With two successive Onams disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic behind it, the Kudumbashree mission is looking forward to a promising festive season this year.
The poverty eradication mission hopes to double its sales turnover from the annual Onam fairs in order to recover lost ground and provide a further boost to its microenterprises, which have largely pulled through two years of uncertainty.
The Onam fairs will concentrate on community development society (CDS)-level fairs this year. In all, 1,070 CDS-level fairs will be held in panchayats and 14 fairs at the district level in the days leading up to Onam.
The fairs usually see participation from Kudumbashree entrepreneurs and joint liability groups that are involved in farming. This Onam, directions have been given to Kudumbashree district missions to ensure that all Kudumbashree enterprises and livelihood groups become part of the CDS-level fairs.
Besides agro food products made by Kudumbashree enterprises and neighbourhood group members, products made by different types of enterprises and various services will be exhibited at the Onam fairs. Instructions have been passed on to include at least one product from each neighbourhood group in the CDS-level fairs.
Pesticide-free agriculture produce grown by the joint liability groups will also be available at each CDS-level fair, to be held for three to five days. Stall or counters for Santhwanam medical checks-up teams, Harsham volunteers for elderly care, Haritha Karma Sena or Karshika Karma Sena too can be up at the fairs.
The Onam fairs will kick off by September 1 and be held in a staggered manner. The Kudumbashree State mission has allocated ₹12,000 to all rural CDS, ₹15,000 to urban CDSs, and ₹1 lakh to the district missions for setting up basic infrastructure for the fairs such as pandals and putting up flex boards.
The Kudumbashree is also taking part in Supplyco fairs in various districts. Orders for producing banana chips and ‘sarkaravaratty’ for inclusion in the Onam kits of Supplyco will provide a further fillip to its microenterprise units. Total order for chips to the tune of 55.63 lakh have been received. As many as 334 units will register sales of ₹16.82 crore from the banana chips produced.
In 2021, the Kudumbashree had registered a sales turnover of ₹9.64 crore through 925 fairs conducted across the State.
