Questions/Answers

Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Scheduled Castes (SCs) constituting around 25% of India’s population are amongst the most disadvantaged and vulnerable social groups with low HDI. The Neem Project targeted these vulnerable populations to alleviate their financial, educational and social hardships. Mostly they were landless laborers and a majority of them are uneducated and unskilled. According to International Research Journal of Agriculture and Rural Development, the most prevalent problems faced by landless laborers, especially women, were Low Wage Rate, Low Social Status, Rural Indebtedness and Seasonal Labor. They face financial difficulties during the post-harvest dormancy period. During this period, they don’t have any assured source of income, as is typical in seasonal employment. Following the policy mandate of Neem coating 100% Urea, GNFC took up the Neem Project to provide a socio-economic opportunity for the above mentioned seasonal laborers. Instead of taking the traditional route of spraying urea with Neem oil bought from the unorganized sector, GNFC rolled out the innovative, integrated and community-led socially transformative Neem Project. The uniqueness of the project lies in meeting a policy mandate with innovation and foresight, wherein the rural women were involved in Neem seed collection to generate employment and income. The Neem project leveraged established community structures in rural Gujarat to build a supply chain network for neem seed collection and generated income of more than USD 7 million for around 450 thousand women in the last three years (www.gnfcneem.in). Nearly 250 thousand women were indirectly employed through the newly instituted supply chain of the project. The project is currently active with over 4000 Self Help Groups, Milk Cooperative Societies, Pani Samities (Water Committees), and Forest Department Collection Centres, who act as collection centers and have been resourceful in collecting over 45,000 MT of Neem seeds.

I. To supplement the income of rural poor especially women by the way of Neem seed collection. II. To promote the usage of Organic Fertilizer for the larger interest of the farmers and increase its availability. III. To encourage people to protect and nourish Neem trees. IV. To strengthen Village Level Societies (VLS's) such as Pani Samiti / Sakhi Mandal / Milk Cooperatives for acting as collection centres for Neem seeds and providing livelihood to the rural people. V. To plant one million Neem trees over next 4 to 5 years and create awareness about the environmental protection.

The initiative improved women’s lives by responding to their needs and enhancing their rights. It fulfilled the financial needs of many rural women by increasing their annual income by 58%, in a short span of 45 days. The SDG 1 of ‘No Poverty’ was fulfilled as the Neem Project provided sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth through productive employment which filled a gap in the seasonal employment. The project initiated economic development and broke the vicious cycle of poverty as seen in the exponential increase in asset creation, leading to reduced income inequalities. The reduction in domestic violence, the increase in decision making power of women and increase in expenditure for education, especially girl child’s education is heartening news, especially for SDG 5, i.e., Gender equality. Apart from its socio-economic footprint, Neem Project should be applauded for aligning itself with the environmental SDG 15 of Life on Land. The benefits of Neem is numerous and well-known, and Neem coated Urea is a positive step towards organic and sustainable farming. It could be said that through this neem revolution that India is returning to its roots and using the wisdom of its ancestors to alleviate the modern troubles.

The Neem Project is innovative and sustainable as it fully integrated into the GNFC’s supply chain which results in Shared Value Creation to fulfil the SDG 1.4 mandate to ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance. To sum up, the Neem Project caters to the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable, and alleviates the ever-growing inequalities in accordance with SDG 10. Neem Project empowers and promotes the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, or religion. To do so, it targets the most disadvantaged as per the Indian constitution i.e., the ‘Scheduled Tribes’, ‘Scheduled Caste’ and ‘Backward Communities’, who make up 77% of the project beneficiaries.

Supply of subsidized Urea is tightly regulated by the Govt. of India. In its non-agricultural applications, urea is used for dyeing, inks, coatings, plastics, paints, glues, animal feed, pesticides, and for adulterating milk. The heavily subsidized urea provided to the Government of India for agricultural purposes were diverted to industrial usages. To tackle this problem, the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India undertook the poison kill approach through the historical initiative of neem coating 100% urea. The policy mandate threw up a massive requirement of 26,000 MT of Neem Oil in the country. A market survey of Neem Oil availability and quality thereof was conducted. It was realized that traders were using spurious oil like rice bran oil and palm oil etc., topping it with Azadirachtin –the main chemical component of Neem- and selling it as a neem oil. Looking at the disorganized Neem Oil market, GNFC decided to undertake the Blue Economy approach of using locally available resource to tackle local problems. Neem is abundantly available in India. GNFC began a backward integration process by mobilizing the Village Level Societies, with targeted focus on women empowerment by aiding income generation, by involving them in seed collection for neem oil extraction.

