Ot 25003 Oacfinal

Community Motivation for agri and horticulture output marketing (Especially for dates and vegetables of Kutch)
CHAPTER – 1
The Study: Scope and Objectives
1.1 Introduction
Immense diversity in soil and climatic conditions in several agro-ecological regions provides
ample opportunity to grow a variety of horticulture crops in India. These crops form a
significant part of total agricultural produce in the country comprising of fruits, vegetables,
root and tuber crops, flowers, ornamental plants, medicinal and aromatic plants, spices,
condiments, plantation crops and mushrooms.
Horticultural crops play a very important role in India’s economy by improving the income of
the rural people. Area covered under these crops is hardly 7% of the total cropped area yet
they contribute over 18% to the gross agricultural output in the country. Cultivation of these
crops is labor intensive and as such they generate lot of employment opportunities for the
rural population. Exports of horticulture produces generate a good amount of foreign
exchange revenue for the country.
Fruits and vegetables are rich source of vitamins, minerals, proteins, and carbohydrates etc.
which are essential for human nutrition. India with more than 28.2 million tons of fruits and
66 million tons of vegetables is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the
world next only to Brazil and China. (Source: indiaagronet.com)
In spite of producing this large volume of fruits and vegetables, still Indian fruits and
vegetable market is not organised. Farmers are facing many problems first in cultivation then
in marketing the fruits and vegetables. This is the reason that they are not getting enough
returns from these crops that they should get. Similar the condition in dates cultivation also.
Kutch is the main dates producing area in India and it has many advantages in terms of
climatic conditions, bio diversity etc. for dates farming, still date grower farmers are not able
to encash all these opportunities. Their major problem is related with marketing of dates. The
price spread is very high and farmers are not getting fair price for their produce.
So in this study I tried to understand the current marketing system for dates of Kutch region
and identify the problems those farmers are facing in marketing the dates. The current
IRMA OTS – 2005 1 Anshul Goyal

marketing system is analysed by seeking the opinions of farmers and possibility of a better
marketing system is also explored.
1.2 Kutch – General Introduction
Kutch is the second largest district of India after Laddakh with 45652 sq km of area. There
are 949 villages with 10 Talukas in Kutch. It has the population of 1.2 million with
population density of 27 persons per square kilometres. Agriculture is the main source of
livelihood. Cotton, Bazra, castor, mango, cheeku and dates are the major crops, grown in this
area. Mango of ‘Kesar’ variety that is grown in Kutch, is famous everywhere for its taste.
Animal husbandry is not the main source of livelihood for people of this region. As it is a dry
area and drinking water is not available in enough quantity, most the animals are dried
animals. So milk production in this region is very low, even the number of animals is very
large.
In this very less populated region, the Gandhidham - Kandla industrial complex and free
trade zone port area is the major trading area in Kutch, while Bhuj is the district capital.
Agriculture, trade and handicrafts have been the traditional economic activities in Kutch.
It is an arid region, affected by monsoons in the summer months and desert like conditions in
the rest of the year. The drought like situation emerges in every three years. The temperature
ranges from 1 C° in the winter to 45 C° in the summer. Salinity of the ground water is a major
problem for all agricultural production in the region.
1.3 Dates in Kutch
Date trees have an association with Kutch from a long period of time. According to some
local people, this tree is found in this area from the time of Ramayana. Today there are
around 1.5 million date trees in Kutch but all of them are not in fruiting stage. Kutch is the
major date producing area in India and it is one of the very few places in the world where
dates can be harvested in the ‘Khalal’ stage, means date as a fresh fruit. Due to suitable
climatic conditions these dates are harvested around 45 days earlier than anywhere else in the
world. So Kutch has first mover advantage because at this time the fresh fruit market is
totally empty all over the world and it can get benefits of being the first supplier in terms of

