Recognising the inefficiencies and exploitative nature of the middlemen setup, Okay Ranjit Kumar and 120 farmers from Tamil Nadu determined to take issues into their very own arms. They now export their produce to Australia, Canada, and France.
Nestled within the ambit of the Western Ghats, 120 farmers in Pollachi village of Tamil Nadu usually acquire their nutmeg produce on the village centre. After segregating and sorting, their produce is bought to the tip shopper with out involving middlemen.
Vishwanath, who grows nutmeg on 11 acres of land, says, “Middlemen used to come back to our home and take the produce from us. There was little scope of negotiation as they might quote the worth as per their selection. We didn’t know the precise value at which our produce was being bought to the tip person.”
To get out of the extremely unorganised sector, the Pollachi village farmers undertook an revolutionary and transformative initiative to maximise the earnings from their nutmeg yield by ditching the middlemen.
As many as 120 farmers, together with Vishwanath, got here collectively to kind a Farmer Producer Firm (FPC) to collectively promote their produce to finish customers.
This strategic shift enabled the farmers to personally export nutmeg produce to worldwide markets reminiscent of Australia, Canada, and France, marking a big milestone of their agricultural journey.
“This was the primary time our produce was exported. It’s only a new starting for us,” smiles the 48-year-old farmer.
Yearly, the farmers are capable of generate a enterprise of Rs 3 crore. With collective efforts, they’ve been capable of increase their revenue. “Earlier, we’d get solely Rs 300 per kg for our produce. Due to lack of expertise, we weren’t conscious of easy methods to negotiate a greater deal. Now, we’re capable of promote our produce at Rs 470 per kg,” provides Vishwanath, who earned earnings of Rs 50,000 by promoting 550 kg of nutmeg final 12 months.
This might have been doable as a result of efforts of visionary farmer Okay Ranjit Kumar, who went on to kind the FPC with a give attention to nutmeg cultivation and commerce, aiming to empower small to medium-sized farmers and revolutionise the standard farming practices prevalent within the area.
A vital coalition
After pursuing increased training in nanotechnology from Cambridge College, Ranjit labored in Bengaluru for 2 years. He returned to his village in 2017 after his father fell unwell. “My father had persistent renal illness and his situation was slowly deteriorating. I made a decision to return house and take care of my mother and father,” he provides.
Upon returning house, he needed to take care of the 60-acre farmland of his household. That’s when Ranjit determined to enterprise into nutmeg cultivation. “In comparison with different conventional crops like coconut, I made a decision to develop nutmeg as it’s recognized for its twin yield of nutmeg and mace. It’s a prized commodity for farmers within the area,” he shares.
Quickly, Ranjit understood that the present provide chain concerned a number of intermediaries together with aggregators, wholesalers, native liaison, and middlemen. At every stage, they had been producing appreciable earnings, greater than the growers.
“I used to be rising nutmeg on 10 acres of land. For merchants, I used to be a really small farmer. They might come to my place and begin ranting about high quality with none convincing remarks,” he says.
“As soon as, I acquired irritated and requested the middlemen to present me an evidence on the very best quality of nutmeg. We acquired right into a heated argument and he ran away from my home. I got here to know that different farmers had been on the mercy of merchants. Whereas we do all of the labour work from harvesting to drying the produce on wet days, they maintain exploiting us. The key to our success lay in chopping all these intermediaries,” he says.
This incident was a turning level for Ranjit. Recognising the inefficiencies and exploitative nature of this setup, he and the farmers determined to take issues into their very own arms.
Breaking free from conventional constraints
Ranjit began reaching out to likeminded farmers to streamline the availability chain course of and set up direct contact with exporters. They steadily fashioned an FPC to bypass the middlemen.
He organised a sequence of coaching programmes and area visits to establishments such because the ICAR (Indian Council of Agricultural Analysis) – Indian Institute of Spices Analysis (IISR) to know scientific cultivation strategies, high quality requirements, appropriate varieties, soil testing, and post-harvest practices.
The FPC applied practices reminiscent of aggregating produce at a typical location for high quality evaluation, segregating first-grade materials for direct export, and promoting second-grade materials to native merchants for oil extraction.
This focused strategy not solely ensured higher returns for the farmers but in addition highlighted the significance of sustaining excessive requirements in agricultural produce.
Furthermore, Ranjit says, the FPC launched monetary transparency by establishing a devoted checking account for all transactions to be able to improve accountability and belief among the many members.
Past the financial developments, the FPC additionally goals to discover various makes use of of nutmeg byproducts, reminiscent of utilising the fruit to supply worth added merchandise like jam, jellies, and pickles. “This diversification technique not solely enhances the product portfolio but in addition opens up new avenues for market enlargement and income era,” says Ranjit.
By collaborative efforts and revolutionary methods, Ranjit has not solely empowered the farmers however impressed them to interrupt free from conventional constraints and pave the best way for sustainable progress within the nutmeg business.
“Right here, I’ve to play a number of roles from being the watchman, clerk, auditor to supervisor of the corporate. However on the finish, I derive contentment in the truth that I used to be capable of finish the plight of 120 farmers in my village. These small farmers who lacked traceability and didn’t know the place their produce was being bought are actually exporting their crop to far off locations in Australia and Canada,” he says.
Edited by Padmashree Pande. All images: Ranjit Kumar.
