Himalayan Action Research Centre (HARC)

Annual Report – 2008-09

Context:

Himalayan Action Research Centre, with the financial support from CORDAID, has implemented an institutional project “Enhancing agri business activities through self help promotion groups for the better livelihoods of marginal farmers of Uttrakhand State of India” in April 2006. The major goal of the project is ensuring food security, economic security, social security and livelihoods of rural poor in Uttarakhand through promoting agri and agri allied business activities and facilitating the market linkages. The main focus has been on three key areas (i) promotion of self help promotion system by organizing and strengthening community-based institutions (ii) pre and post harvesting technical interventions and promotion of rural technology (iii) entrepreneurship development and facilitating market linkages. This was the final year of the project so some impact assessment studies were also conducted in the last quarter of the year. The findings of the participatory impact assessment study, conducted in 2008 by CIDDIN, Radbound University Nejmegen, Netherlands has also been shared by them at HARC office. During this year HARC with the support of external experts, Board of Directors and team members finalized its strategy for next five years.

During the third year of implementation of the project many developmental changes at Governmnet level have taken place in Uttarakhand. Panchayat election was due in 2008, so electeion were conducted in Aug 2008. Due to the political environment at local level and electoral processes, HARC has to slow down the pace of its missions in the area. In April 2008, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a livelihood scheme, was also implemented in Uttarkashi district by Govt. of Uttranachal. This scheme is being implemented at panchayat level. So, all the relevant information on the scheme was disseminated to make people aware of getting benefit of the scheme.

One of the major steps taken by Uttarakhand Government in 2008 was reservation of 50% of seats for women of Uttarakhand in local self governance institutions. Earlier it was 33% but the state Government increased it up to 50%. This has been implemented from 2008 in recent elections for local government. Now at every level women are representing 50% as members and office bearers in the institutions of local development. This major decision has given golden opportunity for more women to participate in decision making at local level. During the panchayat election many members of Women cooperative have been elected as Gram Pradhan, and members of Gram, kshetra and Zila panchayat members.

HARC’s collaboration with horticulture mission of Uttrakhand Government helped in facilitation of the process to enable federation to access development resources of the Government. The policy of banks for Self Help Groups promotion and agriculture promotion in rural areas made the process easy for enabling women and men have access to banking facilities such as housing loans, term loans, cash credit limit and farmers credit card. Non renewal of Narayan Krishak Kawach Yojna (an insurance policy for farmers) of Uttarakhand Government gave a major setback on HARC’s mission to promote social security among the rural poor and marginalized farmers. The best part of this scheme was that if a person have his or her account in the cooperative bank, S/he become automatically entitled for the insurance policy by giving a nominal premium ( Rs. 5/- annually). Fortunately HDFC’s introduced its rural insurance plan was in Uttarakhand and HARC collaborated with the facilitating agency to cover more and more people under the scheme. The Government of Uttarakhand has implemented its Industrial Policy which has special focus on farm and non farm small scale enterprise. The women groups are being encourage to get the benefit of the policy while establishing their micro enterprise.

The impact of climate change was most severe during the last year of the project. As agri and agri allied livelihoods is being promoted under the project, the excessive and prolonged rain fall affected the agriculture production in a major way and the returns from the field was not as expected by the farmer family. To deal with the risks of climate change, HARC is giving more emphasis on diversification of crop, growing short duration crops and changing the crop cycle.

Objective for the period - 2008-09

v To motivate and organize those families who were not in the groups as yet but taking the technical services from HARC indirectly

v To strengthen the financial and internal management systems of reorganized federations

v To facilitate strong supply chain and diversify marketing channel for newly introduced and existing crops

v To link women groups with income generation activities through cooperative

During last one year (2008-09) 1010 families were targeted to be organized and linking them with agribusiness. Under this mission those families were identified at cluster level which was not getting benefit directly from HARC’s interventions. Families of Garh ward of Dhari Kafnaul cluster and Rajgarhi cluster were selected and organized. It was more than 100% achievement as through intensive interventions 1033 families were organized and linked with agribusiness activity.

During the year three newly reorganized federations were targeted for reorganizing their internal, financial and marketing system. Though the target of three federations is achieved but the level of achievement is varied. The rural women cooperative has gone under major changes. Name and some by-laws were changed and new board is constituted. Documentation system was reorganized and successfully implemented. Local level marketing is being promoted. As far as this cooperative is concerned, about 80% of the objective is met. The newly constituted producer’s company of Dhari Kafnol was given capacity enhancement inputs to reorganize its systems and procedures according to producer company act. Since there are lot of legal formalities to be fulfilled by the producer company according to act, it is taking time to get accustomed with new form of institution. About 70% of the objective is achieved. The Kedarkantha farmer federation is also newly organized federation. HARC’s interventions to strengthen its internal systems could achieve only 40 % of its objective.

The interventions for supply chain management were also done which resulted into developing supply chain and opening of new market channel for tomato, pea, garlic, malta, and creeper vegetables. HARC could achieve 80 % of its objective.

HARC has the objective of linking 300 women to direct income generation activities during the year. In this program 100 women with vegetable production, 43 women with handicraft (file folder preparation), 112 women of 12 SHGs with fruit processing, 17 women with hatchery were encouraged linked with women entrepreneurship program. HARC could achieve 70 % of its objective as vegetable production was affected by changed climatic conditions during the year.

MAJOR ACTIVITIES CONDUCTED

Theme 1 : Community Based Institutions Building and Strengthening

According to its vision and mission Himalayan Action Research Centre has always given the importance to the community institutions. Organization believes that if we strengthen the community institutions then they could become independent and come forward in organized manner for their development issues. Under this mission 1010 families were organized into groups and linked them with agribusiness activity. To achieve the mission 65 self help groups were organized and 26 groups (organized under different projects) were adopted on their request and linked with HARC’s activities in Gadoli, Rajgarhi, Dhari Kafnol, Purola, Naugaon, Barkot, Bagasu etc. cluster. In these groups 498 women and 316 men took the membership. One new federation (mixed) came into existence in Rajgarhi cluster which is having 40 male and 65 female members. Apart from this, various groups who were not linked with the federations took paid membership of the federation and cooperative. 167 men and 52 women took the membership of farmers federations and 645 women were associated with women cooperative. HARC continuously facilitated these institutions through capacity building training, exposure visits, meetings, workshops and monthly/cluster level meetings and linked them with agri-business activities. HARC’s interventions for these new institutions were focused on developing management systems of the institution, facilitating financial and social security linkages and gender mainstreaming.

