MARKETING LINKAGES
STATUS REPORT March, 14, 2007

MARKETING LINKAGES

The Project Appraisal Document of JSYS has envisaged 63% growth in the agricultural production. The World Bank mission observations have placed emphasis on cultivation of high value crops and strengthening of forward linkages. Hence following steps have been initiated:

The TMI members have been demonstrated the use of 1551 Kisaan Call Center number for getting various agriculture related information such as market information, plant protection chemicals, production practices etc
 

Rose Onion Seeds Certification:
 

In Togarighatta village 50 families have been growing seeds of Onion since decade and selling through intermediaries. The seeds were taken to National Seed Project Laboratory and were found having 90% germination and even got the truthful label. Karnataka Agriculture Produce Processing and Export Corporation (KAPPEC) has come forward in procuring the seeds of rose onion. An article about the seed production activity in the village was written in the popular daily Vijaya Karnataka that generated number of enquiries. This resulted in farmers realizing a much higher price i.e. Rs9000 to Rs.10, 000/- per quintal. The earlier rates use to be in the range of Rs.5000/- to Rs.6000/- per quintal. Now the village is popularly known as Onion Village. Farmers have a newfound confidence in them. A truly satisfying innovative method of showcasing the product at a very low cost. In the month of October 2006 a workshop was held in the village in collaboration with NHRDF Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), National Seed Project, Commercial banks and KAPPEC. The workshop resulted in bringing about collaboration with NHRDF and other participating organization for meaningful collaboration in future. The work shop also dealt in detail regarding developing a Togarigatta brand of Onion Seeds. UAS Bangalore came out with a information brochure containing good agriculture practices in growing quality onion seeds. More than 100 farmers from surrounding villages participated in the programme.
 

Line Department Linkages:

All the 745 Raitha Sampark Kendra’s (RSK) of the state have been put on the GIS system. Small and marginal farmers (2074) belonging to 93 TMI’S enrolled their names by paying Re 1/- to avail 75% subsidy announced by State Department of Agriculture during the Kharif Season. (2006). This is the seed requirement for 1578.4 Hectares.

Organic Farming:
 

Bewalli TMI has formed Koundinaya Organic Farm Initiatives and currently 28 farmers who are growing vegetables have been linked to Sresta Pvt Ltd., Hyderabad. The vegetables will be procured by the company from the village itself by paying premium price of 10 to 15% and the certification cost will be borne by the company itself. Sresta has two well furnished stores in Bangalore and apartment of that they have stores in Hyderabad and Chennai under the brand name 24 Mantra Stores. A website has been designed with to explore e-commerce opportunities and the website is www.agribizindia.com.
 

Commodity specific Market in N. Vaddalli:
 

N. Vaddalli 7 kilometres away from Mulbagal located on Bangalore Madras National High way is an ideal location for Commodity specific market. The commodity in question is Tomato. The North Eastern Zone of Mulbagal taluk has sandly loam soils which is good for cultivation of tomatoes. Every day from the surrounding villages nearly 100 tons of tomatoes are traded in this market. The current state of the market is very bad in terms of infrastructure. Mostly thatched huts are acting as Mandis. A preliminary survey has been carried out and the current market is located close to the catchment of N. Vaddalli tank. More than 5000 farmers are growing tomatoes round the year. The tomatoes thus grown cater to the markets of Hyderabad, Chennai etc. Though other vegetables are traded in this market yet the quantity is negligible. Meetings have been held with the Prakruthi, a Cluster Facilitation Team working in this geographical area. Also preliminary discussions have been held with APMC Mulbagal. A detailed meeting with TMI representatives and other stake holders is scheduled in the second week of February to work on the blue print for the commodity specific market in Vaddalli. When this materializes this would be the first commodity specific market in vegetables in the state of Karnataka benefiting more than 5000 farmers. The focus here is to see that every thing required for farmer is made available under one roof. Market infrastructure for the said commodity specific market would include the following:
 

Thus a comprehensive marketing facility will usher in a new era in agriculture marketing especially a highly perishable commodity like tomato.  
 

Safal Market linkages:
 

Safal Market promoted by NDDB has one of the best facilities to handle marketing of perishable commodities such as vegetables and fruits. Though the capacity of Safal market is to handle 1600 tons of vegetables yet due to their week front end they have not been able to procure large quantity of vegetables. Currently Safal handles quantity of about 100 tons of all vegetables and fruits put together. Especially the villages located in other districts do not find it convenient to market their produce through Safal. However the villages of Kolar district have been presently linked with Safal. There are totally 97 TMI’s and from them 1097 farmers are marketing their produce through Safal Market.

Participation in ATMA:
 

The World Bank mission suggested participation of JSYS in ATMA project. And hence currently it is coordinating with ATMA project of Department of Agriculture in two districts Kolar and Haveri.

Crop Insurance:

Risk mitigation is another issue which needs to be strengthened in Project as most farmers belong to scanty rainfall area. In five villages of Tumkur DPU, 42 farmers were covered under crop insurance. The project also invited Iffco tokyo to make presentation of their crop insurance. Since there were certain flaws it was not recommended.

Marketing Specialist