Naga women vegetable vendors

Z K Pahrii Pou *

Noney Keithel(Market), Tamenglong District - Manipur in August 2012 :: Pix - Daniel Chabungbam

Introduction: One can see women vending vegetables and other local produces at different places (villages, small towns in Nagaland & Manipur) mostly concentrating in the state Capital Kohima, Imphal and commercial centre Dimapur. Generally local men are not involved in vending. According to North East Network, only about 10-15% of all the vendors in Nagaland are Nagas, the rest being migrants from the neighbouring states. Local women vegetable vendors form a minuscule population of Nagaland & Manipur state.

However, on careful analysis, they are not just 'vegetable sellers', but play a much bigger role in the economic activity of the society. This short write up is an attempt to bring into limelight the invisible role of the vegetable vendors in maintaining local food varieties, food security, and family economy as well as building up social relationship.

I. Situating the Context:

Nagaland & Manipur are small states situated in North eastern part of India. There is no big industry. Even agriculture is done on a small scale main­ly through the slash and burn system with certain areas under terraced cultivation. Things are changing now with more communities terracing land and the government introducing cash crops. Since most of all Nagas own some land (privately, clan or community), the women are en­gaged in agriculture most of it for household consumption.

Nevertheless, surplus production is also sold locally and a large number of Naga women are engaged in vending forest and locally grown products. In the semi urban areas therefore, local food items are sold by Naga women to meet their own need of earning as an income and also make possible for the urban dwellers to have access to local food ingredients. The women vendors can be ei­ther full time or part time workers but they meet an indispensible need of urban life. In a state that provides very little employment opportunities, vending continues to be one of the important avenues of employment especially for women.

In the past, the Nagas grew their own food and cotton to weave their clothes. The surplus they traded with the plains for salt and also rice. At present, products from outside the state is in­vading the local markets in which rice and vegetables are sold at cheaper price than local produce. Hence the trade is dominated by outside traders while the local vegetable and fruits and forest products are sold by the locals who are mainly women. Nevertheless since local trade is a major part of this rural economy where no other business opportunities exist, sustain­ing these spaces and the concept of the local market is essential not only for security but also to safeguard the occupation of women. Vending of local produce is an important economic activity of the Naga women.

II. Role of Women Vegetable Vendors:

a. Managers of local food variety: Global market forces ferociously pursue to control market with GM crops and mono-crops that could have adverse effect on health, environment and the economic activity of the poor masses. Naga women vendors continue to be managers of local food variety.

From village market to urban market, women take active part in vending locally produced vegetables along with green vegetables collected from forest. The principle crops produced by Naga farmers include paddy, maize, millets, pulses, cabbage, mustard leaves, leeks, gingers, oilseeds, sugarcane, potatoes, yam, orange and fibres. They sell local products like snail, bamboo shot, fermented soybean, frogs, banana leaves, fresh flowers and local fish. In this way, they not only maintain local food varieties but also produce fresh vegetables throughout the year.

b. Maintain Food Security: Local women vendors directly or indirectly encourage villagers to cultivate more by buying their produce. These women thus provide livelihoods to thousands of women food producers who sustain the traditional agro-biodiversity and also the lo­cal food culture.

c. Linking the producer to the consumer: This is the basic role of the vendor. Whereas some vendors, who live close to the marketing areas, bring their own produce to the market, others sell the produce of their local sisters. These operations exist in different ways and levels of magnitude. Nevertheless this link between the native producers and the native vendors is what keeps the food culture of Nagaland alive and sustains the agricultural base of the people while also safeguarding livelihood.

d. Building Community Spirit: In Nagaland women ven­dors come from different tribes/ com­munities like Angami, Konyak, Poumai, Lotha, Chakhesang, Zeliang and Meitei (Manipuri). With no other suitable platform available for women to interact with one another, vending place becomes an important place for them to interact with each other and build up community spirit. As the occupation of vending goes beyond tribe and language barrier, such group can be targeted for building up peace and relationship of various inter-tribes and race.

