Kudumbashree micro enterprises hit by lockdown

Kozhikode: The lockdown has hit the livelihood of women-led enterprises based on the food and agriculture set up under Kudumbashree in Kozhikode district.
The sudden declaration of lockdown has adversely impacted the revenue of Kudumbashree units that used to take orders over the phone and engaged in door-to-door delivery of items. The inclusion of district in the red zone as part of Covid-19 and travel ban following lockdown been a huge blow to Kudumbashree units and home shop business of the Kudumbashree.The travel ban has resulted in complete halt on door-to-door delivery of 82 food-based products manufactured by the members of 44 Kudumbashree home shops in Kozhikode.
Sulaikha Bavutty, coordinator of Zoy Cakes and chocolate unit of Kudumbashree said that the monthly turn over has come down as low as Rs 500 from Rs 2 lakh after the lockdown. “The travel ban and lockdown has an adverse impact on our revenue. Seven families are depending on the income from the unit to meet ends. We are unable to give this monthly salary to our staff without income and all are eagerly waiting for the lifting of the lockdown to resume operation,” she said. “We set up the unit by taking loan and need to remit Rs 45,000 per month as monthly instalment. The prolonged lockdown is making us anxious about going forward,” she said.
V Latha, secretary of Theertham packaged drinking water unit said that they mainly supply drinking water to shops and hotels in the Kozhikode city limits. “We set up the unit by taking Rs 25 lakh loan and need to remit Rs 55,000 per month as loan instalment. The sale of canned drinking water has come to 20 cans per day from 200 cans per day,” she said.
According to the district Kudumbashree mission office, 2,020 micro enterprises are working under the 1,566 Area Development Societies (ADSs) and 82 Community Development Societies (CDSs). T Gireesh Kumar, assistant district mission coordinator of Kudumbashree said that some of the units working in the apparel and textile sector have jobs as they switched over to mask and cloth bag manufacturing. “Some home shop units too got a mirage income by making sanitizers, toilet cleaners and hand washers. The food-based and agriculture-based enterprises were the most affected,” he said.