Project implemented by Udyogini Project Funded by …...27 Women’s enterprise group formed....

Mid-term Evaluation Report

Project implemented by Udyogini Project Funded by Misereor

Report by Pankaj Shrivastav, Nidhi Shrivastava Tathyashodh Development Consultants

June 2018

Report: Mid-Term Evaluation: Misereor funded Project of Udyogini, Tathyashodh, May 2018 2

Table of Contents

Executive Summary................................................................................................................................. 5 A. Introduction to the Project ................................................................................................................. 8

A.1. Goal and Specific Objectives of the Misereor Project ................................................................................... 8 A.2. A quick overview of the lac value chain........................................................................................................ 9

a. Preparation ................................................................................................................................................ 9 b. Inoculation ................................................................................................................................................ 9 c. Protection .................................................................................................................................................. 9 d. Harvesting ................................................................................................................................................. 9 e. Marketing .................................................................................................................................................. 9 f. Processing .................................................................................................................................................. 9

A.3. Project Coverage ....................................................................................................................................... 10 A.4. Project Interventions in past 2 years .......................................................................................................... 11 A5. Progress on Activities ................................................................................................................................. 11

a. Distribution of brood for inoculation (Table 2) .......................................................................................... 11 b. Distribution of Secateurs.......................................................................................................................... 12 c. Distribution of sprayers to producers ....................................................................................................... 12 d. Training on Scientific Cultivation of Lac .................................................................................................... 12 e. Formation of Brood Farm ......................................................................................................................... 12 f. Plantation of Semialata ............................................................................................................................. 12 g. Aggregation and sale of Phunki/Brood Lac................................................................................................ 12 h. Half-yearly review meeting ...................................................................................................................... 12

B. Survey Findings ................................................................................................................................. 13 B.1. Socio-economic conditions ........................................................................................................................ 13

a. Households surveyed ............................................................................................................................... 13 b. Social Category of respondents ................................................................................................................ 13 c. Education ................................................................................................................................................. 13 d. Trainings Provided to Treatment Group ................................................................................................... 14

B.2. Findings related to Income Expense profiles .............................................................................................. 14 a. Overview of Income-Expense ................................................................................................................... 14 b. Economic/ personal shocks faced by the respondents .............................................................................. 15 c. Factors affecting resilience of households from above shocks ................................................................... 15 d. Multiple livelihoods as a mechanism for protection against risk ............................................................... 16

B.3. Gender Empowerment .............................................................................................................................. 16 a. Changes observed in self, family or community about gender equality ..................................................... 17 b. Access to money from various livelihood activities ................................................................................... 17 c. Access to Bank Accounts .......................................................................................................................... 17 d. Sharing of Domestic Work........................................................................................................................ 18 e. Landholdings of men and women............................................................................................................. 18 f. Barriers faced by women in participating in trainings and enterprises ....................................................... 18 g. Violence against women .......................................................................................................................... 19

C. Major achievements ......................................................................................................................... 20 C.1. Progress on Indicators ............................................................................................................................... 20 C.2. Changes brought about by project in lives of communities......................................................................... 21

a. Capacity building and empowerment of large number of women producers ............................................. 21 b. Strengthening of Self-Help Groups and Women’s enterprise Groups, increased capital ............................ 22 c. Shift in mindset from lac collection to lac cultivation ................................................................................ 23 d. Fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship in women’s groups ..................................................................... 23 e. Diffusion of project ideas to neighbouring villages, Government and other institutions ............................ 24 f. Increased production of lac in the project area ......................................................................................... 24 g. Developing a cadre of trained manpower to support scaling up of lac and poultry .................................... 24

D. Constraints and Gaps ........................................................................................................................ 26 D.1. Context-related constraints in the lac value chain ...................................................................................... 26

a. Constraints related to farmers’ knowledge, attitudes and skills ................................................................ 26 i. Transition from lac collection to cultivation .......................................................................................... 26


ii. Reluctance to take up lac cultivation due to price Instability and sharp drops in prices ......................... 26 iii. Food security a higher priority than lac ............................................................................................... 26 iv. Difficulties for women in climbing up trees ......................................................................................... 26

D.2. Constraints in Production .......................................................................................................................... 27 a. Non-utilisation of available lac host trees ................................................................................................. 27 b. Lack of host trees for production or for brood rotation ............................................................................ 27 b. Lack of a right mix of trees ....................................................................................................................... 28 c. Shortage of funds for purchase of brood lac ............................................................................................. 28 d. Lack of credit for lac ................................................................................................................................. 28 e. Shortage of brood lac availability ............................................................................................................. 28 f. Problems related to climatic factors .......................................................................................................... 28 g. Lack of timely inputs ................................................................................................................................ 29 h. Inadequate skills in scientific cultivation of lac.......................................................................................... 29 i. Distance of host plant from home and scattered host plants ..................................................................... 29 j. Theft of lac ............................................................................................................................................... 29 k. Firing of ground below lac host trees ........................................................................................................ 29

D.3. Market-related Constraints ....................................................................................................................... 30 a. Price volatility and erratic changes in the price of lac ................................................................................ 30 e. Lack of price intelligence in the major markets ......................................................................................... 30 b. Problems of scale hence poor prices for individual lac farmer................................................................... 30 c. Selling without value addition .................................................................................................................. 31 d. Exploitation by traders ............................................................................................................................. 31 e. Inadequate efforts at aggregation and collective marketing ..................................................................... 31 f. Lack of basic infrastructure ....................................................................................................................... 32

D.4. Constraints in Processing........................................................................................................................... 32 D.5. Operational constraints and implementation gaps..................................................................................... 32

H.1. Insufficient resources for delivery of full package of practices ............................................................... 32 H.2. Inability to integrate improved methods of dissemination and training delivery .................................... 32 H.3. Time poverty of beneficiaries................................................................................................................ 33 H.4. Brood Farms still work in progress ........................................................................................................ 33 H.5. Constraints at Partner NGO level .......................................................................................................... 33 H.6. Incorrect selection of villages ................................................................................................................ 34 H.7. Lack of resources to start interventions with basic natural resources management ............................... 34 H.8. Constraints in expansion of poultry as a complementary value chain .................................................... 34

a. High mortality ..................................................................................................................................... 34 b. Lack of support for chick health ........................................................................................................... 35 c. Purpose of poultry is local consumption ............................................................................................... 35 d. Resistance to vaccination .................................................................................................................... 35

H.9. Constraints in expansion of goatery as a complementary value chain .................................................... 35 H.10. Inadequate Monitoring system ........................................................................................................... 36

I. Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................................... 37 I.1. Need for a long-term strategy and greater funding resources ..................................................................... 37 I.2. Enhance operational efficiency of project ................................................................................................... 38 I.3. Enhance current training content and delivery ............................................................................................ 38 I.4. Fill critical gaps in current value chain efficiencies ....................................................................................... 39 I.5. Rethink the “women’s only” approach, move to women plus men esp. for lac value chain .......................... 40 I.6. Initiate Policy Advocacy on select issues ..................................................................................................... 41 I.7. Put in place a robust MEL System and MIS .................................................................................................. 43 I. 8. Strengthen the Poultry value chain ............................................................................................................ 43 I. 9. Strengthen the BDSP mechanism, re-design the incentive structure ........................................................... 43 I.10. Conduct research into reasons for lack of reliable production data & price fluctuations of lac ................... 44

J. Suggestions given by respondents ..................................................................................................... 45 K. Critical issues that could not be covered in this evaluation .............................................................. 46

1. Impact of Climate Change on women and on lac-based enterprises .............................................................. 46 2. Gender in Value Chains................................................................................................................................. 46


3. Link to the current global emphasis on M4P by Donor Committee for Enterprise Development .................... 47 4. Integrate with the global movement on Rights of Indigenous Peoples ........................................................... 47 5. Impact of Udyogini’s work on achieving Sustainable Development Goals ...................................................... 48

Annex 1. The Project Context ................................................................................................................ 49 1. Project Rationale .......................................................................................................................................... 49

Annex 2. Purpose and Methodology of the Mid-Term Evaluation ........................................................ 50 1. Purpose of Evaluation ................................................................................................................................... 50 2. Evaluation Reference Period ......................................................................................................................... 50 3. Geographical Coverage of the Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 50 4. Sampling method used in the Evaluation ...................................................................................................... 50 5. Participatory Process followed in the Evaluation ........................................................................................... 51

L. References ......................................................................................................................................... 53

Annex 3: Details of Sampling Calculations Annex 4: Lac processing industries in India by State Annex 5: Details of Training Modules under the Misereor project Annex 6: Data collected from Treatment Households Annex 7A: Data Tables - Treatment Households Annex 7B: Data Tables - Comparison Households Annex 8: Case Studies and Focus Groups

Acknowledgements Conducting this evaluation has been an immensely enriching experience for us. Many people have been very generous with their time, ideas and passion, and we would like to express our gratitude to them all. But specifically, the following deserve our heartfelt gratitude:

1. Women and men in communities visited for their time, hospitality and frankness. 2. This evaluation was conducted in a peer-review and participatory style. Many thanks to all Udyogini and partner NGO staff for their openness to learn and fearlessly explore the gaps and achievements. The following persons deserve our deepest appreciation and thanks for their hard work, openness and learning attitude: Abinash Pattnaik, Anand Ram, Baliram Sahu, Bashant Yadav, Bipul Kumar, Budhdev Nayak, Chaitanya Ganjhu, Dinesh Kumar Kadber, Dinesh Ram, Divya Rao, Gaurav, Jaiprakash Sahu, Kalawati Kashyap, Kamlesh Kumar, Kapil Shukla, Kariya Prassad, Kundan Sahu, Madan, Meeshu Gupta, Micheal, Namrata Tripathi, Nasim Beg, Nohar Shah, Prahalad Yadav, Pritha Mukherjee, Rambhajan Kewat, Ramdev Patel, Santosh Bharadwaj, Santosh Kumar Dehariya, Surykumar Dhruw, Sushil Kumar Sharma, Tej kumar Pidda, Yashvendra Pratap Singh. 3. Many thanks to Arvind Malik, CEO of Udyogini and Brijmohan Kandpal, Director - Operations, Udyogini for their support, inputs and guidance. 4. Meeshu Gupta, Pritha Mukherjee, Santosh Bharadwaj and Yashvendra Pratap Singh for their leadership and care of the two teams in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

It was a true pleasure working with all of you. To all the above, and any we have missed,

Thank You for this great learning experience!

Pankaj Shrivastav, Nidhi Shrivastava June 2018

Picture Credits Abhinash Pattanaik – Page 29 ; Chaitanya Ganjhu – Page 9 ; Dinesh – Page 34 ; Jharkhand Team – Cover - Annexes, Data Tables, Pages 11, 19, 20, 33 (Pictures from Jharkhand) : Meeshu Gupta –36 ; Namrata Tripathi - Cover Photo of Main Report ; Nidhi Shrivastava- Page 36, 38, 45, 46 ; Pankaj Shrivastav – Pages 23, 25, 27, 29; Rambhajan – Page 13


Executive Summary This is the Mid-term Evaluation report of a Misereor-funded, Udyogini-implemented project. The project supports 20,000 women producers in two states mainly in the lac value chain, and a lesser number in poultry and goat value chains.

Progress against indicators The project has done well on 3 of 5 performance indicators while the other 2 show good progress.

Indicator Progress in Mid-Term - April 2018 Status 1: 20,000 women trained by 2020. 19,200 women trained in lac, poultry and goatery. Almost Achieved 2: 60% trained women surpass an income threshold of Rs. 4,000/ month

Monthly Income of target household from this evaluation – Rs. 6,493. (Baseline was Rs. 4,093).

Target too low. Achieved

3: 3 of 4 women organisations generate min. turnover € 13,000 each.

27 Women’s enterprise group formed. Average income per WEG – Rs. 9,900.

Not yet achieved

4: Production figures and targets presented at annual workshops and used for planning by FPO.

Formation of FPO and Cooperative in progress. Annual evaluation and review workshops with producer organisations not initiated yet.

Not yet achieved

5: 20 convincing case studies, 3 training manuals prepared by 2O20.

> 25 model farmers supported in lac. 3 Training manuals prepared on Lac, Poultry, Goatery.

Achieved

Main Findings

1. Gender empowerment

A high number of women beneficiaries attribute a positive change in gender empowerment indicators to the project. They report enhanced mutual respect vis-a-vis men, greater self-confidence, stronger role in decision-making in family and communities, and greater access and control over financial & other resources. 2. Constraints in lac production

The lac value chain itself is highly complex and many variables affect production. These range from lack of adequate host trees for brood rotation to climate change affecting the life-cycle of lac insects. Systemic deficiencies e.g. lack of institutional credit, non-transparent national/ export pricing, lack of knowledge about Minimum Support Price are other impeding factors to growth of lac value chain. Individual sale in small quantities rather than aggregated sale expose farmers to market exploitation. 3. Project Achievements

Despite the above constraints, the project shows impressive achievements. • 14% of the Treatment households’ income (vis-à-vis 1% for comparison group) came from lac. • 85% trainees report enhanced lac cultivation skills; 36% report a significant increase in lac production.


