Background
The Aga Khan Foundation (India), supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, has been implementing an ambitious programme in the Muzaffarpur district of Bihar to transform and improve the quality of life of landless and marginal farming households through improvements in small ruminant (goat) production, increasing and strengthening the role of women in the small ruminant value chain, and demonstrating an implementation model that can be expanded at significant scale through public investment.
Project Mesha, as the initiative is called, was launched in 2016 with the vision of transforming the lives of 70,000 women self-help group (SHG) members in seven blocks of Muzaffarpur and demonstrating proof of concept of a model for small ruminant development, poverty reduction and women's empowerment with the potential for scaling up to other districts of the state with public financing. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) India has played a leading role in improving the livelihoods of resilient goat rearers in Bihar, significantly enhancing their incomes. The establishment of the Farmer Producer Company (FPC) is a collaborative endeavour of Jeevika and Aga Khan Foundation and this will help to ensure that these benefits not only endure but also continue to expand over the long term, providing lasting economic security for the communities.
About
MESHA MAHILA BAKARIPALAK PRODUCER COMPANY LIMITED is established to ensure backward and forward linkages to strengthen every link in the goat value chain.
The FPC focuses on goat sales and marketing, bridging the gap between sellers and buyers of quality goats. It operates through a large network of pashu sakhis spread across different blocks of Muzaffarpur with a reach of nearly 70,000 goat rearing households.
Company’s business operations could be broadly classified in the following areas:
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Goat Sales –Purchase and sale of goats (khassi, pathi, breeding buck, qurbani khassi etc)
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Input business – Selling or facilitating the availability of essential inputs that go into improved goat rearing and health management. These items are vaccines, dewormers, herbal medicine, feed mixture, goat feed, feeder, castrator etc.
Project Mesha's presence in 7 Blocks of Muzzafarpur District in Bihar
Project Mesha's presence in 20 Districts of Bihar in collaboration with JEEVIKA.
Project Mesha follows a dual strategy of direct implementation support to communities in seven blocks of district Muzaffarpur and collaboration with the state rural livelihoods mission (JEEVIKA) to scale-up project approaches across 20 districts of the state.