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A Case Study of THE ANDHRA PRADESH RURAL LIVELIHOODS PROJECT”
Amudalakunda is a small and remote village in C K Pally Mandal of Anantapur District with about 75 households and a population of 400. Expecting coffee or tea when one visited the homes of villagers in Amudalakunda was unthinkable, not because they were so utterly poor, but because there was just no milk in the village. There were no buffaloes in the village to provide milk. This was very surprising because all over Andhra Pradesh members of self-help groups take loans to buy buffaloes. Vaddu Jayamma and her husband Ram Chander, have three sons – Murali Mohan (20 years old), Vijaya Sekhar (16 years old) and Ramesh Kumar (13 years old). Their dryland did not earn them much and though husband and wife worked hard as daily wage labourers the family was poor and the children’s education suffered. Since they would not allow their children to work to supplement the family’s income, life was very hard for them. Jayamma had been leader of the Laxmi self-help group since 1993. She saved Rs.20 per month but the group fund was not large enough to provide loans for income generation.
In 2002, members of the watershed development team and the project implementing agency of the Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project visited their village. They identified a good potential for income generation through rearing buffaloes. They conducted a series of meetings with women’s groups and formed the village organisation with an aim to disburse loans for buying buffaloes. It was a new activity and not many understood how it would benefit them or how they should rear these animals. There was a need to first improve the quality of their groups in order to facilitate smooth transactions and micro-credit activities. A Kalajatha programme was conducted in the village which explained several aspects of the management and benefits of a self-help group such as saving and the process of getting loans, monthly meetings, decision making and bookkeeping.
In addition, the women’s groups were taken to MC Thanda near Kadiri and Addakal in Mahaboobnagar District on exposure visits. In MC Thanda the self-help groups had managed to bring in prohibition of alchohol. The visitors were not only surprised but understood the power of collective action.
On 22 July 2004, the DWMA sanctioned Rs.200, 000 to the village organisation as a fund for the enhancement of livelihoods. There are six women’s groups in the village. First the families which were very poor, poor and the middle class were identified and loans were distributed to them. All loans were meant for generation of income though the purchase of milch animals like Jersey cows and buffaloes. To facilitate the process the self-help groups constituted a five member committee consisting of one veterinary doctor, one member of the watershed development team, one animator and two village organisation leaders.
Initially Jayamma took a loan of Rs.8, 000 and with an additional contribution of Rs.2, 000 she purchased a Jersey cow at Gorallu Village. The cow had a 15 day-old calf and gave 7-8 litres of milk in the morning and the same quantity in the evening. Jayamma used 1 litre for her family and sold the remaining 15 litres to the dairy at Rs.9 per litre. With this she earned Rs.135 per day (Rs.4, 000 per month) on an average. She spent Rs.500 on feed and Rs.600 towards repaying her loan, and was left with about Rs.3, 000 as income. With this assured income the family sent their children to school. Within two years they had a profit of about Rs.72, 000. The family’s financial problems were resolved; they were happy and had surplus money for celebrations.
In 2005, DWMA (APRLP) provided Rs.150, 000 to the village organisation from which Jayamma
took another loan of Rs.20, 000. She purchased another Jersey cow and two desi (indigenous) cows at a village called Eguvagadda. The desi cows provided milk and were also used for agricultural activities. The Jersey cows just yielded milk. Each desi cow gave 4 litres of milk at one time and thus both cows yielded a total of 16 litres of milk a day. By selling this milk at Rs.9 per litre Jayamma made Rs.144 per day (Rs.4, 320 per month). From the Jersey cows she earned Rs.8, 000. Therefore her total earnings from her milch cows were Rs.12, 300 per month.
After spending about Rs.2, 300 for feed, grass etc. she had a profit of Rs.10, 000 per month. Her husband cultivated groundnut seed under the Productivity Enhancement component of the project. Apart from the yield, the crop provided good fodder for the animals. The children shifted to good schools. Two of Jayamma’s sons are studying for a B.Com degree and her youngest son is studying in the eighth standard. Jayamma says that she met the expenditure on her sons’ education solely from the sale of milk. The number of cows and calves is increasing, as is Jayamma’s prosperity. She thanks the Project for saving their lives.
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