Dairy is a very important source of livelihood for farmers. Rajasthan contributes over 10% to the country’s milk production. There are a lot of pre-production, production, and post-production challenges that farmers face. The milk is tested and weighed at the village milk collection center and then transported to bulk chilling units which are owned by women's producer companies.
Earlier women were selling raw chilled milk but in recent times, things have evolved and these women are now processing the milk into several value-added products such as milk, paneer, butter, ghee, and khoya under the brand “Katori” which is helping farmers to access better prices and effectively engage with the market.
We build the capacities of farmers on rearing and management practices which include shelter management, balanced cattle feeding, deworming, vaccination, and clean milk production. The program aims to reduce the mortality and morbidity of animals and improve the quality of milk produced. We offer regular veterinary services which include vaccination, treatment camps, fertility camps, etc to improve the overall health of cattle. At the grass-roots level, our livestock cadres are helping farmers to access relevant information and services. We orient farmers on various dairy development initiatives like testing of milk fat, SNF, and quality aspects. We also work closely with local livestock departments to facilitate service delivery and access to government schemes and services.
Dairy is an important part of the Indian diet, consumed in some form by most households every day. In this context, we have trained and facilitated women farmers to develop their range of dairy products like butter, ghee, and paneer. The initiative is run exclusively by a women producer company that sources milk from producer companies at the village level. This milk is brought to our dairy chilling plants, where women members convert it into various products under the technical guidance of our experts.
Market access is being created under the brand“Katori” which is targeting the niche segment of the National Capital Region and local markets as well. Katori is guiding women farmers on packaging, branding, and marketing so that these products are made to appeal to the urban high-end consumer market. The whole process is helping thousands of women farmers to earn a stable and sustainable income. To top it all, the entire program is owned, managed, and supervised by women themselves.
Our Testimonials
'Manjari’ literally translates to “seed of Tulsi”, a sacred Indian plant. When women mobilise themselves to form institutions, they are empowered to sow their own ‘seeds of change’.
"Development of Corporate Citizenship (DoCC), the social internship program of SPJIMR has been collaborating with Manjari Foundation since 2015. This has been fruitful relationship for us. I want to emphasise the four following themes. First the internships give our students a different idea of leadership which also gives them a sense of requirements for the future and adds to the ethics of sociological content. The participants acquire a notion of innovation- both social and technical which gives them a systemic view of the society. Such an empirical location gives them both a sense of limits and possibilities of what they can do. Environmental consciousness and gender sensitivity constitute two critical parts of social responsibility as we define it today. The participants of the internship understand what these key concepts mean in everyday sense. Internship at Manjari adds to their imagination in this direction. We value this relationship."
"Our collaboration with Manjari has allowed us to better understand the approach of solidarity groups and concretely towards the empowerment of women in the commune of Logo.The participation of Indian PRCs has been beneficial because the women have appropriated easily by seeing that they are rural women Indian women who share their experiences with them. The Camide team was formed by the professionals of Manjari with enthusiasm and professionalism and is able to reproduce most of the activities. This period of collaboration opens up prospects for our two structures to replicate the model in Mali and Africa. We again thank Manjari for all the efforts made for Camide and particularly the Director Sanjay Kumar. We were able to reach more than 2,500 women and more than 180 million CFA francs of credit granted four test henhouses substantial support for the winter and market gardening campaign in terms of results thank you."
"Without larger vision and dedication of the team of MF and its leadership, both vertical and horizontal growth would have never been possible to pick up at this level in this short history of its evolution. Since I have been associated with the Sakhi project of MF funded by Hindustan Zinc for the last 2 years, the happiness and confidence seen in their faces of hundreds of women in the villages proves its vitality. I have also witnessed the UN-women funded second chance education project (SCE) being implemented in 3 districts under the guidance of PRADAN is a much worthy to reach out to those young women in the age group of 16-35 who have been deprived in their childhood with the education, skills and employment are now happily enrolled and trained to overcome these deprivations with much positive outcome. While writing all these statements, I recall each visit to the project area to witness the change processes that were taking place within those women who had never dreamed of being so empowered and self-reliant so soon in their lifetimes."
"Manjari Foundation is IPE Global’s implementation partner in Dholpur, Rajasthan under the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), UK supported Project Udaan that aims at reducing teenage pregnancies. They have been instrumental in successfully piloting interventions for improving the knowledge of adolescents around sexual and reproductive health (SRH) in Bari block of Dholpur. Their efforts in organizing a team to take up the issue of adolescent SRH and facilitating its implementation with great sensitivity across the block has not only been recognized by the district administration, but has also paved way for attempting a scale-up across the district. Their coordination with the community-level institutions, local government bodies and the target group has been noteworthy and exemplary. "