higher price. Apart from this Kutch has the maximum diversity in terms of varieties of dates
in the world and most of the best varieties of dates can be grown here.
In spite of all these advantages the farmers are not able to grow good quality dates as they are
not aware of proper date cultivation practices. Even some farmers are growing good quality
dates; the local market is not able to give them good price for their produce. As dates are not
giving good returns to the farmer, most of the farmers do not have much interest in the date
cultivation. It is just a secondary activity for them. For getting higher returns, they
concentrate more on farming of cotton, mango and cheeku as these crops are giving better
returns to them comparatively.
The major reason behind low market value of the dates is absence of a uniform variety. Most
of the farmers are doing propagation of date plant by the seedlings developed from the seeds
of mother plant. This technique is very cheap but it does not give uniform variety plants. All
the trees are having different variety. So a farmer does not have much produce of same
variety. So demand for dates in big markets can not be fulfilled due to unavailability of large
quantity of same variety. Another drawback of seedling technology is that farmer can not
predict that how many plants will be female plants. Generally 70% of the seedlings results in
male plants. The money and efforts that farmer put for developing these plants, become
wasted as these plants do not give fruits, so these are useless.
Another reason of low market value is the low quality of fruits as most of the farmers are
unaware with the date cultivation practices. If farmer is not doing proper pruning and
thinning, then he will not get fruits of big size and good quality. They also do not know how
to protect the fruit from rain and how to do proper pollination. All these things results in
lower quality of fruit that do not have much market value.
1.4 Objectives of the study
The major objectives of the study were as follows –

• To understand the current marketing system for dates and vegetables of Kutch
• To analyze this system from farmers point of view
• To check the feasibility of KADEC proposed marketing system

1.5 Scope of the study
The study was confined to the fresh dates and vegetables, grown in the Kutch area only. As
Kutch agriculture Development Consortium (KADEC) is planning to start its project initially
in the area where farmers are already growing dates and vegetables, I also limited my study
area to that region only. My major study area was villages of Anjar, Mundra, Mandvi and
Bhuj tallukas of Kutch district.
1.6 Methodology
When I came to VRTI, I was totally ignorant about dates and its business. So my first priority
was to understand the dates in the Kutch area and the project of the KADEC for development
of dates in this region. My whole study went on in the following manner –
Table 1: Schedule of the study
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Different stages of the study
Understanding of dates in
*
Kutch and KADEC project
Financial analysis of the
* *
project for farmers
Interaction with Israeli
*
experts, new insights about
the project
Primary visit to villages and
*
local markets
Preparation of questionnaire
*
and checklist
Sample survey
* *
Second visit to Anjar, Mandvi
*
and Bhuj markets
Week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Different stages of the study
Analysis of collected data
* *

Analysis of KADEC proposed

*
marketing system
Final report writing
* *
My study was mainly based on primary data collected from farmers, traders, commission
agents, experts in dates and other VRTI staff. At various steps I took help of secondary data
also that was various reports and books available in VRTI on date and vegetables and other
records.
I completed my study in three phases. The first phase was exploratory in nature. I visited
twelve villages and meet with many farmers who are growing dates and vegetables. In the
informal discussions with farmers I tried to get primary information about these crops and
nature of its market. I visited local fruit and vegetables markets also and saw all the
marketing process there. In the second phase of my study prepared a questionnaire (See
annexure 6 (A)) for doing sample survey of farmers. In this survey I tried to know the
experience of farmers in different markets and their relationship with traders / commission
agents. Then I prepared a checklist (See annexure 6 (B)) for trader / commission agents and
visited local markets. By this checklist I tried to get all the information about procurement
and marketing of dates and vegetables including information regarding grading, packaging,
storage etc. In the market I took informal interviews of traders and commission agents and
noted their view also about this whole system. Finally in the third phase of the study I
analyzed all the collected data. Then I checked the feasibility of the KADEC proposed
marketing plan with the help of available secondary data. After compiling all the gathered
information I prepared a report.
1.6.1 Sampling plan for survey of farmers
As the scope my study was confined to the area where KADEC is planning to implement its
project in the first phase, I did survey in this area only. It was a judgemental sampling and my
sample size was forty. I covered ten villages of Mandvi, Mundra, Anjar and Bhuj tallukas of

Kutch district. Mundra and Anjar are the main dates producing area of the Kutch region. So I
tried to cover more farmers from these areas. The break up is given in the table shown below.
Table 2: Sample survey break up

Talluka No. of villages No. of farmers Type of farmers
surveyed (Small/large)
Mandvi 2 5 2/3
Mundra 4 15 5/10
Bhuj 2 5 0/5
Anjar 4 15 5/10
1.7 Limitations
This study was limited to only two months. In such a short period of time studying the
marketing of all vegetables and dates was not possible. So I had to confine my study mainly
to dates. Lack of clarity about objective of the project from the organisation also wasted some
time initially. Unavailability of resources like internet also affected the study as I could not
get much data about national and international market of dates and vegetables on time.
CHAPTER – 2
CURRENT MARKETING SYSTEM FOR DATES AND VEGETABLES
2.1 Marketing Channels