Apart from this under different projects 656 families in Chinyalisaur, 499 in Gairsain have been federated out of which 463 are women members. Two women cooperative are in under process of formation which will be having abut 300 members in Ganga Valley Multipurpose Autonomous Cooperative at Chinyalisaud, Uttarkashi and 715 members in Alaknanda Agriculture Multipurpose Autonomus Cooperative at Karnprayag, Chamoli

(a) Developing and Strengthening internal management systems in newly formed Institutions -

A number of interventions were done for strengthening newly formed groups, adopted groups and federations. Systems of monthly meetings, saving and inter-loaning, production planning and marketing were developed in the institutions. The leaders of these institutions were oriented on active and effective leadership, information & communication among groups members, resolution of internal conflicts, transparency, networking with technical institutions etc. Along with this trainings and exposure visits were organized for office bearers to strengthen the system. 90 cluster level meetings, orientation workshops and trainings have been organized for the development of internal management systems of new groups and federation, in which 1433 members (1205 female members and 228 male members) of 154 institutions participated. During these meetings orientation was done on group management, bank linkage, cluster level meetings, monthly meetings, federation, income generation activity, formation of new working committee and organic documentation.

Rural families of Rajgarhi cluster were organized in 10 self help groups from april to June 2008. On August 22 a workshop was organized for the members of the groups, in which 8 out 10 groups federated into a federation named Kedarkantha Fruit and Vegetable Grower Association”. A member from each group was selected for the working committee of the federation. Mr. Sakal Chan Rawat was selected as president, Mr. Balbeer Singh – Vise Presedint, Mrs. Shaila Devi – Tresaurar and Mrs. Sarita Devi was selected as General Secretary, The best part of this federation is that there are two women members in the office bearers and five women groups have took the memebership of federation. After the formation of federation a training was organized for the 20 office bearers of the federation in which they were told about the working system of federation, legal aspects, registration process etc.

After the Gender mainstreaming intervention, done with Fruit & Vegetable Grower Association at Purola cluster 52 women members were given membership in the federation. 10 new groups were linked with Raghunath Organic Furit and Vegetable Grower Association at Gadoli cluster. 10 new groups were formed at Garh ward of Dhari Kafnaul cluster and out of these 10 groups 2 were linked with Devrana Agro Producer Company. Other groups were not linked with the federations as they are not participating in the meetings properly.

Motivators and Para techs facilitated the process ---

Under the process of group formation and strengthening the services of peratech and women motivators were taken for group formation, bank linkage, grading of groups, lining groups with income generation activity. Before taking their services 5 days training was conducted so that they can do the given responsibility properly. 37 peratechs and motivators provided their services for productin survey, vegetable production program, formalities to link with bank, fied days, technical consultancy services, marketing management, organic documentation etc. A one day orientation program was conducted for the women motivators and peratechs on the roles and responsibilities in linking the community organizations with income generation activity. 20 motivators ans peratech from Gadoli, Naugaon, Dhari Kafnaul, Purola and Barkot cluster participated in the program. Motivators were given the information on linking the new groups with banks. After the orientation program peratech from Rajgarhi Mr. Sakalchand, Mr. Bhagwati Prasad from Gadoli and Rajendra Prasad from Purola linked the new groups with Bank.

According to new structure of Devrana Agro Producer Company Ltd., Dhari Kalogi, capacity building trainings were organized on system development and business plan development. The subject matter specialist provided information to the Board Members of Company on record keeping of company, legal aspects and business plan development. For strengthening federations 12 interfaces with Naugaon area federation, 4 orientations on byelaws and 4 exposures on federation management were conduct for the federations of Chinyalisaud and Gairsain. 916 partcipants participated in these activities. These activities really helped the newly formed federations at Chinyaliaud and Gairsain to understand the systems of Federation.

(b) Reorganization of Rawain Women Cooperative

For better management of Women Cooperative and to promote its business activity, Ranwai Women Multipurpose Autonomus Cooperative was reorganized in May 2008. Work area of Cooperative has been increased up to whole Garhwal region by bringing an amendment in the byelaws. Now women from whole Garhwal area will be able to take the membership as invitee members of the Cooperative. Hence, the name of the Women Cooperative has been changed into HARC Mountain Woman Multipurpose Autonomus Cooperative. During the year the cooperative has given membership to 645 women of 44 SHGs of Naugaon, Purola and Dhari Kafnaul. The membership has increased upto 1000 members. This year, in December, the cooperative has reconstituted its board as the tenure for previous board was over. Board of directors was elected at cluster level and office bearers of cooperative were elected in Annual Gweneral Meeting (AGM) of the cooperative. The cooperative has also passed a proposal in the meeting that there will be 3 members in working committee from HARC as technical consultants. These members wouldn’t have the right of voting. On request of Committee a C.E.O. has been apointed from HARC for the better management of business activities. The cooperative have been facilitated for improving its administrative, financial and marketing systems.

( c) Strengthening of Mahasangh for Policy Advocacy

A Mahasangh of Federations has been formed in Yamuna Valley under the guidance of HARC. Six Fruit & Vegetbale Grower Associations and a Women Cooperative have taken the membership in Mahasangh. During last six months, 4 meeting have been conducted of Mahasangh in which decisions have been taken on supply chain management and to raise the issues of farmers at policy level. An exposure visit was organized from 6 to 9 June 08 to Kullu Valley for the members of Mahasangh. During the exposure members of Mahasangh had interaction with the members of Lower Kullu Valley Fruit & Vegetbale Grower Mahasangh and Upper Kullu Valley Fruit Producer Mandal on the working procedure of Mahasangh, supply chain management, relief fund, schemes and inputs from Grovernment for the activities of Mahasangh

HARC facilitated a common platform for Mahasangh and district authorities on 22 September 2008 where the Mahasangh could raise its policy level issues and problems before District Megistrate other Government departments. This meeting helped in giving a proper recognition to Mahasangh at Government level. This platform was shared by District Horticulture Officer, Agricultue Officer, Vatinary Officer, and General Manager of District Industry Centre who provided important information of different schemes of their department. District Megistrate gave the assurance for the settlement of problems of Mahasangh as well as officers from related department were ordered to act accordingly. Federations raised the issue of collection centre and timely agri input services from related department. District Magistrate took the decision of organizing the meeting once in three months with Mahasangh to listen and solve the problem of farmers. District Magistrate has given the approval of one collection centre to each of the six federations. Decision of opening of soil testing lab was also taken during the meeting. The bank officials were given instruction to provide Kissan (Farmer) Credit Card to all the farmers.

(d) Facilitation for Financial Linkages of the Institutions

The groups, which wetre not linked to financial institutions, HARC gave them much priority in the year 2008-09. In this context 10 trainings on account management, documentation and bank linkage were conducted at village level for 398 members (134 female members and 264 male members) of 43 groups. As a result almost all the groups have strong relationship with banks and banks are now ready to increase the CCL amount of the groups. Under this mission 50 new groups were targeted to be linked with banks out of which 40 have been linked and 26 groups have been adopted by the HARC which are already linked with the banks.

To provide the Kissan (Farmer) Credit Card to the members of Devrana Agro Producer Company Ltd. at Dhari Kafnaul, 2 agriculture fair were organized on September 2008 and February 2009. Uttrakhand Rural Bank, Barniguad and State bank of India provide Kissan Credit Card to 227 farmers. In which the loan of Rs. 4,350,000 was approved. The main achievement of this fair was that farmers were provided this loan without any guarantee even to those who are landless.

