March 2023 – SDF’s Social Window team undertook a field mission to assess the status of the SDF-funded projects in India, in particular, the bamboo and livelihood projects.
In Kuttanad, Kerala, the team reviewed the activities of the project – Livelihood Enhancement of the small farmer in SAARC region through small scale agro-business focusing on value chain development project – and observed the processing activities of virgin coconut oil.
The team interacted with the farmers about the processes involved in the production of other value-added products like cooking oil, coconut cake and powder, and building a sustainable production, marketing and management systems of the unit. The farmers’ group explained the procurement, processing and marketing framework planned by them. The team provided inputs to the farmers’ group on developing a detailed business plan with the costs, and as well as marketing strategies.
The livelihood project is implemented by SDF’s partner – the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).
Similarly, SDF project – Promoting Integrated Bamboo Based Enterprise Development among SAARC Countries (Bamboo)- is implemented in India by the Foundation for MSME Clusters.
SDF team visited the numerous sites of the bamboo project in India to discuss and witness some the progress and benefits of the project in the communities. The team visited the Common Facility centers (CFC) in Dumka cluster in Jharkhand, which is located in Eastern India. Dumka is amongst the largest bamboo cluster in Jharkhand specialising in utility products such as mats, baskets and winnowing trays.
The CFCs are equipped with high end machineries and have started offering value added services like supply of raw materials, treatment, coloring sorting, grading, packaging and sales and serviced are being availed by over 350 artisans of Dumka.
The team saw that the project has contributed to a 30 percent better price realization through enhanced quality and durability of the products.
About 33 master artisans were trained on housing and construction, lifestyle and craft products and in return, they have trained 762 artisans at cluster level. In addition, the 80 percent of the trained master artisans have started producing value-added products and also collaborated with TRIFED and DC Handicrafts to impart more trainings at cluster level in nearby districts.