• 73% of women beneficiaries report significant savings while 62% reported enhanced group unity. • The project infused a spirit of entrepreneurship among women’s groups, who initiated numerous small

enterprises. • The project successfully changed the mindset

of target households from collection of lac to its cultivation. Evidence: Higher utilisation of lac host trees in target households (vis-à-vis comparison households). Figure right.

• Satisfaction with tools, inputs, training, post-training services ranged from 90 to 95%.

• The project induced higher production of lac in project villages compared to earlier years.

• Project approaches have spontaneously spread to neighbouring villages and Government schemes. Lac is increasingly seen as a viable livelihood option.

• Project developed a cadre of trained manpower (BDSP, NGO staff) to technically support local communities in lac production. This can enhance sustainability of the lac value chain if strong revenue models for these business development services can be put in place.

4. Recommendations for future improvement

The evaluation recommends the following to Udyogini: 1. Urgently develop a resource mobilisation strategy to ensure that current focus value chains operate at adequate scale and efficiency. 2. Identify critical areas in value chains where operational efficiencies can be improved. Implement a strategy with partner NGOs for improving efficiencies. 3. Integrate audio-visual and culturally suitable content into modules. Develop strong tracking, testing and feedback mechanisms to improve tracking and retention. Involve model farmers for faster dissemination of key lessons. 4. Identify and fill gaps in current value chains to ensure higher productivity, income and sustainability (See Table 14 for some examples). 5. Redesign involvement of men in Udyogini’s programme for complementarity in value chains and reinforcing gender equality. Conduct topical research on current status of VAW and henceforth track impact of Udyogini’s work on VAW. 6. Identify key policy advocacy issues affecting current value chains. Develop clear advocacy strategy, build resources and coalitions for long term engagement on these issues. 7. Very quickly put in place a robust, simple, actionable MEL and MIS system for each target value chain. 8. Urgently investigate reasons behind high mortality in poultry. Put in place steps to scale up production and reduce risk in poultry and goatery. 9. Identify gaps in revenue model and skills for BDSP mechanism; Strengthen BDSP into an effective and sustainable training, dissemination, service delivery model. 10. Conduct detailed market analyses to identify factors behind gaps in reliable production data and lack of transparency in domestic and export pricing of lac at a national level. Identify steps to improve such transparency.


List of Abbreviations List of Tables and Figures

BDSP : Business Development Service Providers

BHU : Bharat Hindu University

BYP : Back Yard Poultry

CBOs : Community Based Organisations

CG : Chhattisgarh

CSR : Corporate Social Security

DCED : Donor Committee on Enterprise Development

FPOs : Farmer Producer Organisations

HARD : Holistic Action Research & Development

HH : Households

ICT : Information Communication Technology

ILO : International Labour Organisation

IRMA : Institute of Rural Management Anand

MEL : Monitoring Evaluation and Learning

MIS : Management Information System

MNREGS : Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme

MOTA : Ministry of Tribal Affairs

MP : Madhya Pradesh

MSP : Minimum Support Price

NGOs : Non-Governmental Organisations

NTFP : Non-Timber Forest Products

PACS : Poorest Areas Civil Society

PSCL : Package for Scientific Cultivation of Lac

SSSS : Sahbhagi Samaj Sevi Sansthan

TRIFED : Tribal Federation

WEGs : Women Enterprise Groups

VAW : Violence against Women

XIMB : Xavier Institute of Management Bhubaneswar

XISS : Xavier Institute of Social Sciences

Figures

1 : Districts covered - Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh 2 : No. of Treatment and Comparison respondents 3 : Social category of respondents 4 : Education levels of respondents 5 : No. of trainees in Lac, Poultry and Goatery 6 : Primary income and expenditure heads 7 : Factors affecting income and resilience from shocks 8 : Potential lac-compatible livelihoods 9 : Gender empowerment changes observed by respondents 10: Sex-wise access and control over money 11: Sex-wise frequency of hours put into HH work 12: Sex-wise landholdings 13: Barriers for women in participating in project 14: Perceptions about changes in skills 15: No. of SHGs and WEGs formed 16: Perceptions about benefits of joining the Group 17: No. of WEGs formed and their income i 2017-18 18: Quantity of lac sold in past 3 years 19: % utilisation of existing lac host trees 20: Ownership of lac host trees by type 21: Seasonal calendar of NTFP collection 22: Suggestions from MP 23: Suggestions from Chhattisgarh Tables

1 : Interventions in past 2 years 2 : Distribution of brood for inoculation 3 : Distribution of Secateurs 4 : Distribution of sprayers to producers 5 : Training on Scientific Cultivation of Lac 6 : Formation of Brood Farm 7 : Plantation of Semialata 8 : Aggregation and sale of Phunki/Brood Lac 9 : Shocks faced by respondents 10: Respondents facing violence 11: Types of violence faced 12: Main perpetrators of violence 13: Progress against project indicators 14: Gaps in value chain efficiencies 15: Gender-wise distribution of work in lac cultivation 16: Suggestions – Madhya Pradesh 17: Suggestions – Chhattisgarh


A. Introduction to the Project This is the report of a Mid-term evaluation for a project titled “Build capacities of producers, entrepreneurs and producer organisations to strengthen livelihoods of 20,000 households in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal through gender-transformative value chains”. The project has been funded by Misereor and is implemented by Udyogini (Box 1 on right) since December 2016. A.1. Goal and Specific Objectives of the Misereor Project

The expected results of the above project are as follows:

Goal: Build capacity of producers and community-based organizations (CBOs) to strengthen the livelihood of 20,000 rural-tribal producers in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal through Lac and Backyard Poultry Value Chain. Specific Objectives: The specific objectives of the project are as follows: Objective 1:�20,000 women have sustainably improved their situation with regard to income, consumption levels and self-confidence by starting to work in backyard poultry (BYP) and lac production. Indicator 1: 20,000 women have been trained accordingly by 2020. Objective 2:�Incomes of the trained women have increased by 50% in comparison with baseline incomes. Indicator 2: 60% of trained women have surpassed an income threshold of lNR 4,000 0bjectlve 3:�Four women organisations from rural tribal communities and three producer organisations supply the target groups with the required knowledge and raw materials for their Lac and BYP enterprises.� Indicator 3: Three of the four women organisations from rural tribal communities are able to generate a minimum turnover of approx. € 13,000 each.� Objective 4:�Adapted IT controlling systems are in place and are used by the trained women. Indicator 4: Consolidated quantities are calculated for the two production areas, presented at annual evaluation workshops, and used as a basis for possible increases in production and quantities.� Objective 5:�Good practices and business models are presented and disseminated. Indicator 5: 20 convincing case studies and three training manuals in easy language have been prepared by 2O20.

BOX 1: BACKGROUND TO UDYOGINI

Udyogini (meaning women entrepreneur) was formed in 1992, through the ‘Women’s Enterprise Management Training Outreach Program’, initiated by the World Bank Institute. It is now a national resource agency for capacity building of women and organisations engaged in value chain linked enterprises and in Business Development Services.

Udyogini prioritises remote districts with poor infrastructure, degrading natural resources and a subsistence economy. Such areas are also affected by conflict, climate challenges and broken enterprise ecosystems. Udyogini selects potential value chains that can be scaled up in such difficult and remote poverty-stricken districts.

Women are often the poorest and the most disadvantaged in such areas. Therefore, Udyogini’s provides training and BDS support to poor rural women to engage in value chains selected for their high market potential, realistic investment needs and optimum skill levels. Women also form producer institutions to enhance backward and forward value chain efficiencies.

Currently, Udyogini supports 50,000 producers in five states of India – Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. It works on lac, vegetables, sal, medicinal plants and incense-stick value chains, mostly in collaboration with State Governments. Additionally, Udyogini provides trainings to national and international NGOs, CBOs and Government projects in design and delivery of business services.

Udyogini’s partners are Management institutions (e.g. IRMA, XISS, XIMB, XLRI, BHU, etc.); Corporate Social Responsibility units (e.g. Intel, ACC Cement, GMR, etc.); and major donors (e.g. Ford Foundation, European Union, DFID-funded PACS, Misereor, etc.). (See www.udyogini.org for further details)


A.2. A quick overview of the lac value chain

What is lac? Lac is a natural resin secreted by the insect Kerria Iacca (Kern), which thrives on the tender twigs of specific host trees viz., palash, ber, kusum, and Ficus species.1 It is a naturally biodegradable product and finds wide utility in commerce and industry.

Lac cultivation is a subsidiary source of livelihood for 7 to 8 million households in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and North-Eastern regions of India.ii It is carried out by forest dwellers and tribal and non-tribal marginal, small or large farmers.

Two strains (kusumi and rangeeni) of lac insect are cultivated. Most of the rangeeni strain comes from palash trees situated in the forests. For such collection, primary collectors get permits from the Divisional Forest Officer to transport and market lac.

Production of lac from rangeeni strain has rapidly fallen in past two decades. To overcome this shortfall, the IINRG2 has developed a package of scientific cultivation of lac (PSCL). The institute provides technical and training support for lac as a crop on ber, kusum and semialata trees on private lands. Udyogini has been promoting this package in its project areas. Recently, the Tribal Development Federation and Ministry of Tribal Affairs included lac in the list of crops for which a Minimum Support Price is provided.3 Steps in the lac value chain

a. Preparation Pruning of host trees of ber, palash, kusum trees or semialata bushes to ensure that succulent branches are available for the lac insect to feed on.

b. Inoculation Inoculation of lac insect on these succulent stems of ber, palash, kusum trees or semialata bushes by tying colonies of lac insect (called brood) from older lac host trees.

c. Protection Spraying of pesticides if pest attack on lac colonies is found, and an occasional spray of water if the weather is too hot.

d. Harvesting Lac is harvested after six months (in summer and winter) by cutting branches that show good growth of lac insect. Branches with lac insect are reused as brood, while those without lac insect are sold directly as stick lac or are scraped for lac which is sold as scrape lac.

e. Marketing - After harvest, lac growers sell stick lac in the village itself if the volume is high. Others carry it to the nearest village market

(weekly markets (“Haat”)) or other markets and sell it to primary purchasers (called paikars or kochiyas). Mostly, these primary purchasers also provide groceries and other daily requirements to farmers.

- The primary purchaser, resells the aggregated lac to a wholesaler in the same market or to nearby manufacturing centres. The wholesaler sells the produce to manufacturers at different lac processing centres. Lac growers near lac processing units also sell their produce directly to processing units.

- In some areas, lac producer groups convert scraped lac into “chouri” or seed lac, which has a longer shelf-life and is an input for processing industries.

f. Processing The processing units convert stick lac into various products (seedlac, button lac, shellac, Aleuritic Acid, etc.). Most of these processing units are based in West Bengal, followed by Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. (Annex 3).

g. Export The above products are mainly exported. Reportedly, only 22 Indian business families control the entire national export business of lac.

1 Palash (Butea monasperma), ber (Zizyphus mauritania), kusum (Schleichera oleosa), semialata (Flemingia semialata). 2 Indian Institute of Natural Resins and Gums, Ranchi 3 http://www.trifed.in/trifed/(S(nio12z2sedm02k1qrlxq4xqv))/present_status.aspx


A.3. Project Coverage The project works in two states, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and has covered 19,200 women in 5 districts and 7 Blocks (Figure 1 below).


A.4. Project Interventions in past 2 years Table 1 gives a brief summary of the activities that were undertaken in the past two years:

No. Project Activity Sub-activities 1 Selection of NGOs and farmers Selection of 3 partner NGOs – HARD, SSSS and Sanjeevani

Screening & selection of interested farmers 2 Input supply and product enhancement Distribution of brood for inoculation and rotation

Distribution of secateurs and sprayers 3 Training on PSCL Training BDSPs and Field supervisors of NGOs

Skill & entrepreneurship training to farmers through BDSPs 4 Formation of brood farm Selection of villages and farmers for brood farm

Training of producers for brood farm management 5 Plantation of Semialata Trainings: preparation of nursery, plantation, brood inoculation 6 Aggregation and sale of Phunki/scrap Lac Brood rotation, Aggregation of brood and sale of lac 7 Vaccination services for poultry and goatery Training on vaccination and de-worming, best feeding practices 8 Strengthen knowledge management system Agencies for ICT enabled systems identified, formats designed

A5. Progress on Activities Following is a quick summary of activities taken up under the project until March 2018, the date on which the last consolidated report was available.

a. Distribution of brood for inoculation (Table 2)

Organization State Brood Lac distributed (Q) No. of farmers SSSS Chhattisgarh 40 2400 HARD Madhya Pradesh 25 1660 Sanjeevani Madhya Pradesh 10 600 Total 75 4660


b. Distribution of Secateurs

Organization State Target Achievements SSSS Chhattisgarh 44 44 HARD Madhya Pradesh 20 20 Sanjeevani Madhya Pradesh 10 10 Total 74 74

c. Distribution of sprayers to producers

Organization State Target Achievements SSSS Chhattisgarh 37 37 HARD Madhya Pradesh 25 25 Sanjeevani Madhya Pradesh 8 8 Total 70 70

d. Training on Scientific Cultivation of Lac

Udyogini provided training on scientific methods of lac cultivation on Host plant management, Brood management, Pest management, Harvest management for NGO Field supervisors and BDSPs.

