SMART Intervention: How Tribal Women in Ghoti Turned Traditional Rice Processing into a Year-Round Enterprise

The Hon. Balasaheb Thackeray Agribusiness and Rural Transformation (SMART) Project, a flagship initiative of the Government of Maharashtra, supported by the World Bank with Palladium as the implementation firm is working to reshape rural livelihoods in Maharashtra. Across rural India, one of the biggest challenges remains the lack of stable, year-round livelihood opportunities. SMART addresses these challenges by strengthening Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), agri-value chains, and rural enterprises. By investing in post-harvest infrastructure, building institutional capacity, and enabling market linkages, the project aims to create inclusive, competitive, and market-oriented agricultural growth, particularly for small and marginal farmers, women, and rural entrepreneurs.

Implemented at scale, SMART targets around 1,200 Community‑Based Organizations, including nearly 600 FPOs, across a wide range of commodities such as cereals and pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables, spices, cotton, and select livestock value chains. The project covers all major agro‑climatic regions of Maharashtra, spanning 34 districts through eight Regional Implementation Units, ensuring spatially inclusive growth while leveraging region‑specific commodity strengths to promote value addition, enterprise development, and sustainable rural livelihoods.

SMART project has benefited over 4,500 farmers through 110 capacity building trainings. It has also facilitated the trade of over 444 MT of commodities and signing of 250+ MoUs through 9 Buyer-Seller meets. Over ₹62 crore loan amount has also been disbursed.

Women as Enterprise Leaders

A key part of this approach is integrating women not just as participants, but as leaders, shareholders, and decision-makers within producer institutions. Through targeted capacity building, enterprise support, and continuous handholding, SMART is enabling women to move up the value chain and take ownership of rural enterprises.

One such transformation is unfolding in the tribal belt of Ghoti in Nashik district, where many women from smallholder farming families have long been involved in processing Hatsadi rice, a traditional and nutritious variety that is manually pounded and processed. The work is culturally significant and valued within local communities. However, the process is slow, physically demanding, and entirely manual.

For women working through local Bachat Gats (Self-Help Groups), this meant that rice processing remained a seasonal activity, typically providing employment for only a few months each year. With limited infrastructure, no mechanised facilities, and little access to markets, the work could not be scaled beyond small quantities. As a result, most of these women continued to depend on irregular wage labour or seasonal farm work to support their households.

For tribal communities in the region, the lack of stable livelihood opportunities has long contributed to income insecurity, forcing many families to look for temporary work outside the village during lean periods.

The Intervention

Under the SMART Project, efforts were made to strengthen rural livelihoods by supporting community institutions and promoting local value addition. As part of these efforts, Palladium supported the women’s Bachat Gat in Ghoti with over 253 members to transform their traditional activity into a small-scale rice processing enterprise called the Women’s Power FPC.

The intervention focused on three key areas. FPC members were enabled to enter the rice oil milling segment by providing end‑to‑end infrastructure, machinery, and enterprise support. The FPC was also supported in establishing a dedicated processing shed and installing modern rice oil milling equipment, replacing labour‑intensive manual methods with a mechanised system.

In parallel, handholding support helped women members organise around a structured production process and collective management of the unit, strengthening ownership and operational discipline. Targeted capacity‑building initiatives through training sessions and workshops enhanced their technical skills, operational efficiency, and basic enterprise management capabilities. As a result, the FPC successfully transitioned into a specialised and organised rice oil processing enterprise, enabling improved efficiency, and stronger market readiness.

The Change

The impact of this shift has been significant for the women involved.

Work that was once available for barely four months in a year has now expanded into a year-round livelihood opportunity. Mechanised processing has reduced the physical strain of manual labour while allowing the women to process rice more consistently and efficiently.

With regular production has come more stable and predictable income of ₹ 400 per day. For many of these women, this is the first time they have had a reliable source of earnings within their own village.

Equally important is the change in confidence and agency. The women are no longer just contributing labour, they are actively managing and operating a community-run enterprise. From overseeing production to coordinating work within the group, they are increasingly taking ownership of the unit’s day-to-day functioning.

“Earlier, we used to get seasonal work and had to process the rice manually. With the shed, machinery and training provided by the SMART project, rice processing is now done mechanically, and the women have also started a cold press oil production unit. As a result, they now get work all year round, their income and self-confidence have increased,” says Mrs. Mathura Jadhav, Board of Director, Women's Power FPC.

For their families, the benefits go beyond income. Greater financial stability has improved household security, while the women’s growing role in managing the enterprise has strengthened their participation in household and community decision-making.

The experience in Ghoti demonstrates how traditional knowledge and local skills can evolve into viable rural enterprises when communities are supported with the right infrastructure, technology, and capacity building.

And this is just one example. As this model grows, it offers an encouraging example for other tribal and rural communities, showing that when women are provided with the right opportunities and support systems, they can successfully build enterprises that strengthen both their incomes and their communities.

“Women from smallholder farming families were traditionally limited to the labour-intensive work which provided employment for only a few months leading to significant income insecurity. The evolution of these women into the Women’s Power FPC is a definitive example of how targeted agribusiness interventions can reshape rural economies,” said Shri. Abhimanyu Kashid, Nodal Officer, Regional Implementation Unit, SMART Project, Nashik.