|
Previous
Next
|
| Ownership/use Rights and Community Involvement in Wastelands Development: Experience from Gujarat - The Gambhira Cooperative Case Study |
|
Reference |
| Shah, Tushaar; Ballabh, V: 1986 "Ownership/use Rights and Community Involvement in Wastelands Development: Experience from Gujarat " Institute of Rural Management, Anand |
|
Introduction to the Institution |
| Due to heavy floods in river Mahi in the year 1927, 1941 and 1949, fertile "bhatha" lands were badly destroyed in few villages of Borsad Taluka.The small farmers who were dependant on this land for their livelihood were rapidly impoverished amd most of them became landless labourers.In 1951, with a view to help the distressed cultivators, at the request of Chhaganbhai Patel, a dedicated social worker the Government granted 246 acres of "bhatha" land, to 176 cultivators from four villages of Gambhira, Kathiakhad, Nanisherdi and Bilpad situated in the flood affected area. The grantees cultivated the land individually in small fields of one acre or so, but this helped them very little because: 1)the batha lands were saline and had very low productivity 2)the grantees had nothing to invest in reclamation, and had to take water for their crops from the owners of water pumping plants in return for half the produce. Moved by this pathetic condition of the cultivators Chhaganbhai Patel suggested to the Govt. to organize the flood affected grantees of the batha land into a cooperative farming society. In 1953, the govt. took decision of forming a co-operative farming of 176 families and entrust them about 161 acres of mostly saline soils under the advice of a social worker, Chhaganbhai Patel.Today Gambhira co-operative has 291 members families with 460 acres of land which has become a prime agricultural land.The total membership is divided into 28 groups of 8-16 members |
|
Coverage of the Institution |
| This type of co-operative farming is prevalant in many other villages of Gujarat and Maharashtra |
|
Rules for Management
of the Institution |
|
(a) Boundary Rules |
| Spatial:The land is located along the right bank of Mahi river which forms a natural boundary between Baroda and Kheda districts.The society's jurisdiction extends to the four villages of Gambhira, Kathiakhad, Nanisherdi and Bilpad belonging to Borsad taluka of Kheda district
Social: The following guidelines were laid down for membership of the cooperative:
1. Only distressed cultivators whose names are included in the Government approved list could become members of the Society
2. the members will have to work in groups
3. a group leader will be chosen from amongst the members of each group and he will be solely responsible for the cultivation of the fields assigned to his group
4. fifty percent of the produce of each group will be retained by the Society to defray its expenses and meet its statutory liabilities, and the remaining 50 percent will be distributed equally among the members of the group. |
|
(b) Governance
rules |
| Each group elects its own leader from amongst its members. The responsibility of the leader is to draw up a crop plan and work schedule, and distribute work among members to indent requisite amount of bullock labour and to provide overall supervision in addition to his share of work as a member . In carrying out his duties, the group leader generally consults with the Chairman, the members of the Management Committee and the agricultural supervisors of the Society.For additional work the leader is paid a bonus (0.75 percent) in proportion to the group's overall productivity
MAINTAINANCE: The society employs two agricultural supervisors on a full time basis.Their duties include preparation of daily report of the activities of all the groups, submission of the daily reports to the Chairman and Manager of the Society , provision of guidance to group leaders in their work and monitoring and supervision of all the agricultural operations of the Society. Besides, the Chairman, members of the Management Committee and the Manager of the Society also visit the fields frequently and provide on-the-spot guidance to the group leaders and resolve their problem then and there
All members together elect a management committee of seven members and the chairman of the committee is nominated by the cooperative department |
|
(c) Resource Allocation |
| The total membership is divided into 28 groups of 8-16 members, each group is alloted plots of land in proportion to its size at a rate of 1.5-1.7 acres per member depending upon the quality of land
The society supplies seeds, manure, fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation facilities to all groups; the members of the group in turn provide labour, bullock power and services of their implements. Almost all the groups grow tobacco and food grains. the marketing of all tobacco output is undertaken by the society by an open auction process.In case of food grain output and sale of tobacco, the society claims 40 percent towards the cost of inputs and the group retains 60 percent.This 60 percent share is distributed to all members equally, but with adjustments made for labour and bullock power supplied by different members. Out of the 40 percent share the society pays land rent, cost of inputs and other administrative costs. After meeting all these costs the cooperative is left with substantial surpluses of which 70 percent is distributed equally among members as bonus |
|
Conflict Resolution Mechanism |
| The second problem (refer problem no.2) may affect in undermining the success of the cooperative because there is none in the area or amongst the members who can take over the leadership of the cooperative in place of or after Chhaganbhai if the necessity arises and perhaps this might lead to a conflict in the coop in future |
|
Problems Faced by Institution |
| 1)The founder leader of the cooperative has become old and he has been gradually losing his grip over the cooperative
2)Most members have acquired their own small plots of land which now receive more attention of the members at the expense of the coop land. |
|
Other Features of Institution |
| Over the past 35 years, the cooperative has invested substantial resources in reclaiming kharlands, for irrigation facilities: six tubewells and 15000 feet pipelines; two tractors in addition to contributing to the building of social overhead capital in its area.
In the early years of the cooperative, the solidarity within the group was strong because only the group could generate the kind of surpluses to invest in reclaiming land and building irrigation facilities and it was difficult for an individual member to withstand the rise of a single flood.But now the situation is different, most members have used the surpluses produced through group action to build up their own individual assets, further there is that the cooperative does which any member cannot do on his own.Because of a kind of "free-riding" tendency among the members, the group is falling apart |
|
Purpose |
| Co-operative farming |
|
Country |
| India (Maharashtra) |
|
Region |
| Vill:Gambhira |
|
Date Of Publication |
| RS-12/04/96 |
|
|
