Sustainable Livelihood

Income Generation The SHGs in the various villages have taken up some income generating activities like aquaculture, goat rearing, duckery, poultry, paddy dehusking, rice milling, rope making, leaf plate making, tailoring, cycle repairing shop, grocery shop, flourmill, etc., which help to make the group a sustainable village institution. More than 700 groups in both the projects are involved in different income generating programmes.

Kadaknath – The black gold of Jhabua

Kadaknath is the only Black Meat chicken (B.M.C.) breed of poultry in India. Locally known as "Kalamasi" meaning the fowl having black flesh, it is a native bird of Jhabua and Dhar districts of Western Madhya Pradesh, reared mainly by the tribal communities of. Bhil and Bhilala. The commonly available varieties of Kadaknath are jet-black, penciled and golden. The bird is very popular among the adiwasis mainly due to its adaptability to the local environment, disease resistance, meat quality, texture and flavour. It is considered a sacred bird and, when more abundantly available, was offered as a sacrifice to Goddess after Diwali.

Though the flesh of this breed is black, it is considered not only a delicacy of distinctive taste, but also of medicinal value. The tribal uses Kadaknath blood in the treatment of chronic disease in human beings and its meat as aphrodisiac. Kadaknath has special medicinal value in homeopathy and a particular nervous disorder; in addition it is claimed to be aphrodisiac. Research has shown that this species has lower cholestrol than white chicken, and high levels of essential amino acids as well as hormones that are required by the human body.

During random field survey studies, it was found that the population of Kadaknath birds is declining rapidly and the breed is under threat of extinction. It was also observed that most of the farmers were keeping minimum of 5 and maximum of 30 poultry birds, which were raised under backyard poultry system. None of the farmers was found rearing the Kadaknath birds on commercial basis. Therefore, in-situ conservation and selective improvement is an imperative.

Day-old Kadaknath day old chicks were provided to SHG members of GVT ‘s WIRFP on cost-sharing basis, which proved successful under backyard poultry farming. In response, the district administration of Jhabua formed a tie-up with GVT, by which 30 BPL households in GVT villages of Shivgadh, Chainpura and Mahuda of Meghnagar block were chosen to rear Kadaknath under SGSY project. GVT provided financial assistance for building poultry shed, and the government’s animal husbandry department provided the beneficiaries with 15 days old Kadaknath chicks along with feed, poultry equipments and medicines. Similarly, 12 BPL households in village Mindal were also included in the project. The households manage to sell the birds either at the farm gate or at the local haat.