TraditionalRuralIndustryinIndia

AfewtraditionalunorganizedsectorsinruralIndiaarepoisedforlargescaleinterventions to make them significant contributors to the overall rural economy. Gyan Research and Analyticstakesalookatsomeoftheseemergingmarketsthatcouldbethenextstopforthe bigplayers. a.Pisciculture Indiaisalargeproducerofinlandfish,rankingnextonlytoJapan.InIndia,outofthetotal inlandfishproductionofover3.6millionmetrictons,morethan60%iscontributedbyfish culture in ponds and reservoirs. The average national productivity from ponds is around 2,500 kg/ha/year. In some states like Andhra Pradesh and Haryana it is more than 5,000 kg/ha/year,whileinsomeotherstateslikeBiharandUPitisanywherebetween1,500and 2,500kg/ha/year.Comparedtointernationalstatistics,productivityisonthelowerscale. Fishcultureispracticedbyallkindsoffarmerssmallandmarginalones,relativelylarger farmers and those who do it on commercial scale. Sizes of ponds also depend on how affluent the farmers are. Ponds less than 100 square meters in area prove unsustainable, whilethoseabove1hectareareexpensiveforsmallplayers.ManyfarmersinTamilNadu, forinstance,usepondsofsizes30feetby30feettomaketheirliving.Ontheotherhand,a waterspreadofanythinglessthan10hectaresinAndhraPradeshistreatedasapond. Fishcultureispracticedinlessthan30%ofthetotalareasavailable.Thisleavespotentialfor hugeopportunities,providedfishcultivationiscarriedoutonascientificbasis.Despitean abundance of freshwater resources, India has not been able to tap even 30% of the potential area for inland fish production. Many entrepreneurs have, however, chosen to take up this occupation on a commercial scale. This phenomenon is best manifested in Andhra Pradesh, which with 10,56,000 tons of inland fish production ranked next only to WestBengal,whichisfarmoreendowedwithwaterresources. AndhraPradeshhasbeen encouragingfarmerstoformcooperativestotakeupfarminginpondsaroundKolleruLake. b.Poultry PoultryhasacrucialplaceinIndiaaseggsandchickenmeatareimportantandrichsources ofprotein,vitaminsandminerals.Moreover,itprovidesemployment/livelihoodtomarginal farmers. The annual growth rate of the egg and broiler industries stand at 810% and 12 15%, respectively. India is the worlds fifth largest egg producing country with an annual productionof33billioneggs.Italsoproduces530millionbroilersperyear.Poultryprovides employmenttoabout1.5millionpeople. However, the annual per capita consumption in India is only 33 eggs and 630 grams of poultrymeat,whichismuchlowerascomparedtotheworldaverageof124eggsand5.9kg
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meat.TheNationalCommitteeonHumanNutritioninIndiahasrecommendedapercapita consumptionof180 eggs(aboutoneeggeverytwodays)and10.8 kgmeat.To meetthis target,itisestimatedthatbyyear2010,therequirementswillclimbto180billioneggsand 9.1 billion kg of poultry meat, while the estimated production may only be around 46.2 billioneggsand3.04billionkgpoultrymeat. c.Sericulture InIndia,sericultureisessentiallyavillagebasedindustryprovidingemploymenttoasizable section of the population. Although sericulture is currently a subsidiary occupation, technologicalinnovationhasmadeitpossibletotakeituponanintensivescalecapableof generatingadequateincome.Itisalsocapableofprovidingcontinuousincometofarmers. Indiaisthesecondlargestproducerofsilkintheworldwithanannualproductionofaround 19,000 metric tons. All the known varieties of silk, viz. Mulberry, Eri, Muga and Tasar are producedinIndia.Mulberrysilkisthemostpopularvariety,contributingmorethan87%of the countrys silk production. Majority of the silk produced in India is consumed for producing saris mainly on handlooms. Silk and silk goods are very good foreign exchange earners. Therefore, the export potential of this sector is promising as silk production in Japan is declining and in China, the largest silk producer in the World, it is stagnant or declining. Because of the prevalence of favorable climatic conditions, in India, mulberry is cultivatedmainlyinthefivestatesofKarnataka,AndhraPradesh,TamilNadu,WestBengal andJammu&Kashmir.Thesefivestatescollectivelyaccountfor97%ofthetotalareaunder mulberry cultivation and 95% of raw silk production in the country. With growing realization, sericulture is gaining ground in nontraditional areas too. Most of the silk produced in the country is from multi xbi hybrids which is inferior in quality and cannot meet international standards as well as the domestic needs of the power loom sector. Bivoltine silk excels in quality and is mostly produced in countries that have temperate climate.Hencepowerloomweaverspreferimportedsuperiorqualitysilk. The present global scenario clearly indicates enormous opportunities for the Indian Silk Industry. The need of the hour is to produce more bivoltine silk with reduced cost of productiontomeetthegrowingdemandsofqualitysilk.Realizingthis,theGovt.ofIndiais campaigning to boost bivoltine production in the country with the technical support from theJapanInternationalCooperationAgency. d.Handlooms Globally, the current handloom capacity is about 4.60 million tons, out of which 85% is installed in India. Indias handwoven sector, with 3.89 million tons, employs 6.55 million peopleandaccountsfor13%ofthetotalclothproduced.Itproducesnearly16%ofthetotal cottonexportedofvaluedatRs.1772million(USD39.4million).

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India is the only country in the world producing all four commercially known silks mulberry,tasser(tussore),eriandmuga.NowgainingimmensepopularityintheU.S.A.and Europe, Assam is the home of eri and muga silk. Muga is durable and its naturaltones of goldenyellowandraresheenbecomemorelustrouswitheverywash.Theikattechniquein IndiaiscommonlyknownaspatolainGujarat,bandhainOrissa,pagdubandhu,buddavasi andchitkiinAndhraPradesh e.Floriculture TheglobalmarketforflowerandflowerproductsisapproximatelyUSD11billion,ofwhich Indias share is minimal despite having biodiversified geographies with good number of species.However,Indiahasbeenwitnessingagrowthinthissegment,reflectedintherising domestic demand for flower and floral exports. Commercial floriculture is also benefiting fromthepolicyofcropdiversificationinagricultureandisincreasinglybeingconsidereda highlyremunerativeeconomicactivitybysmallandlargefarmersacrossthecountry.Once organized, this sector could present a massive Rs. 100 billion (USD 2.2 billion) business opportunity. Recognizing the importance of the sector, the central Government of India as well as the stategovernmentsaretakingstepstoprovidesupporttothesector.Corporatehousesare beingencouragedtosetupunitsofglobalscaleandsize,soattheycanmeetthevolume, consistency and quality of demands of the global buyers. For instance, companies like Reliance, ITC, Tata Tea, the Bharti Group, AV Birla, Big Apple, Namdhari Fresh, Subhiksha, Shopper'sStopareprimedtoenterthissector,totapthispotentialbusinessopportunityor asbulkbuyersfortheirretailchains.

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