Gramshree: Fostering sustainable livelihoods from forests through non-timber produce

By Bharat Dogra 

India's pursuit of inclusive development necessitates special attention to its diverse tribal communities. Success in these efforts is often higher when initiatives align with the communities' existing skills, knowledge base, and access to local resources.

In this context, interventions focused on improving the collection and processing of non-timber forest produce (NTFP), also known as minor forest produce, are particularly vital. This is familiar territory for tribal communities, who have long been involved in this work. However, they've frequently struggled to receive fair returns, with traders often cornering most of the profits. The challenge now is to ensure they not only get fair compensation for collecting forest produce but also benefit from value-added activities. This involves processing the collected produce locally to market various healthy food and other products at higher prices and profit margins.

This area holds significant potential for social entrepreneurs aiming to simultaneously promote improved livelihoods, nutrition, health, and environmental protection.

Rakesh Gupta is one such social entrepreneur. Recognizing this potential early on, he has dedicated over a decade to developing a model that provides healthy food products to the market while improving the livelihoods of thousands of tribal women. Additionally, his work emphasizes enhancing nutrition and health within these communities. Therefore, beyond the primary marketed products, the availability of diverse vegetables to the community also receives due attention.

The Gramshree Foundation Trust, an NGO founded by Rakesh, has established a strong presence in both final and intermediate food products derived from custard apple (sitafal) and Indian blackberry (jamun), and to some extent, Indian gooseberry (anvla) and tamarind (imli). Other possibilities are also being explored. This collection and processing work is integrated with broader efforts in numerous villages to promote nutrition, health, and tree planting, alongside fostering improved savings and economic security for women organized in self-help groups.

A key aspect of this success is the income generation and livelihood support provided to communities in very remote villages across Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, where achieving sustainable outcomes through other means is often difficult. Rakesh gratefully acknowledges the support and guidance of his mentor, Ved Arya, in this endeavor.

The Gramshree Foundation Trust initiated a 'Van Dhan Shakti' effort, empowering women from tribal communities by linking them to better utilization of forest produce and higher economic returns.

In fact, Rakesh established more than one organization. Alongside the Gramshree Foundation Trust, he also launched Gramshree Development Services Pvt Ltd, a for-profit company, creating what he calls a hybrid model to advance similar objectives.

As the new voluntary organizations struggled to establish a base, they received crucial assistance from a familiar source. Rakesh’s mentor, Ved Arya, had by then started Buddha Fellowships to strengthen socially relevant initiatives, particularly in their early stages. A regular stipend from this fellowship proved instrumental for Rakesh and his efforts. This support was further amplified when the fellowship helped secure a loan of INR 2.5 million for expansion. "This helped us spread our efforts to Chhattisgarh state, in addition to the two districts of South Rajasthan where we were already working (Udaipur and Rajsamand)," Rakesh recalls, emphasizing the significant contribution of this support.

The fundamental concept of integrating the strengthening of sustainable livelihoods for tribal communities with improved nutrition and health was sound. The new organization quickly garnered attention and even awards, including a first prize as the best agricultural start-up and a Villgro and British Council prize. Its reach, in terms of tribal households covered, continued to grow over the years, as did the number of its products and the scope of its activities. During the COVID-19 crisis, Gramshree assisted many distressed households with food and rations.

While products based on blackberry, custard apple, and "anvla" have been central, new ones like those derived from tamarind are also being developed. More recent initiatives include poultry farming and cultivating diverse plant varieties in nurseries to encourage more varied vegetable and fruit production, as well as other trees. In many of its operational villages, women's self-help groups provide a strong foundation not only for their savings and economic security but also for Gramshree's multifaceted development interventions.

I recently spent a day in the villages of Sayra block in Udaipur district with Rakesh and several team members, including Vijay Dhakse. In one village, the primary concern was finding suitable places to house poultry birds recently acquired by villagers through a Gramshree initiative. Instead of constructing brick and cement structures, two women had ingeniously created a suitable space using bamboo from their own farm. Rakesh praised this innovation, suggesting to his team that it might be a more effective option than traditional construction. At the same time, discussions ensued about further improvements to the bamboo structure to enhance the birds' comfort. Commending the two women for their efforts, Rakesh discussed with his team how their skill could be more widely utilized, thereby increasing their earnings.

During a visit to a nursery started by a small farmer, Rakesh and his team discussed with the farmer why the plot was being underutilized. Concerns were raised about the damage already caused by strong winds to the nursery covering, and ideas for prompt repairs were discussed.

This was followed by a comprehensive discussion with a women's self-help group and team members, aiming to quickly resolve many pending questions, such as how nutrition and health conditions are to be monitored.

Such on-the-spot, field-level discussions and decisions based on real-life situations help maintain close contact with emerging problems and issues, ensuring their timely resolution.

All these practices are helpful in advancing work in remote villages in ways that avoid unexpected and unforeseen problems.

While these initiatives clearly have a promising future due to their high social relevance and recognized need, greater care should be taken to ensure sustainability and reduce potential risks. For instance, it is safer to work with the many diverse types of available forest and local farm produce rather than introducing species whose suitability to local conditions is uncertain. By emphasizing safe and sustainable harvesting and helping to better care for and protect trees, the young organization can establish even greater credibility for environmental protection and sustainability. This process is further aided by a stronger foundation in the scientific knowledge of local trees, crop plants, and herbs, as found in botanical papers, and crucially, supported by the insights of experienced and elderly local villagers, farmers, and traditional healers (vaids), particularly women. It is likely that several valuable crops, including millets, and herbs that played important roles in farming, nutrition, and health historically, have largely vanished from farms, gardens, and surroundings in recent times. Their revival, collection, and protection of their seeds can be a significant part of the development work undertaken.

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The writer is Honorary Convener of Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include Protecting Earth for Children, Planet in Peril, A Day in 2071, and Man over Machine