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Nursery is operational. We decided to proceed in May and the nursery has been operational since July 26. It has a capacity to raise ~2 lakh saplings in one batch and as of Sep 7, FPO has raised __ saplings, sold ___ and realized ___ in revenue.
FPO directors want to digitize information contained in their registers so they have easy access to certain queries / analytics to manage their biz (total intent, advanced payments received, etc.) and share information with shareholders which is currently difficult for them to do
FPO is seeking working capital to scale nursery operations; previously the FPO was wary of taking on any debt so this is an important development that shows growing confidence / maturity / commercial sensibility
FPO feels it has a compelling offer for farmers (soil-less saplings at cheap rate) and can grow is shareholder base (which has been flat at ~500 members for the past few years; they want to grow to 1500 in the near-future)
FPO realized cost savings on inputs by aggregating member demand through KDE and purchasing in bulk from larger dealers in Bhubaneswar. Examples:
Seeds: 350-400 vs. 550
Vermi-compost 72 per kg vs 220
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