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LIVE IN LABS, WAYANAD, KERALA

Abstract

The document talks about Wayanad Team’s visit to Valaramkunnu village in Kerala from

Sep 20 to Sep 24, 2015. The document is structured based on Introduction, Findings,

Problems, Resources and Suggestions

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Introduction:

Vallaramkunnu is a tribal village located at Wayanad, Kerala

where three tribal colonies were adopted by Amma namely Paniya colony,

Kattupara nayakar colony, Kuruchur colony comprising of 75 families. Our LILA

started with meeting the villagers along with Village agriculture officer, Mr.

Mamooty who gave a detailed talk about organic farming, ill effects of using

fertilizers on plants and how to use organic fertilizers/manure to create an

awareness on healthy agricultural farming. Our coordinator, Mr Hari led us up the

hill which was an hours trek up the hill to the colonies.

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Findings:

Abundance of lemon grass, present at Valaramkunnu is used to make the

lemon grass oil, which costs about Rs.300 for 250 grams.

The lemon grass has to go through a process of boiling and cooling to obtain

lemon grass oil, the set up consists of a clay built structure that has a

provision for firewood, upon which a steel container with an inlet to input

the lemon grass, this is getting connected through a steel pipeline to the

cooling unit which also a steel container.

Firewood is used to boil the lemon grass along with water and the

evaporated gas is sent to the cooling unit to obtain lemon grass oil.

Manufacturing lemon grass oil, was a major source of income for the tribes

35 years ago, which gradually depleted due to lack of mobilization of

resources.

Most of the men in the family are addicted to alcohol and tobacco, they pay

the auto driver to get the alcohol for them to consume.

The mode of income differs but the basic work

available is coolie labor, which they get on an average

of twice a week. They earn on average Rs. 400/500

day on casual labor.

There is also an opportunity for this tribe to sell

coffee as there is an abundance of coffee plants

growing all around their houses. Each house gets less

quintal to 3 quintals of coffee green seeds produce per

year.

Figure 1:-Lemon grass

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The yield is highly variable and fluctuation, primarily because coffee is a

cross pollination plant and there is a drastic decline in the no of bees in

Wayanad due to excess usage of pesticides and insecticides. Re-colonization

of bees in an apiary must be a considered as well. The tribes’ people

generally get around Rs. 10 per kg of coffee bean green seeds.

Their major source of food are tubers. Four types of tubers are grown in the

village (Nattu, Chenda, Krachil, and Chena).

The trees are not allowed to be cut down as per government instructions, but

the tribe people cut the branches to use as firewood. There was an

abundance of trees available at circa 1970’s, but there has been increasing

afforestation prevalent after then, which forced the government to stop the

cutting of trees.

The tribes are given a ration card, which they utilize to purchase 9 kgs of

rice (sorra) from the ration shop.

Among three colonies Kattupara nayakar colony gets more subsidies from

the government since they are becoming an extinct tribe.

The middle men play a huge role between the coffee producers and the

wholesale buyers, where these middle men sell it at a very high cost whereas

what they are purchasing for and paying the producer of coffee beans is bare

minimum. The tribes are ignorant towards this due to illiteracy and very less

interest to earn and save

Cattle rearing and setting up of self-help groups and educating them on how

to make handicrafts with the raw materials available there can be a great

alternative and a huge way to kick start their interest to earn

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Problems:

Constraints in consumption of firewood.

There is no place on or anywhere near the hill for Amrita to stay there and

take care of the happenings in the village.

The tribes do not have any permanent job and hence they are jobless during

some days.

Neglecting awareness on tobacco and alcohol consumption.

The kids do not use the crèche available on the hill efficiently in spite of the

tremendous effort by the coordinator Mr. Hari and his wife.

Motivation to EARN & SAVE is negative.

Marketing, finding an area to grow lemon grass is an issue.

Figure 2: Tuition centre in the village for tribal children

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Resources:

Geographic condition of Kerala gives huge rainfall, so water table is very

high.

