By Atul Lekhra | Manager, Online Donor Communication
Dear Friend,
I would like to thank you for your continued support to Seva Mandir. Your support has enables us to help poor farmers get a fair price for their produce and avoid exploitation of the retail chain. These farmers are from one of the remotest villages of the region where we work.
You can imagine the status of life there with the fact that even today – there is no electricity in the village. However, this area is famous for its lentil production. Since its tribal area, farmers still practice indigenous farming hence they produce lentils which are free from any harmful chemicals and pesticides. However having said that- farmers face a lot of problems in many ways. Firstly-the local dealers whom they sell does not give them a fair price for their produce. Can you imagine- they just receive one third of the retail price (in which the lentil is actually sold in the market). Secondly – since they are very poor, a lot of farmers sell lentils in distress conditions ending up selling their produce in loss. Thirdly- if they consider going to the main markets to sell the lentils, it involves a huge transportation cost, state taxes and requires a lot at-least a day which means loss of one productive day.
In this context, in 2008, Seva Mandir set up a community enterprise- “Lentil Processing Unit” in the village. This unit procures raw lentils form the farmers directly (thus cutting the middle man commission), hence providing them fair price for their produce, process the lentils, and find a niche market for the processed lentils.
Kanti, a farmer who sells his lentils to the Unit says “I am selling my produce at this unit since 2010. It has made my life easy. Earlier, I had to travel 40 Kms to sell my produce. The local dealers used to exploit the poor farmers like us, by weighing less and giving low prices of the lentils. But now, with the lentil unit, we are given fair prices and instantaneous payment of our goods. I have been able to save some money for my children’s education”.
Around 10,000 farmers benefit from the lentil processing unit. With your support, Seva Mandir has been able to secure the following machinery at the unit – De-stoner, Grader cum splitter, Milling machine, Crusher and Moisture Meter. We plan to buy a packaging machine soon which will help in better water proof packaging.
This all would have not been possible without your support. Thank you so much for your trust in Seva Mandir. Should your travel bring you to this side of the world, please do consider visiting Seva Mandir.
With Warm Regards
Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team
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