Madhya Pradesh | Orissa | Uttarakhand | Assam and Bihar | Jharkhand



Densely forested and insurgency-affected Bundu is one of the largest and tribal-inhabited blocks of Ranchi district in Jharkhand. The societal pattern of the block is traditionally patriarchic. Girls are denied access to education and are married early. The families have only 4 months of assured livelihoods and for the rest of the year they mainly depend on wages from agricultural labor. Lac is a resin that has been traditionally harvested in the area. Broodlac, which is the primary product of sale by the villagers, is harvested in April, June, October and January, depending on the type of lac being cultivated on the host plant. We worked with those women whose crop had been pest infected and who had been unable to find a solution to the problem.

Our technical assistance, supported under the Rural Business Hubs program of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, helped in the revival of the crop and 800 women had gained significant income within one year (two seasons). In addition, Udyogini-trained BDSPs helped to outreach to new producers by teaching them techniques in lac cultivation. VLSCs will be established by the end of 2010 with a scale-up to an additional 1000 producers. By 2012, we expect to reach 3000 producers not just with lac but also with a multitude of retail services provided through VLSCs. Our active partner in Jharkhand is Society for Integrated Development (SID) an NGO with large numbers of mobilized producers in Bundu.