When any product or commodity is produced by the producer, his ultimate aim is to sale it to
the end consumers. A producer can adopt different paths for selling his produce to the end
consumers. These paths / channels are called marketing channels that carry the produce to the
end consumers from producers. Different marketing channels can be adopted for selling a
particular product or commodity. It rarely happens that producer directly sale it to the end
consumers. Like some farmers directly sale their vegetable produces to the consumers. But in
most of the cases the produce has to go through many intermediate channels.
The channels of marketing are an important aspect of marketing of any produce affecting the
prices paid by consumers and shares of them received by the producer. The shorter the
channel, lesser the market costs and cheaper the commodity to the consumer. When the
channel is long with more intermediaries, prices are more but the producer’s share is less. The
market is considered as an efficient market if price spread is minimum i.e. difference between
price paid by consumer and the price received by the producer is minimum.
These marketing channels play a very important role in agriculture marketing as price spread
is very high in the case of most of the agriculture commodities. The commodity goes through
the many intermediaries and every intermediary keeps his own share at every step. So the
price for end consumer is very high but the producer gets very marginal share of it. The lion
share of the commodity price is kept by the intermediary. Same is happening in the case of
dates and vegetables of the Kutch region. The different marketing channels for the marketing
of dates and vegetables adopted by local farmers are shown in the following figure –
Figure 1: Current marketing channel for dates and vegetables

Farmer
Contracto Commission
Whole seller r Agent
(Kerala) (Anjar, Rajkot,
Mumbai, Junagarh)
Whole seller
(Mumbai, Rajkot
etc.)
Retailer
End Consumer
The various existing channels of dates and vegetable marketing in the study area are
described below:
2.1.1 Direct to consumers
Some small farmers sale their dates and vegetables produces directly to the consumers in the
nearby town market. They occupy some space in the market by paying some fee to market
association and sale their dates and vegetables directly to consumers. If some farmer has very
good quality of dates that is not available anywhere else, people come to his farm themselves
for purchasing the dates. These farmers get very good price for their date produce. But these
types of farmers are very few in number.
2.1.2 Commission agents in the outside market

There is no big market available in the Kutch region for dates and there is a good demand of
dates in the markets of Saurastra and Mumbai. So most of the farmers of this region prefer to
sale their dates produce in the markets of Rajkot, Gondal, Junagarh and Mumbai. Farmers
have their fix commission agents in these markets. They send their dates produce to these
commission agents. Commission agent sales the produce on behalf of the farmers and charges
ten percent commission on it from farmer. He charges some commission from buyer also.
2.1.3 Commission agents in the local market
Anjar is the main local market for all types of fruits and vegetables. Here all the produce is
sold through commission agents. According to market rules they can not charge commission
from farmers but they charge seven percent commission from the buyer. Here dates and
mangoes are sold through auction process and in the case of vegetables simple trading is
done. Price of the vegetables is decided on the basis of demand supply dynamics.
2.1.4 Contractor
Some farmers make contracts with some local contractors for whole of their farm produce.
They sale their whole farm for one year to the contractor and decide the terms and conditions
of the contract in the beginning of the crop year. In this contract they make clear distribution
of labour. The farmer has to perform certain activities, like pruning and pollination is the job
of farmer in the case of dates. All the harvesting and transport responsibilities lie with the
contractor. His labour come on the farm, they cut the date bunches and carry it to market for
selling. The farmer gets the pre decided price for his farm.
In this system farmer gets the assured returns but he is not motivated to grow good quality of
dates and get the higher price from the market. Apart from this in most of the cases the
farmers are the debtors of the contractors. So they have to make contract on the terms and
conditions of the contractor.
2.1.5 Trader agent

