Mulberry Sericulture: An Alternative, Farm-based Livelihood for Small Farmers

Establishing mulberry sericulture as an alternative farm-based livelihood activity was a slow and steady endeavour of the PRADAN team in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh, leading to income-generation and a degree of prosperity for women farmers

Introduction

A n overwhelming share of the Indian population resides in villages; considering the trend over the last few decades, however, this is expected to change only marginally in the near future. As per the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data, more than three-fourth of rural households live on a monthly income of less than Rs 5,000, and around 70 per cent of the households are either directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for a living. Widespread poverty in the rural areas, in the face of high and consistent growth in the national economy, indicates the declining state of the agriculture sector.

Since 2009–10, there has been a continuous decline in the share of agriculture and allied sectors in the national GDP. In the last three years, the yield of major food grains, including pulses, has increased only marginally and a few cases have observed negative growth. Similarly, the productivity of major horticulture crops has remained almost stagnant for last four to five years. The reasons for the low or stagnant productivity and the low return from the farm sector are many. Small and scattered land-holdings, poor infrastructure, lack of market access and lack of extension services are some of the key reasons.

With the monsoon becoming more and more erratic over the last 10 years, the struggles of small farmers have increased manifold. Erratic rains along with a volatile local market and inaccessible formal markets, have reduced the predictability of production, and contributed to people losing interest in farming. At the same time, no other gainful employment opportunities could absorb the workforce opting out of agriculture.