Kreseni Marak is an entrepreneur from Gokulgre village which is located in Resubelpara Block of North Garo Hills District. North Garo Hills is a relatively new District that was created only in 2012. Its economy is mostly agrarian or rural based and horticulture is a key sector where most people are engaged in. In the past, North Garo Hills has had to grapple with various developmental challenges including inadequate road connectivity, lack of proper communication facilities and poor access to good medical services. However, despite these challenges, Kreseni has been able to work her way into becoming a very successful entrepreneur in her district.
Kreseni is the youngest of five siblings. Her parents were farmers and depended on daily wage to support their family. The family faced severe financial constraints and because of this, Kreseni had to drop out of school just after completing class eight so she could find work to support her family. Kreseni has always been passionate about growing flowers so she chose to setup a flower nursery as a livelihood activity.
The Knowledge Management Unit of MBDA met Kreseni in January 2017 to listen to her story. At our first meeting, we found Kreseni to be an energetic and motivated person and she was extremely enthusiastic about sharing her stories and experiences with us. During our conversation, she recalled the days when the Meghalaya Rural Development Society (MRDS)1 was still active. She was already a member of a Self Help Group (SHG) at her village when she was informed about being selected for training in horticulture under MRDS. In March 2012, she along with members of other SHGs from the state, were sent to Sonapur in Assam for 15 days to be trained in Horticulture. This was the first time that Kreseni was given training in a livelihood activity. The learning and the experiences she gained from the training had a profound impact on her. She realised that cultivating flowers was something that came naturally to her and that she was good at it and since this is an activity that she has always loved, she eventually decided to pursue horticulture as her primary livelihood activity.
Soon after the training, with financial support from MRDS, Kreseni bought a water pump, a water storage tank and some saplings. Using these, she set up a nursery at her own home. Once these saplings started flowering, Kreseni took them to the weekly Gokulgre Friday market where she sold each potted flower for Rs 700. On other days, she sold them on the roadside along the Guwahati-Tura highway. Over time, she became very popular with the neighbours. Travellers who frequent the highway began to notice her flowers and soon she had many customers who would stop by just to buy flowers from her.
In 2014 Kreseni was introduced to the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority (MBDA) by former MRDS staffs who informed her that she could get further support to scale up her work. In October 2014, she registered herself at an Enterprise Facilitation Centre (EFC) in Resubelpara and soon after she was sent for a 15-day training to Solang in Himachal Pradesh with support from the Integrated Basin Development and Livelihood Promotion Programme (IBDLP) in collaboration with Horticulture Department. Upon her return, she availed funds of Rs. 1 Lakh from Horticulture Department to scale up her activity. Using this fund, she first diversified her flowers, adding Daffodils and Orchids to the inventory. Next, she rented half a Bigha (approximately 600 square metres) of land along the Guwahati-Tura highway and there she set up a new flower nursery. She engaged four daily wage workers who spent four days to clear the land and build a fence around it. It took another four months before the nursery had its first production.
Today, Kreseni produces more than 2,000 seasonal as well as non-seasonal saplings including flowers, fruit trees, nuts and others.
Nursery Management
Kreseni gets her fruits and flower saplings from the Daffodil Nursery in Guwahati. She travels to the Daffodil Nursery once a month but during peak season her travel increases to two or three times in a month. She transports the saplings back to her nursery using a rented truck. Kreseni does not use chemical fertilizers in her nursery. Instead, she uses cattle and goat manure which she mixes with mud. She purchases the manure at a low price from her own village but sometimes from neighbouring villages as well.
Process
- As soon as the saplings arrives from Guwahati, Kreseni removes the plastic cover and moves the saplings to new Polly bags containing either cattle or goat manure.
- Kreseni waters her plants at least once a day but the frequency may change depending on the climate, soil moisture and humidity. The type of flowers grown also determines the frequency and quantity of watering. Some flowers need more water while others do not.
- Once a week, Kreseni replaces the manure of those flowers and saplings that remain unsold.
In 2015, the Bio-Resource Development Centre (BRDC) under IBDLP sent Kreseni for training at Upper Shillong. Again in 2016, she went for further training at the Bakdil Walbakgre Training Centre where she learnt how to make carry bags, dry craft floral cards, slip boxes etc.
Using the raw material provided to her by BRDC, she made 700 dry craft floral cards and 50 carry bags which she sent back to BRDC and was paid Rs 50 per card. She also sells up to 150 cards per day at various festivals and events in and around Tura. At Shillong, the demand was higher for slip boxes (a kind of pouch, akin to a pencil box). Kreseni could earn up to Rs 24,000 in one festival by selling handicrafts. However, beyond the festivals, she was not able to sell much.
Kreseni married Becken Sangma in 2001, and today they have two sons who are studying in a good missionary school in classes 6 and 12 respectively. She and her husband have since hired a helper to help with their business. Her two sons too help as soon as they are back from school.
Presently, Kreseni earns a profit of approximate Rs. 70,000 per year from her nursery. She is quite happy with the way her business is shaping up and she firmly believes that she can take this profession to new heights. For now, she plans to stay focus and give all her energy to her flower nursery and her family.