This is the most recent marketing channel for this area that came in existence in the last three
years. The agents of traders of Kerala come to the farmers during the harvesting season. After
seeing the crop they offer a fixed price to the farmer for a minimum quality dates. If farmers
become agree on this price, then he sale all his date produce to that agent. The agents bring
all the packing material with them and they pay labour charges for packing. They arrange for
all the transport facility also. The farmer work ends when the produce is reached the packing
area that is located in his farm only.
According to some farmers this system is very good for them as they are getting a fixed price
on their farm and they need not to worry about packing and transport. They are getting all the
payment in cash. But some farmers told that these agents from Kerala do not accept their
whole crop produce. They reject almost half of their produce. Then they face a lot of
difficulty in selling the lower quality dates. So they do not sale their whole good quality
produce to these agents.
2.2 Fruit and vegetable market of Anjar
Anjar is the main market for all types of fruits and vegetables in Kutch region. Buyers from
all the places including Mumbai, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Rajasthan etc. come here to purchase
fruits and vegetables. ‘Kesar’ mango and dates are the most important commodities traded in
this market.
2.2.1 Infrastructure facilities
There are 15 shops and 138 small places called “Thela” in the market. All the shops are
owned by the commission agents. If some farmer does not want to sale his produce through
the commission agent, facility of open space is available for him. But this space is rarely used
as most of the farmers sale their produce through commission agents. But facilities of ware
house and cold storage are not available in the market. Even if some farmer is not getting
good price on some day, he does not have any other option than selling his produce on that
day itself due to lack of these facilities. He does not get any space in the market for storing
his produce.

2.2.2 Market association
One committee is formed to manage the market. There are total 17 members in this
committee that consist of eight farmers, four traders, two government officials, two person
from independent government agency and one municipality officials. This committee is
responsible for all the maintenance of the market including cleaning and new construction
works. They also issue license to commission agents. For making this committee self
sustainable system of charging half percent cess on total billing amount from the buyer has
introduced. But this rule is not strictly followed. The committee employees charge a lump
sump amount according to the value of the total produce in the vehicle.
2.2.3 Trader / commission agent
In the market, whole of the trading is done by commission agents. There are 30 commission
agents in the market. The commission agents have to take license from the market association
for trading in the market. For the license they have to pay Rs.100 per year as licence fee to
the market association. Apart from this they have to pay fix rent for the shops owned by
them. According to the market rules, the commission agents can not charge any commission
from farmers. They charge seven percent commission from the buyer.
2.2.4 Trading system
The farmer carries his produce to the market by some locally available transport vehicle. All
the farmers have their fix commission agents in the market. The farmer keeps his produce in
the yard of the commission agent. At first the produce is weighted on the electronic weighing
machine. Then the weight of the produce and farmer’s name is marked on the box. Then an
open auction is organized in case of dates and mangoes in which buyers from different parts
of India participate. Whoever quote the maximum price, is eligible to purchase the produce.
But in case of vegetables no open auction is organized. The farmers bring their vegetables to
their commission agent and after weighting they leave it in his marketing yard. The price for
each vegetable is decided by the demand supply dynamics. Each commission agent is free to
decide his own price.

2.2.5 Share of different player in the marketing of dates in the Anjar market
Farmer Commission Whole Seller Retailer Wastage
agent
25% 15% 20% 30% 10%
Figure 2: Share of different players in Anjar market
Share of different players in Farmer

Anjar market
Commission
agent
10%
25% Whole Seller
30%
Retailer
15%
20% Wastage
2.2.6 Estimation of supply of dates in the Anjar market
According to the official of the market association average supply of dates is around 4500
box per day in the market. Each box is having around 30 kilograms of dates. The date season
remains continue for around 45 days. According to this estimation average supply of dates in
the market is around 13.5 tons daily and it is around 607.5 tons for the whole season.
2.2.7 Average price for dates in the Anjar market
In this market price of dates is very fluctuating. It depends on the quality of the produce,
number of buyers in the market on that day, climatic condition of the day and total supply.
The day when I visited the market the price range was Rs.1 per kilogram to Rs.17 per
kilogram. Only one farmer got the price of Rs.17 and he also had only two boxes of this
quality. Most of the dates are sold at the price of Rs.4-5 per kilogram. So that day average
price for dates was around Rs.4 per kilogram.
Farmers got this price when there was no climatic problem like rain etc. Supply of dates was
also limited on that day compare to other days because it is the last time of dates season. But
if there is oversupply of dates in the market on some day or rainfall takes place, then price

