Henna as a sustainable livelihood enterprise in semi-arid Rajasthan—A SWOT analysis

Henna is a source of natural dye and is being used as a cosmetic since centuries to colour fingers, toes, palms, soles and hairs by women and men, not only of this land but all over the world. It is cultivated as a commercial dye crop for its leaves on more than 35,000 ha in the semi-arid Rajasthan and its district Pali alone occupies more than 90 per cent area. Henna is a plantation crop and provides yields up to 25 years on a sustainable basis. The farmers get remunerative yields (net returns Rs 12,450 per ha, 2003) even under drought and famine conditions. The Sojat City of the Pali district is famous for quality henna. It not only has a regulated market for henna leaves but also has a well developed processing industry. The area under henna has recorded an impressive increase of 7.17 per cent ACGR during the 1990s in the district, replacing the area of arable crops. This entails a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis of henna as a sustainable livelihood enterprise in semi-arid Rajasthan. To conduct the SWOT analysis, data have been collected through a sample (n=100) survey of henna-cultivating farmers and other stakeholders (n=45) through the structured and semi-structured interviews in the Pali district during 1999–2005. The major strengths of henna include advantages of plantation crop, assured production and employment generation ability, hardy crop not damaged by birds and animals and availability of a regulated market. At the same time major weaknesses have been high labour cost, quality deterioration by rains at harvesting time, high fluctuations in its price, and non-availability of laboratory/testing facilities. For future growth, henna possesses enormous potential in terms of rising preferences for natural dyes, and as an export commodity. Henna is also facing some threats, including non-availability of labour at critical times, damage by semi-looper pest, and competition with chemical dye products. It has been concluded that despite weaknesses and threats to henna cultivation and trade, its strengths and opportunities are strong enough to boost its growth in the area and establishing it as a sustainable livelihood enterprise in semi-arid Rajasthan.