Dear Initiators, Supporters, Wellwishers, curious Observers and Vocal Critics of Mayurbhanj Cooperative Experiment
I think I will be pardoned for copying words of Steve Jobs when I say ‘joining dots of life looking backward’ : Now I feel April turmoil was the best thing that would have happened with the Mayurbhanj Cooperative experiment. Due to april turmoil, experiment on one hand truly became people’s initiative with individuals contributing in the range of Rs.500 to 25,000 and on other hand it led cooperative members come out of dependency syndrome. They now understand that there might be some individuals/organizations who are no longer with them but there are many many individuals who even though don’t know them but still they believe in their act of coming together and members don’t want these individuals to be let down.
Quantitative Update
As shared in last quarterly update, 90 quintals of Mahua Flower was sold through village cooperative branch by linking to ‘one up level trader’ and on an average members receivedadditional Rs.75 per quintal compared to what they were receiving earlier without cooperative in place. Amount close to 150 quintals of Mahua Flower is in stock with the cooperative members and is due for sale during mid-October (near Kali-Puja prices are highest). For sale of this 150 quintals considering last year prices, members are expecting to get additional Rs. 300 per quintal.
Without taking any credit, I must confess that this was possible only due the efforts put by two field staff Prabhakar and Diwakar, who mobilized the community for the collective action.
3 More cooperative branches have been added to Marshal Cooperative, taking membership of the cooperative to 590 in total.
Qualitative Update
This quarter witnessed extra-ordinary role from the representative board members of the cooperative. From earlier stand of being a mute follower of what field staff or I used to communicate, they have transcended towards doing things on their own and taking initiatives. This might sound very easy but is perhaps the most important & difficult part towards making cooperative ‘self-reliant’. Some of the specific initiatives taken by the board members I am sharing here
*In the board meeting which was held on 2nd of July, they decided that for member compliance and cooperatives growth it’s imperative that cooperatives business domain must move beyond NTFP which is seasonal. (This was latently in my thinking when we initiated the experiment, but at the core level I never shared. Our design towards the experiment was to build ‘collective action’ from the existing product/s value chain where ‘apparent exploitation’ from market agents is present. Succinctly put, other than spiritual/religious purposes, people come together only when they see cost of coming together is minimal compared to the gains which they can derive by joining hands. This was vividly ingrained from the existing trade of NTFP and therefore Mahua flower became the entry point. However I was sceptical about ‘how ‘, ‘when’ and ‘what’ next to be added for making cooperative operational year-round. I was absent in this board meeting when they decided answers for ‘how’, ‘when’ and ‘what’ for ensuring cooperative’s growth.)
*They decided to refrain from ‘prescribing’ one common activity to the village cooperative branches. Set of activities ranging from Poultry, Fishery, Floriculture, Beekeeping and Vegetable Cultivation at collective level was floated. Respective representative members of the board organized village wise meetings and shared this information. (I didn’t attend even one such single meeting and members outperformed my expectation of handling this on their own)
*Gaipani village where Marshal Cooperative’s registered office is present will perhaps now become another “Gambhira Cooperative in making”. Gaipani Branch members have taken Panchayat’s 1.5 acre pond with another 2 acres of vacant plot and 200 cashew tree plantation on lease. They intend to experiment an integrated collective livestock cum farming project. Taking pond as base, 5000 fish fingerlings will be put in the pond by 13th of October. A poultry shed for 200 birds is prepared by the members through ‘collective labor’. Excreta of the birds will serve as food for the fishes in the pond. This month 200 Papaya and 500 Banana trees will be planted around the pond. Chili and tomato will be cultivated in 2 acre vacant land which will be irrigated from water of the pond. Cashew plantation which was done by Horticulture dept 2 years back and was lying idle will be ready for harvesting in March.
They have designed a schedule whereby each day one member will have the responsibility to stay in the project location and take care of the assignment primarily in three aspects ‘irrigating the papaya, banana and vegetables, feeding the poultry birds and fishes, ensuring the safety of the farm and livestock produce. (This is going to be a thrilling experiment for me as well !!)