Organization State # Project Coordinators No of Supervisors No of BDSPs HARD Madhya Pradesh 1 5 25 SANJEEVANI Madhya Pradesh 1 2 8 SSSS Chhattisgarh 1 7 37 Total 14 70

For details of the dates and content of these trainings, see Annex 5. e. Formation of Brood Farm

Organization State No. of Brood farms No. of farmers covered HARD Madhya Pradesh 1 8-10 farmers SSSS Chhattisgarh 3 13-15 farmers

f. Plantation of Semialata

Organization State No. of semialata plants No. of Ber No. of farmers HARD Madhya Pradesh 4000 0 4 SANJEEVANI Madhya Pradesh 0 300 70 SSSS Chhattisgarh 26,600 0 24

g. Aggregation and sale of Phunki/Brood Lac

Organization Total Brood Lac distributed

Total brood lac returned

Total brood lac sold

No. of producers

Total scrap lac sold

No. of producers

SSSS 335 Q 39 Q 115 kg 9 2595 kg 2400 HARD 70 Q 14 Q 200 kg 114 261 kg 1660 Sanjeevani 30.8 Q 8 Q 100 kg 62 469 kg 600

h. Half-yearly review meeting

In August 2017, Udyogini organized half-yearly review meeting with partner organization to review the targeted activities and achievement. In the review meetings, major discussions were held on various challenges faced and their possible solutions and also to share learning and experiences.


B. Survey Findings B.1. Socio-economic conditions

a. Households surveyed

Two categories of respondents were surveyed for this evaluation. 501 respondents (of which 4 were men) with whom the project had worked (called Treatment group hereafter) were covered in 7 Blocks in 5 Districts of 2 States. Another 54 participants from neighbouring villages (all women) with similar socio-economic conditions but with whom there had been no interventions directly by Udyogini and partners (called Comparison group hereafter) were also covered in the same blocks (Figure 2 above).

b. Social Category of respondents

A majority of the respondents belonged to the Scheduled Tribes, followed by Scheduled castes and Other Backward Castes. (Figure 3 on left).

c. Education A majority of the respondents had no schooling, followed by those with primary education (Figure 4 on right).


d. Trainings Provided to Treatment Group By definition, the Comparison group was not provided any training by the project. The distribution of trainees in the Treatment group among the three skills (lac, poultry and goatery) was as follows (Figure 5):

B.2. Findings related to Income Expense profiles

a. Overview of Income-Expense The primary sources of income-expense for both Treatment and Comparison group are given below (Fig 6):

493

242

75

Lac Poultry Goatery

No. of respondents trained under various skills


The major learnings that emerge from the above graphs with respect to the project objectives are as follows:

Agriculture is the predominant occupation for 85% of treatment and 65% of comparison household, meeting mainly the subsistence needs of families. Agriculture (with vegetables and fruit cultivation) provides 41% of annual income for Treatment and 47% for Comparison villages. On the other hand, expenditure on food grains constitutes 29% of Treatment and 45% of Comparison villages. Therefore food security is a prime concern of communities in target villages. Paradoxically therefore, strengthening lac as a value chain would necessarily imply strengthening food security of target household so that they can take time and resources out for lac cultivation.

Other main sources of cash income are agricultural wage labour and labour under MNREGS. For the Treatment group, agriculture wage labour forms 8% and MNREGS labour forms 11% of their annual income. For the Comparison group agricultural wage labour forms 20% and MNREGS forms 9% of annual income. Another common source of income for both is NTFP collection, which gives 7% of income to Treatment group but 14% of income to Comparison group. 77% of Treatment group and 56% of Comparison group undertake NTFP collection. (See section XX above for the products available in various seasons).

Animal husbandry is another key source of income for both groups, except for sale of eggs. Only 4 households from Treatment group (4%) and one household (2%) from Comparison group sell eggs. In general, eggs are either self-consumed or are used to raise more chicks. Income from goats, on the other hand is a key source, forming 15% of annual income for the Treatment as well as Comparison group. Livestock are kept as capital that can be converted into cash as and when needed.

A stark contrast can be seen in the income from lac. While the Treatment group gets 14% of its total income from lac, the Comparison group (excluding the two outlier households), get only 1% of their income from lac cultivation. Consequently, Treatment households also incur a 2% expense which is missing in Comparison household expenses.

Expenditure patterns seem to be similar for both groups with maximum expenditure. Besides the obvious expenditure on food, the other key expenses for both groups were on socio-religious events, children’s education, clothes and health. The expenditure on food grains and provisions stood at 29% for Treatment group and 49% for Comparison group. In purchase of assets as well, a similar pattern observed in both groups. 35% of the Treatment group households and 48% of the Comparison group did not buy any asset last year. A mobile phone was the most purchased asset (10% for Treatment and 9% for Comparison) followed by fan/ cooler (5% for Treatment and 6% for Comparison). Interestingly, investment into high value assets (e.g. land, LPG/Biogas, Goat or chicken shed, pump, etc.) seem to be marginally higher for the Treatment group (10%) than in the Comparison group (6%).

b. Economic/ personal shocks faced by the respondents 13% of the Treatment group and 22% of the Comparison group reported that they faced a major economic/ personal shock in the past year. Of these households, the distribution was follows (Table 9):

Treatment households Comparison households Major Illness – 66% in MP; 32% in CG Death in family – 13% in MP, 6% in CG Loss in agriculture- 6% in MP, 21% in CG

Major illness – 50% Death in household – 17%

c. Factors affecting resilience of households from above shocks The main factors that prevent respondents from achieving higher income or resilience are strikingly similar and point to the need for this project to consciously incorporate building resilience of target communities. These factors are shown in Figure 7 below:


d. Multiple livelihoods as a mechanism for protection against risk Respondents in both Treatment and Comparison groups realise that taking up multiple livelihoods is a good risk protection method. The perceptions of the respondents is captured in figure 8 below:

B.3. Gender Empowerment The fundamental objective of this program is economic and social empowerment of women. Respondents in both Treatment and Comparison groups were asked their opinions about the changes in various dimensions of gender equality. Details are given below:


a. Changes observed in self, family or community about gender equality Very clearly, a larger number of women in Treatment households perceive a change than in the Comparison households (Figure 9 below). Significantly, only 7% women in Treatment households feel there has been no change in their lives compared to 31% in Comparison villages. b. Access to money from various livelihood activities Women were asked who kept the money from various livelihoods. Responses are in Figure 10 below: The above analysis shows that in the Treatment group, a larger number of women keep the money from lac, NTFP and agriculture compared to men. In the Comparison group, a larger number of women keep the money from agriculture, lac and chicken rearing, compared to men.

c. Access to Bank Accounts Due to the Government’s Jan Dhan Yojana, which made it mandatory for every person accessing Govt. schemes to have a separate bank account, a very high percentage of women in both Treatment and Comparison villages have their own separate bank accounts (Table 3 below).


Type of bank account Treatment Comparison Separate account 91% 93% No account 8% 4% Joint account 1% 2%

d. Sharing of Domestic Work Respondents were asked how many hours were put in by men and women in domestic work. Most men in Treatment households put in zero to 5 hours in a day (average 3 hours) while most women put in 4 to 12 hours in a day (average 8 hours). Corresponding figures for Comparison group were 2 hours average for men and 6 hours average for women per day. (Figure 11 below). e. Landholdings of men and women Both in Treatment and Control villages, the average landholdings of women are one-tenth those of men. In case of irrigated lands, this proportion is even more skewed in favour of men. (Fig 12)

f. Barriers faced by women in participating in trainings and enterprises While a large proportion of women in both Treatment (66%) and Control (61%) households reported not facing any barriers in participating in trainings or enterprises, others faced very similar barriers due to burden of domestic work, constraints on mobility or of education/ skills (Figure 13 below).


g. Violence against women 15% of Comparison group women reported they faced violence while the corresponding numbers were 5% for the Treatment group (Table 10 below).

Do you face violence? Treatment Comparison No 90% 76% Yes 5% 15%

The types of violence reported were as follows (Table 11): Type of violence % of women facing violence

(Treatment) % of women facing violence (Comparison)

Verbal/ Emotional 54% 75% Physical 19% 13% Economic 12%

The main perpetrators of violence were husbands and mothers-in-law (Table 12 below):

Who does violence? % perpetrators - Comparison % perpetrators - Treatment Husband 69% 50% Mother-in-law 15% 13% Mother 8%

Brother 8%

There seems to be reduced violence against women in the Treatment group whose income has increased through this project (compared to the Comparison group). However, we suggest a detailed topical study to confirm whether this reduction in VAW has happened on a significant enough scale.


C. Major achievements C.1. Progress on Indicators The progress on the project indicators at mid-term is as follows (Table 13):

Indicator Progress in Mid-Term - April 2018 Status

1: 20,000 women have been trained accordingly by 2020.

19,200 women trained in lac, poultry and goatery. Udyogini has almost achieved this indicator at mid-term itself.

Almost Achieved

2: 60% of trained women have surpassed an income threshold of lNR 4,000 (per month)

Baseline monthly household income for Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – 4,093. Current monthly household Income for respondents from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh – Rs. 6,493 from this Mid-term Evaluation.

Target too low. Achieved

3: Three of the four women organisations from rural tribal communities are able to generate a minimum turnover of approx. € 13,000 each.�

27 Women’s enterprise groups formed, with a total income of Rs. 267,120 last year. Average income per WEG – Rs. 9,900.

Not yet achieved

4: Consolidated quantities are calculated for the two production areas, presented at annual evaluation workshops, and used as a basis for possible increases in production and quantities.�

Formation of Farmer Producer Organisation and Cooperative is in progress. Annual evaluation and review workshops with producer organisations not initiated yet.

Not yet achieved

5: 20 convincing case studies and three training manuals in easy language have been prepared by 2O20.

More than 25 model farmers have been supported for successful implementation of lac value chain. 3 Training manuals prepared on Lac, Poultry and Goatery.

Achieved


C.2. Changes brought about by project in lives of communities

In addition to the above progress on indicators, the project can claim the following achievements:

a. Capacity building and empowerment of large number of women producers

A very high number of respondents reported having been trained. In the Treatment villages, 98% of the trainees had been trained in lac, 48% in poultry and 15% in goat rearing. In the comparison group, 70% of respondents did not get any training, while others had been trained in lac (20%), Poultry (15%) and Goatery (15%) by other non-Udyogini actors.

On an average, Treatment group trainees had attended 5 trainings. Overall satisfaction levels with these trainings was found to be high with 29% being fully satisfied and 68% being slightly satisfied. Recall of training content for lac cultivation was also found to be high, ranging from 55% to 98% for critical lac operations. Similarly, in poultry, the recall was high, ranging from 95% to 64% for most topics. In goatery, the too, recall ranged from 89% to 44% for most subjects.

Organisation of women into Self Help Groups has increased the exposure, knowledge, and unity among women and has enhanced their agency. The project has had a definite positive impact on gender equality by providing opportunities for income generation to women. Almost all women (see figure 14 on left) report that they have a better voice in decision making at household and community levels. They also report greater access and control over resources and higher mobility and freedom of interaction, especially with market actors. A few instances of political empowerment have also been reported; some BDSPs have reportedly used the social capital required during the project for winning elections. The availability of ready cash in the hands of women also appears to have tilted the power balance in favour of women, although men still dominate in most spheres. Several women report that they have started keeping track of their income and

expenditure. Participation in community / group activities has also lead to an increase in social capital and a sharing of information about their problems. Women also report and increased access to Government social security schemes due to increased sharing of knowledge by NGO partners about these programs. Moreover, some women’s group have initiated significant entrepreneurial Ventures.

Figure 14: Perceptions of respondents about changes in various skills


The above change can be seen in the very high number of Treatment respondents (85%) who reported that they had significantly improved their skills in lac cultivation. About 36% also reported they had improved their production while 35% reported enhanced group solidarity. From the angle of gender empowerment, Treatment respondents reported a positive change in their confidence, ability to deal with markets, respect and decision-making space within their families and access to savings (33% to 21%). On the other hand, for the Comparison group, 74% reported no change and only 11% reported an increase in their lac cultivation skills. This points to a significant impact of the project on target beneficiaries. b. Strengthening of Self-Help Groups and Women’s enterprise Groups, increased capital

The project has (in some cases) formed and strengthened the Self-Help Groups that were being run by Udyogini’s partners. (See figure 15 for number of SHG Groups by the two main partners). In Madhya Pradesh alone, the 60 SHGs working with NGO partner HARD have a total savings of INR 60 Lakhs (Figures for Chhattisgarh not available yet). This social and financial capital is an excellent resource that can be tapped for future activities on value chains. Both the Treatment and the Comparison Groups felt that the formation

and capacity building of Self-Help Groups has been very beneficial to them in various ways (Figure 16 below):


c. Shift in mindset from lac collection to lac cultivation Lac cultivation was essentially a collection activity earlier through collection of Rangini lac variety from private Palash trees or trees in the neighbouring forest. A major shift has taken place through introduction and diffusion of scientific cultivation of lac in the minds of village people, who have started looking at lac cultivation as a farming activity. Evidence of this is the creation of a number of models of excellence with some enterprising farmers in the region. More farmers are also increasingly using pesticides and water sprays to control loss of lac crop. A good example of this shift is the purchase and utilisation of lac brood. Thus, 67% of the Treatment respondents reported that they had received 5 kg of lac brood last years and had returned the same to the partner NGO, as per the agreement. Also, while 61% of the Treatment households bought brood (in addition to the brood given by the project), only 28% in the comparison group bought brood, demonstrating that the Treatment group actively took up lac cultivation. d. Fostering the spirit of entrepreneurship in women’s groups The project has supported formation of Women’s Enterprise Groups - Lac producer organisations coming

together for product aggregation and joint marketing. (Figure 17 on left).

