Tapping into the retail magic

Don Taylor, chief of party, GMED, says it was soon after entering India two-and-a-half years ago with the larger goal of promoting employment that they began looking at integrating small farmers in the retail chain. 8220;Traditionally, big retailers believe that small farmers can8217;t supply either the bulk or quality required for retailing, but we wanted to change that mindset by introducing better farm practices among marginal farmers. We also wanted to set up a model wherein farmers produce for an assured market with minimal risk,8221; Taylor explains.

Last year, Taylor approached ITC Ltd, which gave its nod to the project. Today, the GMED-ITC partnership boasts three clusters at Malerkotla Punjab, Pune Maharashtra and Hyderabad Andhra Pradesh. The results are mind-boggling. A GMED survey among 150 farmers at Malerkotla 15 days ago found that their production had increased by 27.8 per cent, the cost of cultivation had fallen by 12 per cent, and their income had gone up by a handsome 32 per cent. Malerkotla farmers peg their net returns from an acre of vegetables at Rs 2 lakh a year.

But laying the foundation for this model required serious trolling through the fields for the right set of farmers. 8220;We wanted young, innovative farmers who were not involved in local politics and had some experience in horticulture,8221; says Dev Dutt Singh, director, fruit and vegetables, GMED, which is headquartered in Jaipur.

Once the farmers were on board, it was time for expert guidance. GMED flew in Benzoin Havkin from the US, an irrigation and vegetable expert, to Malerkotla for six months in February last year, and flew out three farmers8212;one from each cluster8212;for a 17-day training at California.

Rajeev Sharma, an ITC extension officer at Malerkotla, says Havkin tested the soil and prepared a fertiliser as well as an irrigation schedule for the farmers. 8220;He found that they used too much urea and completely omitted potash. So he made sure that they started using potash as well.8221;

He also introduced the farmers to drip irrigation system. Chamkaur Singh of Soian village, who got the system installed on 1.5 bighas of land, is all praise. 8220;It not only reduces water and fertiliser inputs, but also keeps weeds at bay and increases the output.8221;

While drip irrigation is yet to catch on due to the prohibitive cost8212;Dev Dutt Singh rues that the Central government gives 50 per cent subsidy to fruit-growers, but none to horticulturists8212;planting of seedlings in trays has become the norm in this belt.

The villagers, says Narinder Singh, an ITC extension officer, have also gotten used to grading their vegetables and the refrigerated truck that visits the four collection centres at Jamalpura, Delelgarh, Narike and Soina every day to collect their produce and take it to Chandigarh.

Mohd Ashraf, 20, of Jamalpura village, whose father Saif-ur-Rehman was among the first to join the GMED-ITC partnership, is also appreciative about the venture. 8220;It saves us the cost of going to the mandi. We get a fixed price every day, which is almost always better than that of the mandi, where price varies from hour to hour. Also, there is more transparency in weighing and we get our money the very next day.8221;

Now farmers hope that the partnership will widen their market, which in turn will assure them enduring profits instead of the seasonal gluts that have them dumping their produce on the streets. Taylor, who is now holding parleys with other corporates like Reliance to replicate the model, certainly hopes to do so. 8220;With the retail sector booming, the demand is so great that the farmers need not worry. Our aim is to introduce as many marginal farmers as possible to the supply chain so that farming becomes a profitable enterprise for them.8221;

His goal: a million farmers in the supply chain in the next five years.

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