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Successful marketing of watermelon by local farmers, under the SAFAL initiative of Vedanta University Project

Tuesday, March 30th, 2010

: Watermelon marketing through cooperative

Puri, 30-03-2010: For the first time, farmers of Kabirajpur village, Puri have successfully sold 5.4 metric tonne of watermelon at their door step through an institutional process, at a total price of Rs. 18, 900/-, setting a benchmark in watermelon marketing in the area. This marketing has been done by the Baba Beleswar Krushak Samabaya Ltd, Chaitana, a farmers’ cooperative formed under the livelihood initiative SAFAL of Vedanta University Project with the help of ACCESS, the technical service provider. The farmers could sell watermelon at a price of Rs. 3500/- per metric tonne, as against the price of Rs. 3000/-, normally offered by the local traders. The watermelon was procured by the cooperative, which was later sold at Bhubaneswar.

The spot determination of price was done at the village itself. This marketing of watermelon was facilitated by Vedanta University Project under its SAFAL initiative. The main objective of this marketing was to avoid distress sale of watermelon, to provide a market to the small and marginal farmers at their door step and to get them some instant income in order to meet the current farming cost. The farmers’ co-operative, Baba Beleswar Krushak Samabaya Ltd could familiarize itself with the entire process of institutional marketing like, listing of the farmer’s name and the quantity of watermelon to be sold, contacting the buyer, arranging things at the watermelon collection point, listing of the sale price, etc.

This marketing process has been very encouraging to all concerned. Prashanta Nayak of Kabirajpur village, one of the farmers who has sold his watermelon says, “For the first time we have received a good price, in fact Rs. 500/- more than what the local traders offer. This marketing process has given us a lot of confidence. We have learnt how to sell our farm produce at a better price”.

It can be recalled that the main objective of the SAFAL initiative of Vedanta University Project is to increase the family income of small and marginal farmers, empower them through institutionalized community structures (farmer’s SHGs, Cooperatives, etc), facilitate their negotiation of key linkages in the value chains and thus, mainstream them. So far, 110 Farmers’ Self Help Groups (FSHGs) have been formed under this initiative comprising 1516 farmers from 23 different villages. 2 cooperatives, namely, Jaya Jagannath Krushak Samavaya Ltd and Baba Beleswar Krushak Samabaya Ltd and 6 farmers’ clubs with the support of NABARD have also been formed.

It is worth mentioning here that Vedanta University Project under the SAFAL initiative has been working immensely towards the upliftment of the farmers by providing them all technical support through ACCESS, the technical service provider for SAFAL and by organizing various facility visits of the farmers to various cooperatives so that they can learn and acquire new farming techniques for better production. Recently, Vedanta University Project’s SAFAL along with Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) organized an exposure visit for a team of 28 persons including 13 Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs), 12 Anganwadi Workers, 1 supervisor and 2 SAFAL officials to Warangal, Andhra Pradesh. During the trip, they visited the Self Help Dairy Cooperatives promoted by Cooperative Development Foundation and Wardhanapet Swakrushi Dairy Cooperative at Warangal apart from a few milk collection centers. During the visit, the members of the WSHGs gained valuable information on milk production, collection, processing and marketing. Mrs. Pramila Mohanty of Chaitana village under Gop block, a participant of the exposure trip says, “The visit has immensely helped us to facilitate and strengthen the Women dairy Cooperative that we are planning to form in the Gop block with the support of ICDS, Veterinary Department and SAFAL”.

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Impressive success of Vedanta University Project sponsored industrial trainees

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

27-10-2009, Puri: The Vedanta University Project sponsored trainees have done exceedingly well in their 1^st year term ending examination at Sri Industrial Training Centre, Patrapada, Bhubaneswar where they are pursuing a two-year industrial training certificate course. Whereas the average mark scored by these trainees is more than 60 %, Sridhar Baral and Rajendra Sahoo have been able to top the list in the Electrician and Fitter trade, respectively, from amongst 126 students in each category. Expressing happiness about his success, Rajendra Sahoo of Chaittana village who has topped in the Fitter trade, says, “I am extremely thankful to Vedanta University Project for giving us the opportunity to pursue such a professional course. We are sure that with sincere efforts we can find good jobs and do well in life.” Sridhar Baral of Kantigorada village, who has topped in the Electrician trade, nods in agreement.

Since last year, 38 young people from the project impacted families have been sponsored by the Vedanta University Project of Anil Agarwal Foundation for a two-year industrial training course at Sri Industrial Training Centre, Bhubaneswar. Out of these 38 sponsored students, 19 have been admitted in the Electrician trade and the remaining 19 have been admitted in the Fitter trade. The main objective of this initiative is to equip these youths with some employment oriented technical skills so that they can find better earning opportunities. This is part of the on-going community development/empowerment initiatives of the Vedanta University project and Anil Agarwal Foundation is taking care of all expenses of these sponsored students. These students have been doing quite well in their studies and extracurricular activities, and their performance in the regular monthly examinations has been impressive also.

Along with the technical training and the usual extracurricular activities like sports and yoga, care is also taken to develop the personality of the students and their social consciousness, by involving them in various community welfare programmes. As the Principal of the industrial training centre says, “The idea of this training is not only to provide technical education to the students but also to develop their soft skills for an improved personality. That is why, these students are actively taking part in activities like blood donation, flood relief, etc”. As part of their training programme, the students are also sent on exposure trips to different organizations in order to gain hands-on job experience. During the last academic term, the students of Fitter Trade have visited Hirakud Power Project and the students of Electrician Trade have visited Gopalpur Port.

VUP sponsored Students in Electrical workshop

It may be noted here that Anil Agarwal Foundation, a not-for-profit philanthropic organization established by the Chairman of Vedanta Resources Plc, is setting up a world class, multidisciplinary University near Puri that will provide quality higher education to 100, 000 students in 95 academic disciplines. While endeavouring to build this University, the Vedanta University Project of Anil Agarwal Foundation is also taking up various community development initiatives in the areas of health, education, livelihood, peripheral development, sports and culture, in order to enrich the life of the people residing in the vicinity. The much appreciated SAFAL (Sustainable Action for Farmers’ Livelihood) and the provision of industrial training for the youths of project impacted families, are amongst the initiatives currently undertaken in the livelihood sector. The success of Vedanta University Project sponsored industrial trainees underscores the point that given the right opportunity, people and especially the youth will be able to make good use of their talent and do well in life.

For more information, please contact:

Kishore Chandra Das

Head, Communications

Contact No. : 9437012258

E-mail id: Kishore.das@vedanta.edu.in

Ashis Kumar Acharya

Public Relations Officer

Contact No. : 9937107444

E-mail id: ashis.acharya@vedanta.edu.in

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