The project aims at ?Sustainable socio-economic development though women empowerment for the agriculture based Tribal people and conservation of valuable medicinal plants by Kanikaran tribals in Kadayal Village of Melpuram Block of Kanyakumari District, Tamilnadu.? In Kadayali panchayat and dissemination in the settlement villages near Nagercoil.
The main objective of the project is to Conserve useful medicinal plant spices, Clove and Pepper by the Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) to provide better health care for Women & Children and conservation natural resources. The project will ensure value addition of spices having medicinal value for market prosperity and creating new market and linking with the existing markets in order to increase the beneficiaries? standard of living. Simultaneously empowering tribal community of the project area by forming 12 Women SHGs, 10 Youth Clubs, and 10 Farmer?s Clubs and educating them. The project will involve Community participation in project planning, designing, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and is expected that the Crop Production will be increased in between 29% to 60% and additional return of incomes for sustainable development of the tribal groups. The cost benefit was worked out, based on the technological benefit. The Trust has good linkage with the line departments- TNAU, Coimbatore, Horticulture, Department of Backward, KVK. From the past experience it is known that the Trust has gender concerns in the project implementation. Women will be the key role in the implementation of the projects of the Trust.
Project Objectives:
1. Provide functional/development education and motivation among tribal people.
2. Generate multiple sources of sustainable income and employment.
3. Conserve useful medicinal plant species by the Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) to provide better health care for Women & Children and conservation of natural resources.
4. Establish small scale manufacturing/processing unit for producing White Pepper from Green/Black Pepper, Pepper Oil and Clove oil with the help of women?s self-helps (WSHGs) and with the local level institutions for a sustainable income generation.
5. Promote value added products from useful medicinal plants suitable for cultivation in the project settlements area.
6. Encourage the adoption of intensive integrated agriculture for Tapioca, Turmeric and Pepper, Clove, Ginger crops to generate multiple sources of sustainable income and .employment.
7. Promote and demonstrate scientific approach of the main /multiple / inter cropping system with Tapioca, turmeric (main crops) Pepper, Clove, Ginger, crops (inter crops) in the Rubber Eco-System.
Project Activities:
1. Organize the Kani tribal community by involving them in all Social, economic and Community development activities by making them members of Men/Women Youth Self Help Groups (MSHGs, WSHGs &YSHGs).
2. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) in the 12 identified settlement villages, to assess the all the resources available to implement the project components.
3. Formation of 12 new Women Self Help Groups (WSHGs) in 12 settlement villages.
4. Identification of 5 Nos. of leading and progressive Farmers from the tribal to lay out 0.5 to 1.0 acre demonstration plots for the selected crops like Tapioca and Turmeric as main crop and Pepper, Clove, Ginger, as inter crops according to the season of sowing/planting.
5. Purchase of machinery and equipment required for the production of Value added Products like Pepper Oil, White Pepper from Black/Green Pepper, Clove Oil and chips from Tapioca.
6. Collection Seed materials for the Medicinal Plants to be conserved.
7. Establish community nurseries for Clove, Pepper, and for the useful medicinal plant species.
8. Organize training and seminar / workshop to share results and create capacities to establish essential Oil extraction/ processing plant for producing Pepper Oil and Clove Oil.
Project Outputs:
1. Detailed documentation and generation of the Natural Resources data, for sharing of knowledge with other tribal communities.
2. 12 Nos. of Women Self Help Groups will be formed. The members will be organized in micro-finance activities through savings.
3. Permanent employment opportunities of more than 85 families through conservation of Medicinal Plants, scientific collection of seed ?plants-tubers and Value added product production.
4. Empowerment of the Women folk and Youths among the tribal people and Development of negotiation power.