Women of Dhari Kafnaul and Naugaon cluster were motivated to open the bank account so that they could have control on income earned by them. For this purpose a fair was organized at Dhari Kafnaul with the collaboration of Uttarakhand Rural Bank. In this fair 35 women farmer from Naugaon and 60 women farmer from Dhari Kafnaul opened their account. Loan of Rs.1,12,000/- was also approved for Yamuna Self Help Group to start business activity.

Details of saving and inter-loaning of SHGs and FSHGs

In the year 2008-09, 893 members of 89 women SHGs have done the saving of Rs.1,550,740/- and inter-loaning of Rs.5044324/-. In the same way 476 members of FSHGs have done the saving of Rs.513,760/- and inter-loaning of Rs.1,266,400/-.

Details of use of inter-loaning done by groups

During the year 2008-09 the groups have used the interloaning amount in purchasing the seeds of pea, tomato and frenchbean, to establish small business and to fulfill the domestic requirements. Mrs. Godavari Belwal of Yamuna SHG, Upradi was given a loan of Rs.20000 to purchase flour mill. Mrs. Bhanu Negi from Santosh SHG, Barkot was given the loan of Rs. 15,000 to purchase goods for her shop. Nageshwar SHG, Sada provided the loan of Rs. 20000 to one of its member for her daughter’s marriage. Bhairav SHG, Dandal Gaon provided the loan of Rs. 20000 to its member Mrs. Rukam Dei. She used this amount to contribute in purchasing of Vehicle. Mrs. Yashoda Devi from the same group took the loan of Rs. 15000 to purchase goat. Gayatri SHG provided the loan of Rs. 5000 to Mrs. Panu Devi for medical purspose, Rs.5000 to Mrs. Bhavani Devi for the education of her children, Rs.5000 to Mrs. Vimla Devi for the purchasing of seeds and Rs.8000 to Mrs. Nag Devi for the production of cash crops. Like this, many members of the groups have been provided the loan for both productive and domestic purposes.

Use of saving amount at village level by the SGHs

Bhairav SHG was formed at Dandal Gaon with the motivation of HARC. 12 members took the membership in the group. Initially the group members started saving Rs.20/- per month but later on when the members felt the requirement of money they started saving Rs.50/- per month. Till now the group has saved Rs.52300/- which is being used by the members for inter-loaning. The members have used the loan for purchasing vehicle, renovation of house, repairing of vehicle and for purchasing goat for livelihood.

(e) Intervention to increase the sensitization and knowledge on social security and social issue in institutions

Ø During the last one year group members were oriented on social schemes like widow pension, girl child development scheme, legal rights of women, health related schemes and social security schemes like -accidental insurance, health insurance, life insurance etc. during the monthly meetings and cluster level meetings. The members ware also sensitized on environment protection and hygiene related issues. Organization has conducted orientation workshops on the insurance schemes run by HDFC and ICICI Insurance Companies. As a result of these workshops members got motivated to get insured under above said schemes. Apart from that the members of groups who have opened their account in State bank and Uttarakhand Rural Bank, Barniguad got insured under accident insurance for Rs.50,000 (Rs. Fifty Thousand Only). Under all the schemes, total insurance of Rs.32996000/- (Rs.. Three Million Twenty Nine lak Ninety Six Thousand.) has been done by 675 members during the year. Out of which 148 are women members.

Ø Apart from that, Self help groups were sensitized on social issues such as – girls education, foeticide, domestic violence, women’s property rights, environment through various cluster level meetings and orientation. Various women groups have taken initiative to deal with social problems. For example Yamuna SHG, Upradi is trying to release their Panchayat land encroached by some influenced people, who are planning to construct a hotel in pan chayat land. Members of the Yamuna SHG have registered their complaint in DM Court and the process in going on. Mahila Mangal Dal of Gram Panchayat Netri is actively involved in crop protection by social fencing. This group also started a drive against liquer being supplied and used in the vilage . Mahila Mangal Dal is also getting the support from some active men of the village in their struggle. The Mahila Mangal Dal has released the 350 Hectare civil soyam land which was encroached by 35 families.

International Woman Day Celebration

Like every year this year also Women Day (8 March 2009) was celebrated by conducting a workshop for women self help group and cooperative at HARC, Naugaon, in which different women related issues were discussed. 126 women from different SHGs participated in the program. On this occasion women were given information and knowledge on various development schemes being implemented for women. Discussion and information on domestic violence act was given to women. A quiz was also organized on livelihood scheme implemented by Govt. of India. The income generation groups shared their experiences with other groups and motivated them to start income generation activity. The leaders of various groups mobilized women to come forward and take action for their socio-economic development. Women unanimously accepted this fact that without collectives they can not fight against the discrimination and injustice they are experiencing since centuries. Yamuna SHG also played important role in social programs

Apart from increase in income through the better utilization of small saving, Yamuna SHG, Upradi has made an identity by participating in social and environment protection programs also. The group in collaboration with panchayat is working for Rakit Bandhan (social fencing for crop protection from animal) Women of the group raised the issue in panchayat meting and Panchayat took the decision of appointing a watchman for the fields. The honorarium of Rs.750 per month is given to to watchman by panchayat. Apart from this group is very careful for forest protection. In the year 2008, the nearby forest caught the fire in summer season. All women of the group went to put off the fire and saved the forest wealth. The group also helps aged women, widows and handicapped women in getting their pension.

Encroachment removed by Renuka Self Help Group

Renuka SHG has been formed by HARC at Netri, Purola block and there are 12 members in the group. The group participates actively in gram panchayat meetings and plays an important role in decision making for the development of village. Some influenced person captured around 350 hectare panchayat land within the village. In the year of 2008, group took the decision to release the lands from illegal encroachment. The members of group wrote a letter to S.D.M. Purola and the S.D.M. gave serious attention to this issue. He visited the area and found that the information given by the members is correct. A meeting was organized in the village which was attended by S.D.M. Purola, Patwari and group members. During the meeting the decision of releasing the 350 hectare land from encroachement was taken.

Study on change in economic and social status of women.

For making women equal partner in the development process, HARC made special interventions for women of Rawain valley. HARC adopted special strategies and approaches for women to increase the confidence, leadership, knowledge, skills and their access to financial opportunities, technology, income generation options and decision making. Under the major intervention of institution building and strengthening women were mobilized to form Self Help Group (SHG) for enhancing their economic and social status. As a result 227 women groups are functioning in the region. Various capacity enhancement interventions were carried out with the members of these groups so that their professional and leadership qualities could be enhanced. Thu s a need to organize an impact assessment study was felt to assess and know the changes occurred in the socio and economic conditions of women of Rawain valley. At the end of the project, in December 2008, an impact assessment study was organised in Naugaon, the project area of HARC to know the impact of the project interventions on the social and economic status of women. The study was organsied in 28 villages with 225 women members of 34 women group. The study was organized on the basis of the monitoring indicators of the project. The study helped in identifying the chages in the socio and economic status of women and in developing the strategy for future interventions.