The project has empowered a diverse array of women; 1. Approximately 77% of the beneficiaries are from communities designated as historically backward and most vulnerable. It denotes an upward trajectory in the involvement of women to earn equivalent to the other ‘upper’ castes. 2. Majority of the women beneficiaries, i.e. 82.8 percent, belong to the landless category. 3. 93.4 percent women possess a kutcha-pucca house whereas 6.6 percent stay in a rented house. 4. As far as satisfaction in their current livelihood is concerned, a majority (90.6 percent) said that there is no other way to make a living except by working as labourers, as they belong to poor families and do not have any land or educational background. In backward integration, horizontal and vertical linkages were created with village level community structures and other Government departments like Rural Development department, Livelihood Promotion Company, Water Supply department, Agriculture Co-operation department, etc., for setting up robust and transparent sourcing process. For awareness-generation and training, GNFC also collaborated with NGOs from such as Reliance Foundation (Gujarat), KHPT (Karnataka), Gramin Vikas Trust (MP), ACIL Navsarjan Rural Development Charitable Trust (Maharashtra), etc

• Introduced an entirely new activity in organized and transparent manner – Neem seeds collection has never existed as part of any Government programme for rural development or employment generation anywhere in India. • GNFC initiated business process re-engineering leading to social reengineering. • Tremendous socio-economic value created from Neem seeds, which earlier used to go completely waste. • The first-of-its-kind initiative, inspite of its strong socio-economic focus, it moves away from the beneficiary model to participatory model. • It harnesses existing community structures to build a supply-chain model to generate income for women and the rural poor, leading to empowerment. The Neem Project emerged as a significant Rural Income Generating Activity (RIGA), as it brings steady income for two months during the dormancy period, thus mitigating migration. There is zero investment involved and the time schedules during the day when women want to collect seeds is controlled by them which gives them greater autonomy. At pre-determined prices, the collection was sold at Village Level Collection Centers (VLCCs) and were paid immediately. Coming from financially weaker families, for quite a few women, this is the first time they have earned money and exerted any control over finances.

The innovation is completely original. As mentioned above, the neem seed collection was an unorganized and exploitive sector. The neem seed collection activity has never before been a part of the RIGA, either Govt, or private.

FINANCIAL RESOURCES: Apart from the USD 7,075,350 spent by GNFC on the seed procurement, in the last three years, GNFC has also spent ≈USD 7,855,500 in setting up plants for the Neem Project’s organic products. (www.gnfcneem.in) TECHNICAL RESOURCES: No technical resources were needed for sourcing, apart from brooms and jute bags, which were usually provided by the VLCC. A large array of plants have been set up for the Neem Project, including oil extraction, organic manure manufacturing plant, Neem Products plants, etc.

Yes

In 2017-2018, Neem Project has forged into new territories that include four other states, apart from Gujarat. Women from over 5000 villages were mobilized from the five states namely Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Karnataka. The states were chosen based on the need assessment of the landless laborers and the abundance of Neem trees in the surrounding areas of the intended beneficiaries. For awareness-generation and training, GNFC also collaborated with NGOs from such as Reliance Foundation (Gujarat), KHPT (Karnataka), Gramin Vikas Trust (MP), ACIL Navsarjan Rural Development Charitable Trust (Maharashtra), etc. The project has generated income to the tune of USD 7,075,350 for 450 thousand women through collection of 45,000 MT in the last three years. (www.gnfcneem.in) Directive of Ministry of Fertilizer, Govt. of India, on 11th November 2016, to other fertilizer companies to adopt GNFC’s model of Neem Project has been the right step in the direction and GNFC is handholding the companies to accomplish this. To fulfil the policy mandate, more than 26,000 MT of neem oil is required to coat total 31 million MT Urea used in India. (http://www.fert.nic.in/page/fertilizer-policy) 400 thousand MT of neem seed has to

There is scope for this activity to be scaled up and for more women to get involved, to fulfil the policy mandate over 26,000 MT Neem oil, which requires 400 thousand MT Neem seeds. (www.gnfcneem.in)  Social The Neem Project is also contributing in strengthening the social fabric by connecting and bring community together. Through its partnership with over 4000 VLSs including Self Help Groups, Milk cooperative societies, Water Cooperatives, CBOs and Forest Department Collection Centres, a sense of camaraderie has emerged. Many women call themselves as members of the “Neem Parivar”, which loosely translates to ‘Neem Family’.  Economic As the Neem Project is based on a symbiotic relationship between GNFC and the community, it is considered extremely stable and sustainable for the both the parties. In addition, through Neem Project, the Neem oil market has become organised, as evidenced in the drastic increase in the price of neem seeds per kg from INR 1-2 to 12 per kg. GNFC has enabled social reengineering through business reengineering, not only by mobilising the women at the grassroots but also by informing policy at the national level about the ground realities.  Environmental Now, as the Neem trees generate income in the community, there is increased interest, and awareness to grow more neem tress and protect the existing trees. It is sustainable in the true sense, as the available natural resources match needs.

