Problem Statement: Overcoming challenges in disintermediation for minor forest produce sales for transitioning Indigenous Jhum to Plantation and Agroforestry Farmers
Background: The practice of shifting cultivation has become severely constrained with the shortening of the cultivation cycle, increasing population, reduced availability of land and land degradation throughout the North Eastern Region of India. This has accelerated soil erosion manifold, the soil loses nutrients, soil fauna and microbes which causes substantial loss to tree diversity and tropical vegetation required for resilient biodiversity.This eventually has led to an endangered community that solely depended upon jhum cycles as a social safety net for food and ecological security. So the farmers are converting to settled plantation farms but in doing so require infrastructure which is missing and at the same time are failing to avail lucrative incentives for their new lifestyles.
Methodology: User Observations, System Mapping, Cultural Probes, AEIOU framework, Semi-structured Interviews, Business Model Canvas, BOP, VRIO analysis, Facilitated Brainstorming & Co-design sessions.
Outcome: What emerged was a cooperative farmer’s organization that was designed specifically for the need for disintermediation of the farm produce of the villagers (cutting off the exploitative middlemen in between). The co-operative would use permaculture methods and traditional methods, buy the farm produce at the village itself (saving farmers transportation costs) and sell it directly to the retailers in the larger cities (under a common brand name, providing value addition), redistributing the net profit back to the villagers and the development of the village. This strategy combines the production power of 65 farmers who own 150 acres of land jointly in a single village alone.
Whom: Ganga Maa Minor Forest Producer’s Co-operative Society Limited, Tripura Tribal Welfare, Department of Agriculture Tripura, Forest Department & ICAR.
Role: Co-Founder & Community Developer.
When and Where: Depacherra Village, North Tripura, India. May 2022 -present (ongoing)
For more details please do not hesitate to contact me.