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 Rice Loans

Shanti Boro is a member of the Moromi Self Help Group. Moromi means “love each other.” Shanti and her fellow SHG members live in the Umjarha village. The staple crop of Umjarha is rice. However, members of Umjarha experience a rice shortage 7 months out of the year. When the rice runs out, the family members are forced to buy rice from other villages. This is a daunting task as a rice shortage in one village usually means a similar fate for neighboring villages. Much time and energy is spent searching for rice to buy at high prices with high interest rates. A few kilograms can be found here and there. Additionally, the money to buy the rice is earned by working as day laborers but once again, labor competition is fierce as many people are searching for income.

Seeing and living through the struggles of rice shortages the women of the Moromi SHG decided to try something new. They were familiar with the concept of savings and internal lending because of their SHG training and their practice of saving rupees every week. So, the Moromi SHG members decided that in addition to saving rupees they should save rice. They decided to form a rice bank.

The bank began with each woman contributing 40 kgs of rice with a total contribution of 400 kgs. Then during the food shortage time they began lending the rice to the group members. If a member borrowed 40 kgs she had 1 year to repay the loan with an interest rate of 20 kgs of rice. This is cheaper than the going rate of 30 kgs interest if they were to borrow from outside villages. As well, it meant that valuable time and energy did not have to be spent searching for rice.

The rice bank is now in its fourth year of lending and the members have been able to expand their rice loans to the entire village, not just SHG members. The Moromi women and the community now feel more secure. During times of food shortage even if they are unable to find work as day laborers they know that they have rice.

The women of the Moromi SHG have an ever-expanding vision. They hope to continue increasing the lending capacity of their rice bank in order to be able to offer rice loans to neighboring villages.

Seeds of Hope

For Pretty Mary of the Jirang village, a typical day begins before 5 am with preparing food for the family before they go out to work in the paddy fields. The entire day is spent working in the field. Except for when it nears harvest time. As the rice ripens and harvest time nears it becomes essential for Mary and other farmers like her to guard the fields from wild animals such as elephants, monkeys and boars. This is a 24 hour a day task as the fields require constant surveillance. Mary shared: “If we make a mistake for only one day, it’s all finished.” Guarding is not a guaranteed solution. Mary described how when wild elephants come it is not just one elephant, they come in herds. She shared how she was afraid of the elephants: “it makes me feel scared.”

When crops are destroyed Mary and others are forced to seek work as day laborers in order to earn money for food to feed their families. The problems that Mary and her fellow villagers face are daunting. Yet Mary is hopeful. She participated in the PCDP training on kitchen gardens and has plans to start a garden of her own to grow vegetables to help feed her family. She has a hope that cannot be trampled. Mary is working towards a secure future for her family, one seed at a time.