Mahila Umang Producers Company grew out of over a decade of grassroots work by the Pan Himalayan Grassroots Development Foundation, which has been working on holistic mountain development in the central and western Himalaya since 1992. A non-profit predecessor, Mahila Umang Samiti was formed in 2001 as a network of women’s self-help groups; in 2009 it was formally registered as a for-profit Producers Company to provide the business ventures of its members a more appropriate and sustainable organisational structure.
Umang’s agricultural programme focuses on family farming systems and river basin restoration. Its market-facing work is built around four product lines produced by its women members: Himkhadya (cold-pressed oils, spices, safe food products, and tea sourced from Himalayan farms), Kumaoni preserves (chutneys, jams, pickles, and honey), hand-knits made by women knitters across the region, and hand-woven textiles. The product range provides a livelihood for its members while also serving as a channel for Himalayan agricultural and craft knowledge to reach markets that would otherwise be inaccessible to small producers in remote mountain villages. Umang represents a model of collective market access built around women farmers in a mountain region that is climate-stressed, ecologically fragile, and impacted by outmigration.
Know more about Mahila Umang Producers Company’s work here.
This resource is curated as part of Woman Farmer Project’s Resource Library.
The Woman Farmer Project is a multimedia storytelling initiative led by The Locavore in partnership with the Doc Society Climate Story Kitchen.
