Boosting capacity of artisans in Northeast

A host of initiatives for improving market access for handloom products in North Eastern states have triggered hopes for traditional handloom weavers and craft workers. The rising cost of raw materials and labour costs are two key worries for these artisans that need to be addressed along with market linkage. These traditional livelihoods remaining commercially viable and sustainable are also critical to the preservation of such rich cultural heritage. The Ashtlaxmi Haat and Experience Centre at Garchuk in Guwahati, established by the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation Limited (NEHHDC), is one of the major initiatives aimed at improving the marketing linkage of handloom products in the region. The marketing space, currently under construction, will have 24 permanent stalls for artisans to exhibit and sell handloom and handicraft items, ethnic food, agricultural products, and allied products from all eight states of the region. It will also have an artisan residency for the accommodation of outstation artisans. Under digitalization, authentication, and traceability of weavers across 7 states of the region, excluding Sikkim, another key market intervention by the NEHHDC, more than 10,000 active weavers have been identified and registered on a digital platform. The third major intervention by the NEHHDC is an Eri silk spinning plant with a production capacity of 450 kg of Eri silk at Integrated Textile Park, Mushalpur, in Baksa district in Bodoland Territorial Region in Assam, which is targeted to provide direct employment to 375 individuals and indirect livelihood to 25,000 households. The non-availability of affordable raw materials and the required capital to increase production grip the majority of handloom and handicraft artisans in the region, with the exception of success stories at the individual level. Having seen their parents grapple with the difficulty of making both ends meet with meagre income from handloom or handicraft production, the majority of the young generations of the artisans’ family are looking for alternative livelihood avenues. The marketing linkage with infrastructure development by NEHHDC is expected to motivate them to look at the potential of the age-old handloom and handicraft industries. The flooding of power looms and machine-made products from outside the region, which are much cheaper than handloom and handicraft products, is the biggest challenge to the sustainability of heritage livelihoods. Ensuring that profit margins for traditional handloom and handicraft products are adequate for artisans requires premium pricing of products. When prices go up, market access for the majority of artisans gets reduced. Only those artisans and entrepreneurs who have adopted innovative designs and smart marketing strategies and have built their financial capacity for the required capital investment can sustain themselves in such a competitive market. Improved marketing infrastructure will certainly attract buyers of premium-quality handloom and handicraft items. The general buyer looking for affordable products will have options to choose between handloom, handicraft items, and power loom, machine-made items. The rising input costs have widened the price difference between the two, which prompts the majority of buyers with limited surplus income to go for the cheaper ones. An increase in demand is not a solution to the problem gripping the traditional artisans, as they will require more capital for purchasing raw materials such as cocoons, yarns, and colours, as well as higher labour costs. Muga silk, for example, has become very expensive for average buyers due to the increase in cocoon and yarn prices. The solution to the problem lies in boosting the production of raw silk and raw materials for handicraft items. Increasing raw silk production requires more plantations of trees, which are food plants for silkworms. Similarly, for cane and bamboo products, rising raw material costs have reduced profit margins for traditional artisans, and only premium products with innovative designs fetch better profits. Capacity building for artisans in the adoption of new innovative designs and product diversification requires intensive skill training. The traditional skills of artisans and their knowledge of product ranges are passed on from one generation to the next, and acquiring new skills and designs involves handholding initiatives. Training programmes being organised in the artisans’ village or in a cluster of villages are important, as training in urban centres for days or weeks requires them to stay away from daily work. The low level of confidence in training outcomes based on their income level is another key factor that influences a large section of artisans’ decision to not take part in training programmes organised in places far away from their village. Without skill training, it is not easy to adopt new designs or initiate product diversification for a traditional artisan, even when they come across success stories of artisans or entrepreneurs from their own village or any nearby village. A grooming master trainer in each artisan village can help address the problem of the availability of resource persons for organising training programmes in these villages. Market-linkage initiatives by NEHHDC will bear maximum fruit if issues of affordability and availability of raw materials and skill training are also prioritised in the region.