Notes from Feb 2 demo w Tarun Katoch
What really drives member stickiness with an FPO?
Farmers are most interested in how can you help me sell at better price?
Getting to the first crore of output sales is huge; farmers see that the FPO adds value and have seen groups that go from 1 to 6cr in terms of offtake in a single season (as more members come on-board)
Credit
Inputs
Instilling a sense of ownership and high member engagement are critical for an FPO to succeed
cooperatives in dairy work well bc there are daily transactions
FPOs need to work on internal comms and getting members to participate in governance; Dvara is still figuring this out
Farmers meet local traders regularly and have long standing relationships; how can FPOs re-create this when they are large / diffuse?
Dvara’s model is super hands on; they have teams of people focused on inputs and output marketing including doing tie-ups with suppliers / buyers. Dvara steps in and serve as a mediator when there are disputes over quality btwn FPO and buyer (which happens often)
Currently promoting 25 FPOs in Rajasthan, MP, Odisha, Maharashtra
Critical to have a Dvara person on-site to handle data collection. Tried leaving this to the CEO/BOD/Accountant at the FPO but the data needs to be accurate and timely and they were not able to deliver.
Dvara is charging for their services but not sure exactly how much
Khet score, which is an output of the analytics suite (see below) combines two perspectives: (i) potential of the land (based on nutrient soul condition derived, exposure to flood/drought and other risks from RS) and (ii) discipline of the farmer (track whats happening on the field over multiple years)
Score ranges from 20 to 100; above 50, OK to lend
Some screenshots from their dashboard below. While in theory, this is for the CEO and BOD, reality is that they work on intuition and Dvara has fortnightly calls with the CEO and BOD to go through everything captured in the dashboard and drive things forward
Farmer Profile
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List of Nearby Warehouse Providers
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Landing Page
Incl a 5 day weather forecast; futures and spot prices
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FPO Input Shop
(Apparently this also accessible via farmer facing app as well)
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Digitized Plot Boundaries
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Notes from Feb 1 call w CEO Sanjay Mansabdar
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