The following sections provide summaries of the case studies which are the backdrop to the livelihood films.

Blanket making : Face Pack and Henna making : Lambada Dress making

Leaf plate making : Mushroom Cultivation : Shoe making 

Vermicomposting : Addakal - A Point of Departure

BLANKET MAKING

The Kurava community (a sheep rearing community) is divided into two sections. ‘Erra kuravas’ only rear the sheep and sell the wool or meat.  The other section of the community cuts the wool, processes it and makes blankets.

Jammapur, Panugal Mandal:  Savitramma, a SHG member, took out a loan of Rs. 7000/- and bought some sheep. Her husband and his two brothers have 600 sheep.  The sheep are sheared once in six months.  200 sheep yield approximately 9 monds (90 kg) of wool every six months.  This wool is purified by machine, a “Gin”.   The purifying cost is Rs 20/- per mond.  The purified wool is then spun into thread. Sometimes the owners themselves do the spinning.  If they are unable to do so, they get it spun by appointing someone on daily labour i.e. Rs. 10/- per day.

The spun thread is then folded into bundles called “Padugu” or put onto a stick, which is called a ‘Peka’.  On average, one person can spin 9 monds of wool in 15 days. The next step in the process is that the ‘Padugu’ & ‘Peka’ are given for weaving on indigenous looms.  9 monds of wool can make 12 blankets, each blanket costing on average Rs. 250/- to 300/-.  There are three colours of sheep wool: black, brown and white.  White wool is the most expensive.

Rupees

Average cost of the wool 200 X 4(Wool is bought for Rs. 4/- per 1 sheep)

800.00

Cost for purifying 9 X Rs. 20/- 

180.00

Spinning cost 15 days X Rs. 10/-

150.00

Weaving: approximately 10 hrs (1 day) per blanket 

12 days labour X Rs. 25/-

300.00

Tamarind seeds to prepare starch for weaving (@ Rs. 2/- per kg) 10 X 2

  20.00

6 monthly Expenditure

1450.00

Annual Expenditure

2900.00

6 monthly Gross Income (12 blankets sold at Rs 250-300 per blanket)

3600.00

Annual Gross Income

7200.00

Annual – Net Income

4300.00

Buchamma, another SHG member, says that she buys wool from nearby villages.  The entire family, including children and the very old, are engaged in this activity.   They use an unusual mortar (a heavy grinding stone) to grind soaked tamarind seeds into a paste.  This paste is then boiled to make starch. A big comb-like brush made of ’kase’ grass roots is dipped in the starch solution and applied to the blanket.  Buchamma believes that if the quality of the wool can be improved, higher quality blankets can be made and that there would be a good market for such blankets.

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FACE PACK AND HENNA MAKING

Wanaparthy: Anitha, Yasoda and Sasikala of Swayam Krishi Sangh prepare face packs and henna powder as a micro enterprise and sell it to beauty parlours.  They buy the raw material on wholesale from Hyderabad. They use various herbal materials such as Greengram, Haldi, Kastoorihaldi, Nagakesarlu, Kachhooralu, Bavanchaalu, Vayuvidangalu, and neem leaf.  They process these into powders for sale.  For every 1 kg of powder they get a profit of Rs. 50/-.  They are presently able to sell only 10 kg per month, to the beauty parlours of Wanaparthy and 2 to 3 kg to private individuals.  In the same way, they produce henna powder, cleaning powder, washing powder, ear buds, etc. They are exploring ways to make this enterprise more viable.

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LAMBADA DRESS MAKING

Bonamma Thanda, Mahabubnagar District: Lambada women wear traditional dress.  They buy the material from external sources.  This is then stitched by tailors and the women themselves do the mirror and embroidery work.  Usually, there will be one or two people who take stitching work exclusively for Lambada.  There is demand in the modern garment industry for mirror work.  In this case, women are consumers and have the necessary skills to produce these dresses.  However, these skills are often not acquired by the younger generation.

