She lives in a thatched house in a small hamlet surrounded by forests in remote Kandhamal district. Everyday once the household chores are done, she sits on the floor for stitching Siali leaf plates and bowls. Now she puts more time on stitching because she has learned a new pattern of stitching leaf plates, for which a trader gives her better price. Also, she wants to stitch more plates to earn more for her family.
“The upper market trader gives better price on one Siali leaf plate, provided it should be stitched properly. Earlier we used to get only Rs 10-12 for one chekki (One bundle of Siali leaf plates that contains 80 plates) from the local market, but now things have changed. For one plate, we are getting better price,” says Sampati Kahanra, confidently with her face beaming with happiness.
Ashumati Kahanra, another tribal woman of the same hamlet, while stitching her part of Siali leaf plates shares, “Earlier we used to carry these leaf plates on head and walk up to Dadaki Panchayat around
5 km away from our village to sell those to local traders. We did not have bargaining strength; so whatever the price they fixed we accepted. Some traders were even exploiting us by paying very low price”.
Not only these two tribal women of Kandhamal district, hundreds of tribal women of three federations namely Maa Dadiamba laghu Banajata Sangrahakari Mahila Gosthi of Kandhmal, Banaja Banijya Sangha of Sambalpur and Banani Mahila Sangha of Deogarh district are now happy with the improvement in their livelihood by entering into entrepreneurship, thanks to the intervention of a
non-profit organisation Vasundhara, that works on natural resources governance conservation and sustainable rural livelihood issues.
Forest Rights Act 2006 has brought a sea change in forest governance and has helped communities set up and run livelihood enterprises based on forest produce. This helped to bring these women folk together and venture into collective marketing and enhance the livelihood of these tribal women.
“After the formation of group it gave them strength to collect produces and protect their forests,” says Manmohan Barik, Programme officer Vasundhara in Kandhamal. The FRA which vested minor forest produce (MFP) ownership rights to Gram Sabha and gives authority to the Gram Sabha to issue transit permit has opened up possibilities for such communities to directly engage with their markets through member owned and controlled MFP collective enterprises.
Siali-better known as Siali patta is a large creeper grows mostly in Sal forests. The rich moisture content of the Sal forests is conducive to Siali growth. The Siali is also one of the most abundant of Indian climbing species and commonly grows in south and western Odisha forests. Due to its size, texture and durability, Siali leaves are preferred raw material in making a variety of plates and bowls for serving food. For generations tribal families in Kandhamal, Deogarh, Sambalpur and Sundergarh have earned their livelihood by plucking Siali leaves.
“Forest is ours and our livelihood is dependent on resources collected from forests. Earlier, we used to collect Siali leaf from nearby forests, stitch those leaves in plates (Khali panna in local language), and keep some plates and bowls to use at home and then the rest was sold at local market. Now things have changed and we are no more exploited by local traders. After the linkage of our federation with upper level market, now the traders are coming to our place to collect products,” says Rashmita Bindhani, secretary of the Kandhamal women’s group.
Talking about the upper level market linkage with the women’s federations’ forest researcher and programme coordination of Vasundhara, Chitta Ranjan Pani says, “One German based marketing agency leaf Republic (now the company renamed as India based company Bilotech Plant Materials Private limited) were searching for leaf based biodegradable products, and during the process they came in touch with our organisation. After rounds of discussions an agreement was signed in last September between the German agency and women’s federations to take Siali leaf plates. They also organised training programmes on stitching Siali leaf plates and its quality control part before formally taking the order. Till date, they have taken nearly 1 lakh Siali leaf plates from the women federations.”
He also adds, “After this agreement the tribal women of these groups are earning Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 individually per month while earlier their earning was within Rs 200 to Rs 300.”
“The European countries are now becoming more nature-friendly or eco-friendly and they are turning towards biodegradable products. Especially the hotel industry in European countries has also developed an interest for biodegradable plates,
typically made from leaves because these decompose overtime and do not have any negative impact on environment. So they are keen to take Siali leaf plates,” explains Pani.
Now the women of these federations are also keen to collect better quality leaves and stitch properly so that the trader will not reject those. “The agency personnel gave us regular training on stitching and quality control part,” said Banaja Banijya Sangha president Pratibha Bariha of Sambalpur district.
The tribal women of these households wake up early in the morning to leave for forests. They spend the whole day collecting leaves, seed, tamarind, Mahua flowers and return during day. “We wake up early in the morning after finishing household chores, go deep into forests to collect Siali leaves and other forest goods like
Bhalia seed, tamarind and Mahua flowers to sell it to traders in local market. During day time, we sit in groups, stitch plates and bowls to use at home and the rest we sell it. Earlier it was roughly
stitched, now the trader is more keen on quality of leaf as well as stitch, so we are giving more time on producing better stitched plates,” say Kunti Kanhara, adding “Now we are doing hard work but also earning better than earlier.”
These tribal women are dependent upon forest produces, mostly Siali leaves for their livelihood, so now the federation is also thinking to
protect the forests from any hazard. “A few months back during summer season fire broke out in Sal forest in Kandhamal. We had a huge loss. Now with the erratic rainfall you will find huge number of caterpillar and other insects spoiling leaves. A heavy rainfall will wash out these caterpillars and insects from the forests, but due to climate change, we are getting less rainfall or erratic rainfall during monsoon, so our yield is less these days,” explains Rambhabati Kanhara, another tribal woman.
To save their forests from all these unexpected problems, the women’s groups have decided to take some necessary steps. “We have decided to plant saplings inside the forests,” explains Kahanra, adding we are also planning to have a godown and place so that women in groups can sit together and stitch the plates.
Despite poverty, a ray of hope shines as the women of these collectives by using the provisions of FRA enjoy the status of being entrepreneurs. This also helps them to be decision makers and planners both at home and community level. It is also a happy thing for them that now the European people will eat in the Siali leaf plates which are collected and stitched by them.