Women Empowerment for Promoting Sustainable Livelihood in Rural India

WOMEN EMPOWERMENT FOR PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD IN RURAL INDIA

Dr. N.G. Hegde

Problems of Food Security

Over 35-40% of the rural population in India is living in poverty, deprived of basic amenities and food security. They are unemployed or underemployed and this is the primary cause of poverty. Most of them are illiterate, suffer from ill-health, suppressed by vested interests and are deprived of their due share and rights in the development due to poor governance. They are often addicted to alcohol, narcotics and other vices, which further de-motivate them from involving themselves in sustainable livelihood activities.

Over 85% of the rural families are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. However, due to denudation of natural resources, sub-division of their land holdings and fluctuations in climatic conditions, the income from agriculture has been dwindling steadily. Furthermore, introduction of new technologies and farming practices have given tremendous benefits to resourceful and educated farmers on the one hand, while depriving the small land holders of such benefits on the other hand. Women contribute to 65-70% of the labour in agriculture. As most of them are illiterate and unable to attend formal training courses leaving their domestic responsibilities, rural women trail in adopting new technologies and in taking advantage of modern scientific and information technologies. Furthermore, introduction of any new programme for promoting livelihood will further add to their burden, as they are already suffering from drudgery, ill-health, suppression and deprivation of their basic rights and status in the society. Therefore, women empowerment should be an important and integral component of the sustainable livelihood programme in rural India.

Poverty has a direct influence on food security and the rural poor and women in particular suffer the most during such scarcities and calamities. Thus, ensuring food security through women empowerment should be the primary goal of sustainable rural livelihood.

Women Empowerment

BAIF’s approach towards women empowerment covers the following aspects:

• Drudgery reduction
• Gender sensitization
• Capacity building
• Promotion of micro-enterprises
• Socio-economic equality

Indicators of Success: While promoting women empowerment, the participant women and the communities have recognised the success of the programme through two important indicators. Firstly, the women and their family members considered women’s ability to enhance their family income as an important indicator of success apart from the improvement in hygiene, sanitation, education of children and community health. At the community level, the ability of the women to take active part in various social development activities was considered to be the most important indicator of success. In many women empowerment programmes, which did not include promotion of any livelihood activities, women started demanding support for initiating various income generation activities. It can therefore be concluded that income generation or livelihood support activities should be an integral aspect of the women empowerment programme, while dealing with poor rural communities.

Promotion of Rural Livelihood through Women Self Help Groups

Most of the women Self Help Groups promoted under different development and micro-credit programmes are involved in savings through periodic collection from the members, recycling of this money among the members as micro-credit for consumptive and productive purposes and training of women members for initiating various micro-enterprises. Many Self Help Groups have progressed further to deal with various social issues such as education for girls, prevention of child marriages, struggle against liquor sale, promotion of community health, sanitation, establishment of community grain banks and protest against violence.

Promotion of micro-enterprises and various income generation activities is an important aspect of women empowerment. Although it is extremely difficult to find remunerative self-employment, there are enormous untapped opportunities in the rural sector. These include both on-farm and off-farm opportunities.

Advantages of On-Farm Activities: While promoting various income generation activities, agro-based activities have advantages because of the following reasons:

1. Target groups are acquainted with most of the basic skills.
2. Easy access to inputs.

3.Easy marketability as most of the outputs are locally consumed as food. Market for even cash crops has been well established.

4.As over 75-85% of the rural families own land and livestock, income generation activities can be initiated immediately without heavy capital investment.

5.Risk of failure due to improper technology, poor quality, low demand and poor price recovery are very low. Hence, the chances of success are high.

6.Infrastructure required for promotion of on-farm activities has been very well established. Hence, the entrepreneurs can progress even in backward regions, which are deprived of regular power supply and electronic information connectivity.

It is therefore advantageous to tap all the opportunities to promote various on-farm activities. The experience of BAIF has confirmed that the best strategy to promote income generation activities through SHGs is to analyse the on-going agro-based activities undertaken by the members and introduce suitable interventions to enhance the production. There are also excellent opportunities to improve post production handling of the produce through grading, storage, processing and marketing. Establishment of direct linkage with the consumers through establishment of consumer stores and farmers’ open markets in small and large towns will not only reduce the cost of marketing but also help in receiving feedback from the customers. Such direct interaction with the customers will help the farmers to improve the quality and variety of produce and enhance the profitability. Most of the agricultural products have stable prices and steady demand. Hence, the risk of price fluctuation and market glut is limited. As these products have good local demand, marketing cost is low. Most of the surplus can be stored to ensure food security in the future.