fell down drastically. On that day average price does not go beyond Rs.2 per kilogram. One
farmer told us that he brought eleven boxes of dates in the market a few days ago.
Unfortunately rainfall took place that day and supply was also very much in the market. So
there was no one to accept the dates in the market on that day. But he could not carry back his
produce to his home and he could not keep his produce in the market overnight. So he had to
sell all his produce just in Rs.110. Average price that he got was only 33 paisa per kilogram.
So we can imagine the returns to farmers from dates in the current system by this incident.
They do not have any surety about price.
2.2.8 General observations
From the outer look, this system is seems to be better than the other system. Here farmer
know the market price and he need not to pay any commission to commission agent. But
reality is totally different from this. Whatever price is decided in the auction, the commission
agent never gives that price to the farmers. He charge full price from the buyer and keep at
least fifty paisa per kilogram as his commission. When we asked to one commission agent
about it he told that farmer’s produce is weighted with the box. They pay to the farmer for the
gross weight of the box not the net weight. So they deduct this fifty paisa per kilogram for
compensating the weight of the empty box. But this reason does not seem to be rational here
as buyer is also paying for the gross weight of the box. Farmers also know it but they can not
do anything. Apart from this as farmers are not paying anything to the commission agent
directly, so he always tries to benefit the buyers. Before the auction the buyers form a cartel
and they decide that the price should not go beyond a certain level. They inspect the market
before auction and estimate the supply of fruits and vegetables on that day. They know that
the farmer has to sale his produce on that day only and if the supply is equal or more than
their demand, then the farmer has to sale his produce on whatever price they quote. As there
is no other big market for fruits and vegetables in this region, most of the time supply remains
more than the demand in this market.
2.3 Fruits and vegetable market of Mumbai

Mumbai is the most important market for dates in India. Buyers from all the places come here
and purchase dates through commission agents. There is a rule in the market that buyer and
seller both have to give 10% commission to commission agent.
Farmers from Kutch area send there dates first to Bhuj railway station by locally available
truck. From there these dates are transported to Mumbai by train. Every farmer has his fix
commission agent in the market who relieve the produce of his client from the railway
station. Then commission agent sales this produce in the market through auction. Before
sending the produce to market, farmers grade the dates according to quality. Colour and size
are the most important parameters for deciding the quality. Farmer get different prices for
different quality produce in the market. On the same day commission agent inform the
farmers about the weight and price of their produce through FAX and next day farmers get
the payment. Here also commission agent provides credit facilities to its clients in the time of
need. According to farmers he does not charge any interest on it.
About this market also some farmer complained that commission agent cheat them in weight
and price of the produce. He shows some unnecessary losses and expenses also. In spite of all
these things farmers are satisfied by this system as they are getting better returns than the
local market. Most important thing is that farmers are paid here on the basis of quality of the
produce. No mixing is allowed in this market.
Almost same process is adopted in the markets of Rajkot, Gondal and Junagarh also. But
these markets are not able to provide as higher returns to farmers as the Mumbai market
because demand is very less in these markets compare to Mumbai market.
(I could not visit these markets due to some constraints. All the information stated above is
based on secondary sources.)
2.4 Findings of the sample survey

The major findings of the sample survey are following –

• Generally farmers do not get good price for dates in Anjar market. Comparatively
they get better price in Mumbai or Rajkot market. So they sale most of their good
quality produce in these markets or they sale it to the agents of traders of Kerala.
Anjar market gets only low quality produce. The average price that farmers get in
different markets is shown by the following graph -
Figure 3: Average price offered in different markets
Average Price offered in different

markets
25
20
20
Price per kg
15 13 Red Dates
10
10 7 8 Yellow Dates
3 4
5 2
0
r
la
tra
i
ja
ba
ra
An
as
um
Ke
ur
M
Sa
Market
• Most of the farmers are selling their dates produce through commission agents. Very
few of them are selling to contractors or trader of Kerala.
Figure 4: Share of different intermediaries

Share of different intermediaries
3%
3%
5%
Commission agent
20% Kerala Trader
Contractor
Retailers
69% Direct to consumer
• Almost all the farmers had grown the date trees by seedling technique. But now some
of them are becoming aware about ill effects of the seedling technique and they are
trying to develop good variety plants through offshoot technique.
• 65% of the farmers told that dates cultivation is not the main source of their income.
They are getting more money from mango or cotton. So they are not putting much
effort in dates cultivation. But the farmers who consider dates an important crop, 80%
of them are ready to participate in the KADEC project.
• All the farmers have access to easy source of transport for carrying their produce to
the market. Means they do not have any problem in transporting their produce
wherever they want.
• The farmers who are selling dates in Anjar market don’t think that the commission
agent is cheating them in weight of the produce. But 60% of the farmers who are
selling their produce in the outside markets think that their produce is not properly
weighted.
• The farmers who are selling their produce in the Anjar market only, do not want
different prices for different quality produce. They mix all quality produce and want
to get an average price. But the farmers who are selling in Mumbai market, they are
properly grading their produce and they are getting different price for different quality
produces.

