GUDALUR: When Kasthuri got married at the age of 18, her daily routine included cutting logs for firewood, take care of children and cook. Twenty years on, she is using biogas to cook. She is also financially independent and is able to provide milk tea to her children, a luxury which she never had when she was young.
All thanks to the decade-long biodiversity programme of Airbus Foundation, the philanthropy arm of Airbus, a European multinational aerospace corporation that sells civil and military aerospace products.
Under the programme, 57 tribal families around Gudalur in The Nilgiris, were given biogas plants and two cows.
The biogas generated from the cow dung is used for cooking purpose and hence the families no longer fell trees. Besides, the families are becoming self-reliant by selling milk produced by cows and byproducts of the dung like fertilisers.
“The inhabitants of the hamlets earlier used 15 kg of firewood for cooking, but now they use biogas and this has helped from buring 25 lakh kg of wood. In Pannikal village, which is surrounded by tea, coffee, spice plantation and reserve forest, the livelihood depended on hunting or working in the plantations as labourers. But, after the biogas plants were installed they have a proper income and better living and health conditions,” said Ramaswamy Ranganathan, founder of Centre for Tribal and Rural Development Trust (CTRD).
The foundation officials said it costRs 2 lakh for the 2,000 litre-capacity biogas plant, two cows and a shed for the animals. The programme was launched in 2010 in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Global Environment Facility - Small Grants Programme (GEF-SGP), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Centre for Environmental Education and CTRD.
“It might look like a simple thing, but it is a big change for us. We did not earn more thanRs 100 per day and hunted our food. The company gave us an initial investment and now we make enough to send our children to college,” said Kumari, one of the six tribal women who shared their experiences with Express.
“We are no more worried about being attacked by animals since we do not go to cut firewood in the forest,” said Vellachi. “Earlier we used to stack up woods and used forest as toilets. Now, we grow crops in that land and sell them, she said.”
Interestingly, employees of Airbus from around the globe had visited the tribal communities and constructed the biogas plants, where they learned to be resilient and resourceful, according to Hania Tabet, International Director of Airbus Foundation.
Prabhjot Sodhi from UNDP said now the families have three sources of income - milk produced by the cows, natural pesticides from the slurry of the cow dung and vegetation around their houses. “The families that had never tasted a milk tea in their life now drink healthy milk produced from the cow they rear,” said Prabhjot.
Jalaja of Vellery village had never gone to school, but now she is taking care of the cows and making a living without depending on her husband. Her daughter Karthika is now pursuing second year BSc (Mathematics) and she might be the first graduate from the village.
“The biodiversity programme had satisfied several goals of United Nations like environmental sustainability, climate change, empowering women, eradicating extreme poverty and promoting education. Meanwhile, the community had given a different perspective of life to the employees of the
Airbus who were in the ground,” said Hania Tabet. Speaking about the impact of the programme, Suraj Chettri, Head of Human Resources, Airbus India and South Asia, said that, “The employees who visited the villages have, on their own, collected funds to help even more families. Leaders of nearby villages have approached UNDP to install similar plants in their villages as well.”
No more felling of trees
Airbus foundation officials said it cost Rs 2 lakh for the 2,000 litre-capacity biogas plant, two cows and a shed for the animals. The biogas generated from the cow dung is used for cooking purpose hence no trees are felled.
(The author went on a trip sponsored by Airbus India)