Volume 1 Issue 2

Our views, news and more !!

The Just Change Producer Company began with a two year benchmarking phase, from 2003 to 2005. A review at the end of this period suggested that it would be best to extend this benchmarking phase until the company completed one year of trading. We have just completed a full year of trading at our Calicut and Nilambur branches and here are some of the most valuable lessons we learnt during this time:

• The creation of Village Consumer Societies (VCS) has proved to be the backbone of the JC retail system. This is a group of committed consumers, from one or more villages, self-help groups or cooperatives. The members of this society first understand the concept of Just Change and how it is possible for them to take control of their local economy. Then they decide what system of retail will suit them best. So far, VCS's have used two methods of retail – a village shop and a Community Marketing Organiser (or travelling salesperson). For either of these to be viable, a minimum monthly trade is needed and the society ensures that it can provide that. Systems of giving and recovering credit must also be monitored by this group.

• We started out by trading specific commodities like rice, oil and tea, some soaps and dhal. However, we soon found that selling just a few limited commodities to our members did not make a significant economic impact on their lives. Now we have a basket of products and groceries that are available at each VCS. These are sourced and stocked at the branch offices or warehouses at Calicut and Nilambur, and distributed from there to each VCS. Since all these products are not made by our member groups, we have been forced to procure from the open market as well. However, about 25% of our stock comes from JC members and other similar producer group. In our plans for scale up, sourcing from producer communities will be a priority.

   Celebrating Gandhi & Gramswaraj  

At half past four in the morning, about nearly two hundred people gathered in the dark at Pandel Bahali Village in the Nuapada District of Western Orissa. A group of girls carrying papaya saplings led a procession that marched along the streets. Just as the sun's rays lit up the village, the papaya saplings were planted, symbolic of the kitchen gardens that would be planted later in every house. The shramdhan (meaning an offering of work) was led by women leaders in the village and team members of Sahabagi Vikash Abijan (SVA). This, October 2^nd, was a two-fold celebration – of Gandhi Jayanthi or the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth, as well as the Foundation day of SVA.

Preparations for Foundation day had started weeks ago and now the campus wore a completely festive look! Bright posters and banners were hung up around the pandals. Over a hundred leaders representing SVA's watershed programme in 5 districts of Orissa had traveled for miles to be part of the celebrations. The day was packed with activity, and the Nuapada team welcomed guests, staff and volunteers from other districts of Orissa and beyond.

The next part of the programme began with a puja (prayer) and the national flag was hoisted, while the entire audience lustily sang the national anthem. Two special guests being honoured were freedom fighters from the Sarvodaya movement during the struggle for Indian independence. Over ninety years old now, they unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi (made by an artist who volunteers at SVA) and paid their respects. Perched on a pedestal looking up at Bapu, standing tall in their khadi and Nehru caps, they represent a generation that struggled for what we now take for granted. Khadi cloth bags were distributed to the audience.

In the main pandal, Jagadish Pradhan, the founder-director of SVA, welcomed the gathering again and invited the chiefguests to join him on the dias. As partners of POKS (one of the community groups that founded SVA) Stan and Mari represented Just Change, along with A B Swami, Jagadananda, Satya Narayan and others from the NGO sector in Orissa. The focus of many speeches was the Gandhian concept of Gram Swaraj or self-reliance in every village. Stan talked of the need to take control of our local economy if we are to achieve gram swaraj.

Speeches by the dignitaries were interspersed with songs and the distribution of prizes for an essay writing competition for school students in Nuapada District. Some of their essays on 'Why is Gandhi called the Mahatma?' were published in SVAs monthly newspaper. After lunch, the group split up for two workshops on the National Rural Employment Guarentee Scheme and another on Gender Justice.

The programme continued after the workshops with the presentation of SVA's annual report and financial statement. Some staff and volunteers were specially felicitated. A group of fourteen young Cooperative workers from Nuapada district were initiated to begin the 'Sahajog-Just Change' retail sales. Stan handed over the keys of cupboards that each worker would keep in their villages, stocked with Just Change spices and tea. “If you think these keys are for locking things up” he challenged them, “you're wrong! These are the keys that can unlock Gram Swaraj in each of your villages.” Gandhi would definitely have approved!

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 Nuts About it! 

 Ajith Kumar, representing the Saward Producer Group in Calicut, attended a three day workshop on Cashew Processing organised by the BAIF resource centre for tribal development in the Navsari district of Gujarat. This workshop aimed to share with participants the knowledge, skills and techniques of cashew processing and value addition. BAIF (which stands for Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation) Development Research Foundation has been working with cashew in South Gujarat for almost a decade. They have helped poor rural communities living in the vicinity of cashew growing areas to supplement their livelihood by procuring, processing and marketing cashew. The production of cashew in this area has increased vastly over the last few years and last year nearly 400 tons were procured!

Cashewnut, which is native to Brazil, was probably brought to the eastern coast of India by the Portuguese. It soon spread to other parts of the country. Today India accounts for 65% of global cashew kernel exports. BAIF has been working with cashew farmers in South Gujarat for nearly ten years. Raw cashew is harvested by farmers when mature and sun-dried for a couple of days. The farmers sell their stock to Ayojan Samitis (village committee). Cashew from all the different villages is brought together at a cooperative level where it is dried, peeled and graded before moving on for central processing. At the central level processing unit the nuts are checked for quality, regraded and packed. The Vasundhara Society of 39 villages of the Navsari District is responsible for value addition and marketing of the agricultural produce of its 2,500 farmers. Their final products include flavoured cashew nuts (like salted, pepper, masala, cardamom), cashew sweets, syrup and mixed dried fruit.

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