Theme 2 : Livelihood and Food Security through Technical Intervention and Diversification of Agriculture

Technical interventions and promotion of rural technology through demonstration and field days mainly aimed at better utilization of available resources and increasing quality and volume of agriculture production. During the year, apart from promoting various techniques such as wire staking technique, IPM technique, Organic farming techniques, rope way technique, various new crops were demonstrated in the project area to increase the diversification in agriculture produce as well as to provide new option for livelihood to marginal farmer families. The value addition techniques were given to members of newly formed groups, which provided them with the opportunity of diversifying the channels of income generation for them. As a result of technical interventions, the change in the methods of farming could be seen on one hand and on the other; the farmers are gaining profit from their produce. Regular efforts were made to promote certification process for organic production in Chamoli and Uttarkashi.

Mission 01 : Diversification of crops - new opportunities of income earning

To bring diversification in agriculture production some new crops like gram, mustard, pomegranate coriander, bottle gaud, bitter gaud, cucumber, garlic, onion, fenugreek, brinjal, lady finger, etc were demonstrated with FSHGs of the project area. During the year 1113 farmers (567 men farmers and 546 women farmers) participated in these demonstrations. Some demonstration were focused on promoting commercial farming of specific crop and some demonstrations were organized to demonstrate new variety of crops

Name of Cluster	Name of Crop	No. of producers	Covered Area in Nali
Gadoli	Pea, coriander, chappan Kadoo, bottle guard, bitter guard, cucmber	180	642
Dhari Kafnol	Frenchbean, garlic, Oninon, Fenugreek, bringle, coriander, bottle guard, Lady finger, bitter guard	365	1710
Naugaon	Frenchbean, garlic, bottle guard, Lady finger, bitter guard	213	1335
Purola	Garlic, pea, Oninon	165	1025
Netri	Garlic, pea, Oninon	75	840
Rajgarhi	Chappan Kadoo, bottle guard, cucmber , Lady finger, Tomato, cabbage , gram	115	573

As a result of these demonstrations Garlic, onion, cucumber, ladyfinger, coriander has been taken up by the farmer on commercial basis. Demonstration for bottle guard, lady finger, bitter guard and cabbage was done on a small scale, so that the quality and quantity of the production could be assessed. Due to prolonged and heavy rainfall the production was affected and production assessment could not be done. Demonstration for pea crop and wheat seed was also done in collaboration with other agencies.

Wheat seed production program

In collaboration with Uttaranchal Seed and Tarai Development Board, Dehradun and Uttaranchal Seed Certificaiton Agency, Dehradun wheat seed production mission was started in Gadoli and Purola cluster. 24 producers of 10 villages from Gadoli cluster and 56 producers of 5 vilallges from Purola cluster participated in this program. The Wheat variety B.L. 802 and B.L. 829 developed by Vivekanand Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan (Vivekanand Mountain Agriculture Research Institute) Almora, was demonstration during the program. The production capacity of this variety is 30% more than local variety.

Ø Demonstration of Toria was done with the help of Uttaranchl Seed and Tarai Development Board, Dehradun for newly formed women self help groups of Purola and Rajgarhi cluster. During field days women members were told about the different technical aspects of Toria ( mustard)production to keep in mind.

Ø Demonstration of Kandhari variety of Pomegranate was done with 23 farmers. During the demonstration 1200 saplings of Pomegranate, which were purchased from Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh were provided to farmers. 50% expenditure of demonstration was born by the farmers. Farmers were imparted knowledge on plant transplant, manure and plant protection through practical training.

Ø The demonstration of Nasik Red variety of onion was done with 24 women farmers of Manjiyali and Mulana village on 30 Nali land.

Ø Pea demonstration has been done with the 205 selected producers of 29 women SHGs from Rajgarhi, Gadoli and Netri cluster. During the demonstration 63 quintal seed has been used which was purchased by the farmers.

Mrs. Swatantri devi of Bigradi village of Gadoli cluster did sowing of 10 grams of cucumber seed in one Nale area under the technical guidance of HARC. She adopted the staking technique for getting good production. As a result Swatantri devi could get the production of 150 KGs of cucumber crop from her field. She could have enough cucmber for self consumption during whole season and could also sell enough cucumber in the local market.

Before the intervention at Gairsain, farmers used to grow very few crops, which were also not cash crops. The whole sale market is also 300 km. far from the area. Hence, those crops were introduced which has long shelf life and farmer family can earn cash income out of it. In spice zone garlic, turmeric, ginger and coriander, in aromatic plant cultivation zone basil, mint, marigold, in vegetable production zone potato, French bean, pea, in grains amaranths, finger millet, in grain zone mustard, soya bean were promoted so that farmers could get enough profit from their crops and also maintain the health of their soil by growing variety of crops. After the intervention in diversification of crops the production area has increased. The following chart shows the status of land use before and after intervention at Gairsain.

At Chinyalisaud area, farmers have been motivated to grow cash crops and now they are growing tomato, cabbage, chhapan pumpkin, capsicum, potato, pea, cauliflower in vegetables lettuce in exotic vegetables, ginger and garlic in spices and rajma and tore in pulses. In Chinyalisaud a total number of 47 villages have been linked with supply chain,

Survey on Socio-Economic Impact of Crop Diversification in Rawain Valley

An assessment of diversification of the crop in the project area was conducted by Himalayan Action Research Centre (HARC). A total of 244 farmers of 24 villages were taken as sample for the assessment. During the survey it was found that most of the information regarding the cultivation, diversification and management of crops was given by HARC to the farmers. According to the farmers, 8 type of information out of 10 are given by the HARC. 41 varieties of 15 fruit crops and 46 varieties of 24 vegetable crops have been introduced and adopted by the faremrs. It is realized by the farmers that the benefits from the diversification of the crops are numerous. Some of the benefits described by the farmers are increase in the income from farm related activities, increase in fertility of soil due to crop rotation, increase in income from commercial crops, disease in the has less impact on the crop. Prior to the intervention, due to lack of technical knowledge the productivity has declined many folds. Increased productivity has resulted in the search of markets for these farm produce. Farmers have started cultivating different vegetables on a large scale for marketing. Through crop diversification their income rose to a considerable amount. Farmers have started cultivating more varieties of vegetables which resulted in the increased production of these vegetable and in turn more earning from their sales. Seedlings of different fruit varieties have been planted to increase their income from farm and allied fields. Fruit plantation is introduced in order to utilize the farm land optimally. The total income from all the sources has shown an increase of 36% as compared to the base year 2005. The contribution of the fruits in the income stood second among various income sources of the targeted households. The share of the non seasonal vegetable in the income holds 50% of the total income through different sources. Cultivation of the non seasonal vegetable has increased the income of the farmers from the same by 54% from the base year. As a result of the increased income the food consumption of the farmers has shown a qualitative change. The increased nutritious food has reduced the visit to the health care centers by the households. It has also inculcated a habit of savings in the farmers. They have raised their share of expenditure on education from 8% to 12%, almost same weight age was given by them to their feeding habits. After intervention they are diverting more portion of share to education and food expenditure which has shown a positive trend in social and cultural development of the targeted farmers.