Non-farm Enterprises: In case of non-farm activities, most of the skills and inputs will have to be brought from outside. There is very limited scope for marketing these products locally. As some of the activities are new to the local women, the cost of starting the enterprise is very high. As a result, chances of success and sustainable growth of these enterprises are also very low.

The non-farm enterprises are often affected due to glut in the market, fall in prices due to competition and poor market distribution and outlet network. The enterpreneurs are not able to sustain such shocks and end up in deep financial crisis, which threaten their food security as well. It is therefore suggested that agro-based activities be promoted, followed by different non-farm activities, which will have greater chances of success and risk bearing ability. While the on-farm activities address food security, supplementary non-farm activities can contribute to rural prosperity.

Opportunities for Rural Micro-enterprises through SHGs

Enterprises / Preference
Women / Men
On-farm Activities
Crop production /  / 
Forestry, Sericulture /  / 
Agro Service Centres /  / 
Trade of Agri.products /  / 
Processing of food and forest products /  / 
Production of Agricultural inputs
- Bio-fertilizers
- Bio-pesticides
- Vermicompost / 
- Mushroom spawn production / 
- Seeds and Plants /  / 
- Cattle feed / 
Off-farm activities
Cottage Industries
- Pottery /  / 
- Smithy, Carpentry / 
- Textile /  / 
- Tailoring, Embroidery /  / 
- Production of building materials / 
Services
- Automobile hire and repairs / 
- Electrical works / 
- Civil construction / 
- Consumer stores / 

Micro Enterprises Promoted Through SHGS by BAIF

BAIF has promoted various micro-enterprises through Self Help Groups in different parts of the country. The list of micro-enterprises taken up by various SHGs is presented below.

1. Agriculture and Horticulture

Nursery raising, Grafting, Bee keeping, Garden management, Vermicompost production, Vegetable cultivation.

2. Animal Husbandry

Pisciculture, Piggery, Poultry, Goat rearing, Dairy Husbandry.

3. Medicinal Herbs / Food Processing

Processing of herbal medicines, food / fruits and vegetables, Sieving of flour and grains, Chillie pounding, Rice mill, Papad, Sugar ball machine, Sugarcane crusher, Oil expeller, Paddy thresher, Bakery.

4. General / Agro Services

Flour Mill, STD kiosk, Mike and acoustics system, Loudspeaker, Laundry, Barber, Cook, Masonry, Carpentry, Blacksmith, Welding, Tyre vulcanization, Air compressor, Motor rewinding, Photography, Cycle repair, Repair of two-wheelers, Hiring of motor cycles, Watch repair, Handpump repair, Electrical, Battery charging, Hiring of bullock cart, Horse cart, Hiring of donkeys, Shoe / footwear, Rickshaw puller, Camel trolley, Dish Antenna installation, Hire of Tents, Merry-go-round, Hiring of bicycles for school children, Agro-service centre, Hiring of cows and buffaloes, Cattle shoe fixing, Chaff cutter operation, Hiring of chairs and water drums for storage.

5. Production Of Utility Items

Hand trolley, Ropes, Fishing nets, Candles / Incense sticks, Brooms, Baskets, Furniture.

6. Construction Related Activities

Brick mould / brick kiln, Lime baking, Stone / tile polishing, Production of Cement poles, Doors and Windows, Stone breaking, Toilet accessories, Smithy.

7. Pottery

Pottery, Idol making, Special pots for using as drips in fruit orchards.

8. Textiles And Garments

Sewing, Tailoring, Weaving of blankets, Cushion work.

9. Handicrafts

Bamboo products, Clay and Earthen products.

10. Trades

Grocery, Petty shop, Grains, Tea stall / small hotel, Vegetables, Eggs, Dry fish, Meat, Sweets, Edible oil, Groundnut, Fruits, Jaggery, Betal leaves and arecanut, Bakery products, Ice cream, Coconut, Edible salt, Chillies, Puffed rice, Fruit juices, Soda water, Minor forest produce, Seeds, Gunny bags, Cattle feed, Fodder, Coal, Stationery, Clothes, Bangle, Cosmetics, Jewellery, Utensils, Aluminium, Furniture, Handicrafts, Framed photographs, Vocal instruments, Leather products / parcher, Metal tools / Plastic containers and bags, Chain pulley stores, Limestone, Cement, Iron box, fuelwood.

Among these activities, trade is the most popular activity followed by agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing. However, over a period of time, agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing supercede the trade as many individuals participate in enhancing their production at the family level and try to organise themselves to market them collectively. Other activities such as production of utility items, construction related activities, textile, handicrafts and pottery find it difficult to sustain due to poor marketing infrastructure, lack of proper feedback from the customers and competition from other sources.

Role of BAIF in Promoting Micro-Enterprises

BAIF has been playing the following role to promote micro-enterprises through women SHGs.

1. Motivation of the target communities, particularly women
2. Formation of Self Help Groups and their Federations
3. Introduction of drudgery reduction activities
4. Gender sensitization
5. Training and capacity building
6. Micro-finance – provision of credit facilities and linkage with banks
7. Development of infrastructure, particularly through the SHG Federations to provide necessary support services and marketing
8. Trade networking and establishment of market outlets

Women's Access to Credit

The Self Help Groups (SHG) initiated their activities of micro finance through their periodic contributions in the form of their savings. The funds generated through this contribution are initially used for circulation among the members. However, the money collected through savings of the members is significantly low compared to the needs of the members. To augment the financial needs, BAIF has been providing working capital from BAIF's internal resources or under the on going development projects. Subsequently, when the groups are confident of managing their own financing and when the members assume the responsibility of managing the funds, with a commitment to repay, the selected organizations are linked to the banks.

It is generally preferred to have a linkage between the SHG Federations and the banks rather than direct linkage with SHGs because of the volume of loan and cost of administration. There has been flexibility in this approach, depending on the location of the bank and their attitude towards the SHGs.

BAIF has also been helping the SHGs to develop their corpus by way of recovering cost of inputs and services provided under the projects. Such amounts repaid by the farmers have been kept with the community organisations for promoting various development activities particularly related to women empowerment.

Although, BAIF has been encouraging the SHGs to take their own decisions, the project team has been providing training and guidance from time to time. This has been helpful for the women groups to improve their micro enterprises and utilize the finance efficiently. BAIF has also been introducing various ideas on livelihood interventions to the local groups with a view to expose them to new ideas and better opportunities. Subsequently, the members of the interested SHGs take greater initiative to understand the details of the new activities and adopt them, if found suitable. This has brought them good success in their new initiatives.

Women's Access to Markets

The micro enterprises initiated by women were related to agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, trading, processing in agricultural commodities, fruits and vegetables and herbal medicines. Apart from these, there were many enterprises to provide services to local families. Looking to the wide range of enterprises initiated by the women's SHGs, there was a need to focus on marketing.

Primary focus was to provide services and supply of inputs to local communities. This was done through establishment of local outlets and even small kirana shops. Many of the food products processed by local groups had market within the villages itself and they offered door delivery. However, the women group felt that they must establish linkage with outside market to improve the quality of the profitability, through participation in local exhibitions, melas and setting their temporary stalls at the venues of seminars and workshops in the nearby cities. With BAIF's credibility, the women groups were able to get good response.

As the members of the SHG themselves participated in selling the products, they were able to get feedback from the customers with reference to the quality of the products, packing and pricing. This could help them in improving their performance further. The women's SHGs at Urulikanchan have established their Federation and set up a shop at Urulikanchan. While taking up production of various products, women groups have also focused on the needs of their members and priority has been given to the products which have local demand. In the event of poor sales of any particular commodity, the members purchased these products for their own consumption and prevented loss to their SHGs.

BAIF has also set up a shop in Pune where various products produced by the women's SHGs are displayed for sale. With good feedback from the consumers, these groups are able to improve their quality and introduce new products which have high profit margins and better salability. Thus, the stress is on establishing direct linkage with the customers to receive feedback from time to time. BAIF has also established a multi state marketing company under Section 581A to market the products across the country. This company is also trying to establish a linkage with bulk consumers and exporters for marketing the produce in large volumes.

Problems of Marketing: The present problem in marketing of the products produced by women's groups are:

1. Smaller volume with irregular supply
2. Variation in the quality
3. Poor and unattractive packing
4. Lack of supervision on the quality at production centres
5. Inefficient procurement and transportation resulting in high cost of marketing.
6. Delay in coping up with changing demand.
7. Lack of varieties and products needed to enhance the volume of business.
8. Competition from spurious producers and unfair traders.

The Vrindavan shop established by BAIF in Pune has been successful in attracting a large number of elite customers from urban areas. They are appreciating the efforts made by the rural women and are prepared to support them provided an organisation like BAIF is prepared to back up their quality with competitive prices. However, as most of the products are of low value, there is need for enhancing the volume of business which can be done by increasing a number of products exhibited for sale. Presently, this shop has over 90 products with an average sale of Rs. 2500 - 3000/- per day. We desire to exhibit 250-300 products in the shop to make a break even. Therefore, we are looking forward to promoting the products of various NGOs and small producers as well. We see great opportunity in establishing a chain of shops, provided we are able to develop our entrepreneurs to come up with a wide range of products with good quality and regularity in supply.

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