Similar such other projects are in pipeline in other villages
* President and Secretary have now started meeting government officials and getting work done without me accompanying them. Ranging from small legal obligations like getting Pan Card, Sales Tax number (those who have applied in past can understand the pain !) and discussing with respective line department officials for availing applicable government schemes were all handled by them. (As a small instance to share: they were initially reluctant in talking to Excise Superintendent and Sales Tax Commissioner fearing them as ‘big’ government officials who will not entertain them. However I became bit rigid and told the board members that I’ll not come with them. Finally they went, talked to them, returned and very happily shared that ‘Sir, unne bahut achche se baat kari’ and perhaps their fear is gone. For next year license fee’s exemption President and Vice President of the cooperative are going to meet District Collector next week on their own. As a facilitator of the experiment, probably this is the happiest moment seeing the kid stand on own!!)
* At individual level 30 members have taken 380 “Vanraja” breed birds. Money for purchase and transport of the birds was contributed by the members. This at surface level seems to be very simple, but has an innovation built in. They got to know from me that in Jajpur Cooperative (where I am currently engaged in through sister concern of Harsha trust-Renaissance), poultry is one of the major revenue generating activity for the community. However in Jajpur cooperative, broiler farming is being practiced. Broiler is high capital intensive and due to active financial support from tata steel it is being attempted. However in Mayurbhanj as external capital support is limited, they cannot go for broiler farming. Typically they used to keep 2-3 ‘desi’ birds as backyard poultry which was primarily for their own consumption. These birds normally fed themselves by scavenging across. Vanraja which is hybrid of Desi and Broiler is more disease resistant and gains weight earlier. These members thought of a unique approach. Approach was what in Buddhism they call as ‘middle path’. They decided to keep 10-15 ‘Vanraja’ birds which is not very costly. However with increase in bird size, feed available through scavenging on kitchen and farm waste will remain limited and therefore for feeding they decided to go with semi-scavenging which implies that one time feed will be given by the rearer and rest birds will search by scavenging . With this cost of feeding is reduced to half. (This is not new, it is being practiced in Bangladesh which I later on got to know from literature review but since the members didn’t have access to literature/internet, it can be safely termed as innovation from them)
Where experiment didn’t work
All is definitely not well!! Cooperative is still financially dependent upon grants being sent by my friends and professors from beloved alma-mater viz IRMA and NIT-Surat. I must thank my dearest friend Trinadh for an overwhelming support of 500 USD in August and my senior NagaChetan for arranging interest free loan of Rs.50,000 for 3 months. Member’s savings in most of the villages is low, which is definitely not a good sign for financial stability of the cooperative. Due to dormancy of village representatives, two villages in particular have gone off-track.
What we are doing to recover
We are now putting forward proposals specifically for integrated collective livestock farming and Semi-Scavenging Vanraja Poultry to institutional donors. Our proposal has major component of zero/low interest loan and negligible grant. If any one of the proposal clicks in, with the proposed activities Cooperative will achieve financial viability in 8 months time. As a supplement, we are now seeking zero/low interest loan from friends. Total loan amount sought is 2.5 lakhs, which will be returned to respective loaners by the end of 8th month. Member’s savings have been low as they have invested their small income in paddy (this year rain was particularly good). With additional earning coming from the proposed activities, members will be able to deposit the regular monthly savings.
Support sought from you:
We thank from heart to people who have made us stay afloat. We request the grantees to stop the monthly grant from Februray 2012 and instead raise loan to the cooperative to the tune of Rs. 5,000-10,000 which will be returned at the end of 8th Month. Thereafter cooperative will be in a position to take loan for its activities from the existing market based financial institutions. (Those who need details about financial viability plan can kindly let me know as a reply mail, I’ll share the same)
Where is this experiment heading to
Membership base expected by March 2012: 1100
Prospective average increase in annual income in the calendar year 2012: Rs.6000-8000 per active member
I thank once again to one and all. May Almighty's wish prevail!
Helping others fly faster than sound.
But, where are the engineers
Helping those who must live on the ground?"
