PALAKKAD: Adivasi members of the Kudumbashree Agali panchayat samithi of Attappadi have already purchased 136 goats, most of them the endemic black goats from the adivasi women of the ooru samithis.
The purchase was made by the panchayat samithi not by quoting any fancy price which comes to their mind as the middlemen always do. Instead, they will weigh the goat and pay `380 per kg for the whole animal.“Earlier, when the adivasi women needed money they approach the middleman seeking a sum of `1,000 as loan. The cattle market at Attappadi is being held every Saturday.
On Friday, the middleman comes and takes away the goat by paying the balance he deems fit to the adivasi women,” says Lakshmi, the co-ordinator of the Kurumba panchayat samithi.Now, under the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), the adivasis of the 130 ooru samithis will sell their goats to the panchayat samithi. Goat sheds have been set up by the samithi where it will be kept and given feed till it is sold to interested parties which include non-adivasis, says secretary of the Pudur panchayat samithi Radhamani.
“We urge people to purchase Attappady black, Jamna Pyari, Malabari and the local breed directly from the goat rearer and contribute towards augmenting their income and livelihood. Nobody has to wait for the weekly Saturday trade fair but the goats will be available for sale all days throughout the year. The aim was to avoid the middlemen,”says NRLM manager Seema Bhaskar.
Adds Rajamma, a Kudumbashree member, “We have already prepared a list of the adivasis rearing goats and at least 1,600 women are likely to benefit from the goat village facility through which they can sell. Buyers can approach the Kudumbashree office at the Ahads complex to purchase the goats. The minimum price fixed is `10,000 per goat.”
The adivasi Kudumbashree units have also ventured into making value-added products of
groundnut, ragi, millet, ‘thuvara parippu’ (yellow split dal), mustard, cluster beans and honey under the brand name ‘Malleeswara products’. There are 590 adivasi Kudumbashree units.“We used to get only `20 for a kg of groundnut. Now we dry it and sell for `120 per kg. We also produce groundnut oil and the cake is sold as cattle feed. Same is the case with ragi which we used to get a very low price, but now after powdering it we get `30 per kg. All these activities contribute to our income and also provide the members with employment,” Radhamani said.