Technical Consultation Service to farmers

Providing demand based and planned technical consultation services is an integral part of technical intervention mission for promotion of agri and agri allied livelihood. During the year planned technical consultation services provided to farmers for those crops which were introduced for the first time in the area. Along with this, field days were organized for those crops also for which HARC got demand from the farmers especially for production techniques and plant protection guidance. Through these consultation services the technical knowledge and guidance was provided to farmers at field level. HARC’s technical team and experts from mother dairy, different agri-inputs companies, agricultural universities, extension centres visited 45 villages for these services. During these consultations 489 farmers (87 women farmers and 402 men farmers) of 45 villages got practical technical guidance from experts.

Knowledge was also imparted on harvesting methods and post harvesting maintenance of produce by the experts of technical institutes and agri input companies. Techniques of plucking, storing, grading and packing was shared and demonstrated by the experts. During the year 1043 farmers (539 men and 504 women) of 39 villages were trained on post harvesting techniques. After these consultations, farmers did grading and packing of their produce as per the demand of market. This resulted into decrease in rate of rejection of produce at market level as compared do the earlier years.

As a result of this practical guidance at field level, farmers could build their knowledge on production techniques of specific crop and satisfied their queries regarding plant protection.

Ø At village level farmers were given information on production and crop planning. 958 farmers of 51 villages were provided information on production planning.

Ø Early Apurva, the new variety of Pea was produced at big scale in Purola and Netri cluster. Farmers were trained on sowing of seeds in lines. Through this method the % of seeds per nail was less and also there was decrease in production cost. The production of Early Apurva is 50% more than Arkil variety of pea.

Ø Farmers have adopted off-season vegetable production as their main source of livelihood. Time to time technical interventions with farmers proves very helpful and it develops the curiosity in farmers to get the information on new technical interventions.

Mrs. Sawatantri of Bajladi villge in Dhari Kafnol cluster grew frenchbean in two Nali under the technical guidance of federation. She could harvest 7 quintals of frenchbean from her field. She marketed the crop to mother dairy through federation and earned Rs. 10,000 as her income.

Ø 2 Agri-clinics have been established at Chinyalisaud and Gairsain.. Through these Agri-clinic 166 consultation services on pre and post harvesting are being provided to farmers. 1768 women and 3096 men participated on these consultation services. These consultation services were based on nursery raising, pre and post harvesting, staking and grafting.

Promotion and Dissemination of Rural Technology

Ø Plastic wire staking technique in Tomato production has been encouraged among the farmers. 13 producers in Rawain valley and 40 in Chinyali saur have adopted this technique and got benefit of using this technique. Some how this technique is taking time to get popular among the farmers due to heavy investment. Only selected farmers are coming forward to adopt this technique.

Ø The farmers of Dhari Kafnul are using Ropeway technique to transport their apple from high altitude to collection point near the road. By using this technique farmers are able to save time and money. It also helped in maintaining the quality of apple and they are able to get the good price of their produce. This techniques reduced the drudgery of women as the manure for the orchards is being transported by rope way.

Ø 51 farmers of 5 villages have planted marigold under IPM technique in the boundary of tomato to protect them from insects. This method has resulted into lower rate of disease in Tomato field and 20-30% increase in production.

Mr. Kartar Singh, a marginal farmer of Kafnol village adopted plastic wite staking in tomato crop sown in one Nali. He realized that the investment cost in using bushes for staking less by Rs. 500/- . The total cost in plastic wire staking comes around Rs. 1000 in one Nali. This technique saved the crop from plant disease got just double the production which he used to get in past.

Ø Dissemination of rural technology is also being done at Gairsain and Chinyalisaud so that farmers could do best and get the maximum profit from their occupation.21 field days were conducted on rural technology at Chinyalisaud and Gairsain on which 446 women and 272 men participated. During these field days promotion and dissemination of different types of rural technology like agriculture instruments, water lifting techniques, power tiller technique, staking and grating were demonstrated and disseminated.

Promotion of Organic Farming for Environmental Protection

Under organic farming mission, the certification process and demonstration of organic farming techniques has been major focus of the interventions. The certification process involved preparation of Actual Farmer List (A.F.L.) for each season and promotion of organic techniques. The list has been prepared for Ravi and Kharif crop and submitted to certification agency. For this purpose two internal inspections were organized and Farmer Diary of 1749 farmers of 51 villages of Rawain valley was monitored during the inspection. A total number of 4165 farmers in Chamoli and Uttarkasi have entered the third year of certification process. Through demonstration, farmers were given knowledge on preparing liquid pesticide and vermin compost at village level. A technical demonstration and production unit of liquid pesticide has also been prepared at Dhari and Bajladi village of Dhari Kafnaul cluster. Organic pesticide and manure are being distributed to the farmers through this centre. Mother Dairy also provided the Neem Oil and Neem Cake to the producers of Dhari Kafnaul, Naugaon and Purola cluster. This has been used by the farmers to protect their cash crops from insect and diseases. Farmers have got the improved production by using it.

Organic Techniques adopted during the year 2008-09

Sl. No.	Techniques adopted	No. of farmers
1.	Vermi Compost	133
	Liquid Manure	78
2.	Vermi Compost	127
	Liquid Manure	61
3.	Vermi Compost	74
	Liquid Manure	42
4.	Vermi Compost	178
	Liquid Manure	97

Farmers of Chinyalsaud and Gairsain are now also interested in organic farming as they are getting more benefit from this and this is also good for their soil health and productivity. Jaitoligwad and Dhamdev villages of Gairsain, Chamoli have been developed as organic model villages. 22 vermi compost pit at Jaitoligwad and 20 in Dhamdev have been prepared. Under the promotion of Organic Farming for environmental protection I.P.N.M., I.P.M., liquid manure, vermin wash, pitcher manure, cow dung heap have been promoted and farmers were told to make them their selves and maintain it. Farmers are doing it very enthusiastically. Other farmers from other areas are also coming to see this and applying the same in their villages.

Theme 3 : Micro Enterprise Development and Market Linkage – Economic Security Mission

1. Micro Enterprise Development Initiatives among Rural Women

HARC has always been doing interventions to diversify and increase the income generation options and opportunities for rural poor. For this handicraft activity, vegetable production activity and processing activity, which were initiated among women groups during the year of 2007 at small level, have started showing results in the year of 2008.