The women say that the main work is done by machine by the tailor in Wanaparthy.  The women find that if they do all this work by hand it takes a very long time, especially as they can only do so during their leisure time.   Lakshmi realised that there was potential in taking up this activity as a group micro-enterprise.  The group has had discussions and would like to train basic stitching to a number of young women in the village.  They need capital to invest in sewing machines and raw material such as mirrors, shells, threads, beads, coins, etc.  Basic stitching will be done by the young women.  Other women will do the mirror and embroidery work and produce dresses to sell in the local area.  The group is currently formulating these plans to establish a micro-enterprise.

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LEAF PLATE MAKING

The women of the ‘Telugu’ community in the village of Chandapuram make leaf plates.  There are plenty of moduga trees, their raw material source, in the neighbouring villages.  The women collect the leaves in the early morning.  They make them into garlands, sprinkling water on them so that when they dry they do not break.  They use Jowar grass, which they finely chop, to stitch the leaves together.  Each person can make 300 to 400 leaf plates in a day.  If they go as daily wage labour, they are able to make the plates in their leisure time.  These leaf plates are sold at Rs. 10/- per 100 or when demand is high @ Rs. 15/- per 100. They say that if had leaf plate-making machines, they would be able to earn more.

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MUSHROOM CULTIVATION

Saraswathi is a member of a Self-Help Group in her village.  She has taken two training courses on mushroom cultivation and processing. These training courses equipped her with the confidence and knowledge to start mushroom cultivation on a small scale.

Mushroom cultivation process: Saraswathi buys 2 bottles of seed (spores) per month from the agricultural research centre at Palem.  She collects the hay, cuts it into pieces, and boils it to make it free from bacteria. She puts this in the plastic bags of 12” X 8” size layer by layer and puts the seed in between the layers.  She made a facility at home to keep these bags tightly closed, but holes made to allow the air in.  After one week when the fungus like formation appears she cuts the covers and sprays water at regular intervals. After opening the covers it takes two to three weeks for the mushrooms to be ready.

Precautions: The mushrooms must not be allowed to dry out and they must be protected from rats, cockroaches and ants.   A dust-free, cool atmosphere is also required. 

Economics: 1 bottle of seed is enough for eight covers and it gives 1 ½ kg of mushrooms. The initial investment is made for the purchase of spray bottles, covers, trays, etc.

Fresh

Dry

Cost of 2 bottles of seed (@ Rs10 per bottle)

Rs. 20/- 

Rs. 20/-

Miscellaneous expenditure

Rs. 10/-

Rs. 10/- 

Output: 3 kg fresh or 900 g dry

Rs. 150/- (@ Rs. 50/- per kg

Rs. 180/- (@ Rs. 200/ per kg)

Profit

Rs. 120/-

Rs. 150/-

After selling the produce she gets the seed for the next phase. The reason she said for doing this on a very small scale is that she feels that there is not a large market.  Only a very few people who know about the nutritive value of mushrooms are buying them.  When she was not able to sell them fresh, she dries them.

Saraswathi grows mushrooms as a supplementary income generating activity.  If done on a large scale, she feels it would be a very good livelihood for her.  Her dream is to have a very big unit one day.  Saraswathi is now acting as a resource person for Department for Rural Development Agencies (DRDA) / District Water Management Agency (DWMA) to train others in mushroom cultivation.

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 SHOE (CHEPPAL) MAKING

Chandapuram: The main expenditure is leather, which they buy at Wanaparthy or Pebberu.  Alivelamma, takes a loan from her SHG for this purpose.  The hide of one bullock costs Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 3500/-.  Other expenditure is on rubber, rivets, thread, wire, wax, etc.  They inherited the tools they need however, occasionally, these need replacing.

