Remote Chail hamlets reap rich harvest with off-season greens
A small hamlet in the serene hills of Chail,Chabeet,is now on the world map for being the highest demonstration site of Bharti-Walmart.
A small hamlet in the serene hills of Chail,Chabeet,is now on the world map for being the highest demonstration site of Bharti-Walmart. For 68-year-old Roop Ram Verma,who owns the farm,its the season to grow vegetables. And his season means growing off-season vegetables.
Farmers in Chabeet and adjoining villages such as Fanewati,Thund,Nova,Kumhali,Kalhot and Bud,still tune in to the evening radio broadcast to know the rates of vegetables in Solan and Shimla mandis. At 9 every morning,they send a SMS or call the Walmart collection centre at nearby Jeetnagar village to know the rate on offer. If higher,they ask the centre to pick up produce from their farm. The crates of vegetables are brought in vans to be weighed and sorted at the centre – the ones with better quality,colour and maturity sell at a little premium.
Bharti-Walmart is procuring 20 to 30 tonnes of tomatoes,beans,cabbage,capsicum and cauliflowers per week from villages within a radius of 60 kilometres,right up to Theog. From the collection centre at Jeetnagar,the vegetables travel to Walmart distribution centres in Palwal in Haryana and Sirhind in Punjab. From there,they reach Walmart stores across north India in cool vans.
Now nearly 150 small and marginal farmers owning up to 12 to 15 bighas of land (up to three acres) are supplying to Walmart. In anticipation of scaling up its operations after its multi-brand retail foray,it is training nearly 600 farmers.
Unlike the mandi,the payment is not prompt. It is noted down in the log books and made through the lead farmer — Om Prakash who manages all payments at the centre — in cash “if needed” or cheque that comes into the farmer’s account after 15 days.
But farmers like Roop Ram of Chabeet or Manoj Kumar from Fanewati village are counting the gains. “The income of farmers here is seasonal. It is too cold here to grow vegetables and fruits in winters at such high altitudes. So whatever we earn is from growing off-season vegetables in summers. The cost we get from Walmart is only Rs 1 or 2 higher than the mandis. But now we do not go all the way and spend a day at Solan or Shimla mandi for selling vegetables. The company picks it up from the farms,” say Roop Ram and Bhumiraaj of Chabeet village.
Walmart claims the gains are also in terms of technology. “We also educate farmers on agronomic practices. Farmers here are now growing tomatoes using staking technique – the plant is supported by iron wire and bamboos. It increases crop life and improves air flow. The seedling is prepared using cocopit soil made from coconut residue. We are also educating them about preparing vermicompost,seeds and quality and quantity of pesticide,” says Bharti-Walmart’s senior manager,Dr Arvind Kumar.
It is not just off season vegetables that will be in Walmart’s food basket from Himachal. “We are going to engage apple growers from the Theog-Kinnaur belt next year,” Kumar added.
However while the direct farm programme gives the farmer the freedom to “choose the buyer that pays higher”,unlike contract farming,it offers no buyback guarantee or price assurance.
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