Name: 

  Maya Mirdha                           

                

Location: Phuljhari, Anagapada, district of Anugul

Past activity: House wife                           
Present activity: Entrepreneur                                
Name of the business unit: parched rice enterprise
Previous Income: Nil
Present Income: Rs 2500 per month

Maya Mirdha is 40 years old woman. She is staying with her husband Indra Mirdha and her 4
children at Phuljhari, Anangapara district of Anugul. She is a good entrepreneur of her village.
Now her financial condition is good.  She is a credible woman in her SHG and village. Today
she is aware of importance of water, health, child education etc.  She was a house wife. She did
not know about micro finance loan and SHG. With the intervention of BISWA she became
aware about micro finance loan.  Two years back 15 women were united in the form of Self Help
Group with the help of BISWA. Today they clearly say that it is only BISWA who made us
aware about the value of saving small money. I did not realize that small money which I save can
make difference in our lives. SHG not only helped them as a tool for saving but it has opened
doors towards their own development. She took loan amount Rs.30, 000 from BISWA through
her SHG for livelihood promotion. And BISWA provided her training about the small business
Rice processing. This money helped a lot in order to improve their business conditions. She was
invested money in the rice production and in purchase of machinery. When it was asked that why
she don’t take loans from other sources the women clearly said that loans are not available from
other sources at the time of exigencies or if available then it is at a very high interest rate. She is
very relaxed to have a support system in the form of SHG which can provide money when and
where required.

Parched Rice Production Enterprise

As the farmer community doesn’t have land for agriculture purpose they are required to buy
paddy, fuel etc from other cultivators with in or from nearby villages.  This increases the input
cost of rice production. Small children unload the material from trolley. Girls and women do
weaning, boiling and drying. Male members do roasting and packing etc. All in all every
member of the family is involved in the process so it is a labour intensive enterprise which
provides money only after hardships. It is
really a hot money.

Production
Parched rice is prepared through a long-lasting process of 3 to 4 days depending upon the variety
of the paddy crop and weather conditions. For production of one quintal of parched rice it
requires 2 quintals of raw paddy. Raw paddy is first weaned manually and then it is boiled in the
earthen pots for few hours. The boiled paddy is now cooled by putting it in the cold water tanks
for 3 to 4hours. Once the paddy is cool down it is dried for 2 to 3 days in the bright sunlight. And
finally it is ready for putting it in the roaster for parched rice. Besides rice two by products husk
and poultry feed are obtained in 3:1 ratio. The enterprise provides profit of Rs.2280/- per month
with expenses of Rs.4240/- and income Rs.12, 425/-with an initial investment of Rs.30, 000/- 

Labour Requirement
From Labour point of view the production process involves 4 to 5 people in order to produce 1
quintal of parched rice. The laborers work in two phases in the whole week for rice production.
In the first 3days they procure all the raw material and in the next 3 days they do only roasting
and last day are left for marketing of the produce. The whole process is so tedious and health
hazardous to the people involved in making finished rice. It is very difficult to breath at the
places where roasting took place.
This shows the extreme drudgery
and hard work. 

Marketing of the Produce                                                                     

Easy availability of the market is one of the major pillars of a successful enterprise. The market
where the parched rice producers sell their products is available with in the territory of 3-4 Km
on Athamalik. She disposes their produce in the Athamalik on Haat and got good prices from the
buyers. In the whole process of marketing we cannot see the middleman and that’s why they got
the right price for their produce. She earned more profit from retailing because the produce is
sold at higher cost. But she prefers to dispose the rice in the whole sale market because it gives
them regular and large amount of money. According to the producers, there is one more
advantage of whole sale marketing i.e. she built a relationship with the buyer through regular
business which helps when there is immediate need of money.

Impact 
The micro enterprise approach of BISWA helped these small producers to regularize the
production process and so as to the enterprise. According to Maya “I have invested the money
which I took from BISWA into rice and now the profit from rice sale helps me to give some
money to my son in order to open a new shop.

The Journey has begun 

With the assistance of BISWA’ Laxmipriya Enterprise the villagers are able to expand their
business and at the same time through SHG the women are making their family life better. She is
aware about of importance of education, good health and sanitation. BISWA has given few
inputs on technical aspects of rice production but as the production process is very much tedious,
difficult and hazardous and at the same time they face a lot of difficulties, still there is a scope to
evolve better and safe techniques to produce parched rice so that producers could produce more
rice with less harm.