About Pochampally:

Pochampally is a mandal in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh and is popularly known as Silk City of India. Pochampally is an interesting collage of tradition, history, heritage and modernity. It is surrounded by hills, tanks and ponds, and lush green fields, spread-out silk warps, neera tapping from palm trees, mat-making women, open-sky chatrashala houses, a perennially full tank, hills, temples, Vinoba Mandir - Bhoodan Ashram and cultural complexes.

Market Assessment:

The weaving cluster in Pochampally has around 10000 weaving families in over 100 villages. Pochampally weave is popularly known as ikkat or tie-and-dye weave. The uniqueness lies in the transfer of design and colouring onto warp and weft threads first and then weave them together. Here, the art of Ikkat weaving is honed to a degree of precision that fills the onlooker with awe and it has placed this centre of silk weaving on the textile map of the world. The weave is both on cotton and silk. While a few villages including Pochampally village have more silk weavers, other villagers have more cotton weavers. The active weavers are in the age group of 30-45. While the younger migrate, the older people are having to retire early due to fluorosis. Most of the male members in the weaving households are educated, while the females are not. The male literacy rate in the area is 60-70%, while the female literacy rate is 25-30%. Though a weaving cluster, the villages have around 10000 non-weaving families surviving on other livelihoods like toddy tapping, fishing, basket making and agricultural labor.

Prime Issues Faced:

In the past decade, almost 50% of the weavers in Pochampally have had to switch to other vocations. A major reason was the copying of their designs by power mills that sold their saris at much cheaper rates. “If a sari made by a weaver costs about Rs 700, the same design copied by a power loom costs only Rs 300. Such competition was simply killing them,” says senior Andhra Pradesh cabinet minister K Rosaiah. After a long fight, an Intellectual Property Rights has been received in the Geographical Indications category for the ikkat tie-and-dye sari. Efforts are in progress to get the rights for other designs also. This will be a big boon to the traditional tie-and-dye fabric, which has seen falling demand due to competition from cheaper power loom fabrics.

A majority of the weavers are poor. While several weavers leave the villages in search of employment, several members belonging to weaving as well as families come into the cluster from outside to take up weaving. These in and out migrations, create their own problems in the society, and the independent weavers get affected. The prices offered for their products do not appear to be fair. Some weavers are paid on a piece rate. Even if there are small defects they do not receive the entire money. Newer designs and innovations are not encouraged as they do not receive any incentives. Moreover, hand loom product sales are not limited by production issues but by the lack of a dedicated consumer base and effective marketing. Therefore, it is necessary to link the weavers with the market and increase awareness among them.

Another issue is the pollution caused by the dyes used in the vibrant saris and materials produced in the village. As the borewells of the neighbouring villages are not polluted, it is believed that the chemical dyes used for the silk yarn are causing quite a bit of the pollution in Pochampally. There were reports of high fluoride levels in natural water resources. Presence of fluoride beyond acceptable limits in the water leads to less fastness of colors and early retirement of the weavers. The weavers complain that when they consume water from the borewells, their bones ache and so they buy water for their drinking needs. Each weaver’s family on an average spends Rs. 10 a day for the water, which is transported by tankers from Hyderabad.

About Aksharakriti:

Akshara Network for Development Support Services, Hyderabad has responded to the report of distress among the weavers of Pochampally by interacting and strengthening the people’s institutions in Pochampally. Later, Akshara became the implementing partner of software component of Endogenous Tourism Project (ETP) Pochampally, supported by UNDP and Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. In addition to working in Pochampally village, Akshara began interactions with other players (both Government and NGOs) in the Pochampally cluster to understand the situation and build partnerships.

As a part of its work related to ETP so far, Akshara facilitated a participatory Current Reality Assessment in Pochampally, from which certain plans emerged. To date, the plans have been/are being realized include:

• An improved access to credit beyond a production cycle (of individual artisans and the collective) to enable the artisans break out of existing supply channels
• A fund to enable them absorb the initial risks of market failure in designs and value-added products
• Improved design tie-ups including services of designers, and training and design skills to selected weavers
• Trainings to women SHGs on ready-made garment making
• Decorative basket & pots making
• Short film on Pochampally Tourism attractions
• Pamphlet on tourism and Ikkat weaving process
• Brochure on Pochampally Craft, history, heritage and Tourism attractions
• Web site: www.kalanetha.com
• Water de-fluoridation and supply

Our role:

Our most important goal is to understand the economics and operations of the weaving cluster, and document the same. Some of the things which we will be doing during and after the road-trip are:

• Market the story of Pochampally weavers through social media
• Increase flow of tourists for a themed tour of a weaving village
• Open up bigger markets for Pochampally woven products through e-commerce sites
• Streamline the production to market cycle, and look for avenues for process improvements

- Fabulinus