A mobile app provides rural women a platform to buy and sell livestock

One of the main sources of livelihood in Dholpur district in Rajasthan is goat rearing and a lot of women are involved in it. Most families own at least 10 to 15 goats, and there are some who own as many as 50. They earn an annual income of anything between Rs 30,000 and one lakh rupees.

The rain-strapped region makes it impossible for any lucrative cultivation to happen in the area. So most people rear livestock. But, rearing goats presents many problems including shortage of fodder, unavailability of treatment of the animals, selling and buying them, lack of a proper marketplace to trade in them, getting a good price, and so on.

To address these problems, a mobile application (an app) called GraamHaat was launched on July 10, this year. The app enables the women farmers and goat rearers to directly sell and buy livestock, thus eliminating the often exploitative presence of the middle men/ traders.

The GraamHaat app also allows its users to order fodder for their animals at reasonable prices. There is a 24x7 helpline where the women can call to seek help for their livestock and there is also a health care section where farmers can consult with experts through chat or video call about the animals' health related queries. There are also instructions on the best practices related to goat rearing.

"I sold my goats through GraamHaat and made eighty thousand rupees," Nirma, a farmer from Khinauta village in Sarmathura block of Dholpur district, told Gaon Connection.

Santo, another farmer from Narayanpur village in Sarmathura block, has benefitted too. "I have learnt so much about the best way to rear my goats," Santo told Gaon Connection. "My goats are inoculated and dewormed on time and there is a helpline to reach out if our animals fall ill. This will help prevent the loss of goats to disease," she said.

Santo also got a good price for the goats she sold. "We can sell our goats anytime we want, and we can also buy good quality animals from there," said the goat rearer, who had just sold some goats for Rs 67,500.

The app has been launched by Goat Resource Centre in Dholpur, which was set up in 2021 by Manjari Foundation, to help combat problems in goat rearing. Manjari Foundation is a non profit that works in the area of empowering women from marginalised communities with initiatives at the grass-root level. The foundation has been doing developmental work in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

A mobile app provides rural women a platform to buy and sell livestock

The farmers need to register themselves on the GraamHaat app after which, once their names and numbers are verified, they can avail of the app's services. So far, more than 2,000 people, most of them from Rajasthan and the Bundelkhand region (spread in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh), have downloaded the app from Google store. Information and help with artificial insemination of the animals is also provided, besides hands on training on efficient and peril-free ways of looking after livestock. Meanwhile, the Goat Resource Centre has also facilitated the supply of medicines to the farmers for their animals besides a fair-price platform to sell and buy goats.

The training and advice she received on taking care of her animals from GRC had helped tremendously, Nirma from Khinauta village said. "On the first and fourth Saturday of every month, GRC sets up a physical marketplace where we can take our animals to sell and buy," she added.

With the launch of the new mobile app, the Goat Resource Centre has now created a safe platform to help women agricultural entrepreneurs, where they could deal with verified buyers and sellers of livestock.

"Our intention is to establish a model that will help livestock farmers to increase their incomes," Sanjay Kumar Sharma, founder and executive director of Manjari Foundation, who is based in Dholpur, told Gaon Connection. He said that the aim was also to set up a market where livestock farmers, especially women, could conduct their business in a safe and fair environment.

"I have seen how the interventions by GRC [Goat Resource Centre] are transforming the lives of the women farmers and enhancing their livelihoods," Satyendra Sengar, thematic expert, goat-based livelihoods, from Dholpur told Gaon Connection. The Goat Resource Centre is working with thousands of goat rearers in Dang region of Rajasthan and improving their livelihoods, he added.

Download GraamHaat app here : https://www.graamhaat.com/

Read the story in Hindi.