• 90% of the farmers told that the colour of the fruit is the most important criteria for
deciding the quality of the fruit. Sweetness and size of the fruit are the secondary
things for them.
• Only those farmers who have good quality produce and they are getting good price for
it in Mumbai market, told that they satisfied with the current system. But rest of the
farmers told that they are not getting fair price in the current marketing system and
they would like to change it if better option is available.
• Very few of the farmers have heard about farmer’s cooperative and they not at all
aware about the concept of cooperative. But one farmer of village Khedoi told that
now they are trying to form a farmer’s cooperative for marketing of horticulture
produces of the Kutch region.
2.5 Analysis of the sample survey
On the basis of the findings of the sample survey stated above, I tried to analyse the current
marketing system. I figured out following benefits and problems of current system for
farmers –
2.5.1 Benefits of the current system for farmers
2.5.1.1 Auction system - In all the markets dates are sold through auction system. In this
system the farmer gets the maximum price that the present buyers want to give. So market
remains competitive and there are less chances of cheating the farmers. But first price of the
auction is decided by the commission agent that is not good from farmer’s point of view.
Apart from this if buyers are forming cartel then there is no meaning of auction system.
2.5.1.2 No commission from farmers – In Anjar market no commission is charged from

farmers by the commission agents. So they get full price of their produce. But they are
cheated on the name of weight of the empty box. The commission agent charge at least fifty
paisa per kilogram from farmers for it.

2.5.1.3 Cash payment – Farmers always get full payment in cash on the same day. So they
can utilise their money in time of need and they need not to go the trader again and again for
getting their money.
2.5.1.4 Credit Facility – Commission agents provides credit facility to his fixed farmers in
time of need and on this credit he does not charge any interest also. It provides a great help to
farmers who do not have access to other credit sources. But once a farmer has accepted credit
from commission agent, he becomes bound to supply his produce to him only. He can not go
to some other commission agent or to some other market. In this condition it is quite possible
that farmer may not get fair price for his produce.
2.5.1.5 Collection from farms – Agents, who are coming from Kerala for procuring dates,
directly collect it from the farm of the farmer. He needs not to bother about transport and
packaging. The agents do all the things and they pay a fix price for a specified quality of
dates. So in this system farmers free with many hassles and they are secure about marketing
of their produce to some extent.
2.5.1.6 Mixing – All the dates of the farmers are not good in quality. Some of them are so bad
that they are not at all marketable. But farmers mix this type of dates with some good quality
dates and get an average price. So in this system farmer need not to throw his bad quality
dates. He gets something for that also.
2.5.2 Problems in the current system for farmers
2.5.2.1 Unawareness about price – The farmers who are selling their dates in outside
markets, they do not know that what price they will get for their produce. Everything is in the
hands of the commission agent. Generally he gives fewer prices to farmers than the real
market price.
2.5.2.2 Cheating in weighting the produce – The traders or commission agent cheat the
farmer in weighting also. As the farmer does not remain present at the place of selling most of
the time, the trader or commission agent shows less weight than the actual for his produce.