Lemon grass grows naturally.

Availability of abundant labor (Tribes).

Possibility of milk cooperative close by (can produce up to 100 liters/day).

Government support is given through lands and houses.

Vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkins are available naturally.

Presence of electricity installed by Amrita.

Mr. Hari, The Ex- Post master of the village who quit his job and is taking

care of the tribes along with his wife. He is the one person who is

determined to do anything and everything for the tribes. He has a daughter

who is in a boarding school but is taking care of all the tribal children as his

own kids. He always kept giving us great deal of information and inputs

about the current scenario and how to develop their quality of living,

without disrupting their culture.

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Figure 3: Distillation unit for Lemon grass oil

Suggestions:

Briquettes is an alternate to firewood. Briquettes are

agricultural waste that has no commercial value.

Lemon grass can be used in food.

Can give cows to certain tribe to build their

economy.

Lemongrass oil is used as a room refreshers all over

the world.

Lemongrass can be grinded and packed in Ziplocs

and frozen. It can be used for cooking and

cannot be degraded since it is frozen.

Lemon grass is terrific way to get rid of the ‘fishy’ taste and smell that some

people find objectionable. Tie several blades together with some cooking

twine.

Amrita hub can be constructed in the village for following

i) Self-help groups can have a place to meet all tribes.

ii) Track children who are going to school.

iii) Ensure cows are being taking care and tribes are building their economy.

iv) Distilled lemon grass oil can be stored, packed and marketed.

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Lemon grass oil distillation Cochin:-

Extracting oil from bottom of drum

Lemon grass available in the hill top

Lemon grass harvesting

Dumping lemon grass in to the drum

Lemon grass distillation unit

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Lemon grass oil distillation in the village:-

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In the village a private distillation unit being constructed is shown in the

above picture. They are following the same construction unit as followed at

Cochin. It involves two drums connected by an airtight pipe. One drum is used to

dump the lemon grass with water and firewood is placed at the bottom. When

firewood burns lemon grass vapour moves to another drum used to condense the

vapour to oil. Then oil is extracted from the bottom of drum.

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Here the major problem is firewood availability, since it is expensive and

government has banned to cut firewood from forest. Therefore, solutions are

required to tackle this problem. Our coordinator suggested a solution of providing

cattle for some tribal people to give them job, so that their economy would build.

There can also be a hub constructed, exclusively for Amrita at the foothill or on the

hill to facilitate the commutation issue which is a hindrance to take care of the

tribes at the village and to serve them more efficiently.

Social Cost Benefit Analysis:

Analyzing the tribal village and the scenario at Valaramkunnu, it was very easy for

the team to get influenced on an emotional level at the plight of the under

privileged over there. It was far removed from what any one of us had experienced

in our lives. We went about carrying out a social cost benefit analysis, very

objectively to understand the implications of our suggestions and its

merits/demerits. Also, a Social Cost Benefit Analysis helps in bringing out the

hidden costs and externalities that influence any decision that a private player or

Amrita might make at the location.

Costs:

Costs can be both implicit and explicit (monetary terms). Implicit costs for any

intervention can be time and opportunity cost. Social Cost is Implicit Cost plus

explicit cost minus externalities.

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Explicit Costs -

1. Cost of having and maintaining an Amrita Hub: The Cost of Land at the

location is Rs. 15 L/acre. This rate was as low as Rs. 4 L/acre about 5 years

ago, but there has been a real estate price shoot due to the influence of

politicians and land mafia in the region of late. Expenditure on building a

structure for the Hub (extending the present tuition center) is judged to be

between Rs. 2Lacs to Rs. 8 Lacs based on the rates observed online at

Mananthavady.

2. Cost of Cattle: The Cost of a single cow ranges between Rs. 25000 to

greater than Rs. 1 Lac. The breed of the cow and its milk giving capacity all

matter here. On average Indian Cows of Rs. 25000 give about 2-4 L of milk

per day.

