Today, while distraught farmers in the country — more so in Vidarbha district — await a loan waiver, farmers of Girata village, 200 km from Nagpur, are once more against the “sop”.
A village in Washim has crafted a success story out of a micro-credit plan
MUMBAI: Two years back, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared a relief package for Vidarbha farmers, a nondescript village in Washim district ‘humbly’ rejected the aid and, instead decided to stand on its own feet. Today, while distraught farmers in the country — more so in Vidarbha district — await a loan waiver, farmers of Girata village, 200 km from Nagpur, are once more against the “sop”.
“We think it’s better to be off the crutches,” holds Prakash Rathod, chairman of the Sevalal Self-Help-Group of the village. It’s this farmers’ collective that is trying to change the face of the village of 800 people, slowly but surely. “What we need is adequate credit at low interest rates to finance our productive activities and better prices to our produce,” says a confident Rathod.
A better-irrigated Girata is crafting the success story out of a collective micro-credit plan and scripting a white revolution of sorts. “There are problems, but we will overcome them together,” say the villagers.
Sarpanch of the village, Madhukar Chavan, says: “We’re building our village economy on milk because dairy has a huge scope and potential.”
The dairy that the villagers’ collective founded with two buffaloes, a year ago, has scaled up its operations to 250 animals with daily milk collection of about 500 litres within a year. The villagers borrowed the concept and experience from one of their own veteran and progressive farmers, Shrawan Rathod, who had a dozen buffaloes and would sell it in the neighbouring villages to make a decent income.
“We transport milk in an auto to Washim where we sell it,” informs Rathod. The dairy collective clocks a monthly income of Rs4 lakh with a net profit of Rs1 lakh, which is shared equally by its 20 members. That is a modest Rs5,000 a month per head, or Rs 60,000 per annum, in addition to the returns from agriculture. Each member contributes Rs100 to the collective as his monthly saving. Thus, the 20 members collectively save Rs2,000 every month.
Rathod says the collective owns an auto, a tractor and a deep-freezer and wants to buy a van with a chiller for better transportation of milk to the city. The SHG has also set up its outlet at Washim to sell the milk to consumers.
Two women’s collectives of the village have taken the responsibility of keeping the financial records of the village dairy.
“It’s a great achievement for the villagers,” says Shekhar Natrajan, the manager of SBI branch in Shendurjana. Farmers say they found a great support in the bank manager, who understood their problems and supported the dairy.
“We are giving the example of this model to neighbouring villages and trying to create linkages so that the region emerges with a viable dairy business,” he says. Once he was convinced the villagers had a great workable plan, Natrajan says, he focussed on effective and adequate micro-credit to their self-help group.
“Not a single farmer in our village has outstanding dues,” Rathod claims proudly.
Girata farmers, who borrow crop loans like any other farmer in rural Vidarbha, are prompt in repaying their loans, notwithstanding several odds.
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