ITC streamlines procurement of pulp wood from farmers

ITC’s Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division has streamlined procurement of pulp wood from farmers.

By engaging with farmers directly for its mill at Sarapaka in Bhadradri-Kothagudem district in Telangana, the mill has procured nearly 75 per cent through direct purchases in the Khammam district.

Purchase orders are being issued to farmers and payment in line with mill landed price, including cost of transportation and harvesting, is being made directly to their respective bank accounts, within 10 days of receipt of material with acceptable quality.

Since April 2018, ITC spearheaded a special initiative to procure wood from farmers in Khammam through the direct Purchase Order system. In February, nearly 75 per cent of the 15,175 tonnes of wood procured from Khammam, was through direct PO from farmers.

Vadiraj Kulkarni, COO, ITC’S Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division, said, “ITC has implemented a large-scale afforestation programme that has created a green cover over 7,20,000 acres and large- scale livelihoods. We cherish our long-standing relationship with farmers and are committed to ensuring their livelihood security.”

While selling to the suppliers, farmers have been advised to sell on tonnage basis and not area (acre, hectare) basis. ITC has put in place systems to monitor/verify that fair prices have been remitted to the farmers’ accounts.

In addition, farmers are being requested to conduct all transactions only through banking channels, so that payments can be monitored/verified by ITC on a periodic basis. The focus is on supply of wood to the mill all through the year as the mill has to be operational for 365 days.

The company said mature wood is mutually beneficial for both farmers and ITC. However, farmers are free to sell their produce to anyone and are not tied down to ITC in any manner.

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