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Honey bee publish details |
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Collaborators Meet |
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Reinventing markets for sustainable production and consumption |
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There is a need to create an entrepreneurial revolution at the grassroots level by turning the supply chain upside down. The challenge, however, still lies in providing an e-commerce platform, linking the courier and packaging industries to cater to the consumer requirements. Idea being that a distant consumer could order a traditional processed food or some other such product made by women and men in various parts of the country. At the same time, there is a need to customize the goods as per the consumers’ needs. Rather than just focusing on vertical markets, an attempt must be made to provide horizontal/circular market so that goods from one village can reach another. There is a need to provide a “signature of source”, so that a consumer in one country is able to establish the source of the commodity in another.
Shri Sundaram observed, “even today when a local
vegetable seller with her small basket sits next to
a big vegetable shop, many consumers prefer to buy locally grown fresh farm vegetables from her. Thus, we have to empower small growers and vendors'.
Recollecting the past while moving forward
Shri Vivekanandan recalled how his journey with the Honey Bee Network began seventeen years ago in 1991 when he met Prof Gupta. Within a few months, he started volunteering for the Network. He worked with the insurance sector and a Nationalized bank but was not satisfied with his job. He along with Shri Muthu Velayutham started organizing biodiversity competitions with school children in 1991-92 in Tamil Nadu. He initiated the Tamil version of Honey Bee during 1992 and has been publishing it ever since. The Tamil version of Honey Bee soon paved way for its publication in other regional languages with the help of local collaborators.
Shri Vivekanandan said “despite a masters’ degree in agricultural sciences, I had not gathered as much information on the subject as I did from field experiences.” Now many Goshalas are inviting him to share his experience and also train people on indigenous herbal healing practices. He also informed that the ethno-veterinary practices scouted from Tamil Nadu have been compiled in the form of a book in Tamil and also to an extent in Gujarati. Since many people are interested, a Hindi version of the same can be worked out by the team members.
He added that on the one hand, National level programmes like the food festival, Shodh Yatras and the award functions are important, efforts at an individual/local level also need to be strengthened to provide support to the Network. The language barrier that often retards growth at this front needs to be dissolved. Shri Vivekanandan, who has been continuing as a Honey Bee Network coordinator for the last five years has opted to pass on the responsibility to other members.
Father Mathew recalled the important events since the last Honey Bee meeting. In November 2007, Regional Research Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting on mechanical innovations was held at Idduki where twenty eight innovations were discussed and expert opinion was sought on them. Missing details for all the innovations is being searched. Similarly for agricultural innovations, an RAC meeting was held in December,2007.
In May 2007, a training programme on Scouting and Documentation was held for the science club coordinators, teachers and students in Kerala. A competition was also organized among children. In August 2007, four products, developed using indigenous knowledge of women, were launched including two nutrient supplements, an oil and a fumigant. Twelve other products are currently under-trial. As a result of these products, four women earn a regular income of upto Rs 2000-2500 per month each. Valsamma Thomas, a herbal healer, earned so much profit from the Rs 25,000 given by NIF to make and market her hair oil that she bought a car in November. Shri Sundaram Verma appreciated the efforts of PDS in providing a stable source of income to women and
hoped that more such attempts would be made in future. Father Mathew inquired if NIF could appoint a marketing person to oversee the marketing of the products developed by SHGs and help in the development of the supply chain.
Shri Yusuf Khan of Rajasthan explained how his ground nut digger was used by Dr Rammana (an entrepreneur) to develop a device to clean the coastal areas from debris in Vishakhapatanam. The modified sea beach cleaner is still under development. He has received Rs 1, 55,000 as down payment up front and would receive a royalty (4 percent) for the same in future. He has decided to give ten percent share of it to GIAN-N and around five percent to his scout, Shri Sundaram Verma. Shri Sundaram requested the fellow Network members to discuss the issue openly and advise. It needs to be seen how and whether the benefit sharing model that till now has a place for the innovator, his community, nature, and women apart from other stakeholders can now incorporate a share for the scout also. They indeed play a very important role in the chain.
