Aahar: the food for life

2011-12 Aahar: the food for life Pradeep Kumar Padhan Pradeep Kumar Hial Ramani Ranjan Nayak 02/02/2012

Contents Executive Summary Vision Mission Objective Introduction Business Background Marketing plan o Positioning of the business Products Price Place Promotion Management team Board of Advisors Financial analysis Risk analysis Socio-economic impact Sustainability of project APPENDIX-1 APPENDIX-2 APPENTIX-3 APPENDIX-4 APPENDIX-5

A ahar is an agricultural business plan, which aims at employing landless poor people through organic vegetable cultivation and ultimately attempting to reduce mal nutrition in the locality. It tries to convert the traditional agriculture farming into professional farming culture. It will also help the existing farmer to grow up. In the first phase Aahar will take land on lease and employ poor landless people who will produce organic vegetable. To achieve the reduction of the malnutrition in the locality Aahar will provide vegetable on subsidy to the poor needy people. Executive Summary Eighty per cent of the total production will be directly supplied to the main market and the rest twenty per cent will be given on subsidy as mentioned earlier. Although the vegetable market is fully occupied by the local established vendors, we do have a chance of entering into the market since the vegetable are being imported from outside and it is not being cultivated locally. As we will cultivate it locally, we predict that we will be able to capture a very fair share in the market. The project will create livelihood opportunities and empower the landless marginalised labourers there by help in socio-economic development of the poor. The direct market linkage of the food products will dismantle the mediators and reduce the price of the products. The project will sustain and will able to continue other such model in other parts by using the profits from the existing project. Vision: Enable the poor landless to live a life with dignity. Mission: The mission of our project includes reduction in malnutrition, creation of employment opportunities, agricultural development and there by create a model of co-operative farming for the poor. Objective: To promote organic farming through vegetable cultivation. To make available the organic food products with subsidised rate to the target group. To provide livelihood for the landless poor in the agricultural sector. To establish direct market linkage of the products. To create a platform for the involvement of target group in the co-operative farming model.

Introduction: The notion of linking food security with agricultural development is nothing new but the problem lies in the distribution and consumption of food. No doubts the government is working on its own way to provide food security to the poor lots through Targeted Public Distribution System, Mid-day Meal, Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) etc. But till now many parts of the remote locality in India are out of the ambit of food security, may be because of error of exclusion, inclusion and corruption. The agriculture sector is moving to new era of mechanisation, commercialisation and second green revolution. Who is thinking about landless marginalized poor in rural area? They don t have land to cultivate and to add many of them are not getting appropriate food nutrition to live their life. So our idea would be to give livelihood to the landless poor and substantiate them with better food intake for human living. We are preparing ourselves to implement our idea in one remote village of Kandhamal district of Odisha. There is high degree of malnutrition and food insecurity among the tribal population and especially among the Kutia Kondh tribe of the district. The district "KANDHAMAL" has two sub-divisions, Phulbani and Balliguda and 12 community development blocks (CDB). The total population of the district is 648,201 among which 604,107 (93%) are living in the rural areas. The literacy rate of the people is 43% which is far lower than the state and national average. And most importantly around 68% of the total population are from the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe categories. The district has been girdled almost continuously by high ranges which cut it off from the surrounding area. The area of cultivated land is small and some portions are mountainous, covered with dense forests infested with wild animals. Business Background: About the project village The project village is Tamangi situated in Daringbadi CDB and 30 kilometres away from Daringbadi town. The population of Tamangi is 332 with 81 households, there are four small hamlets in Tamangi, and Around 62 households are landless living with minimal standard of life. Tamangi (the project village) is surrounded by Rushimal mountain range (it is one of the mountain ranges of Kandhamal district coming under Eastern Ghat) with marshy and fertile land in between. Panos and the Kondh are the dominant communities in Tamangi. The village is surrounded by three other small hamlet, they are KumbhariPadar, Pirikaripi, and Kasapanka. The main agricultural activities of the people include paddy and turmeric cultivation which is basically done through step farming and shifting cultivation (Podu Chasa). People mainly depend on the nearby market (Bamunigam) for vegetables and other stuffs like pulses and cereals. Project description Aahar: the food for Life, an agricultural business plan would like to target the needy sections of the society to live a life with dignity. Aahar signifies the importance of two staple meals a day for those landless and availability of vegetable products in the nearest markets. The project will target the people of Tamangi and the nearby hamlets. It will create an

