ICSSR Sponsored National Seminar on

Transforming Rural India: Challenges towards

Sustainability

Transformation of rural economy

through farm mechanization, value
addition and marketing: Two Case
Studies of Baksa District and Sitajakhala
Presented by:
Puspadhar Das/ Manjib Sharma
Sitajakhala Dugdha Utpadak Samabai Samiti Limited
 What is happening in rural areas
• Major economic activity is agriculture
• Very low level of secondary and tertiary activities
• Migration to the cities for the last 8 years or so
• Number of farmers decreasing
• Proportion of farmers in total labour force
decreasing
• Youths are not skilled
• Alcoholism, addiction to mobile phone-based
activities increasing
Why farming is not an attractive choice
• Paddy is the major crop and it is not
remunerative;
• Not sufficiently skilled for horticulture crop and
livestock farming;
• Scarcity of labour during peak farm activities;
• Drudgery in farming activities;
• Very minimal infrastructure in terms of irrigation,
farm machineries, post harvest management;
• Logistics, distribution, warehousing, storage
facilities are not present;
 Baska District Activities
• Activities in Baska are comparatively new.
• Two NGOs (SeSTA and GVM) are currently
working
• Major focus:
– Community based organization
– Irrigation through traditional dong bandh system
– Farm mechanization
– Adoption of horticultural crops
– Training of youths in various fields
 Sitajakhala Activities
• A very old and successful cooperative, operating
since 1958
• A dairy cooperative society with:
– 1100 members
– More than 5000 cattle heads and increasing
– Daily 18000 litres of milk and increasing
– 13 collection centres in Morigaon and Kamrup (Metro)
Districts
– Decentralized structure with representation from
every village where it operates
 Sitajakhala Activities
• Vision 2020
– Holistic and sustainable development of economic
condition of the area;
– Convergence of various organizations, agencies and
departments.
• Mission
– Increasing the number of dairy farmers
– Creation of community-based organizations
– Promotion of maize/ other fodder crops
– Branding of all farm produces
– Establishment of backward and forward linkages
 Sitajakhala Activities
• Setting up of milk processing plant (2000 LPH
capacity) at Amlighat
• Branding of Sitajakhala products
– Better price realization leads to higher
procurement price for farmers
• Logistics and cold chain management
• Retailing
 Transforming rural economies
• Make them stakeholders in processing
industries
• Rejuvenate traditional sustainable systems
• Skill upgradation of farmers
– Increasing efficiency
– Decreasing losses
Thank You!