e. Bread Winners of the family: The earning of women usually go directly for the management of family whereas many men spent their earning in gambling, drinking and smoking. The women vendors sustain their families with their hard labour. Even in the hunting and food gathering period, women contribution to food security is sixty per cent that met family's needs whereas men were busy for hunting in long distance. Still today, the contribution of women to family's economy is mostly kept indivisible. These simple women are helping lots in the sustenance of life.

f. Preservers of Organic Agriculture: Most of the vegetables and other crops are grown through organic farming. They use local manure extracted through burn and slash methods and animal dung and vermi compost. They mostly avoid using chemical fertilisers and pesticides and hence avoid eco-cide. Many of the vendors are also producers. Organic agriculture has led to environmental sustainability. Those who depend on organic foods have better health than those who depend on factory processed and packaged foods.

g. Keepers of Culture: Today many of our cultures are at the verge of becoming extinct due to negligence of traditional agricultural practices. Modern society encouraged farmers to shift from producing food crops to cash crops. Communitarian life is destroyed by money-oriented wage labour. With this development, the culture of sharing, helping one another and spirituality attached to agriculture is fast deteriorating. Naga vegetable vendors and producers are the keepers of culture as they follow traditional agricultural practices and maintain local variety of foods and seeds.

III. Problems faced by vegetable Vendors in Nagaland:

Despite its immense contribution to the sustenance of society, there are many problems faced by Naga vegetable vendors. According to North East Network (NEN) majority of vegetable vendors do not get access to proper toilet in Nagaland. With no proper shed, many of these women sit on the pavements exposing to Sun and rain the whole day. They often fall into dispute with traffic police and student's leaders as they are blamed for blocking the vehicular movement.

Whereas there is enough space for motor vehicles, very less or no space is reserved for vegetable vendors. With more women in the market, vending space had become a big concern today. For a woman who involves in vending vegetables, it is very difficult to manage time between vending vegetables and household chores as many men are not willing to take care of the family. Many vegetables vendors are single mother and hence are the main bread winners.

In the early years of vending the products from the producer were of good quality and in huge quantity but in present days with more women getting into the vending business the goods are of less quality and even the quantity had decreased. Many women even bring along their children to the streets as there is no one to look af­ter them as their husbands are alcohol-dependant.

These local vendors also face stiff competition from plain traders who brought vegetables by truckloads from outside the state and sell by huge bulk at cheap price. Many of the local women vegetable vendors also pay tax to town municipal council, land owners and underground groups. These are some of the problems that need to be addressed.

Evaluation: Growing and vending of vegetables are part and parcel of many Naga women today.

Producing and vending vegetables helps Naga women to be economically self-dependent and self-reliant. Through this occupation they attain certain amount of freedom as both the producers and owners of their produce. They choose what to produce, when to produce, where to sell and at what price. Producing and selling their produce in the market also give them freedom of movement breaking the traditional stereotype role of confining within the four corners of their homes.

Local producers and vendors, although invisible most of the time, are keepers of our health. They provide us fresh fruits and green vegetables throughout the year. The products that were brought from the outside the state have no or very little amount of micro-nutrients and vitamins as it takes several weeks or months in the process of packaging and transportation before the local market.

They also play a great role in enhancing and maintaining local economy. Their agricultural practices enhance the health of nature and protect ecological health. The enormous contribution of the women vegetable vendors to the economy of the family and society should be made visible so that they are well recognised and respected in the society. Tending and caring of nature are very much part of the local food producers.

The vendors circulate the produce to various sections of growers. They make possible the growers to maintain different types of local food crops according to different seasons. In a way, local producers and vendors surely are co-creator with God in producing and sustaining life. Our God surely loves bio-diversity and not mono-culture as pushed forward by global markets. The profession of small producers and vendors must be protected for the betterment of both human and nature.