Raipur: Lured by the rich forest cover and produce in Chhattisgarh, a 22-year-old girl ventured into export of forest-based products and has tried to organised famers in a bid to benefit them with additional income. Shubhika Jain is making handmade papers from banana stem fibre and aromatic oils from local herbs. She buys banana stem which normally goes as waste after banana harvesting.
Talking to TOI, Shubhika said, "Though Chhattisgarh is rich in green belt, still for my products like essential oils, which are extremely concentrated requires abundant quantity of specific herbs to meet the high production. So, besides growing aromatic herbs in thirty acres of on our land, I also procure herbs from 6,000 farmers based in Bastar region. These farmers get a substantial share of profit from selling oil and guaranteed buy back amount of per kg of the bio-mass." Its been one and half year since Shubhika has started her export business and it is in its initial phases. I had exported handmade paper to Dubai, Pakistan, Singapore, while sent samples for further order to buyers based in London and Russia. So far, essential oils are sold in markets of Germany and USA, Shubhika said.
Shubhikas family business is in research and development of bio-technology and has a buy back policy in tissue culture raised banana plants and they procure banana fibre for handmade paper. Hence by selling back the fibre, the farmers earn up to Rs 16,000 from each acres. She believes in team work and the success and scope of her work depends on success of farmers so to motivate farmers, buying back policy for fibre adds additional income in farmers books. While four machines, which crush the fibre to obtain the smooth part for making handmade papers are installed in villages of Kawardha and Bemetara districts and here farmers are informed to get benefit of making extra income by selling the banana fibre to them.
Despite the low demand of handmade paper in domestic markets of Chhattisgarh, the product is being sold in markets of Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. To scale up demand locally Shubhika said, "Handmade papers are eco-friendly and this is one of the major reason I liked working for this product and to make it popular in residents taste I had developed the innovative variations of handmade papers made of cotton rags, silk, jute and leather. Hope people will adapt it use by trying it for once, Shubhika crosses her fingers and smiles."
Source :timesofindia.indiatimes.com
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