South West Garo Hills is rich in natural resources and has an abundance of cash crop that is accessible to most farmers, but their full potential for economic development is yet to be realised. Sensing the opportunity, the government in collaboration with Bakdil NGO supported the establishment of what would be one of the first Proto(type) PRIME Hubs that would introduce local farmers to organised entrepreneurship facilitation for economic enhancement.
About 95% of the farmers in South West Garo Hills grow arecanut either in large or small scale. This presents a tremendous opportunity for innovative value addition such as the manufacturing of bio-degradable arecanut leaf plates, which also bodes well with the state’s vision for sustainable development. Another area of opportunity in this domain is paper recycling. These were the two activities initially taken up under the Proto PRIME Hub.
The Proto PRIME Hub was conceptualised jointly by the district administration and Bakdil NGO and is setup as a micro manufacturing hub with an investment of INR 20 lakhs made by MBDA through its viability gap funding programme. The unit comprises an RCC building and machineries and is currently fully operational. Besides manufacturing and recycling, the unit is also equipped for cross sector training and marketing of products.
The Hub is currently operated by the BakdilMikasal Farmers’ Producer Organization, a registered society supported by Bakdil NGO, comprising 260 members from 34 villages. The organization has also been facilitated through the Enterprise Facilitation Centre (EFC) at Zikzak where it was supported with online marketing and connected to various departments and institutions for support. Production started from October 2018.
For day-to-day operations of the unit, 6 people have been employed both from amongst the members of the organization as well as from outside.