Several women’s group have initiated significant entrepreneurial ventures. One of the groups in Charama Block had obtained a custard apple processing machine and deep freezer and was using the same to purchase custard apple during the peak season and were converting those into custard apple pulp which they stored in the deep freezer (picture above). A few months later they sold this pulp to Ice

Cream manufacturers at a high price. Other groups we met had set up a shop to sell snacks in the weekly Haat Bazaar. One group had taken the supply of food for the midday meal in the village school on contract. They had employed a few women as cooks and were ensuring that their children got good food in the school,


and, in the process, they also made a profit from the midday meal scheme. This shows that the entrepreneurship trainings done by Udyogini and partners have started bearing fruit.

Similarly, the conversion of trainees into enterprise participants has been very high with 87% of the trainees taking up enterprises and only 13% of the trainees not taking up enterprises. This may be because most of the trainees were selected because of their current engagement and keen interest in the enterprises. However, it still points to the excellent targeting of the trainees by Udyogini and NGO partners, and needs to be applauded. e. Diffusion of project ideas to neighbouring villages, Government and other institutions In some cases, enterprising farmers have utilised the Kisan Credit Card scheme to take “agriculture” loans and used it for lac cultivation. Other farmers have utilised drip irrigation as well as solar pumping to cultivate semialata for lac. In yet another village, producers registered a cooperative and purchased the processing unit for converting stick lac to seed lac. However, they lost money because the markets for lac crashed last year. Inspired by the success of these early adopters and target beneficiaries, neighbouring villages have also started taking up scientific lac cultivation. Consequently, there is an overall increase in the production of Lac in the area. The project has also supported farmers to increase the plantation of lac host trees, thereby increasing the availability (number and composition) of host trees for lac growers.

Several Government officials have been visiting the project villages of Udyogini and partners, due to which, Block and State Government schemes have started looking at the scientific cultivation of lac as a livelihood option which they could support. Udyogini has also been called upon to design schemes for cultivation of lac by agencies (e.g. Moser Bayer). The Forest Department has even permitted partner NGOs in some districts to support communities to take up scientific cultivation of lac inside forest lands in Madhya Pradesh. Project staff has also been asked to provide training to other NGOs. f. Increased production of lac in the project area A major change the project has brought about is that there is a higher production of Kusumi lac in the project area. Many farmers are rotating brood from ber to kusum and vice versa, thus ensuring a longer life for their brood. In some villages, brood farmers have also come up who grow brood for lac cultivation and sell these at almost double the price of stick lac. Farmers are also more sensitive to planting and protecting lac host trees as they now see these trees as a potential source of long-term income. Additionally, several farmers have taken a plantation of semialata and are using these for lac cultivation. Good scalable models of lac cultivation through semialata are now available in the project area. An indicator of increased lac production is the quantity of lac that was aggregated and sold by the project in the past years (Figure 18 on right).

A major reason for the increase of production can be attributed to the distribution of critical inputs by the project. A large number of Treatment respondents confirmed that they received various inputs for lac cultivation such as brood (84%), pesticide (74%), Sprayer (73%) and Secateurs for pruning trees (66%). On the other hand, 81% of comparison group reported they had not received any inputs. Satisfaction with these services and inputs was also high, ranging from 90% to 95% in Treatment group. Similarly, while only 13% of Treatment households did not harvest lac last year, this figure was 82% for the Comparison group.

Udyogini and partners have also initiated Lac Producer Cooperatives in the project areas, which can act as an aggregating institution for lac, thus saving farmers from exploitation. Another good upcoming initiative is the setting up of small scale processing plants to convert sticklac (with low shelf life) to seed lac which has a higher shelf life, and which will allow farmers to wait till they get a good price for their produce.

g. Developing a cadre of trained manpower to support scaling up of lac and poultry

Another major achievement of the project has been that it has screened and trained numerous BDSPs, supervisors and NGO staff. Most of these trained persons are themselves practising lac cultivation and poultry. They are therefore familiar with the intricacies, making them better trainers and support persons.


The BDSPs have been critical in expanding the outreach of training activities as they have convinced women in various SHGs to join the trainings. They have also facilitated the trainings and have provided (or organised) technical support from partner NGOs or Udyogini. They can also be credited with playing a key role in spread of vaccination for poultry and goats in an area where vaccination was practically non-existent earlier. Some BDSPs have also themselves aggregated (or have helped) in aggregating lac for bulk sale to get better rates. Consequent to the above support, a high percent from the Treatment group (61% to 32%) reported that they had received various post-training support for forming and strengthening their groups, starting enterprises and accessing inputs and resources. A lower percent of participants (18% to 8%), agreed that support for hand-holding and for linking to credit institutions was satisfactory. In the Comparison group, 89% of participants reported that they had not received any support for their enterprises. In most cases, the above support for enterprises were given by the NGO Staff (87%) and the BDSP (63%). In 10% of cases, the Treatment group had also received support from other group members. For Comparison group, 80% of participants reported that they had not received any support for their enterprises, while 11% reported they received support from NGO staff.


D. Constraints and Gaps

D.1. Context-related constraints in the lac value chain Lac, as a product and as a livelihood, presents a number of opportunities because it relies on local resources (trees), skills and has a high global demand. Another advantage of lac is that it requires some time at critical points in the lac life cycle (only 30-40 days in a year), but otherwise grows mostly on its own. It can thus be cultivated along with agriculture or livestock interventions. Also, it is quite profitable if done in the scientific manner since the brood can grow into 5 to 8 times its weight into sticklac. Most farmers therefore see it is as an additional and alternative source of income. In fact, literature points out that often, lac is an insurance crop because it fetches good returns even in drought seasons.

Despite the above positives, the lac value chain is afflicted by a number of critical problems at various stages of its cycle. We feel it necessary to go into some details of these problems if we are to understand the significance of Udyogini’s work in lac. The main constraints are as follows: a. Constraints related to farmers’ knowledge, attitudes and skills

The following factors influence the knowledge and attitude of most farmers towards lac: i. Transition from lac collection to cultivation Traditionally, in the project area (and in much of Central India), lac cultivation was primarily a collection-based livelihood 5 to 10 years back for Rangini lac. This was collected from palash trees in forests or in private lands. In fact, the production of lac was so high that the Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand provided brood and had also set up warehouses and processing units for lac in the region. During this survey, respondents in target villages wistfully recalled periods when they got a price of Rs. 800 per kg for stick lac. On the positive side, this means that lac is not a new crop to them. However, the production of Rangini lac went through a drastic fall in the past two decades due to various reasons, and farmers lost interest in lac as a minor forest product. Under the Misereor project, farmers are being asked to shift to scientific cultivation of lac. However, this requires a shift in knowledge, skills, schedules, and precautions, which takes time. ii. Reluctance to take up lac cultivation due to price Instability and sharp drops in prices The second major factor dampening the enthusiasm of farmers to cultivate lac has been the instability of production (due to climate, pests or lack of timely inputs) and of price – frequent crashes and fluctuations in local markets. A number of respondents repeatedly pointed out that lac prices are now only Rs. 60 to a 100 in their village, whereas (once in the past decade) the price had reached Rs. 800. Farmers who reaped the rewards of this high price proudly show the houses they built from their earnings. But right now, for the farmer, investing time and resources in growing lac (with its high-risk price behaviour) is not very viable or attractive.

iii. Food security a higher priority than lac The poorest and most marginalised families, which are predominantly small and marginal farmers understandably prioritise food security as a major livelihood objective. In some seasons, this leads to deprioritisation (hence delay) in critical operations needed in lac – e.g. spraying of pesticide – which in turn results in poor yields. Most of the agriculture crops in the target villages are rainfed4, which means that there is an urgency to paddy operations during the monsoon season if year-round food security is to be guaranteed. Interestingly, the large farmers have used irrigation to stabilize their agriculture production and food security FIRST before moving into semialata plantations for lac - e.g. in village Tirkadand. iv. Difficulties for women in climbing up trees A number of women in target villages climb up trees for inoculating the tree with brood, for pruning or for harvesting. However, in general, women do feel climbing the tree as a constraint because the traditional dress (saree) is not suitable for climbing trees. 4 % of farmers that have irrigated lands– Treatment - Men - 22%, Women – 1% ; Comparison – Men 16%, Women 2% (Annex 6).


Secondly, some trees (e.g. Kusum –picture above) are very large, and it is very risky to climb up trees; there have been reported instances of some men falling from trees during lac operations. In some villages, the belief systems also prevent women from climbing trees – for e.g. in one village, women reported that village people believe that if a woman climbs a tree infested with lac, the lac will dry up. D.2. Constraints in Production The main constraints in production are as follows:

a. Non-utilisation of available lac host trees One of the major constraints in production has been the inability of target households to use the potential lac host trees they own. Usage of trees ranged from 32% for Palash to 44% for Ber and 48% for kusum. Semialata usage was high in both the treatment (68%) and comparison group (100%) because these plants are irrigated and are grown only for lac cultivation. On the positive side, the usage percentage was higher for treatment households rather than for comparison households, demonstrating that the project has induced a greater utilization of the lac host trees (figure 19 below).

b. Lack of host trees for production or for brood rotation Most producers have reported that they did not have sufficient trees to start adequate production of lac. Thus in our sample, the number of trees owned by producers was as follows (Fig 20):


b. Lack of a right mix of trees In addition to a minimum number of trees required by the families, a critical requirement of scientific cultivation of lac is that producers have the right mix of trees so that they can rotate the brood from one tree to another to preserve the insects. The recommended brood rotation for the kusumi variety is from kusum to ber and vice versa. Figures above also show that 98% of the treatment group owns Kusum trees (which is the reason they were selected by Udyogini in the first place). However, 26% of these households do not own ber trees. In the comparison HH, the distribution is even more adverse – 54% own Kusum trees but only 33% own ber trees.

Secondly, in a number of villages, the population of trees is often skewed towards one variety- e.g. some villages have a very high proportion of kusum trees but very few ber trees., As a result, they are not able to rotate the brood, which end up dying very soon. Some enterprising farmers are taking on lease trees of the missing host varieties from other families to overcome this problem.

c. Shortage of funds for purchase of brood lac Most producers are poor and report that they are not able to purchase brood to initiate the lac cultivation process. Some programs, such as the Udyogini project, has tried to bypass this constraint by providing brood in the initial stages to farmers free of cost, and has asked them to return the same quantity of brood once they have cultivated sufficient insects.

d. Lack of credit for lac Farmers report that lac cultivation has not been integrated into the agriculture credit systems of banks and other government schemes. As a result, farmers requiring credit for undertaking lakh do not have any avenues to get loans for lac cultivation. Some farmers have utilised the Kisan Credit Card scheme5 of the government and report that they took loans in the name of agriculture but used it for lac.

e. Shortage of brood lac availability There are very few institutions (other than IINRG) which produce brood and there are difficulties in transporting the same from far. in fact, Udyogini reports that the shortage of brood is now being met by importing lac from Thailand and Indonesia. Enterprising farmers have understood the importance of brood and in some villages, they sell brood because it fetches a higher price compared to stick lac.

f. Problems related to climatic factors Farmers report that summer temperatures have been rising abnormally, especially in summers and that the rainfall patterns are changing6. In high temperatures, the lac insect dies and the lac itself melts. Research suggests that compared to the winter crops, summer crops of both Rangini and Kusumi strains are relatively

5 Kisan Credit Card is a credit scheme introduced in 1998 by Indian banks (through NABARD) to give credit for agriculture, to be repaid after harvest. The scheme also provides accident and disability insurance. Farmers are issued a credit card which they can use to draw cash when required, subject to their credit limit. 6 IINRG analysed rainfall and temperature data in Central India from 1984 to 2012 and found that pre-winter and summer months are steadily becoming warmer and post-winter months colder than what they used to be 29 years back. Thus maximum temperatures for August have increased by up to 1.7°C and minimum temperatures in December have decreased by 0.5°C.


less stable and production poorer due to mortality of the lac insect. Over the past 5 years insect mortality of the summer crop of Rangini was a major cause of decline and production.