environment of producing of organic vegetable products and make available of the products to the needy people and nearby markets, thereby create direct market linkages for the farmers. This Project will a blessing especially for the landless people of Tamangi and the nearby hamlets since in the first phase it will employ the landless for the production of the vegetables. The project will also give subsidy on products to the landless casual labourers and those who come under the categorization of target group. Seven acre 14 landless poor Onion, brinjal, lady-finger, cabbages, etc. Land on lease Production of vegetables Distribution on subsidy Market linkage Distribute to the needy on subsidy Supply to the main market Why program in Tamangi? Most of the land in the project village is used only once in a year. So there is an attempt to use the land productively all through the year for agricultural purposes. The Mal-nutrition level in the area is quite high. So the project tries to increase the nutritional level through nutritional support. Farmers do not have a proper market linkage Categorization of target group: the model will address three kinds of target groups, they are Landless casual labourers who will be identified with seven Credit Points Basis. The credit point theory will work on the following assumption i.e. the more the credit points a household will have, the more the possibility of their identification. The seven credit points includes the households 1. Living in single room kaccha house, 2. Having adult unemployed 3. Being a single headed house hold 4. Having disabled members 5. Being a SC or ST 6. Having no vocational education or adult literate 7. Landless without job card Criteria will be given positive credits point each and consider as target group for the model.

Land on lease basis: land for cultivation of the food items will be taken on lease basis from the interested farmers and target group people will be employed as workforce. Production of food items: The food items include vegetables Market linkage of the produces: Marketing of the food products will be done through retail chain and home delivery. Distribution of Food items on subsidy: Subsidy will be given on the products to the target groups. Marketing Plan: Production Market Direct Market (80%) Subsidized market(20%) We have planned to create two strategies for the selling of the vegetable products in the market. 1. Direct Market Linkage- We will sell around 80% of the total production in the big daily markets. We have planned to open some shops in those markets where the poor rural people will be employed. We will also make sales in the nearby five weekly markets. There will be constant supply of vegetable products from the place of production to the shops in the markets. These will the main source of revenue. 2. Subsidized Market- As we are socially conscious about the current malnutrition in the targeted area, we have planned to sell around 20% of the total vegetable production in the targeted village with subsidized price. The subsidy will be given to the people on the basis of the above categorisation of target group. We are planning to have 40% subsidy on each product for the poor people.

Positioning of the Business Products As an enterprise we will cultivate the vegetables like Cabbage, Cauliflower, Tomato, Onion, Brinjal, Lady-Finger, and Beans. These will be produced as organic food products. The landless poor people will be engaged in the cultivation of these products. Price The prices of different vegetable products will be determined by the market condition. The current market prices of the vegetables are given in Appendix-2 Place For the direct market linkage system, the three nearby major daily market like Daringbadi, Brahmani Gaon, and Baliguda will be the first choice. We will have our shops there in the market for the selling purpose. The other nearby five small weekly markets will also be our target place for sales issue. The employed people will go there for vending of the vegetables. For the Subsidized market, Tamangi is the first village where we will be selling our products to the poor people. We also extend our sales to the nearby villages where the subsidy will be given to the landless households on certain economic conditions. Promotion We will have community awareness camp about the malnutrition problem and use of sufficient amount of vegetables as food intake. We will also appoint a community worker who will spread information about our project throughout the villages. The customers of our products again disseminate the information to others customers which will help us in increasing the market base. Management Team: As per the management team is concerned for our enterprise, following is the description of the people who will be with us for the operation as well as the management of the organisation and the project. Ramani Ranjan Nayak He is a first year student of M.A. in Social Entrepreneurship (2011-2013 batches) of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai Pradeep Kumar Hial He is now the student of M.A. in Social Entrepreneurship in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Pradeep Kumar Padhan Master of social work, TISS, Mumbai. He is pursuing in M.A. in Social Work in Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai BOARD OF ADVISORS- 1. Neel Kulkarni- He is our mentor for this project. He is an ACARA fellow. 2. Arun Patre- Acara co-ordinator

