By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Online Donor Communication
Dear Friend,
In 2008, Seva Mandir had set up a community enterprise- “Lentil Processing Unit- Dal Mill” in Medi village in Southern Rajasthan in India. This unit procures raw lentils from 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.
The idea of setting up the Dal Mill had certain objectives attached to it. The farmers from tribal areas had to take their produce to the main market at the district level for selling, this involved additional transport cost and state road taxes. The setting up of dal mill proved to be a beneficial deal for the farmers. Not only do they get good price but they save on the transportation costs as well. One more key feature apart from the fair price was the regularity in making the payment for the purchase; the farmers get the money instantly at Seva Mandir’s Dal mill without any delay.
Harish, a farmer from the Cheekhla village came to Dal Mill which is about 5 Kms away. When asked as to why he and other farmers chose to sell their produce to Seva Mandir’s Dal Mill over the nearest market. He said “Not only do farmers get a fair price for their produce but there is transparency in the functioning of the mill and payment is made instantaneously for the produce being sold”.
Harish feels that Dal Mill has helped farmers a lot by not only saving their transportation costs and offering the fair price but also preventing the situation of distress selling to the local dealers at the time of crisis. He has been selling his produce to the Dal Mill for a couple of years now.
This year we are planning to buy a mini truck to transport the processed lentils from the unit to the Udaipur city for selling. I am sure, your continued support will help us achieve our commitments at the field. We would have not been able to manage such a setup had your support not been there. Thank you so much for your trust in Seva Mandir. Should your travel brings you to this side of the world, please do consider visiting Seva Mandir.
With Warm Regards
Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team
Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/sevamandir
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
