From growing multiple crops on forest land they have been cultivating for ages to rearing livestock and weaving, tribal families in Assam rely on different income sources to sustain themselves.
As we entered the house fenced with bamboo poles, Monomothi Rabha, who was cutting vegetables, stopped her work to welcome us. She manually de-husked some areca nuts and took out a few freshly-plucked betel leaves. She served the leaves and nuts with lime paste on a betel stand and sat with us for a chat. Describing her occupation is tricky as she engages in a range of activities.
Rabha, a 42-year-old single woman, stays with her father, two brothers, sister-in-law and three children in one house in Kahua village of Chhaygaon block in Kamrup district, Assam. None of the family members migrated outside as they can survive by engaging in various livelihood activities at the village level.
Rabha’s story is about how diversification of livelihood portfolio in rural Assam is ensuring self-sustenance of tribal families.
Of the eight bighas of land that Rabha’s family cultivates, around three bighas are used for growing paddy. The rest of the land is used only for letting grass grow for their livestock.
Engaging in many activities without ownership of productive resources like land is contestable. But all the households in this region are dependent on forest land for cultivation. The tribes here do not own the land, but have been cultivating it for ages.
Rabha’s family gets a yield of 14-20 quintals of paddy, which is enough to meet the family’s needs. By selling the remaining paddy they earn Rs 10,000 to 12,000 per year. The two brothers engage in activities such as manual ploughing for paddy cultivation. Rabha and her sister-in-law engage in weeding, transplanting paddy, threshing and such works. Rabha frequently keeps a check on any pest infestation to ensure the health of the paddy crop.
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Homestead cultivation is another activity that generates income for the family. They grow a diverse range of crops, including vegetables, fruits, black pepper, bhut jolokia (ghost pepper), areca nut, betel leaves and bamboo. While most of them are plantation crops that generate income, there are enough vegetable creepers coiling around the bamboo trellises built for the purpose.
Rabha’s father sells the fruits and vegetables in the local market and earns Rs 3,000 to 4,000. This also ensures that the family meets most of its consumption requirements from the farm and homestead. Bamboo is used in constructing the house, cattle shed and trellises. Areca nuts are sold from home when a trader comes to collect the produce from farmers.
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The family rears eight Lakhimi cows – a local breed of Assam. Rabha and her sister-in-law go for grass cutting and bring home the fodder for the cows. When paddy is harvested, they bring paddy straw and bale it for future use as fodder.
Each cow produces only 1.5-2 litres of milk per day, and after keeping aside some for the family’s consumption, Rabha goes to a local dairy and sells the rest of the yield every day. By selling milk, she earns around Rs 14,000 per year.
The family also engages in goat rearing, and currently owns seven goats. With an expenditure of about Rs 1,000 for vaccination, this brings them an earning of around Rs 7,000 per year, which flows in especially during festive seasons and celebrations. One of her brothers takes the goats for free grazing near the Kulshi river in uncultivated lands.
According to Rabha, poultry does not provide a promising livelihood as the birds are vulnerable to diseases. They have 20 chickens currently for domestic consumption, which are also exchanged with other villagers for their household needs. In addition, they earn about 5,000 by selling two or three batches a year.
Rabha, who was wearing a gamosa that she herself had woven, said at least one woman in every household of rural Assam has the skill of traditional weaving.
“Weaving by hand is an energy-intensive and time-consuming work, but it gives a woman a sense of autonomy to use her skills in designing and preserving tribal culture,” she said.
She weaves traditional Assamese outfits like gamosa, rabha pajar, mekhela chador, towels and bed linen. During Bihu she earns over Rs 3,000 by selling these hand-woven products within the village or at the local market.
By engaging in these activities, Rabha shows the way to a lifestyle centered around diverse livelihood activities to sustain even large rural households.
“Navigating through these many activities is challenging. My sister-in-law looks after her three children, and does household and farm work. Though we barely get any time for ourselves, we are happy to be able to sustain our family,” she said.
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The lead image at the top shows Monomothi Rabha working on the traditional loom. (Photo by Sameera Kasulanati)
Sameera Kasulanati is a researcher at VikasAnvesh Foundation, Pune.
