A focus group discussion was conducted in Malleboinpalli with the Kuruva community

to understand their existing and potential livelihood occupations. Of the 40

households, 38 are involved in traditional occupations (sheep and goat rearing); all

have small landholdings based on rainfed agriculture. All the women in this

community are in SHGs. They use the credit from the SHGs to purchase raw

material for gongali making as well as to buy sheep and buffaloes. They collect their

wool during June-July and December-January. But, they also obtain wool from other

goat owners. They give one gongali for the wool of every 100 goats (sheared 2

times per year). The cost of shearing a goat is Rs 3/- and is paid by the person who

takes the wool. Women undertake the production of gongali and the men sell them.

In Malleboinpalli, DRDA provided medleri cherkas (spinning tools) for 30 households

but did not provide accompanying training, so the equipment goes unused. The

problems faced by practitioners of this traditional occupation are: inability to get

sufficient profit margins; reduced availability of raw material (due to decreased goat

populations); the younger generation is not interested in continuing this activity;

and, there is already a trend to move into other occupations (e.g. agriculture, dairy,

nursery, etc.).