Vegetable production and Marketing Planning Activity

The vegetable production program in Dhari Kafnol, was started as an experiment to link women to agribusiness directly. This was also to see that how the family members take the issue of women’s control over two nalis of land near the house hold for growing crop of her choice and sell it to market on her own and have control over the money earned by her. The experiment was successful in terms of sensitizing male members of the family that women too have skills to market the produce by themselves. Though the production of vegetables was not as expected due to heavy rainfall but whatever the production was women sold it through the Mountain Women Cooperative and earned income.

HARC helped women to sell their vegetables under farm to consumer strategy and the vegetables i.e. tomato, lady finger, capsicum etc were supplied direct to consumers from the farm. A survey of 250 house holds was done to know the expectations, demands of consumers and quality issues. And then according to demand women sold the vegetables worth Rs. 1,00,000 through cooperative.

Income generation through processing of fruit and vegetable

Food processing activities has provided an additional source of income to rural women. This year women have been provided As a result of 72 technical trainings provided to women of self help groups for making pickle, chatani, jam, squash, candi, tomato pury etc ,1362 women of Naugaon and Kaleshwar are trained in processing activities. As of now, 250 women of 22 groups are actively engaged in the production and sale of garlic, ginger, chilli and mixed vegetable pickle, mango pickle, fruit jam, chutney and amla candy. These products are sold under the brand names of "Rawain's Nature Pure" and "Switch on". These women are earning Rs. 300 to 500 per women per lot of 100 kgs. processed item as a regular income. The Siddhant, women self-help group managed to transact a sale of Rs 50,000 in seven months through the sale of garlic pickle. Many trained women are utilizing their skills in making products for household consumption. During last three years a total of 5.5 tons of processed food products were prepared and sold in the market with the help of women cooperative and CFC.

The business development and market support provided to women under the project resulted into taking up initiatives by women to start micro enterprise of making jam, pickle, candi etc. Different groups adopted different activities depending on the availability of local resources ( raw material) and their capacities. The group members of Dhari, Devalsari, Naugaon, Langasu, Kaleshwar, Murari, Mungara, Bagasu, Pissao, Kandaon, Kimmi villages are preparing different types of Pickles, Chatni, Jam, Candy, Papad by using their savings. The production activities started in the month of August 2008 after the rigorous trainings of these women. Till the month of Feb 2009, 160 women have started earning money from this activity. The products are being sold through women cooperative under the brand name “Rawain’s Nature Pure”. Two rounds of production have taken place and each women is earning Rs. 3,00 -500 through the sale of products in each round depending on the quantity of the production. 569 kgs of garlic pickle, 1,000 kgs of mango pickle, and 215 kgs of ginger garlic pickle, 300 Kgs of Jam, 300 Kgs of chutni, 400 kgs candi. After the sale of the products the principal amount is deposited in the bank and profit is distributed among the members.

These are the women who never thought of earning their own money by any chance. The first share of the profit received by women increased their confidence to continue the activity.

A new option of income generation for rural women/girls by enhancing the skills on handicraft activity through technical training

HARC has always tried to create diverse options of livelihood for rural poor. In 2007, for the first time , HARC introduced handicraft activity in the project area to involve unemployed girls/women and other women members of women cooperative in income generation activity. The process started with identifying and training 32 women/ young girls for preparing file/folder, and photo frame with hand made paper. As a result 10 highly trained women have started earning Rs. 500 – Rs. 1000 per month and even more depending on the numbers of file and folder prepared by them. The marketing is being done by Women Cooperative. Most of demand for conference folders is coming from the government departments and NG.O sector. Now cooperative is managing this activity.

Uma is a young woman of 27years of age. She is married and mother of a son. Till she joined women cooperative she was not at all engaged in any kind of income generation activities but it was always in her mind that she should do some thing to earn money. When the handicraft activity was introduced and she was provided information about it she showed her keen interest to learn the skills. She took the training with other women and gradually she attained perfection by doing lot of practice. She also attended the TOT on handicraft, which was organized at Dehradun. After attending the TOT she gained much confidence and now provides training on the handicraft activity to the other girls and women. The file folders prepared by her are now shown in meetings and trainings as an inspiration for others. She now makes cards at her home and provides trainings to the girls and women as and when required. She now earns about Rs. 1000 per month by preparing files and providing trainings to new comers.

Employment genearation for women from other activities

This year 324 women members of self help groups got the employment of Rs. 3,049,930 through direct procurement activities, grading packing and processing activities. Apart from this the Women Cooperative also got the opportunity to give its services to GRAMYA project of Uttrakhand Government on payment basis.

2. Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Procurement and supply chain management is an important aspect in Agri business. HARC tried to build and strengthen the supply chain in such a way that it could be under the control of farmers and they could get the maximum % of benefit. During the year more emphasis was given on strengthening the supply chain of Mountain women cooperative, Devrana Producer Company, Fruit and Vegetbale Grower Associations of Purola and Gadoli. The supply chain was also strengthened for new federations came into existence in Chinyalisen block of Uttarkashi and Gairsen block of Chamoli.

Following interventions were done to strengthen the procurement and supply chain management -

Pea Supply Chain Management

It was the first time when a systematic supply chain was built for pea crop grown in Gadoli and Purola cluster. All the aspects right from collection, grading , packing, transportation, and packaging material to receiving payment was in favor of farmers. This was the first time when farmers of Gadoli and Purola clusters have marketed Pea at Okhla Mandi, Delhi and this has been done collectively first time. 50 ton Pea was marketed at Okhla Mandi and 250 ton Pea was marketed at Dehra Dun and Vikasnagar mandi. From all the cluster total 865 tons on pea was marketed to different whole sale markets.

French Bean & Tomato Supply Chain Management

The supply chain for tomato and French beans, built in the past with mother dairy, is still being utilized by the federations of Naugaon area. Due to heavy rain fall the federations could supply 276 tons of French bean and 408 tons of tomato to Mother Dairy, New Delhi. The rest of the produce was sold in local market. On the whole, members of federations supplied 6000 tons of French bean and Tomato to the whole sale market of Dehra Dun, Vikas Nagar, Delhi, Saharanpur and Rurkee. Supply chain for tomato of Chinyalisaur area was first time materialized which resulted into supply of 104 tons of tomato worth Rs. 9,34,334/- to Delhi market .

Garlic Supply Chain Planning and Management :

113 farmers’ families of Gairesen block of Chamoli were linked to marketing agency Green Fiesta Pvt. Ltd. Haryana for marketing of garlic. A buy-back strategy was applied for building the supply chain. As a result the farmers got Rs. 20 per K.g at the farm gate. This resulted into marketing of 10 tons and 3 qtls. of garlic. Through this supply chain the producers could earn a total amount of Rs.2 28, 151/-.

Facilitation for Marketing of Malta:

Farmers are producting Malta for last 18 years in the Gopeshwar, Ghat area which is very famous for Malta production. On the other hand, due to lack of proper processing facility, non availability of market, there is continuous decrease in production, and quality of Malta. In the year of 2007 HARC took it as mission to develop a strategy for necessary value addition to the produce and exploring market for raw and processed products of Malta. This year also 21 tons of Malta fruit was marketed at Dehradun market.

