Farmers group gram sampada
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Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Why forming a collection center approach fails in village for vegetables
Last weekend, I spent considerable amount of time to understand what challenges farmers faces when they enter into collection center approach and working with big players.
There were couple of points that came up during the discussions I had with various growers.
What you think should be done differently to succeed in village.
There were couple of points that came up during the discussions I had with various growers.
- Grading mechanism practice: It has been told by villagers that initially when a agreement is done with group of growers saying they need Tomato 100 crates daily. Next day they sent the Tata 407 to pick the crates from the growers. The truck reaches the collection center where quality check will be performed based on the agreed grading. Now during the inspection 10 crates were not meeting the quality standard (more than 10% items were rotten and intentionally put inside the tomato crate). Now the penality of these crates will be born by the group of farmers. The process of penalizing the group when there is a mistake or wrong deed of individial has caused mistrust among the progressive farmers. Hence they broke off and the grower group is dismantle.
- They buy Rs 5/kg and sell Rs20/kg: Its a general belief that buyer is earning a lot more (atleast 3 to 4 times) compared to what they pay to growers. Growers are well aware of transportation cost which can cost from ruppes .5 to 1.5 per kg. Grower always compare the rate that he gets from collection center format verses mandi format. e.g. If local/regional mandi is offering Rs. 6/kg then he will go to mandi rather than selling this to collection center.
What you think should be done differently to succeed in village.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Perish or Peril with Perishable Vegetables
Problem: Vegetables are seen low value , highly perishable. What kind of sales and marketing solution it is looking for from Retailers, e-retailers, Rediwalas.
Humm.. Lets examine each other's concern.
Local Retailers:
I'm a local shopkeepers who goes to buy vegetables and fruits from local mandi every day. My profit margins are shrinking as more and more shops are operating in the near vicinity. I'm not concerned with the perishablity because I have to buy every day, I buy only what i sell so for me it doesnot really matter. What is more concerning is my time and labour spent on buying vegetables. Usually it costs me almost 12-15k for buying vegetables on contrary to my other staples items where I dont need to go out to buy rather all distributors drop all items to my shop (Pepso,Aaata etc). Can you do something to make the vegetables supply chain very similar to other grocery items? Help me if you can!
Rediwala
Hi, My name is Uttam, I' have a small push cart which i can carry to mandi and buy vegetables and come back to residents area. My customers generally know my name and my timing. I shout my arrival and people started coming out to buy vegetables. I'm also not worried about perishability of vegetables becuase I go to buy veggies every day and i buy what i can sell.
My problem is my business is very much dependent on me. If I'm sick or travelled outside ,my business suffers. Second problem is its too much labour . I have pull the manual cart almost 20 km every day. very tough job.Thirdly I'm not allowed to go inside the gated security community becuase generally it is not allowed.
I may no longer sell vegetables but move to rickshawpullng for passenger. Its not profitable.
e-Retailers:
Hi My name is Neha and I'm e-Retailers. I generally takes order through website or phone call and delivers to my customer's doorstep. This way of direct marketing involves lot of operational cost and high service standard and not viable if the volumes are confined within 500kg. I'm also not worried about perishability rather I'm more focused on increasing the volumes.
I'm an enthusiast enterpreneur and would like to take this challenge.
At last when all the interviews are over, i sit on sofa and start thinking I thought perishability is the key hurdle in vegetables however most of the direct sellers have found a way to negotiate around this issue. Their key issue volume increase, high labour cost, transportation cost.
Conclusions
From an IT perspective,anything which is repeatable, that should be automated. Here every one goes to mandi every day to buy their share from local mandi. First opportunity to earn by shipping directly to B2B customers. That's big statement though. Its not easy but worth trying.
For an agripreneur, organized farming, planned crop planning, variety production, all season vegetables production is the key to succeed.
For a businessman, how I build a supply chain to work like dairy. standarised products and early morning delivery.
Humm.. Lets examine each other's concern.
Local Retailers:
I'm a local shopkeepers who goes to buy vegetables and fruits from local mandi every day. My profit margins are shrinking as more and more shops are operating in the near vicinity. I'm not concerned with the perishablity because I have to buy every day, I buy only what i sell so for me it doesnot really matter. What is more concerning is my time and labour spent on buying vegetables. Usually it costs me almost 12-15k for buying vegetables on contrary to my other staples items where I dont need to go out to buy rather all distributors drop all items to my shop (Pepso,Aaata etc). Can you do something to make the vegetables supply chain very similar to other grocery items? Help me if you can!
Rediwala
Hi, My name is Uttam, I' have a small push cart which i can carry to mandi and buy vegetables and come back to residents area. My customers generally know my name and my timing. I shout my arrival and people started coming out to buy vegetables. I'm also not worried about perishability of vegetables becuase I go to buy veggies every day and i buy what i can sell.
My problem is my business is very much dependent on me. If I'm sick or travelled outside ,my business suffers. Second problem is its too much labour . I have pull the manual cart almost 20 km every day. very tough job.Thirdly I'm not allowed to go inside the gated security community becuase generally it is not allowed.
I may no longer sell vegetables but move to rickshawpullng for passenger. Its not profitable.
e-Retailers:
Hi My name is Neha and I'm e-Retailers. I generally takes order through website or phone call and delivers to my customer's doorstep. This way of direct marketing involves lot of operational cost and high service standard and not viable if the volumes are confined within 500kg. I'm also not worried about perishability rather I'm more focused on increasing the volumes.
I'm an enthusiast enterpreneur and would like to take this challenge.
At last when all the interviews are over, i sit on sofa and start thinking I thought perishability is the key hurdle in vegetables however most of the direct sellers have found a way to negotiate around this issue. Their key issue volume increase, high labour cost, transportation cost.
Conclusions
From an IT perspective,anything which is repeatable, that should be automated. Here every one goes to mandi every day to buy their share from local mandi. First opportunity to earn by shipping directly to B2B customers. That's big statement though. Its not easy but worth trying.
For an agripreneur, organized farming, planned crop planning, variety production, all season vegetables production is the key to succeed.
For a businessman, how I build a supply chain to work like dairy. standarised products and early morning delivery.
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