Company Name:Masuta Producer's Company
Year Founded:2005
Name of Program:
Sector:Livelihoods
State / Region:Jharkand
Country:India
Social Impact:As a livelihoods promotion organization, development NGO PRADAN helps organize low-income women into self-help groups, often developing economic opportunities to increase productivity and income within their households. It is with the NGO’s help that Masuta Producer’s Co. now consists of over 2,600 low-income women, typically forest dwellers or tribal women, in Central India who produce yarn from tasar silk. Through their membership in the producer’s company, the women, now have a means of employment, thereby increasing self-esteem and overall household productivity. The nature of the company, which can legally only be owned by the producers themselves, also offers the women greater decision-making power and eliminates middlemen that once took advantage of their position in the value chain. In addition to this social and economic impact, Masuta Producer’s Co.’s use of a solar-powered reeling machine that helps produce the yarn, has had a better effect on the environment as it is more energy-efficient than previous peddle or electrically-powered machines. This new machine has also increased the production capacity of the women by 35-50%, thereby allowing them to make a greater profit.
Contact Name:Masuta Producer's Company
Contact Information:Head Office: Chetna Appartment, Flat No - 2
Opposite Deputy Commissioner's Residence, Circular Road, Barmasia, B.Deoghar - 814112 , Jharkhand, India
Tel.:+91 06432 - 238661
Email:
Website:www.masuta.org
Masuta Producer's Company
Masuta Producer’s Company was registered in 2005 in North India after a long incubation period by PRADAN, its initial founder. The organization consists of a federation of 141 primary groups of women, each a different size (15-69 women), which make up the more than 2,600 women involved in tasar silk yarn production. As a producer company, each of the women is a shareholder who has a voice in decisions within her primary groups as well as at a company level. Since the women’s primary focus is on actual production, the women have hired PRADAN to help with the overall management of the company and with networking with other stakeholders in the market including those which sell cocoons to Masuta and the weavers that ultimately purchase the yarn from Masuta. The basic cycles of production are cyclical with Masuta providing the women’s primary groups with credit to purchase and store cocoons until they are ready for production. The women’s groups then take the cocoons from the company’s storage units and convert them to yarn. The yarn is subsequently graded and collected by field staff who provide both the women’s groups and the company office with a record of the amount and quality of the yarn produced. The accounting system in turn processes the details and accordingly makes payments to the primary groups’ bank accounts after adjusting for the cost of the cocoons and any other administrative fees. On average, the women work from three to four hours a day, processing 350 - 450 cocoons, each of which can generate .5 – 1.5 grams of silk. As mentioned above, the company had a long incubation period lasting from 1999-2004 during which time its overhead and other costs were highly subsidized by PRADAN. Within its first year of formal operations, however, Masuta broke-even and became profitable in 2005. Moving forward, Masuta hopes to see an increase in productivity among existing producers as well an increase to more than 10,000 in terms of the women involved in the company. The company also hopes to more widely distribute the new solar-powered reeling machine to women who can potentially take a loan from NABARD to purchase the new technology. Key clients include FabIndia and the Government of India, and previous investors include Villgro.
http://www.pradan.net/