Garasia women in Rajasthan launch all- season jamun shot

Jaipur: Even as Rajasthan’s BJP government promotes its newly floated Lakhpati Didi Scheme to boost rural women entrepreneurs, a group of tribal women have been literally calling the shots with their new product, Jamun shots, launched last month in the remote and backward district of Sirohi.

A group of 300 women, affiliated with the self-help group (SHG) Ghummar Mahila Samiti in Bali block in tribal-dominated Pali and Sirohi districts, have been working on the project for the past two months: collecting, preserving and bringing out their new product; a healthy drink that of Jamun (blackberry) shots. They are selling it through their first outlet in Pindwara and have plans to open more such outlets in and around the area.

“These women are illiterate, hail from the Garasia tribe and have been working as agricultural labourers till now. They joined the SHG and were trained by NABARD in identifying the right variety of jamun, collecting them, extracting the seeds, making pulp preserving and packaging the frozen pulp. We already have the machinery, so we did not have to invest in it. They now earn in the range of Rs 5000 to Rs 9000 monthly depending on the kind of work they do,” says says Sadaam Husain Chisti, an advisory board member, Ghummar Mahila Producer Company Limited (GMPCL), which is a large federation of SHGs, purely run by women.

The newly opened outlet, which sells Jamun shots, has become popular with people from around the area, wanting to partake the healthy juice. “We have started earning around Rs 50,000 a month since we opened it last month. Last year we processed three metric tonnes of frozen jamun pulp. Other than the healthy shot, we market frozen pulp packet, loose jamun shots. We have plans to market jamun shots in bottles and jamun seeds,” says Sumi Bai, director, GMPCL.

Sumi Bai adds that the project has helped many women to add to their family income. “Around 5000 tribal women are already working in our custard apple project. But there were many others who did not have any means to earn money. We then tried to identify and involve around 300 of them in this jamun project.”

Of the 5000 women who work under the Custard apple project of GMPCL, 13 women become members of the Executive Board on a rotational basis. The Company Board has nine women members and these 22 women oversee the entire operations, including the quality of the pulp. This way many women get a chance at leadership. “We have become financially independent and feel good about it,” says Batu Bai, another worker in the project.

Jamun, being rich in Vitamin C and iron, helps to increase haemoglobin. Being rich in antioxidants and Vitamin A, it also prevents premature ageing and degenerative eye conditions. Rich in fibre, it keeps one full for a longer period, aiding in weight loss.

This small group of 300 women now has a target of producing five metric tonnes of jamun pulp next year. The average price of one kg of frozen pulp ranges from Rs 200 to Rs 250. “We are expecting a revenue of Rs 30 lakh from selling all our jamun products from all outlets we are about to open in the Abu Road and Mount Abu area. Now savour jamun shots in every season,” says Sumi Bai, who oversees the jamun project.