During the months of September and October, custard apples in Maharashtra are ready to harvest. My project is about establishing a value chain of custard apple through processing, value addition and market linkages of custard apple. In those times, I was managing the processing unit, people and paperwork, and rarely I woke up with a clear mind. Not the cocks, not the alarm or the calls wake me up rather the consciousness of what has to be done in the unit, how much fruit needs to be processed, if the hardener functioning, if fruits were procured and everything related to processing and its management help me to wake up before time. During these months, it felt like time was running ahead of the clock and a little sleep felt complete after a day long of tiring work.
Today I’ll be writing about what a day in the custard apple processing unit with 12 women looks like. In brief, It was loaded with heavy work of lifting weights, skilled work of processing, it was full of strategic moves like what work to be given to whom and creating a space to enjoy through music, dance and entertainment. As I was also supervising processing for the first time, my everyday was an experiment for the better and the good part is the previous day mistake is not repeated, and this how those 30 days of processing gave women the work they needed and me the strength to supervise the hectic work.
My day begins at 7 in the morning, waking up to the consciousness of what needs to be done today. Instantly after waking up, I fetch my diary to scribble the plan for the day, thinking about the stock of fruits that has to be processed today, no of women who would be joining in for work, sufficiency of packaging material, gloves and head cap, cleaning products etc required on a daily basis. Next to this quickly thinking about the last day’s mistake and how I can manage to avoid that today. Putting everything together on paper I get a rough idea of how my day would look. After closing this, my everyday first call goes to POC understanding the amount of fruit to be coming in for today, so that I can arrange people for sorting and grading and space to stack the crates in an organised way. Once this has been done, I’m good to come out of bed, clearing the fog of my mind, better in an action mode. After doing my routine work and having a light breakfast, I leave for the processing unit around 9.
After reaching the processing unit, it was my job to arrange the place before women arrived. I and my POC need to look for the hardened pulp of the previous day, shift the pulp from hardener to cold storage. This requires me to put my hand in a temperature below freezing point. This is the tough job because it has given me few scars that help me recall those times. Once this shifting work has been done, we put all the working utensils out in the sun and clear the space for women to sit, boil water in a chulha lit by firewood, which is to be used to wash hands while doing the work. In a quantum of an hour, all this work needs to be completed, as women generally arrive in the processing unit at 10. Once they come, the empty unit suddenly gets filled with chirping voices, clinking of utensils, and sweeping sounds of broom. Amidst all, there is attentiveness in women to my voice, they clearly listened to what I had to say as I speak in hindi, different from their native language which was marathi and there
I begin by setting a goal for the day with a reasoning so that they can have idea why different goals for different days, and this was majorly due to stock of fruits and no of women. On average there were 10 women for work, and the first 30 minutes of their arrival is a rush throughout the unit for setting things up. If you come up to visit for this hour minutes, you’ll find few women washing and sanitizing utensils, few women sorting and grading custard apple and filling crates with ripened fruits to be processed for the day, few other sanitizing the space, the machineries, themselves and their fellow friends. Some spreading mats, some pouring warm water in bowls for handwashing, some arranging empty crates to collect waste peels, and others weighing crates and placing them in a long row. In 30 minutes the majority of women arrange themselves in a long row, capped their heads and sanitized and gloved their hands with a spoon in one hand and a vessel in the other. You’ll be amazed to witness the amount of cooperation these women bring to work. They understand the work, and don’t hesitate to take the lead in doing any kind of work.
The next phase begins at 10’30 when everything is arranged, all of them sit for scooping custard apples, in a span of 40 minutes each of the women collects approximately around 7 kgs of custard apple flesh and seeds and after this 4 women takes the charge of further process of quality check, pulp extraction, packaging and storage and rest 6 continue scooping custard apples. Here the team of ten gets divided into a team of two, with 4 specialised and skilled in processing and packaging and 6 members in scooping and waste management. This division is not strict, women exchange roles if it gets monotonous for them, they support the team when it’s understaffed and have a larger quantum of work. All the women of Ahilya Gath holds an experience of working in every part of processing.
Now comes the process of pulp extraction, out of 4 women skilled in processing, 2 does the quality check and collects the scooped material and the other 2 set up the pulper machine and began operating it and collects pulp in a container. Once the pulp has been extracted, it has to be checked for any seeds or unwanted materials, two of them do the task and the other two work in filling, packaging and storage. These 4 women work closely exchanging tasks, based on needs, simultaneously working on many things and also supporting the other team by distributing them crates of fruits and collection of scooped material, processing and packaging.
In a brief Scooping process is done continuously by 6 women, and pulp extraction, quality check, packaging goes in turns. Around 12 in the noon, all the process goes simultaneously and the 1st batch of pulp is packaged and kept in the hardener for further freezing. Before we break for lunch at 1’30, two batches of pulp are packaged and stacked in hardener and the 3rd batch is processed but not packaged.
My role here is to supervise the people and the work, collect data like weights, time check, keeping a count on waste generated, do quality check, bring effectiveness and efficiency in their work, understanding which work is better done by whom, engaging people wherever they are required, aid them in their courses, make things as easier for them and look after their entertainment. While working, usually the women who are engaged in scooping get a fair time to entertain themselves which they do by singing religious songs, sometimes I make them sing bollywood songs and myself sing and groove on marathi hits.
Before breaking for lunch, the women clean up the space, discard the waste peels into collection pits, broom up the floor, and clean up the utensils for the next round of pulp extraction. They break for lunch around 1’30, for some 30 minutes and join the unit back around 2. Another round of processing begins. The pulp of 3rd batch goes for quality check and packaging and storage and scooper team begin scooping of left over fruits and two more rounds of pulp is extracted. Around 4’30 the last batch of scooped material goes for pulping and scooper team finishes their work. Now they clean the space, dispose of the peel waste in pits, wash the ustensils, broom and mop the floor. The team of 4 is still engaged in quality check of pulp, packaging and storage of pulp. By the time space is cleaned and arranged for next day, the packaging team also finish their work, they clean the machinary and the space and keep the pulp for hardening. By 5’30, all work is closed and we cheer themselves for the work they have done. Though the work is exhausting but at the end of the days seeing packets of frozen pulp satisfies the most.
The women wrap up and joyfully leave back to their homes. But my job is not done yet. I have managed the processing and the people but paper work is yet to be done. After everyone leaves me and my POC sit together to document the amount of fruits processed, pulp produced, fruits collected, the price, the expenditures for the day. We also discuss about the challenges we faced and the quality of pulp, what needs to improved, performance of women. After documenting everything we also wrap up and leave around 7. For me the day ended in a hectic but a satisfactory note. The best part about those days and is lived experience of communication, cooperation and teamwork. Women, the management team, ground coordinators from the community and the GramUrja had came together to make this daily processing a successful one.
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