Kerala - Kochi   

Kudumbasree plans 100 Onam markets in district

KOCHI: Kudumbasree poverty eradication mission will take the first steps towards evolving a uniform production protocol, homogenous quality and packaging and developing brand recognition strategy for a broad variety of products from women entrepreneurs across Kerala, during this Onam season.

Hundreds of thousands of women under the Kudumbasree mission, launched in 1993, are engaged in making products as varied as pickles and jams to notebooks and umbrellas.

Bringing them together as a brand recognisable in the retail market is as ambitious as it is complicated. The exercise has been long coming, said Kudumbasree sources.

The coming Onam season will be a big opportunity for the Kudumbasree mission to test the waters. A senior official of the mission said that common packaging materials, labels, banners, publicity arches and even audio CDs announcing the Onam markets in various localities are being despatched from Kudumbasree headquarters.

There will be ample space for the products as Kudumbasree mission will open 1,000 temporary outlets across Kerala to channel the products from women entrepreneurs organised into neighbourhood self-help groups.

There will be a special open market opened by Kudumbasree in each of the panchayats.

In Ernakulam district, there will be a total of 100 Onam special markets, one in each of the panchayats, municipal and corporation areas.

These markets will provide high visibility for Kudumbasree products as the women entrepreneurs also plan to canvass substantial number of orders in the Onam market.

The mission coordinators admit that the plan to evolve a common brand and uniform quality for products from across the State is very challenging.

The enterprises are dispersed across the State. There are practical difficulties involved in coordinating them.

The Onam markets organised by Kudumabsree mission will also sell produce from lands cultivated by women in various parts of the State.

Vegetables, demand for which peaks during the Onam season, are expected to be main sales drivers for the Kudumbasree markets.

Kudumbasree neighbourhood groups have taken large chunks of land on lease for cultivation.

According to information from the mission, the total extent is now more than 70,000 acres spread over 870 panchayats.

Nearly 45,000 neighbourhood groups are involved in cultivating the leased land.

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