08nt-5180 Building entrepreneurial skills in a fledging rural institution: training for improved management and marketing of vegetable and fruit co-operative
| budget |
€ 25.771,67 |
status |
execution |
| start date |
01-06-2008 |
date end |
31-05-2010 |
| location |
|
country |
india |
| financer |
Agriterra |
| executor |
Green Foundation/NISARGA |
intervention level |
local |
| Programmes |
| work area 17: Processing of agricultural products | IFAP 03: Enhance capacity of farmers' organisations | |
| description |
 NISARGA (meaning is "nature" in Kannada language), a cooperative or federation of farmers in Karnataka State producing organic cereals, pulses and value added products has been established in 2007 with the support of Green Foundation (CBO) and financial support of Agriterra (project 05nt-4430 in 2006). The cooperative has been registered (...more...) |
| description |
NISARGA (meaning is "nature" in Kannada language), a cooperative or federation of farmers in Karnataka State producing organic cereals, pulses and value added products has been established in 2007 with the support of Green Foundation (CBO) and financial support of Agriterra (project 05nt-4430 in 2006). The cooperative has been registered with the government of Karnataka in 2007. Inititally the Federation Janadhanya was estabished under the societies act (in 2006), but this registration did not allow a profit oriented approach. Therefore, it was decided to register also under the cooperative act as NISARGA.
NISARGA has 723 members of which 356 are women (49%). Each member has invested in one or 2 shares of NISARGA (functioning as a cooperative). Share capital of NISARGA is about € 2330 at present.
This project aims to further strengthen the Cooperative NISARGA, a cooperative of organic agriculturists established in 2007. The main focus is on capacity building/development of skills of the leaders and members of NISARGA and to enable the organization to become a viable income generating enterprise, yielding its members with a regular income. Main activities will be training in marketing, value addition and leadership; market assessment and elaborate marketing stategies. (...less...) |
| results & observations |
Janadhanya Federation is a non profit federation in Kanatata State in India. Its main goal is to provide various services to its current 670 members (all farmers) and of which 36 % are women.
Through the NGO Green Foundation, Agriterra is supporting Janadhanya to become a stronger and more (...more...) |
| final results & observations |
Janadhanya Federation is a non profit federation in Kanatata State in India. Its main goal is to provide various services to its current 670 members (all farmers) and of which 36 % are women.
Through the NGO Green Foundation, Agriterra is supporting Janadhanya to become a stronger and more self reliant entity.
Main activities undertaken in this project are capacity building of the Board of Directors on human resource management and of the members on how to conduct (group) meetings and how to administer savings; technical training on organic farming, traditional seeds, and; bookkeeping;. Several field visits and exposure visits were organised to show farmers the benefits of traditional seeds compared to hybrid seeds. A workshop on seed production, including the marketing aspects was held for members.
The main results are more income generating activities among the female members such as kitchen gardening, seed conservation, vermi-compost, handicrafts. All women are involved in one or more activities.
In fourty Village Development Committees (VDC), the members are administrating their own accounts and have a regular monthly saving. All together the members have been able to conserve a remarkable number of traditional paddy, millet, oil seeds, medicinal herbs and vegetable varieties. Farmers got access to markets to sell their products.
The effects of this project (and the previous projects) are that farmers are more confident, discovered new opportunities to sell their products, women have been socially empowered which gave them a voice in the board. Income generating activities improved the economic status of women.
(...less...) |
| specialisms |
| Cooperative Development & Marketing Strategies | Internal organisational strengthening | Market and chain development | |
PROPOSAL
This proposal builds upon the previous project during which the Community Seed Banks were strengthened and a Gene Bank for preserving and maintaining longer viability of genetically pure seed germplasm in “climate controlled” conditions was established.
2. project objectives
• To equip the functionaries and members of NISARGA to efficiently manage the affairs of the Federation and
• Enable NISARGA to become a vibrant and viable income generating enterprise
Results
• assured market and remunerative price leasd to more farmers encouraged to adopt organic cultivation methods.
• wide variety and range of crops being conserved on the field as well as products available for marketing.
• Members will explore ways of introducing more locally made products for marketing and thereby increase revenue streams.
• Enhance entrepreneurial skills of managing and developing an appropriate “rural livelihoods / productivity” based enterprise.
activities
• Rejuvenation of diverse varieties of crops with the full participation of small and marginal ‘dryland’ farmers (members of the Federation)
• Provide training to Federation members / functionaries on scouting for and identifying products that can be marketed through the Federation under the brand name “Nisarga”.
• Train interested members / functionaries in selecting, cleaning, grading, packing and labelling the produce in appropriate quantities based on ease of marketability and customer preference.
• Assess consumer demand and explore possibilities to diversify into other products like fresh vegetables, fruit and natural resources based handicrafts.
• Facilitate close producer – consumer interactions to build a dedicated urban consumer base sensitive to the constraints faced by rural producers
3. Budget:
Budget request to Agiterra:
2008-09: € 10.323
2009-10: € 9.547
Contribution Green foundation:
2008-09: € 6.738
2009-10: € 7.076
4. M&E logframe is being prepared by GF and Federation
5. sustainability: The proposal does not reflect upon the sustainability aspects. However, the fact that the federation works as a cooperative with shareholders shows that NISARGA intends to run as a business enterprise. NISARGA with support of Green Foundation is planning to prepare a business plan. |
GOALS
1. To equip the functionaries and members of the Federation of farmers to efficiently manage the affairs of the Federation
2. Enable the Federation to become a vibrant and viable income generating enterprise |
