finally ‘Research and Development’ should be made part of the process for effective utilization of the contemporary technologies for productivity enhancement and risk reduction.

The Agarbatti sub-sector requires interventions that strengthen the existing operations rather than scale them up. Since low wage employment is the predominant issue in the subsector, creating avenues for the women to move to the next level of value-chain (in this case aggregation, scenting, and marketing) is likely to fetch better income for the women. While the market forces are not favourable for women to move up to the next level of value chain, the livelihood promoting agency needs to lobby strongly for public policy reforms so that conditions are created that provide incentives for higher participation of women through gender sensitive capacity building programs.

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The study team enquired into the investment priorities of the community in case of an increase in income. The community from three livelihood activities namely Agarbatti rolling, SRI Paddy and Goat-rearing were primarily from dalit, Maha-dalit, Other Backward Classes and Muslim households. Largely three types of investment priorities were expressed by the community, some commonalities and differences could be observed in terms of the needs expressed:

Housing

Housing was the most expressed need especially among the Maha-dalit and dalit households. The current dwellings of the mahadalit and dalit households are kuchha (weak, temporary) houses. These are constructed using mud and wheat straw. Leakages during the rainy season are quite common. They also need to regularly repair their walls and roof. Agarbatti rollers expressed that this also prevents them from drying the rolled Agarbatti during the rainy season. The community estimated that around

Chapter 7 - Special needs of the community

Rs. 35,000 to 40,000 is the minimum investment required to construct a house with three small sized rooms.

Livelihood investment

Marginal and small farmers and small goat farmers felt the need for diverting additional income towards expanding their livelihood activities. These households lack access to formal credit sources for accessing credit for investment purposes. The investment could be towards purchase of goats, supporting subsidiary economic activity etc.

Children’s education

Investment towards children’s education was largely articulated by Muslim and Maha-dalit households involved in Agarbatti rolling. One of the aspects found in these households is the prevalence of the practice of child labour – whereby children support the elder female members in the rolling process. The community felt that an enhanced income will help them to provide their children a good education.

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PashuSakhi is a semi-literate or illiterate woman from the village who is trained and supported in field to disseminate appropriate goat management practices, ensure preventative livestock health care and undertake first aid services to ailing goats. Delivery of such services at doorstep, on time at first symptoms and within low cost in a women friendly approach is hallmark of the PashuSakhi system.

Selection criteria for women PashuSakhi –

1. Education – writing and reading (5th pass minimum) and passes a test

2. Interest in Livestock (should have been keeping Goats and directly involved in upkeep)

3. Should have grown-up child, cooperative husband (Involve while selection)

4. Need of getting small paltry income

5. Additional criteria –Should have educated daughter or obedient son to help in activity

Process –

- Organise a small meet to understand aspiration, interest

- Share the business plan and roles and responsibilities

- Help them to increase self-confidence

- Motivate about social (recognitions, reputation) and economic return

- Growth plan and career growth

Training – All selected female PashuSakhis will be provided a training of not less than 5 days, members will be paid for transport and boarding. Those not able to attend complete training will have no right to practice and can be accommodated in next training.

Roles and responsibilities –

- Follow the calendar of practices (deworming, vaccination)

- Regularly visit goat farmers to assess cleanliness, sanitation practices like white washing, proper ventilation, water logging,

Annexure – 1The PashuSakhi Model29

drinking water quality

- Periodically assess feeding system – mineral mixture, salt, part concentrate (Grain)

- Organise training and self-evaluation exercise

- Promote concept of community insurance, collect premiums and documentation of claims

- Inform members about training at promoting agency and external person visit

- Disease diagnosis, first-aid treatment of diseases and filling of format

- Attending monthly meetings at promoting agency and submitting data in required format

- Attend any training promoting agency organizes or nominates to

- To maintain the medicine stock as per list provided in right quantity

Payments and Incentives

Promoting agency will organize training of selected female members and will provide a Community Livestock Manager (CLM) for two years.