Neem seed collection lasts between 45 days to 60 days, from May till Monsoons. This is the only time when the Neem seeds can be collected, since the seeds from which oil is extracted need to be shed naturally. This period coincided with the pre-monsoon time when the agricultural laborers do not have productive work. Moreover, many women who are working as agricultural labourers have to face financial difficulties during the post-harvest dormancy period. During this time, they don’t have any assured source of income, as is typical in seasonal employment. Which has forced many men to migrate to cities or nearby towns in search of unskilled labor. Due to the project’s engagement in the particular period, as per the assessment conductd undertaken by UNDP , out of 100% who reported that they felt beneficial impact due to the Neem Project, more than 20 emphasized felt its benefit during the lean time when women are bereft of work. In addition, machines for large-scale seed collection is not mainstream. Hence, this particular unskilled labor is not in danger of being replaced by automation.

Yes

Impact Assessment was conducted by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in November 2016 to evaluate the socio-economic impact of the Neem Project. The study covered 2000 in-depth interviews of project beneficiaries, 200 interviews with women not involved in the project (to understand the extent of intervention-impact), and Focused Group Discussions with 74 stakeholders across 129 villages in four districts including Gandhinagar, Bharuch, Patan and Banaskantha.

Increased income: The monthly average income is around INR 7,000 per month, making Neem seed collection a viable rural income generating activity. The average income of women before Neem seed collection was INR 12,000 per year, which means collecting Neem seeds has increased their average annual income by 58.3 percent. Reduction in Domestic Violence: Almost 13 percent of women respondents shared that there had been a reduction in domestic violence after they joined the project. Enhanced decision-making role: Many women, especially those in tribal areas, reported that the income they earned by collecting Neem seeds makes them feel more respected from their families and society. There is also an increasing and encouraging trend of women investing in assets. Asset Creation: Most women report investing in assets such as livestock and stoves. Eighteen percent women reported owning assets because of the project and30 percent said they now have savings they control. Increase in expenditure for educational purposes: Most of the total earnings from Neem seed collection– as much as 71 percent – is used on food, 7 percent on clothes, 10 percent on education, and around 6 percent on health. 140% increase in spending for education, especially girls’ education.

• Documenting the processes and outcomes of neem project on socio-economic conditions. • Assessing the impact in terms of monthly income, and capability enhancement to assess different government schemes for social security, adequate housing and basic services. • Change (if any) in asset ownership pattern of the household. • To assess project impact on socio-economic conditions of the beneficiaries. • Change (if any) in expenditure pattern of the household. • Change (if any) in income through increased involvement in livelihood activities. • Change (if any) in involvement pattern of women in household decision making, especially social, cultural and financial decisions. • Change (if any) in self-confidence of women from the supplementary income earned from neem seed collections. • Availability of a pool of trained, experienced and knowledgeable trainers on neem seed collection and processing methods and payments. • Assessing the livelihood activities in the village through the Sakhi Mandals/Pani Samitis/Milk Cooperatives. • Change (if any) in community perspectives on women’s rights and patriarchal traditional practices changed. • Sustainability of the project, in context of scaling it up across the state as a community owned initiative.

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi during his speech on the 69th Independence Day celebration, delineated his vision of 100% Neem coating of Urea. Following which, the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers (MoC&F), Government of India, in the year 2015, made it mandatory for all indigenous producers of urea to produce 100% of their total production of Neem coated urea. It was also mandated that all the imported urea should be coating by neem oil too. Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd. (GNFC) has taken a lead in implementing the policy mandate under the Neem Project. GNFC is a listed company, promoted by the Government of Gujarat (GoG). It is headed by a senior civil servant from the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Dr. Rajiv Kumar Gupta and is overseen by a government appointed Board of Directors, which includes another 3 IAS Officers. As GNFC intended the Neem Project to be a community-led activity, it partnered with exciting rural Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to act as VLCCs and even SPPs. Around four thousand VLCCs have been instituted, which includes SHGs, Water Cooperatives, Forest Department Centers, Milk Cooperatives, Gujarat Agro Industries Corporation Centers, farmers, etc. They send their seed collection through three hundred SPPs. For awareness-generation and training, GNFC also collaborated with NGOs from such as Reliance Foundation (Gujarat), KHPT (Karnataka), Gramin Vikas Trust (MP), ACIL Navsarjan Rural Development Charitable Trust (Maharashtra), etc.

The financial emancipation and subsequently the empowerment enabled women to take decisions in important family matters. This confidence has enabled them explore other areas for neem seed collection. Earlier women used to collect neem seeds from their village or nearby areas. But now, women have started working in groups and travel upto several kilometres for collection. This practice also improved their management skills as they have to manage various other issues such as transportation, fair distribution of collection and income. Many women have used their supplementary income to buy livestock such as buffalo, poultry, etc. The livestock has, in turn, increased their income by INR 150 (USD 2.5) per day. Some women have pooled their income and has used it as seed money for starting small businesses. As per recommendations from the assessment study:  Women entrepreneurs can act as VLCCs between the collectors and the SPPs, thus facilitating the collection process.  SHGs and NGOs are facilitating livelihood-related support by providing training to rural women for better collection of neem seeds. These NGOs also arrange the logistics for the transfer of collected seeds from the women’s homes to the GNFC centre. After service charges are deducted, the revenue can be distributed among women collectors.