Focus on agriculture and food processing

Kudumbasree micro-enterprise projects in the district, with focus on agriculture and food processing, have contributed immensely to the food security of the State. Some of these projects, such as paddy and vegetable cultivation, 'nutrimix' baby food, 'nature fresh' milk, poultry, etc., are found very popular.Being an agriculture district, the majority of Kudumbasree projects taken up here are agriculture and dairy-based. The uniqueness of the food products, its quality and branding have helped to capture new markets in the country and abroad competing with products of even multinational companies. The Kudumbasree women's empowerment programme has now become a mass movement in the district that could address some of the basic problems faced by the marginalised women.The district has the largest number of neighbourhood groups (NHGs) in the State – 21,651 NHGs cover 3,35,401 families. They have a total credit of Rs.288 crore, bank loans of Rs.55 crore, and savings of Rs.106 crore. There are 1,355 micro-enterprises and these are Palakkad-specific.One major activity is lease land and fallow land farming. During this fiscal, an area of 2,240 hectares is under cultivation and another 902 ha is being brought under paddy cultivation (second crop). Kudumbasree district coordinator Saidalavi says 'Samagra,' a micro-enterprise for branding, has made the products competitive. The cluster system has been introduced for common facility centres, value-addition, packing, branding and market linkage.The biggest project being taken up this year is comprehensive development of 'kondattam.' The Rs.2.18-crore project aims at producing 715.5 tonnes of kondattam a year by setting up 24 common facility centres. These centres will produce 24 varieties of kondattam and provide permanent job to 480 women.The 'Amirtha Sree' group at Valiyangadi in the town has been engaged in producing kondattam, rice powder, and idli and dosa mix for the last four years. It has established its own machinery for Rs.2.25 lakh, with government subsidy and Rs.1.25 lakh as bank loan. Group leader Yeshoda says they are getting a good number of orders. Another success story is that of 'Aiswarya Sree,' a unit of 17 women at Thirumittacode which is engaged in manufacturing nutrimix, powder of spices, paper carry-bags, etc. Group leader Suhara says "we are getting good demand for nutrimix and other products. From the profit we have bought 5 cents of land and a building, at a cost of Rs.5.6 lakh, is being constructed. We have a pension scheme of our own, for which we deposit a fixed amount. Once we retire we get a small pension. All our members are engaged in making these products and they take a daily salary of Rs.100."At Kannadi panchayat near Palakkad town, 'nature fresh milk' (Kannadi fresh) is being produced by 50 dairy farmers and this is supplied to consumers within half an hour as branded and bottled milk. Similar mini-dairies are planned at 10 panchayats. In another five panchayats, 10,000 families are organised under a backyard dairy project.Three food processing centres are being set up at Ambalappara, Kappur and Alathur for value-addition, branding and standardisation of food products. At Alathur, the units will produce ready-to-eat food items, chips, instant mix, etc.At four panchayats, 40 groups of 200 families will take up vegetable cultivation. In Malampuzha block panchayat, 'Annam,' a multi-project involving agriculture, dairy and poultry is conceived with a manufacturing and marketing network. The 'Samagra' model project at Alathur grama panchayat concentrates on various types of rice and rice products.The 'Shiva Shakthi' unit at Kanakkannur in Pudukkode grama panchayat is cultivating paddy in 2 acres for a couple of years. It has bought 61 cents from it taking a bank loan of Rs.1 lakh. Group leader Sujatha says they are making a reasonable profit and have paid back half of the loan amount. Now they wanted to take another loan to buy 60 more cents of land.Coordinator of Income Generating (IG) groups of AHADS (Attappady Hills Area Development Society) Clement Shelvaraj says all 213 IG groups under AHADS will be integrated with Kudumbasree projects. AHADS will cease to end its operations by 2010. Already 20 groups have got integrated with Kudumbasree. There are a number of groups exclusively of tribes performing well in Attappady. He says 60 per cent of the total 193 tribal hamlets are covered and the remaining will be covered in two years.The 'Jasmine' group at Chalayoor in Attappady is engaged in floriculture with bank loan. The 'Malleswara' group at Anakatti is engaged in processing tamarind. Group leader Pappa, a tribal woman, says they collect tamarind, process it and pack it and sell through the outlets of AHADS. Another exclusive tribal group, 'Yemuna' at Kulukkallur, is engaged in producing nutrient food products from local crops.Though there are problems in switching over from traditional methods of production and marketing, the micro- enterprises have become a success in the district.

The Hindu,8^th October 2008