Process of promotion –

Step -1 Area problem analysis in context of Goats’ management, feeding and major diseases; designing of training module for PashuSakhi; and support team orientation Step -2 Developing reporting and monitoring formats for data and capacity building plan of PashuSakhi

Step -3 Actual training of PashuSakhis (5 Days residential)

Step -4 24 structured monthly meetings as follow-up of training with one dedicated meeting on work performance, medicine stocking and one on further capacity building

Step -5 Refresher training of PashuSakhi29Livestock Nurse (pashuSakhi) model described here is based on The Goat Trust (www.goattrust.org) guidelines

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Duration and content of each stage Step -1: Three days field visit, format for data collection by team, Analysis and Report writing

Step -2: Developing the monitoring and reporting format for PashuSakhi system (Treatment record, Stock Register, Productivity monitoring Register, Birth and mortality register)

Step 3: Major Training Content

• Role and responsibilities of PashuSakhi

• Characteristics of a healthy animal

• Characteristics of a good dairy animal

• Concept of body scoring of goats

• Concept of health in relation to sanitation and major sanitary practices

• Difference between healthy and unhealthy animals

• Health Indicators – Normal and aberrations - Temperature, heartbeat, respiration

• Use of thermometer, practicals on temperature recording, respiration, heart beat counting

• Concept of feeds &feeding – roughage and concentrate

• How to plan balanced ration

• Cultivation and preservation of fodder

• Housing and watering and its relation with health : some good practices

• Major communicable and non-communicable diseases in goats

• Concept of vaccines and vaccination

• Diagnosis of primary diseases

• List of first-aid medicines and doses

• Practicals

• Stick maintenance, pricing of services and products

• Major records and data to be kept

Step 5: Refresher Training; based on field assessment and trends observed to reinforce major learning and strengthen focus on keeping animal healthy through better feeding and sanitation:

• Promoting agency will provide a first time first-aid kit after training free of cost (But can be recovered if practice in field has not been satisfactory)

• Promoting agency will provide Rs. 300 per month for one year provided she provides above mentioned services to the promoting agency. For next six months it will be Rs. 150. Thereafter payment will be negotiated on assignment basis.

• Promoting agency will organize refresher training for successful PashuSakhis after one year.

• Promoting agency will organize quarterly review of cluster based PashuSakhis and will provide incentives and prizes as per performance. Incentives will be decided by a peer and client ranking as well as appraisal by Promoting agency staff.

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Objectives

The objectives of the study are: -

• To Identify and prioritize key livelihood activities in a district based on its impact on poverty alleviation.

• Understand the typical livelihood portfolio of a poor household, with a special focus on gender dimensions.

• Understand the production, processing and distribution system.

• Understand the value additions at different stages of the value chain.

• Identify constraints and barriers at various stages of the value chain.

• Propose an alternative institutional mechanism which can support SHG women engaged in the economic activity.

Methodology

The standard subsector methodology can include: -

• Preparing a preliminary sub-sector map

• Refining understanding of sub-sector

• Analyzing sub-sector dynamics and leverage points

• Choosing intervention point

Sampling Strategy

Sub-sector clusters with high prevalence of the specified economic activity to be chosen. Clusters to be identified representing diversity of socio-economic groups, agro-climatic conditions, level of backwardness etc. Sample will be calculated based on the size of study subject universe and the typologies involved. Stratified random sampling will be resorted to wherever possible.

Major tools to be used

The data collection tools used could be

• Review of literature, records and documents

• Focused Group Discussions (FGDs)

• Key informant interviews

People to be interviewed

- Individuals directly engaged in the economic activity

- Individuals engaged in various stages of the value chain

- Representatives of nodal governmental and civil society organizations.

- Representatives of various interest groups/coalitions such as producer unions, activists.

- Elected leaders whose constituency includes livelihood earners.

Estimated Time line

This time starts when the location (e.g. a specific district) is decided

Sl. No.

Particulars Estimated Time

1 Secondary Literature research - District & Subsector

1 week

2 Development of Tools of data collection, including pre-testing

2 weeks

3 Subsector field study

4 - Interactions with community 2 weeks

5 - Interactions with value chain players – input supplier, manufacturers, wholesale traders, retail traders etc.,

2 week

6 - Interaction with other stakeholders (Government , NGO, private players)

1 week

7 Data analysis 1 week

8 Reporting 1 week

Total 10 weeks

The time allocated for these important steps are indicative if done on a stand-alone basis. However, in practice, many of these tasks can be attended to simultaneously. Therefore the above tasks that add up to 10 weeks will be actually spread over 8 weeks.

Annexure – 2Guidelines for District-level Sub-sector Study

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Notes :

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Notes :

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Notes :

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National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

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Phone +91-22-26539345Telefax +91-22-26530098

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