Jivi Baibelongs to Garasia tribal family and is a resident of Suran village of Gogunda region with 5 members in her family. A resource person from Gramshree came to her village and added her to the producer group. The name of her Producer group is Sahyog Women's Producer Group in which there are 12 members in total and all of them meet twice a month. Theymake savings in the producer groupandlend money from the savings to its members for any household expenditure, agriculture studying or any other requirement.
Before Gramshree Intervention, villagers used to sell the custard apple fruit to the middlemen who used to pay them Rs 100 to Rs 150 per carat (One carat comprise of 22 Kgs of the fruit). With formation of Producer Group in the village,the women decided to sell the Custard Apples through their own Producer Group. With support from Gramshree, a fruit collection center was established in Suran. Gramshree provided training on grading and timing of harvesting of fruit to fetch higher price for the fruit. They learned that big Custard Applesweigh 250 grams to 400 grams, fetch price of Rs 15 per Kg. They got Rs 300 to Rs 350 per carat by selling the fruits to Van Dhan Shakti Mahila Producer Company.
Producer Company has set up a Fruit Processing unit to extract the pulp of custard apple in Jaswantgarh and Mokela.The villagers collect the fruits together at the village center everyday and apickup vehicle picks the fruits from Suran village to takethem to Jaswantgarh and Mokela processing centers.
Jivi Bai's daughter-in-law named Doli Bai earned Rs 12000 by selling custard apples in the season in 2 months. They also received training from Gramshree under Swalamban Challenge Fund on various aspects of custard apple processing. She earned Rs 8000 by working in the processing unit as well. The family earned a total of Rs 20,000 through custard apple intervention in their area.
Earlier Jivi Bai's husband Mana Ram used to work in stone carving in Chittorgarh. He has stopped stone carving work for the last 2 years and helps her in farming.When his health deteriorated, out of the money she earned, Rs 6000 was spent to cure him. Along with this, she spent some money in farming through which she is earning by planting and selling vegetables from her small field.
Gramshree showed her the way which helped her and her family to move forward and she learnt a lot by joining Van Dhan Shakti Mahila Producer Company. Earlier, she did not even go out of her house. Now, she also got a chance to meet the collector to invite him for the inauguration of processing units. She feels incredibly happy and will continue to be associated with the organization.