Supply chain facilitation for Bay Leaf

Himalayan Action Research Centre also worked to facilitate the supply chain of Bay Leaf for the growers of Byara, Sainji, Gari, Gauna and Durmi villages of Nizmoola Valley, District Chamoli, Uttarakhand where the bay leaf forests are found naturally. Under this prgram 60 families were selected as focus groups of which six Self Help Groups (SHGs) were formed. The main theme of the project was to increase the income of poor FDCs from NTFPs by exposing them to the markets and providing technologies for up-gradation and value addition of NTFPs without imposing any adverse impact on the biodiversity of the forest. This was assured by providing them scientific and sustainable technique of harvesting of Bay leaf.

Bay leaf Market Survey

Bay leaf market surveys were conducted in different prominent markets of Bay leaf in India and Nepal to assess the role of supply chain actors, strengths and constraints, opportunities to upgrade the supply chain. These surveys were conducted at different marketing levels i.e. at wholesale, retail, export, processing levels. The markets which were surveyed are Tanakpur, Ramnagar, Siliguri, Lucknow, Kanpur and Nepalgunj. The survey results revealed that there is an increasing demand of bay leaf in Indian markets. There is an ever expanding gap between demand and supply of bay leaf. The surveys also show that there is increasing trend in both quantity as well as price of bay leaf. The existing supply chain is secretive for primary producers/collectors. The wholesalers are the strongest chain actors and govern the entire supply chain from collection to export. Nepalgunj is the major centre of bay leaf import from Nepal. There is variation in price and demand of Indian and Nepalese bay leaves for instance Indian bay leaves are sold at higher price as compared to Nepalese bay leaf. There is lot of opportunities to improve the value chain and making it primary collectors oriented.

Fresh Furit Vegetbale Supply Chain Facilitation

The grower Associations, encourage and formed by HARC are engaged in fruit and vegetable based agri business.HARC facilitates therse institutions for their institutional structure, supply chain planning, strengthening and marketing activity. In the process of facilitations buyer seller meets were conducted with buyer agencies / market channels from Aajadpur, Okhla, New Delhi, N.D.D.B. New Delhi. Apart from this market surveys were conducted for supply of product at Aajadpur, Keshopur and Okhla. As a result, due to availability of strong supply chain and market channels, farmers of Rawain valley have marketed 33,0,80 ton of fruits and vegetables which has Rs.32,78,20,300/- market turnover.

Supply Chain Facilitation for Women Cooperative

Apart from agri based business of furit and vegetable grower association, HARC Women Cooperative is working for the trading of food grains and processed products. This year main emphasis was given on strengthening backward and forward linkages for red chilli, pomegranate, rajma, amla candy and arbi. As a result 7 quintal chilli, 13 qtl. Garlic, 2 ton arbi, 3 quintls soyabean, 15 qntl. Rajma and 12 qtl. Apricot kennel were procured and supplied to market by the cooperative. This year the cooperative has done a business of Rs. 9,29,184 which was more than 45% as compare to last years.

3. Market promotion Activities:

Buyer Seller Meet

Buyer seller meet is an integral part of facilitating market linkages. Whenever a new buyer come or some issues are there to be resolved with existing buyer, HARC facilitate a common platform for both for trust building and for safeguarding the interest of farmers. During the year six Buyer and seller meet were organized at dehradun, Naugaon, Chinyalisaur and Gairesen which was attended by representatives of cooperative, federations and buyer from Keshopur, Aajadpur and Gajipur Whole sale markets, Marketing agencies like mother dairy , Green Fiesta etc.

Use and Promotion of Farm to Consumer U.S.P. for Vegetable base Income Generation Activity

For the marketing of the vegetables produced by women in Naugaon, HARC adopted direct farm to consumer U.S.P. strategy which has been successful to supply vegetable to 250 at Dehra Dun. To strengthen the supply chain, the promotional activities were carried out with the help of pamphlets, farm to consumer bag and consumer card. The main objective of preparing promotional material was to reach the consumer in a planned way so that a long term controlled market could be developed.

Publicity and marketing of products at local travel route

The products such as mango pickle, malta squash, Malta RTS, apricot chutney etc; being prepared by women groups at Kaleshwar Common Facility Centre (CFC) through this CFC have been show cased at local travel route to Badrinath with the name of Switch On. The new product Malta RTS was first time launched during the tourist season.

Promotion and marketing of products through exhibition at Delhi Hatt

Fairs and exhibitions are among the best ways for exhibiting and promoting the products. Through these fair the products are introduced to many people at a single place. Under the project HARC helped cooperative members to participate in the fair at Delhi Hatt from 3^rd November to 17^th November 2008. It was an exhibition cum sale promotion event. Free samples of different products were also distributed to customers to popularize the new products. As a result of this promotion, the cooperative could sell the products of Rs. 55000 in this Delhi Hatt fair.

Herbal Product Promotion Activity – New Delhi

Production and value addition of herbal products has been promoted by HARC in District Uttarkashi with the help of National Medicinal Plant Board (NMPB), Delhi. NMPB organized Herbal Expo to showcase the herbal products at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from 31^st Oct to 3^rd Nov. 2008. In this Herbal Expo 25 raw and value added products i.e. pomegranate tablets, ginger, basil, mint oil etc of target groups were showcased. A number of customers visited the stall. Marketing linkages have been developed with 6 buyers during the Herbal Expo.

Apart from that, market exploration visit was done to Mumbai and developed linkages with 6 business companies and exotic vegetable buyer and whole sale markets in Mumbai. During the meeting the buyer showed their interest in exotic vegetables, lemon oil and organic Soyabean.

Main Activities

Sl. No.	Main Activity	No. of Activity	Target Group
1.	Market Survey	03	HARC Women Cooperative and Vegetable Grower Association
2.	Product Presentation	04	HARC Women Cooperative and FSHGs formed at Kaleshwar
3.	Product Publicity Activity	02	HARC Women Cooperative and FSHGs formed at Kaleshwar
4.	Buyer Seller Meet	06	HARC Women Cooperative and Vegetable Grower Association
5.	House-hold Survey	02	HARC Women Cooperative

Output of the interventions

Ø As a result of interventions for institutional building and strengthening 1033 unorganised families were organized in to 93 Farmers Self Help Groups and Self Help Groups and most of them are linked to banks and agribusiness.

Ø Internal management strengthening interventions with federations helped in improving financial documentation system in Dev rana Producer Company, Naugaon and Purola federation and Mountain women cooperative. The monthly or bi-monthly meetings have been regularized in five federations.

Ø One of output of gender sensitization interventions with men and women enabled 95 women members to open their own saving account in the bank .Which resulted into women’s increased access to banking facilities. Apart from that 65 women were given membership in all men farmers’ federation.

