Sri Sri Rural Development Program Trust(SSRDP)
- Gautam Mandewalker
Visit date | Aug 19, 2022 |
FPC | Sharavanbelegola Coconut Farmers Producers Company Limited |
Supported by | SSRDP and NABARD |
Board members | 5 Male and 1 Female (To be expanded to 15 members) |
Shareholder farmers (SHF) | 607 Farmers (150 are Female) |
Staff | CEO(Marketing Degree) & Accountant(M.Com) |
Share capital | Rs. 1200 |
Years of operation | 1 Year (1st Audit has been conducted) |
Total revenue till date | 30 Lakhs |
Crop focus | Coconut(main crop), Raagi millet, Ginger, Rice |
Other details | They have now established FIGs and each FIG has a leader. They have easy access to local coconut mandi as that is one the place of large trade of coconuts in different forms and is sent to different parts of the country. |
Participants | |||
|---|---|---|---|
FPO | DG Program | DG Product | DG Technology |
| @ashok | @Gautam Mandewalker @Satish Chandra | @Razak K M @chandrashekar M S @Kanhaiya Suthar |
Story
Some of the educated farmers realized that selling value-added products can fetch them more revenue per coconut tree compared to just selling the coconuts. They came together and worked on setting up the FPC to achieve the vision.
They want to introduce products like:
Cold pressed oils
Neera Products
Hand-made gift items from coconut residues
Coir and Cocopeat production
Although it has been close to a year now they are unhappy that there is very less participation from SHF in FPC activities. SHF are not motivated to be part of the FPC.
They have hired a CEO who is a having a Marketing Degree and board feels he may need more handholding from development agencies like SSRDP, DG etc.
Board members feel that farmers being executive members is not beneficial, it should be professionals.
Business activities
Activity | What went well | What did not go well |
|---|---|---|
Tender coconut trading |
| Produce was not from the SHF, but was from other farmers and middle men. Why? Because SHF gave the produce to other traders. Why? Because SHF were comfortable giving it to them and ignored FPC requests, FPC could have offered better pricing. Why? Because they have old business relationships with them and did not wanted to change their existing buyers. Why? Because the traders give them advance money and come with harvesting teams which makes it very easy for farmers. We don't have capital for advance payment and to hire harvesting labour to perform this style of execution. Why? Because we don’t have that updated information handy. Why? Because its a manual process done on paper and then updated in XLS sheets. We don’t have any digital process to do this activity. |
Inputs selling (Fertilisers ) | Suppliers: RSK Hassan Urea, 20-20 Complex, Organic neem cakes/powder. Brands: IFFCO, FACT, KRIBCHO, KORAMANDAL(GROMORE), Amrutha organics.
| There is a possibility that we may not be able to sell everything. RCA --> Why? Because we don’t have information on how much input will be consumed. Why? Because we did not know what needs to be done. Why? Because we don’t have the know how of conducting such inventory based business and what tools to use. Our CEO needs some training and tools so that he can do this effectively. |
Other business activities
The board members are interested in establishing other businesses which are aligned to their vision.
Business | High-level details | Benefits to farmers |
|---|---|---|
Cold pressed oils |
Challenges:
|
|
Neera Production unit |
Challenges:
|
|
Crafts and Gift items | Low priority | NA |
Cocopeat and Coir production |
| Farmers can make some money out of waste/residue. |
Next steps
DG products team to meet larger sample of SHF and understand their issues.
DG products team to plan digitization options.
DG programs and strategy team to review feasibility of shared asset business options, once more information is received from the FPC.
Opportunity for DG training department to work on how to spread awareness about FPC advantages for farmers through videos or workshops. @sanjeev (Unlicensed)
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