Age-Old Wisdom and New Age of Social Entrepreneurship: A Case of Bhoomgaadi Organic Farmers Producer Company, Dantewada, Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Lives and livelihoods in the central belt of India has traversed a difficult terrain as the indigenous tribes had a constant tryst with the changing environment on political, ecological as well as socio-economic fronts. For years together the tribal groups in villages of Dantewada district have gone through turbulent times due to socio economic impact of mining and changes in forest rights and today they have started moving towards “local ownership” and “self-sustainability” through the new age of social entrepreneurship i.e. Bhoomgaadi Organic Farmers Producer Company (BOFPC). It was born in 2016 as a ray of hope, amidst the gloom of agricultural crisis that had engulfed most parts of the Indian agricultural economy. The case tries to highlight the inherent challenges existing for the tribal farmers in the current ecosystem and the solutions put forth by BOFPC in terms of approach of promoting FPC, participatory governance, management and business planning as per the resource endowments and use of conventional knowledge. The case further highlights the importance of 3 C’s – Collaboration, Convergence and Collection Action leads to the development of the sense of belongingness and ownership among the members of the BOFPC.