They make 2 to 3 types of cheppals.  The strong pure leather ones are used by men, specially by shepherds, and cost Rs. 200/- to Rs. 250/- per pair.  The cheppals that are made of mostly rubber and less leather are sold at Rs. 50/- to Rs. 60/- per pair (for men) and Rs. 40/- to Rs. 50/- (for women). The first category of cheppals are in demand mostly when people go on migration.  Some farmers place orders for “Kirrucheppulu” i.e. which make sound when they walk.  This type pf cheppals are made to order only.  Coconut and Telukondikayalu nuts are ground together and the paste is put between two layers of leather so that the cheppals create a sound while walking. This type of  cheppals cost Rs. 400/- per pair.  This type is preferred because the noise helps to keep snakes and other harmful animals away while they walk in the fields, forest areas, etc.  They are also very durable.

Apart from cheppals the leather workers make belts for bullocks & cows and also driving stickbelts (“Cherlakola”).  With the hide of a bullock, a minimum of 30 pairs of pure leather cheppals can be made. 2 pairs can be made by one person or 3 pairs of rubber and leather cheppals per day.

Hide for 30 pairs

Rs. 3,500.00

Other miscellaneous items

Rs.   200.00

15 days for 30 pairs (daily wage Rs. 30/-)

Rs.   450.00

Total expenditure

Rs. 4,150.00

(Gross) Income on sale of 30 pairs 30 X 200

Rs. 6,000.00

(Net Income?) Profit

Rs. 1,850.00

However, there is no regular demand for this type of cheppals. Other type of cheppals are more in demand and the average income per month may be Rs. 1,000 to 1500/-.  Leather cheppals last for 2 years whilst  part leather cheppals only last a year.  People from neighbouring villages also come and purchase the cheppals from this village.  On average, the present demand is 20 pairs per month, for each family.

If techniques to produce better quality cheppals can be learned, there will be more demand for this product.  Training and marketing are to be facilitated to develop this livelihood.

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VERMICOMPOSTING

Tadiparthi village: 150 families of this village and also Chityal village have taken up this activity.  A bed of 10’ X 4’ X 2 ½’ (length, width, height) is built along with a fence around to prevent hens, rats and frogs entering and eating away the worms. The investment required for all this is Rs. 1000/-.  Material required is any organic waste, grass and dung. While collecting the waste care is to be taken to see plastic and glass pieces are not there. This waste (80%) along with dung (20%) is to be arranged in layers, and it should be kept wet by regular watering.  The earthworms seed material is brought from Hyderabad @ Rs. 500/- 10 kgs.  There will be 200 to 250 worms per kg of material.

This seed is put on one side of the bed.  The first compost will be ready in 2 ½ months, and can be used for all crops.  The compost helps improve soil fertility and in preserving soil moisture.  The quantity of the compost that can be produced each time (i.e. 2 ½ months for the first time and 2 months subsequently) is 1½ tonnes and this sells for approximately Rs. 3500/-.  The average profit for 1 bed every 2 months period is Rs. 2500/-. The work involved is 1 or 2 hrs per day apart from preparing the bed initially.  Each farmer gets an initial Rs. 500/- as a subsidy.

Apart from selling the compost, after 3 times of production, a portion of the worms can also be sold or the number of beds can be increased with the excess worms.  This is a good livelihood, which does not involve much financial or time investment. He can also improve the quality of his own land by using this compost.

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Addakal - A Point of Departure

he film explains about how the rural women departered their way from small SHGs to Mandal Mahila Samakhya (Federation of Village Organizations at Mandal Level). Addakal is a Drought Prone Mandals of Mahaboobnagar district. The film explains the journey of SHG women managing 30.4 million rupees with a membership of 5,000 women from 1900 SHGs. It narrates the story of women successfully managing the watershed programme and establishing the livelihood resource centre on the Hyderabad - Bangalore national high way. Samakhya converging with various district development agencies mobilized the funds to open a Resource Centre comprising of Super Market, Restaurant, Training Centre and a Shandy for marketing the produce and products prepared by SHGs.

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