Overcoming challenges and realizing opportunities
The Network in Kashmir has progressed considerably with the help of Mushtaq, Zahoor, Nadeem and Sabzar apart from other well wishers. They had also extended immense help in organizing the 19th Shodh Yatra. Subsequently, the local team has organized several workshops and tried to spread the Network in the region.
Another success of the Network has been in permeating the realms of the academic world. While the Honey Bee Network model continues to be taught in the universities abroad, we need to make similar efforts to promote it at the National and regional levels.
Grassroots to global
Activities of the Network on international front were discussed. Important amongst these have been the online and offline incubation platform being built for India, Brazil and China for sharing grassroots innovations and promoting entrepreneurship. In China, more than 500 grassroots innovations have been scouted in a period of one year. An international conference was organized last year at Tianjin, China and worldwide support was harnessed in support of the Honey Bee Network. Similarly, the APCTT workshops have been organized in Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, India, Indonesia etc., to build capacity in these countries in scouting and documentation The participation of the local innovators at global forums continues to increase. Shri Sundaram represented SRISTI and the Network along with Prof Gupta at the inaugural function of the second session of the Governing Body of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR GB-2), 29th October 2007 at Rome. The 21st Shodh Yatra likely to be organized in UK in August, 2008 in collaboration with Professor Katalin of Cambridge University and other volunteers in UK including Mark Davis and Ruth Thomson of Kodak. Next summer Shodh Yatra may be in Eastern UP and Bihar or in Andhra Pradesh.
The Honey Bee Network in the past few years through its editorials in Honey Bee newsletter has made a genuine attempt to critique the existing public policy, as a duty of a responsible Network serving the interest of creative communities and individuals at grassroots. The idea is to enable the common people to also stand up against any unjust practice.
It was mentioned that all the versions of Honey Bee taken together have not directly reached more than 20, 000 people, a figure that needs to be improved in the coming year. While the Network has managed to document a considerable amount of knowledge, a major challenge still lies in disseminating it uniformly across the nation and also abroad.
Marketing innovations
The activities of the SRISTI laboratory were also discussed. Sadbhav foundation, a trust had provided SRISTI a sum of Rs 60 lac five years ago to analyze local technologies, add value to the products and market them or license them to other partners sharing benefits with the knowledge providers. Rs 10 lac worth of products have already been sold in Maharashtra and Gujarat and trials are on in Delhi, Uttaranchal and Lucknow (UP). Matrix Biosciences, Hyderabad has also come forward and helped SRISTI conduct field trials in India, Canada and Holland. They have also started an innovation series beginning with products based on thirteen innovations. Every bottle of the product reads the product name, the company’s name, a sketch of the innovator, and a message inviting any feedback or new idea to NIF's toll free number. It is an important development where the consumer himself becomes the knowledge provider.
Organization as a collective entity
Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapeeth, and a very old Network member, felt that reaching different people in various different parts of the country in different languages is an innovation in itself. Traversing new paths more often than not happens through a leader, and the leader in the process gets more attention than the movement itself. Through self-critical assessment, he hoped that the movement will find new directions.
The relationship between the various organizations like the NIF, SRISTI, and GIAN needs to be assessed carefully. All these organizations emerge from a movement and in our attempt to deeply embed the message of the movement with the help of creating organizations, we must ensure that the organizations synergize with the aspirations of the movement.
Brig Ganesham, Coordinator from Andhra Pradesh could not attend the meeting but conveyed his observations and suggestions. He suggested the need for higher visibility for grassroots innovations around the country. Moreover, he said that the Network should try to tie up with the employment guarantee program of Indian Government so as to encourage adoption of the rural innovations by unemployed people e.g. sanitary napkins making machine. He has further suggested that monthly feedback on innovations should be collected and circulated, and this be transmitted to other Honey Bee publishers of various editions and also the respective contributions in local language. The collaborators should be briefed about National and International events soonest for their effective involvement.
There were many other suggestions to make the Network effective and more vibrant. The new coordinator must be able to spend enough time in visiting each region and galvanize the Network so that connection among creative people and the Network grows stronger day by day. |
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee, 18(3) & 18(4):17-19, 2007 |
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