3. Anil Sharma- He is a District Project Co-ordinator in Gujarat. He is an alumnus of Tata institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Financial Analysis: The following table shows the total project cost for the first year. Sr. No Category Cost 1 Fixed Cost Rs. 238200 2 Variable Cost Rs.162500 3 Expenditure on Human resource Rs 378240 4 Programme Expenses Rs.20,500 Total Rs. 799440 *The details of the various costs mentioned on the above table have been provided in the Appendix 1. Revenue model 1. Direct Market Linkage- the first revenue model is for the direct market linkage of the vegetables. We will sell around 80% of the total production in the market. So the revenue which we will earn from this process has given below in the table. Revenue Model-1 Direct Market Linkage (80% of the total production) Sl. No. Item Estimated Production Qty (Kg) Annually Qty (Kg) Price/Kg Amount a Cauliflower 4500 3600 Rs 25 90000 b Cabbage 4500 3600 Rs 20 72000 c Tomato 4500 3600 Rs 25 90000 d Onion 5000 4000 Rs 15 60000 e Brinjal Rs 25

3700 2960 74000 f Lady Finger 3000 2400 Rs 15 36000 g Beans 2500 2000 Rs 25 50000 Total 472000 2. Subsidized Model- We will be selling around 20% of the total production in subsidy to the rural poor. For this model, the estimated revenue has been shown in the table below. Revenue Model-2 Subsidized Market (20% of the total production) Sl. No. Item Estimated Production Qty (Kg) Annually Qty (Kg) (20% of Total production) Price/ Kg Amount In Rs- A Cauliflower 4500 900 Rs 15 13500 B Cabbage 4500 900 Rs 12 10800 C Tomato 4500 900 Rs 15 13500 D Onion 5000 1000 Rs 10 10000 E Brinjal 3700 740 Rs 15 11100 F Lady Finger 3000 600 Rs 10 6000 G Beans 2500 500 Rs 15 7500 TOTAL 48100 Total Revenue 520100 Project Cost 799440 Operating Profit/loss -2,79,340 From the above table, it is clear that we will have our operating profit Rs 194000 in the first year of the project.

Risk factors: The risk of drought due to lack of sufficient rain and delay in monsoon which deplete the water level may cause problem in irrigation. The risk from the land owners who use landless labourers as their wage workers cannot be avoided. The sudden shift of landless labourers to the co-operative farming will harm the farming activities of land owners. There will be certain risk from the unidentified factors in the field like Left-wing extremism, thefts of products from the field which may supress the business activities. Socio-economic Impact Analysis: The socio-economic impact of the project can be highlighted under the following stand points. 1. Decrease the rate of malnutrition and increase the nutritional intake in the locality. 2. Judiciable resource/land utilization. 3. Empowerment of most marginalized class i.e. the landless. 4. Direct market linkage of products without middlemen intervention. 5. Creation of employment opportunities for the landless causal labourers and thereby increase their economic conditions of living. 6. Motivation for Organic farming. Sustainability of Project: The project will continue till three years during which it will make the stakeholders selfsufficient in livelihood. Such model also motivates other villagers to continue such project in their locality. The project will sustain and will able to continue other such model in other parts by using the profits from the existing project. It has been planned that the production chain would be created in various locations in the remote areas to facilitate better market availability of the food items in cheap price in the near future.

