Last month I met a colleague of mine who introduced me to a concept in farming that I think would work very well in India. The concept is called ‘Community Assisted Agriculture’ (CSA). It basically works like this, a bunch of consumers buy shares in a farm for the year. The consumers basically underwrite the farm for that year. The farmers then share the produce of the year with the consumers in the ratio of the number of shares purchased by the consumers. This model works best for produce like Fruits and vegetables which can be grown through labor intensive techniques and have short growing seasons.
Community Supported Agriculture started in Germany in the 1960’s due to fears of food shortage in the Europe at that time. In the 1966 Japanese women started Community Supported Agriculture under the name ‘Teikei’ again due to the lack of arable land and increase in food imports into Japan. It is called. Later the movement spread to Switzerland and rest of Europe. The concept was based on Bio-dynamic agriculture.
Community Supported Agriculture reached US in the 1980’s due to the efforts of German farmers who spread the concept in the US. Today North America has about 13,000 CSA projects. The largest one called ‘Farm fresh to you’ has more than 13, 000 families in California.
The system requires three important groups to work well together.
Farmers- These are the actual group that tills the land and produces the produce. The farmers work independently with little or no interference from the consumers.
Controllers- This group consists of a mix of farmers and consumers which act as a governing body. They fix the prices for the shares, collect the dues, organize for market fairs and arrange for the produce to be transported to distribution areas near the consumers.
Consumers- They form the group that buys and underwrites the risk for the farmers. Most consumers support local farmers as this also encourages the local community. An average share costs $ 350-500 for the produce that lasts for about 14-20 weeks.
All three groups work closely to ensure that the farmers are supported with fair prices, at the same time consumers get good produce, which is grown in a safe and healthy way minus all additives and chemical which might be harmful.
Now we should be using a similar concept in India. Today the biggest challenge faced by the Farmers today is the lack of fair price and no risk mitigation from crop failures and natural disasters. Especially vegetable and fruit farmers can form a logical cohort with local community to form a Community Supported Agriculture.
The benefits to both are immense. Farmers will find a ready market and can cut out the middle men who have been blamed for much of the ills of the farming community today.
So let take an example in Bangalore itself, residents of Bangalore suburbs could form a community project with the local farmers in the region. As all the produce would be consumed locally the distribution costs would be much lower. Also the local farmers can have their produce insured and also have a good price for them. Last but not the least, as the local farmers can be encouraged to follow environmental friendly practices; this would be a eco friendly solution as well.
FDI in retail, is supposed to help farmers by making corporations buy the produce directly from farmers. But rather than putting their faith in big corporations, I think the farmers are better off with the local community. This is particularly good for small and marginal farmers who can pool in together in the community scheme.
Almost 70% of Indians are in agriculture, it is time that the other 30 % pool in to support them.
I feel that FDI would be a much better option for the following reasons:
ReplyDelete1) On an average 35% of our produce is lost due to wastage and the lack of adequate storage technology which will be provided by these big shots.
2) It also works on removing the middle-men model where produce is directly collected by farmers in a center which is easily accessible by nearby farmers. This is also followed by Reliance but without the right technology.
3) The back end infrastructure required for transportation, storage etc. can be provided by walmarts, tesco etc which will enable a greater percentage amount paid by end-consumer directly to the farmers.
4) Both organized and unorganized sector will benefit from it.
I sincerely hope that the misery of our farmers end soon as they form an integral part of our economy,whatever the way be.
Hi Sumeet
ReplyDeleteSome excellent thoughts. I feel CSA will help the cause as much as FDI. As all locally produced fruits and Vegetables would be consumed by the residents, the wastage will be much lower. Also As this would be a direct exchange between farmers and consumers the middle men are totally eliminated. Short supply chain would not require massive cold storage to be built. I thonk the farmers issue is a lot more complex, there are far more farmers than we require with almost 70 % of the population engaged in this activity. I think the issue is to boost manufacturing which will absorb more people and relieve the pressure on the land.
you are right. the question is who will bell the cat? the govt is in no mood to listen and the anna team is busy with lokpal.... hope mamta and the left parties take it up
ReplyDelete@Migiceye Luckily for us to establish CSA we don't need the politicians. A group of consumers can join in with a bunch of local farmers. The model works best for fruits and vegetables.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this most nteresting article. I can draw a parallel to the concept of maintenance charged by private builders/ apartment complex societies. I am responsbible for the way my corridor looks. Extending that philosophy to CSA do not see why we cant be responsbible for what we cultivate and consume. That is not to say that we will not face any issues with CSA. But given the constraints we face - the major one beng supply chain - I feel we should give this a shot. I know some people who have started visiting vilage subzi mandis near Bangalore to buy the produce from farmers. Food stays fresh for longer, even without the fridge and the entire mandi is an opportunity to understand the dynamics of the farming community.
ReplyDeleteFor private operators to give us this quality of vegetables, it will take them at least 10 years because supply chain depends largely on transport infrastructure - which is a different Ministy from agrculture or retail.
Hi Arch
ReplyDeleteThank you
I agree that we could band together as a CSA and take up shares in a farm to cover their risk as well. the analogy you draw to people going to mandi's and buying from them is true.
The Retail chains only see India as a market and they would source from wherever it is cheaper to procure. A CSA on the other hand looks to focus on the local community.
Good :)
ReplyDeleteThe exploit factor v/s sustenance considerations, is central. I think the entire 70% cannot be absorbed by commercial jobs alone. Unless the planners and economist has a better, data backed refutation.
Eliminating the middle men will be very very difficult. The middlemen come from both the organized(goverment) and un-organized(private). Nothing short of a revolution will resolve this.
The middlemen should be sent to manufacturing:P. The exploit mindset has to be addressed.
/A M.S (AnonyMouS)
Hi AMS
ReplyDeleteI agree and the middle men cause most of the problems in our current set up. but they are like a necessary evil today. With CSA we can work on eliminating them totally..