A big Hi from Vinayak and friends. We are 4 enthusiastic progressive farmers having fairly large chunk of land for farming. Though three of us are not new to agriculture, (I am an engineer and have taken up agriculture just now and i’m a novice) we would like to know from you learned/ experienced people here that…
Where can we find leads of the companies which guide, support and buy the produce we harvest in our farms?
We are open to grow anything as long as it is out of mundane. We are more keen on exotic vegetables and energy plants.
We have contacted few companies now but would like to know more from you. We basically want to curtail middlemen business and try and sell to the companies or to the direct users with least possible supply chain.
Your suggestions are highly appreciated.
Info: We are based near Dharwad and we are looking at Bangalore, Hyderabad and Pune markets. Any Tier II cities are also ok.
Its good to hear about your plan. I also opted for the same and found certain issues which was asked by various people.
Assured Production/yield- Since you are talking about exotic vegetables these mainly exists in good hotels/restaurants and fast food points. If one can assure about the quantity then it can be worked upon.
Supply chain - One should have his own transport arrangements as relying on others may spoil the model due to the commodity perishable nature.
3.Rate variation- What would be the benchmark of rates??? if you supply directly to direct user this part can make your model work.
Right now I am trying to contact many companies that buy back the crops. By doing this at least we are assured of certain amount of crops every harvest.
You are right, transportation plays a vital role in this business. We have tied up with one transport company and eventually want to have our own fleet of vehicles.
End of the day, our endevour is to reach the end user as directly as possible. Even we are able to eliminate one or two mediators, our job is done.
As every one knows, farmers are hasty in selling their crop as they would have had enough head ache of growing it. So they sell at relatively much less prices compared to the market prices. This is tad unfair to them. We want to do justice to ourselves by eliminating unnecessary channels.
That was the intention of this post to know more about such platforms where in we can supply our produce directly to the exporters/consortiums etc.
To know about ways to eliminate middle men/agents, I have a few ideas which I can share. Please reach out to me on pawar.nithin[at]gmail[dot]com. I will share the info with you.
Exotic plans and vegetables, how to grow, what to grow and a lot of other questions you have 1 place to find answers - Kisan Expo in bangalore; 19th - 21st Jan 2015. Its a must be place for starters like us who have given up corporate life and taken up agriculture.