APPENDIX-1 Fixed Cost Aahar financial projection for the pilot (1 year) *For 7 acres of land (One year estimation) Sr. No Particulars Indian Rupees 1. Land (7 acres) Rs-70000 2. Water Pump (3 Sets) Rs-45000 3. Water Pipe Rs-40000 4. Agricultural Equipment (Plough, spade, iron rod, sickle, bucket, etc.. ) Rs-15000 5. Land preparation Rs- 20000 6. Soil testing cost (@ 100 per acre) Rs-700 7. Light House Rs-10000 8. Cold storage Rs-25000 9. Fencing design/plant protection Rs-10000 10. Crating for carrying products Rs-2500. Total Rs. 238200 Variable Cost Transportation Rs- 50000 Renting Bulls Rs- 6000 Fuel Rs- 4000 Miscellaneous Rs- 30000 Organic fertilizer preparation (neem cake) Rs-12000 Organic pesticides preparation Rs-12000 Organic manure preparation(vermicomposed) Rs-8000 Nursery development Rs-35000 Harvesting and weeding cost Rs-5000 Total Rs. 162500

Expenditure on Human Resource Sr. no Post Number of position 1. Community Organiser Time Period Salary 1 1 Year Rs-3500 (42,000per year) 2. Farm labourers 14 183 Days Rs 120 per Day Total= 120*14*183=307440 3. Watchmen 2 1 Year Rs-1200(14,400/year per person) 14,400*2=28,800 Total 17 Rs 378240 Programme Expenses Sr. No Name of Programme Cost 1. Awareness camp Rs-5000 2. Organic farming education Rs-4000 3. Marketing education Rs-3000 4. Farm Training Rs-3000 5. Mobilization of people cost Rs-5500 Total Rs-20,500 APPENDIX-2 The current market price of vegetables. Serial Number Products Market Price(Rs) Subsidized Price (Rs) 1 Cauliflower 25 15 2 Cabbage 20 12 3 Tomato 25 15 4 Onion 15 10 5 Brinjal 25 15 6 Lady Finger 15 10 7 Beans 25 15

APPENDIX-3 PROJECT VILLAGE PHOTO GALLERY

APPENDIX-4 Time line of Aahar Project: Serial No Objective achieved Targeted Year 1 Creation of Employment Opportunities 2012 2 Agricultural Promotion 2014 3 Awareness about organic farming 2014 4 Reduction of malnutrition (Below five years) 2015 5 Reduction of malnutrition among adults and 2017 women 6 Creation of model co-operative farming 2017 7 Expansion of project 2018 APPENDIX-5 References: 1. Mattoo,P.K.(1978). Project formulation in developing countries. Macmillan Co. Of India Ltd. New Delhi. 2. www.worlp.com. Success stories relating to agriculture and Horticulture: A compilation of case Studies. http://www.worlp.com/images/casestudies/watershed%20mission%20succe SS%20STORIES.pdf. Date of accession: 10 December 2011. 3. NABARD. Model Bankable Scheme for Organic Cultivation of Tomato in Jharkhand. http://www.nabard.org/modelbankprojects/tomato.asp Date of accession: 25 January, 2012. 4. Balgir, R.S. (nd.) Tribal Health Problems, Disease Burden and Ameliorative Challenges in Tribal Communities with Special Emphasis on Tribes of Odisha. http://www.rmrct.org/files_rmrc_web/centre's_publications/nsth_06/nsth06_22.r S.Balgir.pdf Date of accession: 27 january 2012. 5. Senapati, Ashis. (January 11, 2009). Telheka: Kandhamal district has the highest Infant and Child Mortality in India.http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=10024 Date of Posting: January 11, 2009. Date of accession: 27 January 2012.