Scientists from IINRG report that climatic changes affect the sexual behaviour and mortality rate of lac insect, which in turn has caused the dwindling lac production in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal with changing climate. Other factors linked to high mortality of the lac insect are water scarcity and increased pest attack, again linked by scientists to climate changei. g. Lack of timely inputs In recent years, the introduction of scientific cultivation of lac, some farmers have shown interest in lac cultivation. However, a number of respondents pointed to the lack of inputs at the right time (e.g. brood, pesticides, tools, etc.) in local markets as a major constraint. h. Inadequate skills in scientific cultivation of lac In a number of villages, farmers lack the necessary skills and technical knowledge required for scientific cultivation of lac. This has been a major area of achievement in the current project which has been able to transmit basic knowledge about lac cultivation to a large number of farmers. i. Distance of host plant from home and scattered host plants In a number of cases, the host trees are situated far from the farmers’ homes or grow in scattered locations, thus making it difficult for farmers to keep a watch over the lac crop to prevent theft or to undertake required package of practices. j. Theft of lac When the lac crop is mature, there are reported instances where this entire crop has been stolen by other persons. As stated above, the long distance of these trees from the residence of respondents makes it further difficult to guard against theft. k. Firing of ground below lac host trees One of the main sources of income for communities in target villages is Mahua flower, which blooms in April-May. The flower is used to make liquor and is used for various religious functions, as well as a local source of protein. It is also a major source of cash income for most families. The flowers are hand-picked one by one and then sun-dried for storage (pictures below).

To ensure that the mahua flower is picked easily, the undergrowth below the mahua tree is burnt before the tree flowers. In many cases, this fire is so strong that it is also reported to have melted the lac colony in nearby lac host trees.


D.3. Market-related Constraints

The main market-related constraints in lac value chain are as follows:

a. Price volatility and erratic changes in the price of lac The production of lac in India has undergone high fluctuation in the past decadeii (Figure 20 B on right). However, in the absence of a streamlined system of tracking production data, these figures are also very rough estimates. Linked to this variation, (and some experts believe due to speculation of the cartel influencing export of lac), the prices for Indian lac esp. for export markets have also fluctuated violently. Therefore, western countries with advanced chemical technology like USA, UK, and West Germany have begun to move away. They have now developed methods for utilizing the cheaper (and lower-quality) Thai Seed lac and are importing it from Thailand. Thus the demand for better quality but higher priced Indian lac has gone down. This has induced the farmers to take less of an interest in lac cultivation.

e. Lack of price intelligence in the major markets Lack of knowledge about current prevailing prices of lac in major District or State markets further aggravates the inability of lac growers to negotiate better prices. To overcome this problems, the Central Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED has recently announced Minimum Support Price (MSP) for forest products and the MSPs are now displayed on the TRIFED website. The Government recommended an MSP of Rs. 210 and Rs. 290/kg for rangeeni and kusumi lac respectively for 2016-17 crop but has reduced it drastically to Rs. 130 and 167 respectively for 2017-18 cropsiii. However, very few traders and lac growers know about this, or can access this information.

b. Problems of scale hence poor prices for individual lac farmer Another major constraint in marketing of lac has been that farmers grow lac in very small quantities. Then, because they need cash, they are forced to sell the produce at whatever price they get, even if low. This gets them an imperfectly competitive price in the market. Often, lac growers are indebted to local traders and resort to village sale in return for provisions.

Linked to this is the cultural livelihood strategy in the culture of the region, where collection of minor forest products including lac, tamarind, mahua, tendu, and others is done all around the year (See figure 21 for a seasonality of minor forest product collection below).

Figure 21: Seasonal Calendar – Agriculture, Lac and forest product collection in project area

These products are sold in season or (as in case of mahua flowers), as and when money is required by the family. Village people adopt the same strategy for marketing with lac and sell it in small instalments, exposing themselves to exploitation or rapid fluctuation in prices. Most farmers sell their products individually and do not aggregate their product, thus having to face exploitation by traders and middle men. Some farmers reported they sold their lac for as low as Rs. 50 to 60/ kg because they required money urgently.

In the light of above, Udyogini has initiated the following steps to address the problems of lac farmers: • Formation of lac producer cooperatives in project area • Investment in a processing unit of 3 Tons per day capacity for basic processing of stick lac to die lac,

bleach lac and shellac


c. Selling without value addition Additionally, almost all lac farmers sell lac without any value addition (picture above), due to the low shelf life. This fetches them a lower price than if they had an opportunity of converting stick lac into seed lac, which has a greater shelf life and would have given them time to negotiate a better price. However, this primary processing needs a machine with an initial investment of Rs. 70,000, which most collectives are not able to afford. In Madhya Pradesh, the Government had earlier set up centres for processing of sick lac into seed lac because of the high volume of Rangini lac that was produced here. However, these processing units have now been closed down, and need to be revived if lac is to be taken up seriously as a livelihood for the poor.

d. Exploitation by traders The lac value chain is also characterised by exploitative relations between the traders and primary producers. Common unethical practices followed by traders are under weighing, unfair grading and opportunist pricing. Grading facilities for a producer to check independently the quality of her produce are unavailable. Coupled with their dependence on the traders for marketing, such exploitation prevents lac farmers from gaining significant incomes.

For instance, the most preferred destination for sale of lac for the Treatment group was the nearest market (22%), processing units (14%) weekly Haat (7%) and traders or collectors from the village (4% and 6% respectively). Last year 48% of the Treatment households did not sell lac. In comparison, 63% of the Comparison group did not sell lac, and those who did sell it, preferred to sell to processing units (8%) and to traders or collectors from the village (1% each). e. Inadequate efforts at aggregation and collective marketing A number of the above problems of poor prices, basic processing and price intelligence can be resolved with formation of collectives of lac growers. However, such collectives do not exist in most villages. Forest products are generally sold in Forest Product Cooperatives set up by the forest department but no such channel is available for stick lac. Additionally, there is not an established channel for brood, and currently it


is only by word of mouth that brood is sold. For e.g. Tirkadand village is known in surrounding areas for its brood, and farmers in this village sell many quintals of brood in every season. But brood has not been formalised as a product requiring a proper marketing channel. Udyogini has initiated Women’s Enterprise Groups to overcome the issue of aggregation, but the aggregation and collective marketing is still work in progress.

f. Lack of basic infrastructure Most target villages are situated in remote locations far from roads (and markets) and lack basic infrastructural constraints like a good road network and transport services. They are also unable to store their produce (warehouses) or take up basic processing (e.g. stick lac to see lac) to enhance the shelf life (see above). Because lac growers cannot grow or transport large volumes in the absence of knowledge of market prices, transport facilities or accessible markets, they do not feel motivated to grow lac in large quantities, even if they have a large number of potential trees. This lack of linkage to market infrastructure is perhaps one of the major reasons why almost 60% of potential host trees are still not inoculated with lac. D.4. Constraints in Processing A number of constraints are reported in production in literature on lac value chainiv:

a. Non-availability of skilled laborers especially during agricultural season when workers go to their villages for agriculture operations

b. Irregular supply of electricity and high electric charges for mechanized units c. Price fluctuation of raw material and finished products d. Limited channels for marketing of finished products except the export channels that are controlled

by a small group e. Difficulty in getting financial credit from banks loans f. Lack of subsidies to lac manufacturer g. Adulteration in raw material

D.5. Operational constraints and implementation gaps The project has faced several operational constraints in improving its effectiveness: H.1. Insufficient resources for delivery of full package of practices Resource availability has been a major constraint for the project. Thus partner NGOs have not been able to provide skills and inputs at critical times in the lac cycle. Vaccinations have not always been available. Similarly, the project has not been able to work with sufficient villages to achieve a scale of production that will make investments in aggregation and processing viable.

For the same reason, partner NGOs have not been able to standardise the package of practices and deliver the same completely as prescribed. Partner NGOs have therefore been unable to provide full handholding support at critical times, or to track and motivate farmers to take up required practices in time. Brood availability and rotation is critical for long term sustainability of brood from lac to kusum and vice versa. However, most villages do not have adequate trees of both varieties. Some farmers in kusumi-rich villages have established a leasing system whereby they take ber trees on lease from other villages and rotate their brood to another location. Due to lack of time or resources, partner NGOs have not been able to establish an institutional mechanism between villages for such for exchange of brood between ber and kusum trees, which has affected the sustainability of brood. Externally, the funding cycle has not matched the project cycle. Thus, partner NGOs reported that fund transfer is needed in critical seasons to ensure that inputs, trainings and monitoring of producers can be done for robust handholding. These two cycles have not always matched, leading to inefficiencies in support to lac farmers.

H.2. Inability to integrate improved methods of dissemination and training delivery Due to resource constraints dissemination of the importance of lac through non-conventional tools like wall paintings, posters, videos etc. could not be done. This could improve the retention and acceptability of the key training messages of the programme.


H.3. Time poverty of beneficiaries The beneficiaries who come for trainings are normally poor and have many competing demands on their time. Few beneficiaries have been able to attend training in the complete package of practices. Often one member comes for one module while another family member comes for the next module. Partner NGOs feel the effectiveness of the training is therefore compromised. Additionally, since resources for snacks or food during the training were unavailable, the trainees wanted to return quickly to their homes, thus interrupting the training process. The current MIS also does not capture which family member has attended the training and who has dropped out.

H.4. Brood Farms still work in progress The production of lac is critically linked to provision of high quality and adequate quantity lac. Udyogini has already spent 27 lacs in cultivation of brood so far in the two States, and understandably does not wish to invest into brood for long. However, efforts at establishing brood as a means of income have still not taken off completely, except in a few villages (called “brood villages”). Some farmers do not want to disclose the amount of brood they have cultivated from brood provided by the NGO. This is because there was an agreement between the NGO and each farmer that once brood has grown, the farmer would return the same amount of brood as they received. However, several farmers have reported that their brood died so that they would not have to return the brood. As a result, not enough brood is available for propagation. In fact, the project has used 40,000 semialata saplings for brood cultivation. (Figure above shows semialata farm in Jharkhand).

H.5. Constraints at Partner NGO level Adequate funding for partner NGOs has been a constraint in the project. Due to this scarcity of resources, the partner NGOs have not been able to work on all aspects of the value chain. For example, processing and storage of lac at producer level could not be done because these require a minimum scale of investment. Therefore, the farmers are forced to sell lakh in distress sale. Partner NGOs say the funding cycle has not matched the cycle of lac cultivation due to which inputs could not be sometimes provided at the correct time.


H.6. Incorrect selection of villages Often, villages (or beneficiaries) have not been selected based on the proportion of ber and kusum available or on the extent of irrigation available to support semialata. In Madhya Pradesh, villages are also located far from the NGO location and from each other, thus making it difficult for the NGO to provide focused services. Additionally, staff turnover here has also adversely affected the effectiveness of the training. In contrast, the Chhattisgarh partner NGO works with a cluster of villages, which has yielded good results. H.7. Lack of resources to start interventions with basic natural resources management Seasonal water scarcity is a major issue in the target villages, and soil and water conservation is needed urgently. Additionally, the number of lac host trees required is inadequate, and plantation of these trees needs to be done on an urgent basis to get the right numbers and mix of trees. However, such interventions could not be sequenced earlier into project strategy due to insufficient resources for watershed development. In some villages, MNREGA has been linked to soil and water conservation activities, which collaboration this project could also explore. H.8. Constraints in expansion of poultry as a complementary value chain Poultry could be an important complementary value chain to lac in project villages, because there is a culture of breeding chicken for meat as well as entertainment (cock-fights). Some local species (e.g. Kadaknath) have won acclaim due to their high haemoglobin content. Almost every household raises chicken for their own consumption (picture above) and sells these to other households in the village for religious or social events7. In spite of the above enabling environment, a number of constraints have affected the poultry interventions.

a. High mortality Almost all villages reported that mortality in poultry has been very high. In fact treatment respondents reported that there has been an actual fall in per household chicken holdings8. An in-depth research into the real reasons for the high mortality of chicks is out of the scope of this assignment or this consultant. However, a number of factors appear to be the reason for the high mortality in poultry, as detailed below.

7 49% of Treatment and 15% of Comparison respondents sell chicken to another household within the village 8 Average number of birds/household: Treatment– Before – 24, Now – 16; Comparison – Before – 1.5, Now - 2


b. Lack of support for chick health There is a distinct difference in health-seeking behaviour between the treatment and comparison groups. Respondents in the treatment group called upon the BDSPs (36%) or a veterinary doctor (15%) or a local Vaidya (5%). For the comparison group, a lesser percentage sought health services from a veterinary doctor (7%) or a Government Paravet (2%). Interestingly, 26% of the treatment group and 20% of the comparison group treated illnesses themselves (20%). c. Purpose of poultry is local consumption As of now, the beneficiaries see the purpose of poultry as raising chicken for their own consumption and for religious / cultural activities three to four times in a year. Very rarely did we come across a household that looked at poultry as a viable value chain. Thus, 88% of the Treatment households and 39% of the Comparison households reported self-consumption as the major reason for taking up poultry. Consequently, target households keep a small flock size (average 16 chicks for treatment households). However, for poultry to generate a sizable return, a flock size of at least 50 birds are needed to ensure a marketable surplus. d. Resistance to vaccination 83% of Treatment households reported receiving vaccination services. Of these, only 67% reported paying for the vaccine. On the other hand, only 9% of Comparison households reported paying for vaccination.

There are a number of reasons for this:

Some villages report that in the past, organisations like JP Industries CSR organised vaccination services, after which in several cases, there was reportedly a very high mortality among poultry. This has led to a general belief that vaccination could cause death of chicks.

