Incense industry empowering tribal women, protecting forest cover in Tripura

Mendi Agarbati Centre, at Salema in remote Dhalai district of Tripura, is an all women run unit that aims at utilising the bamboo resources of the state for economic growth.

The centre that started with the funding of the Indo-German Development Co-operation Project (IGDC), besides employment generation and livelihood creation, also plays a pivotal role in environmental protection.
 
It also provides a “cash economic framework” particularly for the rural women who do not have much employment scope in their remote villages.
 
Most of the women engaged in the centre are from economically backward families, who do jhum cultivation and collect firewood from the jungle, posing direct threat of deforestation.
 
The centre was started only a year back, with technical support from Tripura Bamboo Mission (TBM), adopting a community-based industrial approach that is market driven.
 
In Tripura, there is a very high acceptance of the use of bamboo and as a result, the people of the state are naturally skilled at bamboo crafts.
 

Keeping this in mind and with the primary goals to create new employment to secure adequate income for the rural poor women through sustainable bamboo-based livelihoods, the centre started training women in incense stick making and rolling of incense sticks.

“We have chosen agartbati making for the tribal women as bamboo is readily available here, they are already familiar with the trade and more importantly they can be engaged with this staying in their hoses. We developed their skill in making of bamboo sticks, rolling of incense stick and utilizing of machines which we have provided them," said Dr AK Gupta, CEO and Project Director, IGDC.

"Now this has increased their household economy by several folds and they have enough time to up bring their children in proper manner. This in the long term has also saved the ecology as the new trade has diverted them from jhum cultivation and collection of firewood from the forest.”

In a very short time, more than 60 women in three groups took the training.

Though initially they were trained in hand rolling of incense stick but later with installation of machines they shifted to mechanical production.

The main advantage of the centre is that women after completion of their household chores are working here and making an extra income.

Following the success of the training programme, the centre imported some 30 automatic incense stick making machines along with other required machines for cutting and slicing of bamboo to make the sticks and mixing of raw materials for incense.

The centre’s initiative of introducing incense production as a livelihood option has in fact shown the rural women a pathway out of poverty as they got an employment during their leisure time after completion of their household chores.

Today on an average 20 women are regularly working at the centre.

They work here for around three hours daily at their convenience between 11am to 4am and can earn around Rs 1000 to Rs 1200 per month.

They do not have any investment here as everything from sticks, raw materials and machinery is provided by IGDC.

These women are also encouraged to make self help group (SHG) and set up small enterprises of their own and to start saving money in bank accounts.

Chitra Debbarma, a jhum farmer turned incense worker said, “Here we work in a group of around 24 women. We took one month training from IGDC on incense stick production and now we are earning, which we save in our bank accounts.”

Similar was the view of another tribal woman Mamata Debbarma who said: “We have made economic progress by working in this centre and we are now also able to save money. Now I have around Rs 2000 in my bank account. We are around 20 women in our team and are engaged in incense stick production.”

Beside contributing to empowerment of rural women by utilizing locally available raw materials, the centre has also played a major role in afforestation.

With the new employment scope provided now, these women are no longer engaged in devastating jhuming and in collecting firewood from the forest.