In Nonbirra village in Chhattisgarh, women once spent hours each day manually dehusking paddy using traditional tools.
A small, locally run rice mill has reduced labour, saved time and improved access to processing for nearby households.
The machine, set up by a tribal farmer with project support, now serves over 80 families across neighbouring villages.
The shift is helping generate income, support education and strengthen a local circular economy.
In this tribal village of Nonbirra in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, mornings once began with a familiar sound — the dull thud of wooden pestles, each weighing nearly 50 kilogrammes, and the grinding of stone mills. Women spent close to three hours every day dehusking paddy by hand using dhenki and jaata, a physically demanding routine repeated morning and evening. It could take up to a week to process one quintal of paddy.
“It was very tiring work,” recalls Charan Singh Rathiya, 49, from the village. “We had to clean and process paddy every morning and evening. There was no other option.”
Today, that sound has given way to the low hum of a small rice mill installed near a farmer’s home. The shift may appear modest, but for Nonbirra it has freed up time, eased labour and opened up a new source of income.
Nonbirra is a tribal-dominated village in Kartala block of Korba district. According to the 2011 Census, it has a population of 2,639 across 707 households. Around 30 per cent belong to Scheduled Tribes, with the rest comprising Scheduled Castes, Other Backward castes and general caste families.
Farming and forest produce collection are the main livelihoods. The village has three types of land — kudraili (lowland), midland and upland. Of the total 956 hectares, nearly 500 hectares are under cultivation. Paddy is grown on about 200 hectares, while pulses and oilseeds are cultivated on uplands.
Despite steady production, one gap persisted — local processing.
“There were rice mills earlier, but they were far away,” says Arun Kumar, 35, a farmer in the village. “We had to hire transport for about two kilometres, pay Rs 5 per bag of paddy, and sometimes mill the same paddy twice because the quality was poor.”
This gap was recognised by 35-year-old Arun Singh Rathia, a tribal farmer from Nonbirra. Though he studied only up to Class 2, years of farming had given him a deep understanding of how village systems function.
“I don’t have much education,” he said. “But I understand farming, livestock and machines.”
Arun lives with his wife Basanti Rathia and their three children in a pucca house. He owns around 15 acres of scattered land across different terrains, where he grows paddy, black gram, green gram, sesame and niger. He also keeps two oxen and two buffaloes.
“My oxen help reduce farming costs, and the dung is used for compost,” he explains. “I sell about five litres of milk every day.”
Before setting up the processing unit, the family earned between Rs.1.5-2 lakh annually from farming and milk sales. But rising input costs and uncertain crop prices made farming increasingly risky. That is when Arun decided to try something different.
Paddy is widely grown in and around Nonbirra — about 200 hectares in total. Over the years, productivity has improved significantly, from 3-4 quintals per hectare earlier to nearly 15 quintals today. Yet processing remained either manual or dependent on distant mills.
Arun set up a village-level paddy dehuller and pulveriser unit near his home. He was backed by JIVA — an innovative programme of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) supported by German development agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, under the Indo German Development Cooperation Project Support to Agroecological Transformation Processes in India (SuATI).
In Kartala block of Korba district, the programme is implemented by Gram Bartori Vikas Shikshan Samiti as the project facilitating agency, with technical support from non-profit WASSAN.
A key component of the JIVA programme focuses on strengthening local circular economies through value addition, certification and marketing. As part of the shift towards natural farming, it also encourages new income streams — from producing farm inputs to offering services and adding value to produce.
When this was discussed in village meetings, Arun paid close attention. He saw an opportunity.
“I knew this machine would work,” he says. “Paddy is grown everywhere here. And I have always been interested in machines.”
The unit was set up in February 2025 and became operational in March. Arun installed a single rice mill (Model 6N50V) that runs on single-phase electricity, making it suitable for rural use.
The total investment was around Rs 1.4 lakh, covering the machine, electricity connection, shed plastering and fencing. Engineers from Marsal installed the machine and demonstrated how it worked.
“There was no formal training,” Arun says. “But the technicians showed us how to operate and clean it. After that, we learned by doing.”
Today, Arun manages maintenance himself, while his wife plays a key role in operating the pulveriser, cleaning the unit and handling daily tasks.
The unit now serves around 85 households from Nonbirra and nearby villages within a five-kilometre radius, including Dongarma and Bhelwatar. On average, 2-3 quintals of paddy are processed daily, with demand rising during festivals such as Diwali, Dussehra and Gauri Gaura.
Processing charges are kept affordable — Rs 30 per bag (30 kg) of paddy, Rs 5 per kg for wheat and other grains, and Rs 10 per kg for turmeric and chilli processing.
“I usually run the unit in the evenings,” Arun says. “During the day, I work on my farm.”
Word spread quickly. “Earlier, we had to spend money on transport,” says a woman farmer. “Now we can just walk here. The rice comes out clean in one go.”
The unit now earns Arun around Rs 5,000-6,000 a month — a steady supplementary income that helps the family manage when crops fail or prices fall.
But the benefits are not limited to earnings.
By-products such as bran and husk are used as livestock feed, reducing fodder costs. Surplus husk is sold locally at Rs 3 per kg. Women no longer spend hours pounding grain by hand. Farmers save time, money and effort.
“This machine has reduced our work a lot,” says Basanti. “Now we have more time for farm work.”
The additional income has also allowed Arun to invest in his children’s education. His sons, Yashwant and Rimanshu, now study in Classes 7 and 3 at an English-medium school.
“I want them to study more than I did,” he says.
What stands out about the Nonbirra unit is its simplicity. It is small, locally run and farmer-led. There are no complex supply chains — demand comes directly from the community.
It also shows how decentralised processing can strengthen village economies by keeping value, labour and by-products within the local system.
GBVSS provided financial support to Arun in the form of a loan to set up the unit, which he will begin repaying in instalments from March 2026. The revolving fund will then support other local entrepreneurs, creating a cycle of investment within the community.
Arun’s paddy dehuller offers a glimpse of how small, appropriate technologies — when combined with local knowledge and modest institutional support — can strengthen livelihoods while making better use of local resources. By-products that once left the village are now reused as livestock feed, reinforcing a circular approach to farming and income.
Aniket Likhar works as Regional Coordinator for Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) in Nagpur, Maharashtra; Kalyan Patra works as a Senior Program Officer for WASSAN in the North Coast region of Andhra Pradesh; and Suryakant Soulakhe is the President of Gram Bartori Vikas Shikshan Samiti (GBVSS), Korba, Chhattisgarh.
Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth