FACILITATING ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONGST RURAL WOMEN OF HIMACHAL PRADESH THROUGH BIOTECHNOLOGICAL APPLICATION

Dr. Madhu Sharma, Dr. Anil Sood and Dr. P.S. Ahuja  
Department of Biotechnology, 
Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology  
Palampur-176 061 (Himachal Pradesh)

Himachal Pradesh offers unique opportunities to develop cut flower trade because of abundant rain fall, bright sunshine and pollution free environment. In the past few years, quite a few growers have taken to commercial growing of flowers which include gladioli, chrysanthemum, carnation, tuberose, liliums, tulips, and orchids. Every year, germplasm worth crores of rupees is being imported from Holland and during the year 2000-2001, flower bulbs worth Rs. 1.5 crores were brought into Kangra valley alone. However, the materials imported are at times infected with viruses as well as fungi leading to colossal losses to the small and medium growers. Districts of Kangra and Mandi are located in mid-Himalayas and primarily constitute the rural agrarian set up where women carry out most of the domestic responsibilities including working in the fields, tending cattle and such like other works as the men usually go out of their houses in search of jobs. The men: women ration is 1000:1024. However, the irony is that all this toiling goes unnoticed and unrewarded.  For all their cash requirements, they look towards their husbands/sons or other earning members.  However, with an increased emphasis on their education, there is a growing awareness that their contribution is well recognised and rewarded too.  There are several trades which can be started at cottage levels and their initiation into production of good quality and high value floriculture crops is a step in their economic emancipation.  With increased educational opportunities; the women are getting more organized into small groups through the efforts of many voluntary Govt. or Non-Govt. organizations.

The semi-literate women besides getting trained in health care and child development, tailoring and weaving, are also educated about the importance of afforestation by planting useful trees in the vacant Panchayat lands. They have also been instrumental in motivating the male members of their families in extending help in marketing of their produce. Under the guidance of Chinmaya Trust, Tapovan, Dharamshala and with the help of NABARD, some of them have joined a scheme, "micro-banking" which facilitates easy loans to meet their day to day requirements. They work collectively under a government sponsored programme called **xkao Hkh viuk] dke Hkh viuk**. There is another NGO, Society for environmental and Rural Awakening (ERA), Khundian near Jwalamukhi, working in this direction.

IHBT has already successfully demonstrated the beneficial use of adopting tissue culture raised plantlets in the field and have made the farmers to harden the TCPs themselves in their own fields under the supervision of IHBT scientists. This has resulted in greater excitement among both the women who are in a position to supply the culture vessels containing the plantlets of standardized as prescribed by IHBT and growers who are hardening these thereby, completing chain from production to utilization to technology adoption and supervision.

Already, we have established linkages with two major NGOs i.e. Environment and Rural Awakening (ERA) at Khundian (near Jwalamukhi) and Chinmaya Tapovan Trust at Tapovan (near Dharamshala). Since the growers of the area were kept informed during the growth and developmental stages of TCPs in the fields, they got convinced about the superiority of the germplasm thus raised. 

Keeping in view the awareness among rural women folk, Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur has launched a programme wherein rural women are being trained in tissue culture. The financial support has been given by Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi. This is a model and unique approach where rural women were enabled to use their time for establishing tissue culture units. Since tissue culture work is not a full time job, their existing life style is not affected. Under this project, about 40 rural women have been imparted training in micropropagating disease free liliums and orchids during the past three years. In the beginning, women were invited to the institute to apprise them of the tissue culture technique in a simplified manner. A mobile laboratory with a custom designed laminar flow was used for training purpose. Later on difficulties encountered during incubation of cultures at their houses, two tissue culture units complete with the basic infrastructure were established one each at village Daloon under the aegis of Chinmaya Tapovan Trust and Khundian under an NGO group ERA by the scientists of IHBT.  In order to further reduce the cost of tissue culture units, a portable laminar flow was designed and developed at IHBT. This portable laminar flow (STERIFLOW-trade mark by IHBT) costs only Rs 10,000/- and is licensed to Rescholar Equipment Pvt. Ltd., Ambala Cantt. The women have become proficient enough to handle the plantlets and explants both of orchids and liliums independently.  In order to ensure sale of their produce for financial returns, a group of small growers of region under the umbrella of The Kangra Floriculture and Horticulture Growers’ Federation at Dhoron have been trained in hardening procedures only. The Institute has established its credibility by demonstrating the superiority of tissue culture raised plants in the fields to the growers of the area. This has led to a spurt in the demand for Tissue Culture raised plantlets from the growers. IHBT has core competence in the areas of plant micropropagation and virus indexing.  It is proposed to test the cultures periodically for viral infections so that they do not face difficulties during the sale of their produce.

Close working relationships already exist between IHBT and the women associated with various NGOs operating at the village levels for the past few years and the scientists and technicians visit their premises quite regularly. Similarly, the farmers have also been regularly visiting the Institute for their problem solving and attending various training programmes organized from time to time. IHBT, a constituent laboratory of CSIR, aims to bring about a perceptible change in the floriculture trade in the area for ensuring production and availability of quality planting materials at affordable prices to the growers/farmers so that their dependency on imports is reduced and finally eliminated completely.  

The training/extension programme will have a multiple effect and surely promote employment opportunities directly as well as indirectly.  Directly, it will unleash the latent potential of women without putting them off from their routine household work for longer hours and also benefit the farmers engaged in floriculture as they would get an ensured supply of quality planting material at their doorsteps that has been specially acclimatized in that area to reduce chances of mortality.  Indirectly, it will allow anciliary growth of entrepreneurship in the areas of clay pot making, composing, packaging, transport and marketing.  A general positive utilization of manpower will commence and a high tech culture will set in.  This will create new avenues to utilize the available manpower in the rural areas for income generation and self employment.

Acknowledgement: Financial assistance from the Department of Biotechnology, Govt. of India, New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged