The story of a mini-rural entrepreneur Laxmiben

The story of how a company has turned neem fruit sourcing for coating of urea into a women-centered social enterprise

Unloaded fresh neem fruits at the Dehgam APMC market yard in Gujarat. (Source: Bhupendra Rana)

“Hu chu (I am) community resource person” is how Laxmiben Ajitsinh Dabhi introduces herself as she stands next to a heap of nimboli (neem fruit) unloaded from a five-tonne Eicher truck at the Kapadwanj APMC (agricultural produce market committee) yard in Gujarat’s Kheda district. This 48-year-old Class VIII pass and mother of three from Chhipiyal village in Kheda’s Kathlal taluka has no land. Her primary income is from three buffaloes — only one of which gives 5-10 litres milk daily at any given point — and a sewing machine that brings in about Rs 100 daily. But with nimboli, Laxmiben has turned into a mini-rural entrepreneur — “community resource person”, in her words.

Laxmiben aggregates the nimboli that women in her village collect from neem trees, which flower towards April-end and start bearing fruits around mid-May. The shedding of the ripened fruits happens through June until mid-July, when the monsoon rains wash these away and also makes collection difficult. For the women, though, nimboli is a most useful supplementary source of income during this roughly 45-day period, just before kharif agricultural operations get underway. There are about a 100 women in Chhipiyal supplying nimboli to a village-level collection centre (VLCC). Laxmiben is the one who aggregates and organises the transport of their produce to the Kapadwanj APMC.