2.5.2.3 Charging unnecessary expenses – The commission agent charge various expenses
from the farmer that he never incurred in the name of loading-unloading charges, postal
charges etc.
2.5.2.4 Lack of infrastructure facilities – Farmers do not have access to facilities like cold
storage, ware house etc. So they can not keep their produce for sometime if they are not
getting good market price at the time of harvest. They do not have any option other than
selling it as early as possible.
2.5.2.5 No access to market related information – Farmers are not aware about the demand
pattern of different crops in different markets. Generally most of the produce is supplied in a
single market only where demand is not that much for dates. So dates prices automatically
come down. While in some other market supply remain less than the demand and prices go
up. But the farmers can not get benefit of this increase in the price.
2.5.3 Major reasons for these problems
2.5.3.1 Lower quality produce – Farmers are nor aware about the proper date cultivation
techniques like pollination, pruning, thinning etc. They do not have uniform variety of dates
also. So they are not able to get good quality produce. In the result of that they are not in
position to bargain with traders or commission agents. They have to sale their produce at the
terms and conditions of the traders or commission agents.
2.5.3.2 No guidance – There is no such government or private agency working in this area
that can provide market related information to the farmers. Farmers do not have any source to
get information about demand in different markets. They do not know when they should
supply how much quantity of produce in which market. Apart from this there is no one to
teach them about proper date cultivation practices.
2.5.3.3 Lack of unity among farmers – There is no association of farmers in this area and they
are not united. Everybody is selling his agriculture produce by himself. Due to this reason
they are not in position to bargain in the market. Apart from this they are incurring higher
cost in transportation and other marketing related activities because of their non collective
efforts. If some farmers sale their produce collectively, they may get better prices.

2.5.3.4 Lack of education – Most of the farmers are not literate enough to understand the
tactics of the trader or commission agent. Even the team leader goes with the truck of dates
for selling it in outside markets, but he leaves there everything in the hands of the
commission agent. Because he does not understand any market related activity and he is not
literate enough to make all the calculations.
2.5.3.5 Careless nature – Date cultivation is not a main source of income for most of the
farmers in this area. So they do not take it with much seriousness. This is the reason that they
do not care about the proper cultivation practices and quality of the dates. During selling also
they accept whatever they get because they think that whatever they are getting is a profit for
them.
2.6 Change in the farmers’ perspective: A case study
Kutch region does not have a good history of farmer’s cooperative. Many times some
organisations tried to form cooperatives for milk, mango etc. but it could not succeed. But
situation seems to changing now a little bit. When I visited one village ‘Khedoi’ of Anjar
talluka, I talked to many farmers about their return on recent crop of mango and dates. They
told me that this year they sold the ‘Kesar’ at an average price of Rs.5 per kilogram only.
They were very depressed by such a low return and they were blaming the commission
agents of Anjar market for this low return. They told that commission agent cheated us from
all aspects and did not give us the real price that was available in the market.
Some of those farmers have visited the farmer’s mango cooperatives in ‘Valsad’ and they are
quite impressed by the cooperative system. So they told that they will form same type of
cooperative here also and they have already started the process. They claimed that already
fifty farmers are with them and they are trying to convince more for forming a farmer’s
cooperative. They are in continue touch with the officials of Valsad cooperative and they
assure them that they will provide all technical support for forming a cooperative. The
farmers have talked to registrar of cooperative also in Bhuj and they will start it as early as
possible. They are planning to sale all the horticulture crops of Kutch region through this
cooperative. They have decided that no member will go to commission agents of Anjar
market for selling his produce. They will explore the new markets for ‘Kesar’ mango and sale

it outside Gujarat also. They are planning to open some retail outlets also in big towns of
Kutch.
So we can say that situation is changing now. Farmers are becoming aware about their
benefits and they are realising the ill effects of going to commission agent. Even if they do
not start a full fledged farmer’s cooperative, only be united and oppose whatever wrong is
happening in the market, they can get better returns on their produced than today.

Chapter - 3
KUTCH AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT CONSORTIUM (KADEC)
DATES PROJECT
3.1 Consortium approach
For solving the problems of date growing farmers and giving date of Kutch a brand name, the
local NGO, Shree Vivekananda Research and Training Institute (VRTI) took initiative in
2001 after the earthquake of Gujarat. They formed a consortium with two other companies.
One company is ‘Agrocel India Private Ltd.’, that is associate company of ‘Excel Industries’.
Agrocel Company is currently in the business of agriculture inputs and organic and fair trade
marketing of cotton and other food products. They have good presence in the villages of
Kutch and have a good knowledge about agriculture practices followed by the farmers of this
area. Another member of the consortium is the ‘Agripro’ that is an Israel based company,
expert in agriculture technology and international marketing. The consortium of these three
organizations is named as ‘Kutch Agriculture Development Consortium (KADEC)’. A
complete project was planned for developing the dates and vegetables cultivation in Kutch.
At first they did a sample survey of around 2000 farmers in 2001. In which they tried to find
out the major problems of dates and vegetable cultivators.
3.2 Change in propagation technology
As it is described earlier that reason behind non development of uniform variety of dates is
the adaptation of seedling technique by farmers for propagation. So KADEC decided to
develop a uniform variety of dates by offshoot technology. In this technology the variety of
the plant does not change. It remains as it is as mother plant. Female plant gives only female
offshoots. So problem of male plants can also be solved by this technology. Since offshoots
of good variety plants were not available in Kutch. So they decided to import it from Jordon.
They selected ‘barhee’ variety of dates as it is available in large number and it is well known
variety all over the world. So finding market for it will not be much problematic. Although
this offshoot is very expensive (Rs.1800 per offshoot) and expected mortality rate is also very
high (35%), but it will give very good returns to the farmers in near future.

