Study on different Marketing initiatives of Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

Branding of NPM products:

Zilla samakhyas are encouraged build brands at district level. This branding helped them to sell the produce locally to the selected customers like doctors, teachers and other health conscious people. Five zilla samakhyas developed own brands. The products available are mostly non perishables, only exception is “Prakruthi” of Rangareddy zilla samakhya which is selling vegetables. So far Rs.11.20 Crores worth products are sold under different brands. Following table shows the brand wise sales:

 

Name of the district	Brand	Commodities	Turnover in Rs.
Srikakulam	Sahaja Thrupthi	Rice Pickles	20lakh 50 lakhs
Khammam	Kinnera	Rice, Redgram,Chillie powder	30 lakhs 20 lakhs
Guntur	Amaravathi	Dry Chillies, Chilli powder, Green chillies, Vegetables	6.00 crores
Ranga Reddy	Prakruthi	Vegetables	3.50 crores
Adilabad	Susthira	Rice	50 lakhs
Total			11.20 Crores

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are working to register common brand at state level and getting it registered.

 

Pesticide free chillies for export:

Production of pesticide free chillies is one of the biggest challenges and it is more so in Guntur district. Pesticide free chillies have huge demand in international markets. SERP initially focused on production of pesticide free chillies to reduce cost of cultivation of SHG members. Incidentally some of the exporters came to know about this initiative and buyers from seven countries including Germany visited fields to have a firsthand learning on production processes. Buyers are satisfied with production process and tied up with local lab which has international reputation for testing pesticide free chillies.

In first two years SERP sponsored testing of chillies and SHG members also trained using small testing kit for moisture and initial quality check. After three years market forces taken up the initiative and now it is operated by market forces. In the first year only one exporter is involved and now many exporters joined the market. SHG members are now able to access premium ranging from Rs.950 to Rs.1850 per quintal based on the quality of the produce.  The produce is kept under joint custody after drawl of first sample. After testing the sample in India same will be tested again in Germany before premium is released.

Aggregation model in Warangal:

This model is developed by using the existing collection center at Ontimamidi. This model does not require any investment except for vehicle for transport. This is one of the simplest interventions which yields maximum benefits. This is risk free model as there is no speculation or processing involved. This model operates on it’s own and self sustaining.

15 farmers of Pochhannapet village are inspired by SHG movement and formed into livelihood groups. They started savings @Rs.100/month and raised corpus of Rs.5.4lakhs. Now efforts are on to convert these livelihood groups into Commodity interest groups. They are enrolled into PGS this year; this will enable them to access premiums for pesticide free produce.

Collection center is the nerve center for aggregation. Major buyers at this center includes Relience fresh, More, Heritage, big bazaar etc. Farmers of Pochannapeta aggregate the produce of the farmers from 16 groups and sell at Ontimamidi collection center. They hired a vehicle for transport and now they are mobilizing funds to buy a vehicle for transport.

Average price fetched by the farmers is 30% higher than the local market in Warangal and Hanumukonda. Interesting feature in this model is there is defacto “support price for tomato”. Perfect weighing and zero handling charges are other attractive features of this model. Price for the commodities and required quantities are informed to farmers well in advance. Net premium achieved is Rs.24 lakhs in four months for sixty farmers.   

Payment is prompt and is done through online transfers on weekly basis. Spot payment is also done for occasional suppliers.

Farmers are able to understand the market dynamics and preferences of consumers. Critical issue is surplus production in Khariff and Rabi seasons and shortages in summer months, farmers growing one or two vegetables over a large area which fetched good price in previous season. They are into production plans particularly in summer as a group so that variety of vegetables are grown required quantities as a group, supplying graded vegetables is essential feature of this initiative.

Marketing in Rythubazars:

Rythubazars are one of the important trade centers for vegetables. Some districts are allotting one or two stalls for selling pesticide free produce with fair price i.e Rs.1-2 /Kg premium. Rythubzars around CMSA villages are marked and efforts are on to establish stalls in all rythubazars. So far stalls in 16 rythubazars are established in 13 districts. This initiative enables middle class consumers in accessing pesticide free produce.

Accessing better price through Market intelligence:   

Free SMS based service is provided by “Fasal”, M/S Intuit for farmers connecting them to local mandi agents and potential buyers with their mobile nos.  Pilot is done in five districts and the results are encouraging. Now we reached 12 districts and more than 26,032 farmers. Crops covered include vegetables, red chillies, cotton and onion. This initiative enabled the farmers to access better price, reduced transaction time in mandi and increased bargaining power.

Marketing certified products:

Selected organic farmers are enrolled and trained on organic certification practices and documentation.  At regular intervals, inspection visits and auditing are conducted. PGS is being implemented in 153 villages with 1147 farmers and 300 farmers are now eligible for certification under PGS green. This initiative is done in convergence with National Center for Organic Farming (NCOF), Ghaziabad.