Secondly, this project has supported BDSPs to acquire vaccines and to administer these to chicks in the village. However, the vaccine itself needs to be stored at an appropriate temperature and very often, refrigerators or cold boxes are not available in the villages, making the quality of the vaccine reaching the village suspect. The BDSP charges Rs. 3 per vaccine per chick as a business model, but village people either do not pay this amount to the BDSP, or shy away from vaccination.

Thirdly, village people reported that even with vaccine mortality of chicks occurred, thus removing any incentive among village people to vaccinate their chicken. In response, BDSPs reported that in many instances, the households comes for vaccination after disease has already set in.

Fourthly, 45% of the Treatment households reported that they had difficulties in procuring good quality chicks, and 38% reported they could not identify the illnesses of the chick well in time to prevent mortality.

Fifthly, some castes/ communities are banned by local custom to raise chicks. If they do want to raise chicks, they ask persons from other communities to do the same for them, in response to payment in kind. For all the above reasons, currently, the intervention of poultry has not resulted in any significant economic change. H.9. Constraints in expansion of goatery as a complementary value chain Only 17% of households in the Treatment and 30% of the households in the comparison group take up goatery. However, only 1% of the respondents in Treatment and none of the respondents in comparison group reported goat rearing as a major occupation. Selling goat milk was the main reason for rearing goats for 92% of Treatment and 69% of Comparison respondents. Additionally, 69% of the Treatment respondents and 81% of the Comparison group used the goat meat for self-consumption. This is not to say that goat rearing is not seen as important by them. The average number of goats having increased from 29 to 54 per household in Treatment villages, while it has remained constant at 4 goats per household in Comparison villages. Also, 33% of Treatment respondents paid for goat vaccine while only 12% of Comparison group respondents paid for the same. Similarly, 67% of respondents consulted a veterinary doctor for their goat health, in comparison to 6% for the Control group. Moreover, 57% of households reported selling goats for cash when needed, and on an average earned Rs. 11,000 last year from the same.


Despite the above, most respondents reported an unwillingness to take up (or expand) goat rearing because of lack of manpower to take the goats for grazing, and because of lack of common lands for grazing. Thus goat rearing does not seem to be a viable and lac-complementary value chain in the project villages. It may still be a source of nutrition or small income and could still be promoted as such by the project. A detailed investigation into its viability is required. H.10. Inadequate Monitoring system A project of this size needs a robust MIS and a good tracking system, as it needs to track the support various farmers in diverse villages need at different times. The current tracking system collects delivery data but does not track the processes in production. Consequently, the project has faced a constraint in collecting actual production, sales and rate data.

Some pictures of the Evaluation process


I. Conclusions and recommendations

I.1. Need for a long-term strategy and greater funding resources Udyogini has implemented the Misereor program with excellent results so far. The changes in lives of target communities and women have already started becoming visible.

However, the lac value chain is highly complex, with a variety of impeding and impelling factors, explained in sections above. This needs time and concentrated efforts. Udyogini needs to be able to have adequate committed resources to do justice to the communities taking up lac cultivation.

Against this need, insufficient resources for delivery of the full package of practices has been a major constraint with the project. Thus partner NGOs have not been able to provide skills and inputs at critical times in the lac cycle. Vaccinations have not always been available. Similarly, the project has not been able to work with sufficient villages to achieve a scale of production that will make investments in aggregation and processing viable.

All this implies that Udyogini has to seriously strategize for raising resources to operate at a minimum scale to do complete justice to its work on value chains. Adequate resources are needed for the following:

• Ensure that the complete Package for Scientific Cultivation of Lac (PSCL) is delivered in its entirety to ensure sustainability and significant incomes to target households

• Enhance scale of production, aggregation, marketing to make the value chain sustainable • Provide better manpower, capacity development, resource support to Udyogini and partner NGOs • Ensure timely delivery of inputs for lac, poultry and goatery value chains, as well as to explore other

complementary value chains such as those suggested by respondents9 • Ensure a sustainable system for timely delivery of inputs for lac and other value chains is put in place • Ensure that supported SHGs and WEGs are able to diversify into various small enterprises for primary

processing, aggregation and marketing of local produce in a better manner

9 Leaf plate making, intercropping lac with fruits, vegetable crops, small-scale processing – esp. for NTFP or local fruit/ vegetable products, Honey, dairying, etc.


• Build natural capital in target villages through soil and water conservation, better irrigation, plantations, watershed development, etc.

• Provide support to build capacities, handhold and bring FPOs in target value chains to a viable scale and link these to financial institutions and markets for sustainability.

Recommendation 1: Urgently develop a strong resource mobilisation strategy to ensure that current focus value chains operate at adequate scale and efficiency. I.2. Enhance operational efficiency of project Udyogini and its partners work in adverse conditions and have been able to reach significant goals in spite of difficult security situation (presence of ultra-left extremists (Naxals) in number of target districts; extreme poverty; remoteness and poor educational and skill base of target households.

In spite of these adverse situations, we feel that Udyogini can still enhance the pace, quality and efficiency of project implementation in a number of ways:

• Ensure that partner NGOs have the vision and complementary resources to achieve results • Ensure that villages are selected in clusters to maximise operationally efficiency • Ensure that in the current stage, households with the right mix of host trees for lac are selected, and

in the long run, through plantation, villages have adequate numbers and of mix of lac host trees • Model farmers are active partners in scaling up of skills and experiences for relatively newer lac or

poultry farmers • A Standard Operating Procedure needs to be developed, to standardise the various steps that lac

farmers need to keep track of for successful lac production. The MIS should be integrated with this SOP, and if possible, SMS alerts could be sent to share market information and reminders for inputs at various stages (e.g. pruning, inoculation, pest-treatment, harvesting, vaccines, bucks, vet services, etc.) backed by a centralised technical team. This will also help smooth supply of inputs at correct times, something that seems to be a partial gap currently.

Recommendation 2: Identify critical areas in value chains where operational efficiencies can be improved. Implement a strategy with partner NGOs for improving efficiencies. I.3. Enhance current training content and delivery The high satisfaction levels of trainees and the significant changes in production of lac and goats (though not so much in poultry) is an evidence of the positive results of various capacity development activities implemented by Udyogini and its partner NGOs. Keeping in mind the low literacy and education levels, Udyogini already uses exposure visits as a good tool for awareness raising and capacity building. Partner NGO staff also utilise hands-on, on the spot trainings at various stages in the value chains. In addition, training methods and modules can be made more visual and context-specific in the following ways:

• The trainings need to be more experiential and practical and steady hand holding support is required so that farmers are supported at various stages of the cultivation

• A common problem we saw in a majority of households was that very few participants attended all modules of the training as different family members came for different modules. These participants could not gain a holistic knowledge of the content. Additionally, there was no mechanism to track which family member had come for which module. This can be easily rectified by developing a tracking system for the same.

• Testing is normally said to be a powerful learning tool. However, before and periodically after testing of the knowledge imparted was not practised frequently by all participants. This consultant team developed a simple mobile based application that could be used to test knowledge of participants. Such applications can be integrated into the training modules. This would also help in pointing out


trainees who need a refresher. Additionally, feedback mechanisms could be integrated to ensure that the training modules are constantly being improved.

• The current training content is strong on technical (“Hard”) and business skills but is relatively weak in “soft” skills (articulation, negotiation, presentation, dealing with customers, etc.). Successful enterprise development models have stress all three – Hard, Business and Soft skills- equally for successful enterprise development. Soft skills should also include modules on violence against women within the family and in the community for women and men.

• Integrate visual and audio-visual tools in content and delivery. The target communities have a rich tradition of art and oral culture (picture above). These can be integrated into a campaign and in tools for greater retention. Some ideas could be wall paintings, folk theatre, posters, videos, audio-material, etc. Lack of budgets for refreshments was often cited as a cause for participants having to take frequent breaks during trainings. Udyogini could (after raising adequate resources) integrate provision of minimum costs for snacks10 so that participants could stay longer.

• Inclusion of model farmers like Purushottam needs to be done and these can become champions and trainers for scientific cultivation of lac.

Recommendation 3: Integrate audio-visual and culturally suitable content into modules. Develop strong tracking, testing and feedback mechanisms to make trainings more “sticky” and effective. Involve model farmers for faster dissemination of key lessons. I.4. Fill critical gaps in current value chain efficiencies Udyogini is already quite clear on how the value chain work can be made more efficient and sustainable. At the risk of preaching to the converted, we point out scope for enhancing efficiencies to achieve more productive and sustainable lac value chain below (Table 14): 10 These need not be purchased from outside the village. During this evaluation, the BDSP was often compensated by Udyogini to organize a basic lunch for the evaluating team. This practice could be integrated into trainings also, and local SHG members could be financially supported to organize a basic refreshment.


Value Chain Stage Scope for improving efficiency Training and skill building More “sticky”, audio-visual and culturally-tuned content and delivery

Testing and feedback to be integral parts of modules Production Brood • Select beneficiaries with adequate numbers and mix for brood production

and rotation • Supplement with plantations to get the right number and mix of tress in the

long run • Create community / village exchange institutional mechanisms to exchange

brood for rotation • Ensure timely availability of pesticides and other inputs • Ensure that farmers use nylon nets for brood • Support farmers to use brood of required quality and quantity based on the

season, as the requirement of each season is different • Ensure that the right quantity of brood, the correct pesticides, and proper

safety precautions are taken to remove all chances of loss of brood Crop production and protection • Ensure inputs are available in right time and quantity

• Provide efficient and timely hand-holding support through partner NGOs • MIS needs to track progress at various stages and also send alerts to ensure

critical processes (e.g. pesticide sprays) are followed in time • Where possible, the project could support the cultivation of semialata in

various configurations (semialata alone, semialata + fruits, semialata + vegetables, etc.) to diversify production and risk

Harvesting • No. of tools (secateurs, spray machines) is less. This can be increased, if necessary through part or instalment payments

• Theft is a major issue. Identify community mechanisms for dealing with the same.

Aggregation and processing • Need to work on both aggregation and processing simultaneously. • Support lac farmers with a centralised primary processing unit (stick lac to

seed lac) to enhance shelf life and prevent distress selling. • Strengthen Lac producer organisations (FPOs, WEGs, etc.) for timely

aggregation and processing. • Link SHG, WEG, FPO to financial institutions/ schemes (e.g. SIDBI, NABARD,

Banks, CSRs, etc.) for long term sustainability. Marketing • Enhance market intelligence by linking to TRIFED website and lac Mandis and

sharing price information with farmers to prevent them being cheated • Strengthen collective marketing to improve the negotiating power of

beneficiaries • Enhance exposure and training to women to improve their interaction with

market actors • Ensure that accessing online minimum support price information becomes

part of the behaviour of groups • Streamline the system for brood production and selling • Train groups in conducting detailed market feasibility of their products and

exploring the best market strategy Handholding at all stages • For each cluster, create a single-window Enterprise Support Cell to assist

producers with linkage with government, financial, technical, skill development and marketing services.

Recommendation 4: Identify and fill gaps in current value chains to ensure higher productivity, income and sustainability (See Table 14 for some examples).

I.5. Rethink the “women’s only” approach, move to women plus men esp. for lac value chain The project currently (and with good reason) emphasises involving mainly women in its implementation. Despite addressing the historically backward position of women in target villages, this approach may need to become more nuanced. This is because, in most families, lac cultivation is done both by men and women and there is a clear distribution of labour among them. (see table 15 below).


Table 15: Distribution of work between women and men in lac cultivation Men Women

Pruning of trees, especially large trees Pruning of small trees

Tying the brood to high branches Make brood bundles, send bundles to men on trees

Untie the Phunki bundles Collect Phunki bundles

Climb tall trees to spray pesticides on lac colonies Carry pesticide; operate pesticide pumps from below tree

Climb tall trees to spray water on lac colony in summer Carry water; operate the water pump from below the tree

Cutting of branches with lac – harvesting Collect the harvested branches

Transport twigs home Transport twigs home

Scrape lac from twigs

Sell scraped/ stick lac in small quantities

For example, it is the men who climb the Kusum or Palash trees because these are large trees. On smaller trees such as ber, women can climb easily. Additionally, some villages believe that women should not climb trees infested with the lac insect because this leads to a reduction in the yield of lac. In summers, most women carry the water and the pump to the trees. The men climb up to the trees and spray pesticides on the infected lac colonies while women stay on the ground for operating the pump filled with pesticide. Similarly, in difficult and inaccessible trees, it is the men who normally prune the trees or harvest lac. Once harvested, the twigs are scraped at home both by men and women. Thus, for all practical purposes, it is a joint activity, and both men and women need to be made aware of the critical inputs and processes required for enhancing the yields of lac.

The project, therefore, needs to re-evaluate its approach towards involving men in its various trainings. It needs to build a strategy of how women's empowerment can be achieved while working with both men and women. To ensure that the societal gender imbalance is understood by both women and men, gender trainings need to be implemented with both women and men, and should discuss relative power between the sexes, and its manifestation in the form of Violence against Women (VAW). A Topical study on the current status of VAW in the target communities could be useful to generate evidence on whether Udyogini’s work is leading to a reduction of VAW in target communities.

