Jeevika, Dabur To Promote Livelihood Among Rural Families In Bihar

Thursday, January 30, 2014

20,000 Rural households in Bihar to benefit from the program

 

Patna, January 29th, 2014: Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's leading Natural Healthcare Company Dabur India Ltd to roll out a mega community development initiative aimed at promoting livelihood and implementing income generation programmes among the rural populace of Bihar. The initiative, which will involve training the rural populace on bee-keeping and production of raw Honey, will positively impact 20,000 households in Bihar in a passed manner.

 

Dabur India Ltd has also entered into a buy-back arrangement, under which the Honey produced by the community would be purchased by Dabur India Ltd, leading to improved earnings for the households. This initiative, planned after identifying the strengths and local priorities of the community, will help plan for the future of the rural households and help them become more resilient, besides improving their standards of living.

 

"At Dabur, we believe that an organization's true worth lies beyond its business, and is best reflected by the service it renders to the community and the society. Businesses have a responsibility to subserve larger societal goals as they have the ability to contribute significantly and impactfully to sustainable and inclusive development. This programme is another step forward in this direction and offers support to communities to enable them to build more self-reliance and capability to make the changes they want to see in their area. We are committed to making requisite skills available to the targeted neighbourhoods in Bihar and provide them assistance to create a sustainable source of income in the long term," Dabur India Ltd Chief Executive Officer Mr. Sunil Duggal said.

 

BRLPS identifies beneficiary groups converged into Self Help Group (SHGs). Eventually, these SHGs are converted into producer companies to undertake business processes on their own in due course. BRLPS also facilitates training programme for SHGs and Village Resource Persons (VRPs) under the project.

 

"Being a Corporate Partner in this collaboration, Dabur will provide all the technical assistance required by the communities in scientific bee-keeping. Dabur's institutional partners and its own scientific resources shall impart the necessary training to the VRPs and beneficiaries," Dr. N B Brindavanam, Head-Dabur's Bio-Resources Development Group said.

 

Dabur has also agreed to strengthen the producer companies in terms of business handling competencies. Further, it has agreed to procure Honey directly from the SHGs through fair, transparent and quality-based pricing mechanisms. The company seeks to enhance returns to the community from direct sale of Honey, thereby eliminating the intermediary channels and by minimizing the marketing overheads thereto.

 

The programme is designed to cover 500 beneficiaries in the first phase, which will be implemented through 2014-2015 seasons.

 

In a first such initiative in India, the project plans to develop Beekeeping Resource Centres (BRC) at all strategic locations in the project areas. Each of these resource centres shall be equipped with modern facilities for honey extraction and grading, basic quality testing, queen-bee rearing, production of accessories for bee-keeping and a sales outlet for consumables needed for bee farmers. These resource centres will also have storage facility, thus can serve as procurement centres.

 

Each resource centre shall cater to the needs of 100-150 beekeepers placed in their vicinity. The centre shall also assist the farmers in the migration of bee colonies in a well-designed manner. In the long run, the BRC shall be entrusted to one SHG to run it, in a self-sustaining manner, Dr. N B Brindavanam said.

 

Dabur will design and manage the BRCs during formative years and concurrently build capacities of local teams to run the same into future. Dabur has also agreed to support the communities beyond their internal needs of 'honey procurement'. In the interest of the beneficiary communities, the scientific team at Dabur shall contribute to the accrual of economic benefits through wax processing and extraction of royal jelly.

 

Mr. Byas Anand Corporate Communications Dabur India Limited PH:- 0120-3982000, 3001000 extn 2101/2508Fax: 0120-4374935 Email:corpcomm@dabur.com