Paddy farming groups under the district Kudumbashree Mission have formed a collective to process and market their own brand of rice — Gramasree.

The product will be sold through Kudumbashree stalls and trade fairs in the initial phase. Paddy for the project will be sourced from the Kudumbashree farming collective in Vechur grama panchayat. Processed in the traditional way and de-husked at village mills, the rice will be packaged in bags made by a unit under the mission.

Anoop Chandran, district programme manager of Kudumbashree, said there had been a lot of hard work behind the initiative. “Since we are fully in control of every step of the process, establishing a brand seemed a logical and practical step,” he said.

Mini mills

Plans are afoot to establish mini-rice mills at different locations adjacent to paddy fields to augment production. “We are expanding the initiative to all local bodies in the districts in a phased manner so as to ensure adequate supply of the paddy variety.

Accordingly, the Kallara grama panchayat will be the next to join the project followed by Thalayazham,” said Mr. Anoop Chandran.

As per the plan, the mission will procure a minimum of 100 quintals of paddy from its collectives from each of these panchayats. Kudumbashree officials expect that the entrepreneurial spirit shown by these women farmers would ensure them a stable income, besides reviving agriculture in the region.

As per estimates, 638 paddy farming groups, each comprising an average of five members, are functioning under the district Kudmbashree Mission.

Vaikom MLA C.K. Asha made the official launch of the product recently. M. Binoy Kumar, Joint Registrar of the Cooperative Department, and P.N. Suresh, district mission coordinator, were present.