3. Cost of Self Help Groups: The cost of SHG’s are Nil and their success

depend on the successful establishment and running of the Amrita Hub.

They provide a means for woman empowerment (positive externality).

4. Cost of Tailoring: A tailoring machine (second hand) can be bought for Rs.

1500 – Rs 2000. A new simple machine costs Rs. 3500 approx. Handicraft

production by woman can be encouraged this way.

5. Cost of Briquettes: Briquettes as alternatives to firewood are very

promising and are in use in Africa (in Congo). Briquettes can be saw dust,

coffee husk, rice husk, palm tree leaves (dried) etc. The team needs to

further pursue this method to identify the costs here.

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The Social Benefits of our suggestions are:

1. Better standard of living to the people of the tribe through cattle, SHG’s etc.

2. Helping the tribal to start dreaming about the next day, the next month, next

year etc. For the children to begin hoping again.

3. Stopping burning of Firewood thereby reducing pollution

4. Lime Grass and Lime Grass Oil have numerous benefits. They are used as a

room fresher, massage oil, bath oil, for digestion, mosquito repellant among

many others. Also, they are completely natural like eucalyptus.

5. Usage of Briquettes makes the model sustainable by converting

conventionally thought of wastes such as saw dust and rice husk into inputs

in out process.

6. Cattle Production. Converting tribal into villagers first.

7. Intervention of Amrita can aid in increased Religious inclination of the

tribal, a great sign.

8. Self Help Groups promote woman empowerment.

9. Handicraft products a source of income for the households.

10. A hub ensures timely tracking, attention and support to the colonies which is

of great importance.

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Marketing Mix:

The marketing mix is a business tool used in

marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining

a product or brand's offer, and is often associated with the four P's: price, product,

promotion, and place

Figure 4: Marketing Mix

PRODUCT PRICE

PROMOTION PLACE

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Product Strategy:

Lemon Grass oil: Lemongrass oil is extracted from Lemon grass. It is used

as a product in Market mix. It is used in Ayurveda medicine and for some

aromatic products such as room freshener.

Specialty premium product: Lemongrass oil has its

premium quality depends upon the concentration.

When the concentration is very high it is sold at high

price.

High Quality distillation in the past

Translucent bottles of 10 and 30ml: Translucent

bottles are used to show the customer about quality of

oil inside.

Lemon grass extract in sachets: Lemon grass can be used in sachets and cn

be used for medical purpose. It is highly useful for digestion.

Branding, Packaging and Labelling with Amrita brand: Lemon grass oil

can be packed in bottle with Amrita brand.

Price Strategy:

Present market price analysis on average Rs 300-400 for 10ml.

Previous selling price 15 years ago was Rs 1600/liter or Rs16 for 10ml.

Value based pricing is proposed.

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Place Strategy:

Amrita online stores is the best E-commerce website used to market Lemon

grass oil and Lemongrass sachets

It can be sold at Amrita ashram at different location around India and world

Additionally, it can be sold through E-commerce website like Flip kart,

Amazon

Convenience stores and supermarkets are also used to market Lemon grass

oil

In recent times Organic products are getting booming everywhere. Organic

India, fabIndia are one among the online website used to sell organic

products. Lemon grass oil can be marketed by making contract with these

websites.

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Promotion Strategy:

Lemon grass oil can be promoted by creating Advertisements and telecasted

in Amrita TV.

Sold as a bundle product or add on or profit sharing basis with Organic

India, fab India and other similar vendors

Social Network Marketing is used for creating awareness among the people

and the main intention is to promote it

Thanks:

We would like to thank Deepak Sir and Hema Ma’am for their knowledge transfer,

support and care during the LILA journey which made our journey good and very

safe. Also would like to mention the immense care shown to us by our house

owners where we stayed (Mr. Karunakaran Sir and Mrs. Ranjini). Finally, I would

like to thank our coordinator Hari and our beloved Amma for giving us this

opportunity.

Regards

Wayanad Team