Ø The supply chain management interventions resulted into supply of 300 tons of pea from Gadoli and Purola clusters, 176 tons of French beans from Dhari Kafnol and Gadoli cluster, 408 ton tomato from Dhari Kafnau, Naugaon, Purola and Netri cluster to Mother dairy, and Okhlamandi in a very handsome price. In total approximately 6000 tons of vegetable have been marketed in the whole sale market of Dehra Dun, Vikas Nagar, Delhi, Saharanpur and Rurkee.

Ø The women cooperative has been successful to market 4,938 kg. fresh vegetables under direct farm to consumer supply chain in Dehradun .

Ø Training of Para techs and motivators has been very helpful in getting the support of this local force in the project. The village level intervention and group level training is being handled by these local experts.

Ø Through 18 Self Help Groups the women cooperative prepared the processed products worth Rs. 3,21,010/- . From this activity the groups earned pure profit of Rs. 1,67,929/-.

Ø Under the organic certification process, the area has reached upto 954 hectare and 4165 farmers of Uttarkashi and Chamoli has been entered into the third year of certification process.

Ø Under the process of market linkage, 5 international level, 24 local level and 43 national level linkages have been explored.

Major Outcome

Ø During the year HARC has been successful to cover 11455 families directly and indirectly through various interventions for agribusiness promotion under the project.

Ø The major achievement of the project is increased confidence and business attitude among rural women to start a micro enterprise. The project has helped in creating an enabling and congenial environment for rural women to be involved in business activities. The income generation opportunities created under the project has helped women to earn direct cash and this made their contribution visible at family level. Women have their control over this money. Due to this the women have understood the importance and benefits of developing micro enterprise.

Ø Outcome of vegetable production initiative with women in two nali of land is that for the first time family recognized and accepted women’s rights to make a choice of crop, she wants to grow in her land and her control over the production and marketing of the produce. The social acceptance of rural women as a farmer is a big issue, which has been directly addressed under this initiative.

Ø The Mountain Women Cooperative is emerging as a strong platform for socio-economic development of women in Rawain valley after the reconstitution of Governing Board and reorganizing the cooperative management system. The whole process was very empowering and educative for the cooperative. The active involvement of the office bearers and directors helping the smooth running of the cooperative.

Ø Linking Gadoli and Purola federations with Delhi whole sale market for pea and French bean sale is really a big achievement. Now wholesalers are approaching this federation for buying the agri product at farm gate on really good price. The members, who were losing interest in the federation due to lack of proper supply chain, now coming forward to strengthen the federation by participating in the activities of federation.

Ø Special focus was given on enhancing the skills and capacities of producers in marketing and procurement management, which is resulting into establishing good market linkages. As a result, growers of Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts are able to supply their agri produce and value added products to various wholesale and local market and getting fair prices of their produce. Unemployed youths are also getting better opportunities of income generation through micro enterprise development, procurement & supply chain management and product promotion activities in intervened areas.

Ø Almost all the federations, now, have capability to explore new market for their existing crops and are empowered enough to negotiate with the marketing and agri input agencies on their own terms and conditions. Due to the improved supply chain and linkages with Delhi Mandi and Mother Dairy, the local traders are now compelled to give good rates of the produce to the farmers.

Ø One of the great achievements of HARC during the year is, reorganizing and strengthening a supply chain for Non Timber Forest Produce in Chamoli district. Earlier the auction of the bay leaf used to be done 300 miles away from the collecting area. Due to this practice, collectors could not see the process of auction and they had to be satisfied with the rates given to them. It was first time in the history of Chamoli district that the auction was done in front of collectors in collecting area itself and they could see and understand the whole process of auction. With the facilitation of HARC, buyers came there and the auction took place. It was first time in the history of bay leaf auction that collectors could get Rs. 21 per k.g . earlier collectors used to get Rs. 10 for 1 k.g. of bay leaf. This whole process was initiated in collaboration with Forest Department and ICIMOD, Nepal .The major impact of this initiative is that the Government of Uttarakhand has accepted it as a model supply chain for NTFP and going to formulate its policy for the same.

Ø Federation’s access to development resources of government and other development agencies is increasing. During the year two federations have been successful in getting collection centre under the government scheme.

Ø HARC, as an organisation for promoting agribusiness through collective approach, has gain much popularity at Govt. and non Govt. level not only in Uttrakhand but also in other states. The trainings given to other agencies in institution building and agribusiness promotion clearly depict that demand for HARC’s expertise is increasing day by day.

Challenges Faced and Lessons Learnt

Ø Women in mountain areas are so much over burdened with daily course of work that they can’t even think of sparing some time for them. As income generation activities demand lot of hard work and time, it took much time to convince and engage women in handicraft and processing activities. Motivating women to invest their group saving as capital money for starting IGP was the biggest challenge. Women were suspicious about the success of the activity. With lot of motivation HARC has been successful to convince two groups for starting fruit processing activity. When these groups got good returns out of the activity, other groups also started showing interest in the same.

Ø The changing climatic condition is becoming a great challenge and severely affecting the agricultural activities, especially vegetable production, which has been a major source of livelihood of marginal farmer families in Rawain valley.

Ø Difficult geographical and scattered land holding is a great challenge for the facilitating organization to build a supply chain for specific product. To tackle this challenge HARC is trying to develop zones of different agri produce to make it cost effective.

Ø Subsidy being provided under various big development projects of the state government, has become a great challenge for HARC as the projects of HARC do not promote subsidy culture.

Trainings conducted by HARC for other institutions

Fruit Price. – Fruit Processing, Org. Farm. – Organic Farming, Inst.Manag. – Institution Management, Veg. Prod.– Vegetable Production, SHG Ent.Dev.&SCM – SHG Entrepreneurship Development and Supply Chain Management

Staff Capacity Building

Inst.Manag. – Institutional Management, SCM – Supply Chain Management, WSM – Watershed Management, FC – Flori Culture

Partner Organizations

1. CORDAID, The Netherlands

2. National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD)

3. Rajeev Gandhi Foundation (RGF), New Delhi

4. Uttaranchal Council of Science & Technology (UCOST)

5. District Rural Development Authority (DRDA), Uttarkashi & Chamois

6. State Bank of India (SBI), Uttarkashi

7. International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD)

8. World Bank

Abbreviation Used

1. SHG – Self Help Group

2. FSHG – Farmer Self Help Group

3. AGM - Annual Gweneral Meeting

4. C.E.O. – Chief Executive Officer

5. C.C.L. – Cash Credit Limit

6. I.P.M. – Integrated Pest Management

7. I.P.N.M - Integrated Plant & Nutrient Management

8. A.F.L. – Actual Farmer List

9. FDC – Forest Department Corporation

10. NTFP – Non Timber Forest Products

11. N.D.D.B. – National Dairy Development Board

12. U.S.P. – Useful Selling Proposition

13. ICIMOD – International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development