How farmer producer bodies can help boost growers’ lives

Farmers’ cooperatives in the erstwhile socialist economies worked largely to bring together small farmers enabling them to pool their resources and enhance their output. Currently, farmer producer organisations (FPOs) work in the dynamic and ever-evolving market economies and promote the entrepreneurial spirit.

Some FPOs have adopted innovative selling and distribution models such as the Lehra Agro Producer Company Ltd in Maharajganj, Uttar Pradesh. However, most FPOs are either simple farmer producer aggregates functioning to increase their share in the consumer price or work to eliminate one or two intermediaries from the supply chain such as the Nallavur Farmers’ Producers Organisation.

Despite several success stories, marketing still remains a challenge. Let’s take the case of Grameen Aloe Producer Company Limited (GAPCL) – an FPO owned wholly by women farmers.

Located in the Jawaja region of Rajasthan, it grows aloe and manufactures aloe-based health and beauty products.

GAPCL members have already undergone several hours of training but as Bhanvari Devi, a Board member of the company, says, “We know we manufacture an excellent product, but the cartons of aloe juice bottles that we pack at the factory just don’t move!”

GAPCL and other FPOs must redefine their products for the market, taking on the role of a market leader rather than just a follower of established marketing practises.

Aloe is championed as a cure for a number of ailments and nobody other than the 300 members of the company can be a proof of the products’ benefits. These members must become the first users of aloe and be the visible beneficiaries of its properties.

The aloe products of GAPCL are labelled as ‘Magra’s’ – named after the semi-arid, difficult to till Magra region of Rajasthan where the members of the company grow the aloe plants.

Communicating to customers the back-breaking work the women did to convert the difficult lands to aloe farms, the plantation and irrigation techniques they adopted and the hardship they had to undergo for harvesting should be able to paint a positive picture on the customers’ mind.

The benefits of aloe vera juice may already be well-known but new users still need to be educated about them. This should result in enhancing the products’ value perception in the minds of the customers.

Aloe juice – perceived to be a medicinal product – doesn’t appear exciting to young and healthy people.

Novel recipes can encourage new users and augment consumption by old users. The large producer-owner base of GAPCL can act as a laboratory for innovation and test marketing.

Packaging of aloe products should be able to draw the attention of shoppers. Member-producers of GACL work closely in the inhospitable Magra region and the packaging should also be eco-friendly. A reusable container for packaging, for example, is eco-friendly and also enhances the value to the customer.

Employing the traditional channels of sales may not be economically viable for GACL while selling at co-op exhibitions and melas isn’t feasible.

Members of the company represent a formidable sales force that can use customer relationship management to encourage repeat sales resulting in lower sales cost. Selling initially to niche markets such as residential complexes should be cost-effective.

The former is Deputy Director, NIAM, Jaipur and the latter is Director, Vandana Welfare Society, Ajmer. Views are personal.