( NRRMS )
Hill Brooms and Maize
Hill Brooms and Maize Value Chain Development
Broom grass farming:
Broom grass is a perennial, high value, non-perishable, nontimber forest product (NTFP) that grows abundantly in degraded, steep or marginal land. The panicles of this multipurpose crop are widely used for making brooms. Broom grass has an important ecological and economical role for hillside dwellers. It’s non-perishable nature makes broom grass a suitable cash crop establishing high market demands.
Maize Cultivation:
Maize popularly known as ‘Corn’ is the most versatile emerging cash crop having wider adaptability under varied climatic conditions. Corn which is also termed as ‘Queen of cereals’ grows throughout the year and is of high nutritious value . Maize or corn serves as basic raw material for thousands of industrial products that may include starch, alcohol beverages, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, package and paper industries etc. In North East, a sufficient quantity of Maize is produced developing a considerable market demand.
Promoting Cultivation of Hill broom and Maize as a sustainable livelihood option:
Hill broom which grows abundantly in the hilly regions of North East can be promoted into sustainable livelihood option of the SHG members as it involves very low investments and has high tolerance to harsh environment conditions such as shallow soil, drought and heavy rainfall minimizing risk involved in this cultivation . The SHG members can yield good income with this cultivation and thereby enhance additional household income.
Keeping all the wonderful aspects of Hill broom and Maize cultivation NRRMS has initiated steps to enhance the household income of SHG Members through collective collection & cultivation, aggregation, primary processing and collective marketing of Hill Brooms and Maize through establishment of community institutions like Producer’s Group. The major objectives of the project will be as follows
- Promotion of Producer Groups and Producers Company.
- Development of business plan and market linkage
- Capacity building of the Mission Staff and Producers Group and Community level.
Approach to intervention:
The value chain intervention proposed for hill-broom would focus on addressing the critical gaps identified in harvest and primary processing practices of the community through Focus Group Discussions (FGDs).