Recommendation 5: Redesign involvement of men in Udyogini’s programme for complementarity in value chains and reinforcing gender equality. Conduct topical research on current status of VAW and henceforth track impact of Udyogini’s work on VAW. I.6. Initiate Policy Advocacy on select issues So far, Udyogini has been working with a strong project implementation approach and has not forayed into policy advocacy space. However, with its long experience, and high scale of operations, the time is now ripe for Udyogini to start working on key policy issues affecting the lac value chain. Some of these issues idenfied during the evaluation are: • Policy action on registration of lac cultivators and support for transportation of lac as an agricultural

product is required to eliminate instances of exploitation by the forest department. There is a need to emphasise lac is no longer a minor forest product and does not need restrictions on its transport because it is now a cultivated product.

• A major strategic area for Udyogini and partner NGOs could be strengthening linkages between target farmers and various government schemes for access to better irrigation, credit, agricultural inputs, finance, and markets. Ideally, a mapping of relevant schemes in project Panchayats and Blocks and then prioritisation for establishing linkages should be done. Some partner NGOs have already started linking to various government schemes and Udyogini could build on these efforts for ensuring greater inclusion of target beneficiaries.

• Another potential policy intervention could be revival of lac processing units which were in abundance in the project area because that was one of the major crops from the forest two decades back.


• TRIFED/ MOTA has started a program to provide minimum support price and development of value chain of lac. But this has not reached target communities. Ensuring that the scheme reaches target households could be Udyogini’s contribution.

• Madhya Pradesh has started scheme called “Bhavantar” which provides the balance between the minimum support price and the market price to producers. however, lac is still not covered under the scheme and policy action could help in ensuring that life is included in this scheme.

Additionally, Udyogini has Udyogini has already identified critical policy areas for engagement with Government. These are:

• Establishment of formal linkage among lac growers, processors/exporters and consumers • Screening and identifying appropriate government schemes, angel investors, CSR schemes to

subsidize establishment of primary processing units for making seedlac from sticklac at village level. • Capacity building of the Lac industry to improve the quality and recovery quantity of lac and lac-

based products through process and machinery improvements. • Network with institutions such as IINRG, SHEFIXIL, NABARD, FIEO, various ministry of GoI and state

governments. • Following ministries need to be targeted for specific Policy issues, as shown in table below:

Target Ministries (Issues) Policy related exploration Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED (Recently launched a scheme for MSP for NTFPs)

Minimum Support Price for Minor Forest Produce Under the scheme "Mechanism for Marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum Support Price and development of Value chain for MFP" Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) has been fixed for select MFP. The scheme is designed as a social safety net for improvement of livelihood of MFP gatherers by providing them fair price for the MFPs they collect. Lac is one of the commodities covered. http://www.trifed.in/trifed/(S(3xgcfcfuu0ujy4tbohpex522))/present_status.aspx

Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Export promotion- Facilitates environment and infrastructure for promoting international trade in the country)

Assess scope and potential of following schemes to strengthen Lac related domestic industries • Made in India • Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development for Exports (ASIDE) • Assistance under Market Development Assistance (MDA) • Assistance under Market Access Initiative (MAI) • Modernization and diversification scheme.

Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Industries, (MSME)- (Credit facilities for Lac processing units)

Assess scope and potential of following schemes to strengthen Lac related domestic industries • Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS) • Industrial Policy Resolution (IPR)

Ministry of Food Processing (Shellac Processing)

Explore and assess policy initiatives that strengthen usage of Lac products • Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) • Industrial license • Relaxations in MRTP (Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act) rules

and FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) regulations. • Relaxation in import and exports

Ministry of Finance, GoI-(Fiscal policy and taxation)

Explore and assess fiscal and taxation policy to strengthen the Lac Sector • Custom duty rates • Excise and Import duty rates. • Corporate taxes and tax incentives • Fully convertibility of Indian Currency • Repatriation of profits

Recommendation 6: Identify key policy advocacy issues affecting current value chains. Develop clear advocacy strategy, build resources and coalitions for long term engagement on these issues.


I.7. Put in place a robust MEL System and MIS Udyogini already has an Excel based system to track inputs and production. It needs to strengthen this by developing a robust MEL system and an MIS. Following should be key factors to keep in mind while designing the MEL and MIS systems to track progress: • The MEL system should track not just outputs and activities but also processes and outcomes, and before

and after changes in people’s lives • The system should have simple user-friendly language and provide scope for inclusion of local languages • The system should include field visits, exposure visits and on-field validation systems, if needed through

a third-party monitoring at regular intervals • As far as possible the monitoring system should be mobile phone or ICT based to reduce the time

required for data collection and aggregation • The monitoring system should prioritise resolution of urgent problems as soon as possible • The tracking system should generate inputs, processes, and production data for smooth donor reporting

and for rapid corrective action • The MEL system should capture both quantitative and qualitative information • The MEL and MIS system should not just be data-extractive but should also generate alerts and

dashboards for real-time review of critical project information for decision-making

Recommendation 7: Very quickly put in place a robust, simple and actionable MEL and MIS system for each target value chain work. I. 8. Strengthen the Poultry value chain A number of areas of improvements in the poultry value chain work can be suggested. These are: • Urgently launch a technical study on the reasons and solutions behind the high mortality of chicks in

project area. • A hundred per cent vaccination of poultry needs to be achieved and the delivery mechanism for the same

needs to be put in place • The current flock-size of chicks is too small to make a significant economic impact. In select households,

this size could be increased for experimental and closely monitored pilots. • Some communities do not grow chicken due to caste considerations, a survey of likely communities

should be done before training • More intensive training in poultry and vaccination is needed • Beneficiaries need to be supported for poultry sheds and to ensure they get good breeds. This should

also be linked to markets and to MNREGA for the shed. • The govt. Para vet (Pashu Sakhi) is present for each Gram Panchayat but is often under-resourced and

under-capacitated. Strengthening these in line with the excellent work done by the project with BDSP could be a useful strategy to strengthen both poultry and goatery.

Recommendation 8: Urgently investigate reasons behind high mortality in poultry. Assess gaps and take steps to scale up production and reduce risk in poultry and goatery. I. 9. Strengthen the BDSP mechanism, re-design the incentive structure The BDPS have been critical in expanding the outreach of training activities as they have convinced women in various SHGs to join the trainings. They have also facilitated the trainings and have provided (or organised) technical support from partner NGOs or Udyogini. They can also be credited with playing a key role in spread of vaccination for poultry and goats in an area where vaccination was practically non-existent earlier. Some BDSPs have also themselves aggregated (or have helped) in aggregating lac for bulk sale to get better rates. However, the BDSP approach needs a serious reflection on some key issues:

Capacities: Most BDSPs have a sound knowledge of the various process-stage information needed to ensure high production and reduce farmers’ risk. They also expressed that they have gained immensely in terms of personal development through the project. In some cases, knowledge tests revealed that they were not 100%


refreshed about the technical details of lac and poultry value chain, but this can be easily rectified through refresher trainings.

Revenue model: Since the project no longer [pays any remuneration to BDSPs (unlike in earlier stage where they received Rs. 300 per month), a strategy for ensuring just compensation to her needs to be thought about. The project had envisaged a strategy to charge Rs. 3 per chick per vaccination (for a vaccine that costs 0.75 per dose) to ensure she generates revenue. However, this approach has not been very successful because there is a general culture in the area to receive inputs free of cost. Also, when sprayers and pesticides have been distributed freely, it is a contradiction to expect farmers to would pay for vaccines. In most cases, therefore, the BDSP has not earned anything, and has even sometimes had to pay from her pocket for the vaccinations. This approach needs to be rethought from the angle of a long-term value chain sustainability.

Other Suggestions: that came up during discussions were: • As far as possible, the BDSP herself should be a lac cultivator • The BDSP should translate training content into local language when conducting training. Compensation

for such trainings could be a source of revenue for her. • BDSP should be supported to take up multiple livelihood options so that her own livelihood is assured. • Federation of BDSPs could be formed to support each other in skill development and problem solving

Recommendation 9: Identify gaps in revenue model & skills for BDSP mechanism; Strengthen BDSP into an effective and sustainable training, dissemination, service delivery model. I.10. Conduct research into reasons for lack of reliable production data & price fluctuations of lac Price volatility of lac is mainly due to lack of reliable production figures at the upper ends of value chain (esp. where export prices are decided by a cartel). This price fluctuation seriously affects the morale of Lac producers and processors. To understand pricing issues, Udyogini needs to conduct a deeper topical study on following areas related to pricing of lac at national level: • Factors affecting/governing pricing mechanism for lac and its value-added products • Data on proportion of lac and its value-added products sold in domestic products vs Global markets • Proportion of uses of lac in different industry (pharmaceutical, cosmetic etc) • Reasons for lack of transparency in upper ends of Lac value chain

Recommendation 10: Conduct a detailed market analysis to identify factors that lead to lack of reliable production data and lack of transparency in domestic and export pricing of lac at a national level. Identify steps to improve such transparency.


J. Suggestions given by respondents Table 16: Suggestions – Madhya Pradesh

Suggestions # % More trainings in lac, poultry and goatery 44 28% Continue project 35 22% Exposure visits for lac, poultry and goatery 13 8% More support for lac, poultry and goat 13 8% Support for irrigation 11 7% Provide more support for lac cultivation 8 5% Help get better rates for lac 7 4% Initiate other enterprises 5 3% Support for access to credit 5 3% Trainings in agriculture 4 3% Support to prevent theft of lac 4 3% Market information 3 2% Provide more support for vaccination 3 2% Support for brood 2 1% Support - plantation of lac trees 2 1%

Suggestions – Chhattisgarh

Suggestions # % More training in lac, poultry, goatery 46 55% Help get better rates for lac 8 10% Need inputs on time 7 8% Support for lac, poultry, goat 7 8% Plantation of lac host trees 6 7% Support for semialata plants 4 5% Access to credit 3 4% Prevent mortality of chicks 3 4%


K. Critical issues that could not be covered in this evaluation Lack of time prevented us from covering a number of critical issues linked to Women’s Enterprise Development that have global relevance today. We list the same below and plan to cover some of these in a Thought Piece which we are also writing in addition to this evaluation report. Some of these issues are: 1. Impact of Climate Change on women and on lac-based enterprises The area where Udyogini works is one of the poorest in India. Research shows that poverty, more than any other factor, determines vulnerability of communities to climate change and limits their adaptive capacity. Within these communities, women are more vulnerable to climate change than men. This is because climate change affects women and men differently. In many societies, men and women have distinct roles, responsibilities and status, increasing their vulnerability and reducing their adaptive capacity. For e.g.: • Women often have unequal access to resources and opportunities • Women are more likely to become direct victims (mortalities and injuries) of climate-related disasters, as

cultural norms dictate that they have often not learned to swim; are more likely to be at home when disasters occur; they try to protect their children before themselves; they are less likely to receive critical emergency preparedness and warning information transmitted in public; or are often unable to leave their house without a male relative to escort them.11

• Drought, deforestation, and erratic rainfall force women, often dependent on local natural resources, to work harder to meet household needs for food, water, and fuel.

• Climate change often leads to increased migration of men, leaving women alone with additional agricultural and households duties.

• Traditional roles are reinforced, the ability of women to diversify their livelihoods or to access income-generating jobs is diminished, and girls are often taken out of school to deal with the increased burden.

• When women become vulnerable, communities become vulnerable as women produce more than 50 per cent of the food grown and play significant roles as carers of children, the elderly and the sick.

The above factors and their linkages with Udyogini’s overall strategy could not be explored further during this evaluation. The above issues become even more important given that lac is a product that is highly sensitive to variations in temperature and rainfall, and communities have

2. Gender in Value Chains Udyogini’s work is focused directly on economic empowerment of women, resulting in an appreciable impact on gender equality, as described in this evaluation report. However, significant work has now been done by a number of international organisations such as ILO, DCED and other global actors on strengthening gender within value chains. In a seminal work on this issue, Linda Mayoux and Grania Mackiev describe the key issues as follows:

“Gender inequalities affect where power is located and where and how change can occur in order to translate chain upgrading into poverty reduction. Gender inequalities are often important in explaining why different parts of the chain are blockages to growth. Gender analysis is needed to explain why particular chains are dominated by men or women, in what circumstances women have been able to become successful at creating employment, and how women can be supported to make a more effective economic contribution? Gender inequalities also affect men's behaviour in enterprises and markets as well as the household. Unless gender analysis is an integral part of value chain analysis, strategies for upgrading may further disadvantage women. Interventions may ignore women altogether. They may alter perceptions of ownership and rights in favour of men. Enterprises may be arbitrarily assumed to be 'male owned' even where women and other family workers may be important to their management and operation; Or they may be based on inaccurate stereotypes of women's capacities and situation, excluding them from support and hence giving men an advantage in markets or employment. This has implications not only for gender equity and women themselves but reduces economic growth and perpetuates cycles of poverty.

11 In the 1991 cyclone and flood in Bangladesh, death rate was 5 times higher for women compared with men (Source: "Climate Change Adaptation: Enabling people living in poverty to adapt", Pettengell, Catherine, Oxfam GB, Apr 2010).


