28-March-2025

Sona Buru Jungle Producer Company: A Women-Led Community Enterprise in Jharkhand

The company iss established with the objective to empower Adivasi women by transforming their traditional role as forest product collectors into a structured, profit-driven enterprise. With its leadership entirely composed of Adivasi women, SBJPC stands as a powerful testament to women's empowerment and the responsible and profitable use of seasonal forest products.

Sona Buru Jungle Producer Company (SBJPC) is a women-led Producer Company established in Simdega, Jharkhand, with Adivasi women serving as its board of directors, promoters, and shareholders. The women from the three blocks of Bano, Jaldega, and Kolebira—Simdega district—who are traditional collectors of seasonal forest products (SFPs), came together to form a producer company focused on the sustainable collection, aggregation, and sales of forest produce.

Building a Sustainable and Equitable Forest Economy

The producer company creates scope for economies of scale, mechanisation for efficiency, and aggregation of produce—while simultaneously formalising the lower end of the forest supply chain, namely, women's labour. This formalised approach ensures fair value for women collectors, while promoting sustainability and profitability in the forest economy.

The Initiative on the Forest Economy (IoFE) conducted a two-day capacity-building workshop on 25th and 26th March 2025 in Jharkhand for the board of directors (BoDs) and women members from Bano, Kolebira, and Jaldega blocks of SBJPC. Through interactive skits, storytelling, and group exercises, the training ensured equal and active participation, making complex concepts accessible to all.

Over 60 women gathered at the Panchayat Office in Bano for the workshop, displaying exceptional enthusiasm and leadership potential. Notably, despite it being the peak mahua season—a time of high-income potential—they willingly sacrificed two days of earnings to attend the training.

Women participants:

Capacity Building Workshop by the Initiative on the Forest Economy (IoFE)

Looking Ahead: Women as Architects of Change

With a clear vision to facilitate a large-scale Sal seed sale via their Producer Company, the BoDs and members of SBJPC have actively strategized and developed a plan of action for the upcoming season. Their goal is to ensure efficient and effective aggregation of Sal seeds across their villages and blocks.

These women aren't just participants—they are architects of change, ready to scale forest-based livelihoods. With their leadership, Sona Buru Jungle Producer Company is poised to become a model for community-owned forest enterprises, strengthening the forest economy and transforming forest-based livelihoods.