Ensuring that value chain analysis is able to identify and promote the 'strongest links' therefore requires the integration of gender analysis at all stages. Translating this analysis into the strongest development process also requires the full and equitable participation of women as well as men not only in design, but also implementation and monitoring”.

While appreciating the work Udyogini has already done on enhancing gender equality with its target communities, we feel there is much scope to deepen Udyogini’s work on gendered value chains through Gender Value Chain Analysis and other similar toolkits now being used globally. 3. Link to the current global emphasis on M4P by Donor Committee for Enterprise Development Udyogini already has a strong grasp on the Making Markets Work for the Poor M4P approach. In recent time, 22 donors – both multilateral and bi-lateral have formed the Donor Committee for Enterprise Developmentvi (DCED) which is supporting small enterprises (also called private sector development). The DCED believes that the private sector can generate the jobs and economic opportunities that enable people to pull themselves out of poverty.

The DCED has developed a Standard for results measurement in enterprises. The DCED Standard is a practical framework for private sector development programmes to monitor progress towards their objectives. It comprises seven elements, (box on the right), which are the minimum required for a credible results measurement process. By adopting these elements, programme managers can understand what is working and why, and use monitoring information to improve the effectiveness of their work. Udyogini should explore further how the DCED approach can be integrated in its work . 4. Integrate with the global movement on Rights of Indigenous Peoples Almost all the districts where Udyogini works are predominantly populated by Indigenous People (Adivasis or Scheduled tribes). Udyogini is therefore working with a population that is in the middle of a vibrant global movement on the rights of Indigenous Peoples (IP).

The IP movement underlines that Asia is home to estimated 260 million (70%) of a total of 370 million indigenous peoples worldwide. These indigenous peoples have been denied their basic rights for decades. For them, “development” has often translated into suppression and/ or deterioration in their economic, social, political and cultural rights. The key international convention outlining development of indigenous peoples is the UNDRIP12. It is broadly recognised that the following will be key areas for all actors working with IP populations in the near future:

• Indigenous peoples must be protected from adverse impacts of mainstream development, which may undermine their rights and well-being;

• Indigenous peoples must have the right to fully participate and benefit from general development efforts;

• Indigenous peoples’ collective right to self-determined development must be supported. A number of national and international organisations are working on the issue of IP Rights. However, Udyogini’s current project design does not seem to be linking to these global and national issues. Potential linkages between Udyogini’s work on livelihoods in the predominantly Adivasi belt of Central India could not be explored during this evaluation but is critical to formulating Udyogini’s programme strategy in the future.

12 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf


5. Impact of Udyogini’s work on achieving Sustainable Development Goals In September 2015, 193 countries adopted a set of 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by year 2030, as part of a new sustainable development agenda, called Agenda 203013. Each goal has specific targets to be achieved over the next 15 years. The 17 SDGs (picture below) and 169 targets adopted came into effect on January 1, 2016. A total of 230 unique indicators have been proposed to track progress on the SDG targets. In fact, there is a global movement to ensure that all development actors work in collaboration for achieving the SDGsvii.

In this context, conceptual and reporting linkages to achievement of SDGs for Udyogini with its target populations seems to be a logical conclusion, that needs to be integrated within Udyogini’s strategy. However, the exact nature of response by Udyogini to the SDG movement could not be explored in this evaluation.

13 See http://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals-a-handbook/ for an SDG handbook in multiple Indian languages


Annex 1. The Project Context 1. Project Rationale

Udyogini works in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh primarily on the lac value chain and has recently introduced poultry as a complementary value chain. Table A.1 below lists Udyogini’s reasons for choosing the two value chains under the Misereor project:

Table A.1: Reasons for selection of Lac and Backyard Poultry Value Chainsviii Parameter Reasons for selection of Lac Value chain Reasons for selection of Backyard poultry Income potential

Lac is a significant source of income for about 7-8 million tribal households in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. Income from inoculating 20 Kgs on following number of trees per crop cycle be as follows: • 10 Ber trees - Rs.10,000 • 2 Kusum trees - Rs.15,000 • 40 Palash trees - Rs.9,000 • 600 semialata plants - Rs.10,000

• Flock of 20 birds fetch income of Rs 5000 in four months • There is a growing demand for stress-free, harmful residues

free lean meat and BYP play a vital role of fulfilling the need of the same.

• Nationwide consumption increase of one egg and 50 gms of poultry meat per capita/per year could generate employment for about 25,000 and 20,000 persons respectively.

Social acceptability

• A good source of livelihood of resource-poor rural-tribal producers

• A good crop for marginal and degraded lands. No competition with agricultural/ horticultural crops.

• Acts as an insurance crop during drought year as its yields are very good during droughts

• Lac cultivation involves significant women’s participation and helps ecosystem development

• About 3 Crore rural-tribal households rear 5 to 20 birds for consumption and to cope up with cash emergency

• BYP is low cost and low labour-intensive source of livelihood and food security

• Women and children play significant role in backyard poultry management

• Eggs and poultry meat are cheapest source of animal proteins and contribute to poverty reduction through improved health. Given the variability of food supply / price in rural markets, poultry serves as a less expensive means for animal protein.

Economic Potential

• High commercial value in export market. Total export of lac and its value-added products (Shellac, aleuritic acids, seed lac, dewaxed shellac) in 2013-14 was 8153.10 tons worth 568.53 crores

• Average annual export quantity of lac during last 10 years (2002-03 to 2011-12) was 9156.75 tons worth 12,334.86 lakh. Similarly, the average annual export quantity of lac was 8,249.85 tons valued at 17419.91 lakh during the period 1998-99 to 2012-13

• The demand for natural resin in the coming years would grow exponentially

• Poultry is one of the fastest growing segments of agricultural sector in India.

• India is 3rd largest egg (56 billion eggs) and 5th largest poultry meat (2.6 million tons) producer. Total chicken population has registered an annual growth of 7.3% in the last decade. Poultry processing has also gone up to 20% of total broiler production.

• The domestic broiler meat demand is expected to grow at around 15-18%, while table egg demand is expected to grow at 5-7% in medium to long term

• Over 3 crore rural-tribal small poultry holders Bio-diversity potential

• A good number of lac host trees like Kusum, Palash, Ber etc. naturally occurring in central India, however, only 7 to 10 % of Lac host trees are utilized.

• Lac culture can arrest forest destruction and permit gainful utilization of vast natural wealth. In India, the total wastelands in non-forest area are estimated to be 93.70 million ha which can be utilized for plantation of Lac host trees to check further deforestation and deterioration of environment

• Lac host trees are source of fodder and fuel wood and thus subsidize the cost of inputs required for livestock and energy use

• Backyard Poultry provide scope for rearing of numerous species of poultry that are unique to the geo-social specificities of the region.

• The backyard poultry due to its scavenging nature also help in pest control in kitchen gardens and nearby agricultural lands thereby reducing the cost of pesticides and improving the crop yields.

Entry barriers • Traditional practice of lac cultivation is not suitable to cope up with adverse impact of climatic changes.

• Lac production is diminishing due to various reasons like; climate change, lack of awareness among the producers, unavailability of working capital, insufficiency of quality brood lac, lack of strong producer associations for marketing.

• The intermediaries aggregate the lac products from the producer and adulterate and sell it in bulk to the factories thereby attracting poor prices

• Producers lack awareness in prevention of disease. • Department of Animal Husbandry is not able to provide

vaccination services for backyard poultry. • Lack of knowledge about various government sponsored

schemes hamper the adoption of improved backyard poultry rearing techniques

• No supply chain exists for sale of BYP to nearby urban population thereby missing the opportunity to scale up BYP as potential source of income

National Market


Annex 2. Purpose and Methodology of the Mid-Term Evaluation 1. Purpose of Evaluation The purpose of the mid-term evaluation was as follows:

• To assess the progress against each of the objectives and indicators of the project • To identify bottlenecks (and suggest actionable measures for addressing these bottlenecks) in

improving the efficiency of supported enterprises, and for enhancing the income, resilience and empowerment outcomes of women producers

• To draw clear learnings from the lac, poultry and goatery value chains for scaling up of these enterprises and for strengthening the value chains

2. Evaluation Reference Period The evaluation covers not only this project period but also the efforts made by Udyogini and partners in the immediate project periods preceding the current project period. 3. Geographical Coverage of the Evaluation Due to budget constraints, the geographical coverage of this evaluation was limited to Udyogini intervention households in three Blocks in Kanker District in Chhattisgarh and one Block each in Anuppur and Shahdol Districts in Madhya Pradesh. Later, a team from Udyogini also collected data from one Block each from Seoni and Chhindwara districts of Madhya Pradesh, which has been incorporated in this analysis. 4. Sampling method used in the Evaluation A two-stage sampling strategy was used for the Household Survey.

Based on 19,200 women in the above seven Blocks, with whom Udyogini had worked, a statistically significant sample size of 400 women was arrived at for the survey (Annex 3 for details). Ten percent of this (40 respondents) were to be selected from comparison villages with similar socio-economic backgrounds.


In Stage 1, this sample size for treatment and control respondents was proportionately distributed between the various Blocks based on target population covered by the project. In Stage 2, villages and households were selected randomly from the list provided by partner NGOs. The team worked in 5 Blocks in April, and then a smaller team also collected information from two Blocks in Seoni and Chhindwara districts. The total sample size of Treatment respondents of household surveys was 501 and for Comparison household was 54. In addition, 25 Case Studies and Focus Groups were also conducted by the team. 5. Participatory Process followed in the Evaluation Misereor guidelines state that “a participatory procedure be adopted, i.e. project staff and beneficiaries should be included in the collection and assessment of data”.

Based on this, the evaluation will be done in a participatory manner using a peer-review process. Udyogini staff covering the evaluated project areas as well as NGO staff implementing the Lac, poultry and goatery value chains were all part of the evaluation. However, to maintain objectivity, no team member evaluated their own interventions, but peer reviewed interventions of other NGOs. Thus the Chhattisgarh team did field work in Madhya Pradesh and vice versa. This also helped in cross-learning for Udyogini and partner NGO staff.

The Evaluation team consisted of 33 members. The Evaluation was done in a participatory manner using the following tools and processes: Step 1. A World Café to understand participants’ perceptions about the achievements, gaps and next steps in the Misereor project. Step 2. Training on using the mobile phone-based data collection tool. Step 3. Discussion: Based on World Café findings, what should be the programme strategy for the next phase, and in able to operationalise the same, what data should we collect from target communities. Step 4. Practice of using the survey format. Step 5. Discussion on improvements needed in the Survey format. Step 6. Introduction to the qualitative tools to be used – Focus Groups, Case Studies and their protocols.


Step 7. Field testing of the format with 76 respondents in the project area of Sahbhagi. Step 8. Quantitative and Qualitative Data collection exercise in all the remaining respondents from field offices in two separate locations - one in Kanker and the other based in Anuppur. Step 9. After the data collection exercise, a Validation Workshop was held to validate the major learnings and to discuss action points for the next phase. Specifically, the discussion focused on the following areas:

• What is the change in behaviour that we wish to see in the target populations target communities in our project area?

• What is the change you want to see in the environment mint in our project area? • What is the change you want to see in the policies and programmes run by government and other agencies? • What is the change which we want to see in the functioning or behaviour of Institutions government civil

society organisations and the market behave?

Step 10. An exercise (in the format of Speed Dating) was then held for participants to share their learnings about the urgent next steps in the future programme strategy which the program should adopt. The following key areas were identified and suggestions compiled on the same:

• What needs to be done to improve the livelihoods of target communities in the project area? • What should be the role of the BDSPs1 and how can we make them more sustainable? • How can we improve the production, quality and sustainability of brood lac? • What is needed to enhance the delivery of skill development in the program? • How can we enhance market linkages for target communities, producer organisations and processes in the lac

value chain? • What needs to be done to enhance the income from poultry for target communities? • How can we make our monitoring system better and more useful for us to be able to track key processes and

to make quick and correct decisions about the program?

Step 11: Quantitative data was directly collated into Data Tables (Annex 1, 2 and 3) and spreadsheets using the mobile phone-based data collection tool. Data was analysed using “R” and MS Excel.

Step 12: This Evaluation Report was put together using secondary data, qualitative and quantitative data from target communities and the analysis done by the team in the above process.


L. References

i Tahir Hussain Shah, Moni Thomas and Rita Bhandari, Lac production, constraints and management- a review, International Journal of Current Research, Vol. 7, Issue, 03, pp.13652-13659, March, 2015 ii https://data.gov.in/catalog/state-wise-production-lac-india and “Lac Statistics in India”, IINRG, 2016 iii http://www.trifed.in/trifed/(S(3xgcfcfuu0ujy4tbohpex522))/present_status.aspx iv Pal, Govind, Anil K Jaiswal, Estimation of Lac production and Processing in India “Employment and Ecology”, Apr 2010 v Mayoux, Linda; Mackie, Grania, A practical guide to mainstreaming gender analysis in value chain development; International Labour Office, Addis Ababa: ILO, 2008 vi https://www.enterprise-development.org/ vii See http://in.one.un.org/page/sustainable-development-goals-a-handbook/ for an SDG handbook in multiple languages viii Udyogini’s proposal to Misereor – updated with recent figures

Project implemented by Udyogini Project Funded by …...27 Women’s enterprise group formed....

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