3.3 Intercropping
As initial investment is very high in the project, vegetables and cotton were planned to grow
as intercrops. Since date plants will be planted at the spacing of 9*9 meter, the remaining
space will be utilized for vegetable and cotton cultivation. It is estimated that in the first three
years 80% of the land can be used for intercropping and it will reduce to 40% in the fifth year
subsequently. After five years intercropping will not be possible as vegetables plants will not
get enough sunlight in the shadow of big date trees. But till that time the date trees will began
produce dates in good amount, which will be a main source of income for the farmer.
3.4 Drip irrigation
In this whole project drip irrigation will be used instead of flood irrigation as it will help in
solving the problem of water scarcity. Apart from this there are many other benefits of using
drip irrigation. The farmer can gives right amount of water at right time to the plant and it
will also reduce the problem of pests and weeding. That will further result in low labour and
pesticides cost. Water dissolvable fertilizers can be given directly to the roots of the plant
with the help of drip irrigation.
3.5 Subsidies and bank loan
There are many subsidies available from the state and central government for promoting drip
irrigation and horticulture production. One company of the Gujarat government, ‘Gujarat
Green revolution Company’ is ready to pay half of the total cost of the drip installation in the
field as subsidy. But this amount should not be greater than Rs.50000 for one hectare of land.
Apart from this National Horticulture Board is providing 20% subsidy on the net project cost
to the farmers. So KADEC is planning to arrange all these subsidies for its project area
farmers. Banks are ready to give loans for the remaining project cost without the margin
money. They are ready to consider subsidy as margin money.

3.6 Roles and responsibilities of member organisations
For implementing this project VRTI was given the task of mobilizing the farmers for the
project and arranging for bank loan and subsidies. Agrocel Company will provide agriculture
inputs to the farmers and will install drip irrigation system in their fields of farmers. It will
also provide field services to farmers about date and vegetable cultivation. Agripro Company
will provide latest technology in terms of planting material and other agriculture practices. It
will also arrange for international marketing for the produce of the farmers.
3.7 Return to the farmer
If a farmer will grow only dates in one hectare of land, then he will get net cumulative cash
flow of Rs.2157233 in the next ten years. Its Net Present Value (NPV) is Rs.828700 at the
discount rate of 11%. Farmer will get 49% Internal Rate of Return (IRR) on his investment.
Pay back period is seven years in this condition. (See annexure 1 (B))
But if he will grow vegetables also as intercrops, he will get net cumulative cash flow of
Rs.2348797 in the next ten years. Its Net Present Value (NPV) will be Rs.994571 while he
will get 46% IRR. Pay back period is six years in this case. (See annexure 1 (A))
This all calculation is done for ten years only while date production will continue till at least
next forty years. So the actual NPV and IRR will be much higher than the figures shown
above.
Table 3: Sensitivity Analysis
Price
-20% -15% -10% -5% 0
-20% 572124 619062 666001 712940 759878
-15% 619062 668935 718807 768680 818551

Production
-10% 666001 718807 771613 824419 877224
-5% 712940 768679 824419 880158 935898
0 759878 818551 877224 935898 994571

It is clear from the table shown above that even if price and total production fall down to the
extent of 20%, then also farmer get Net Present Valve (NPV) of Rs.572124 in next ten years.
So it is clear that there is good potential of getting very high returns for farmers in this
project.
3.8 Share of different players in the end price of dates in the new system
In the new system although farmer’s share will not increase very much (From 25% to 35%)
yet size of pie will increase. Means consumers will pay more money per kilogram than
currently they are paying. Since they will get better quality, they will ready to pay more
money for it. If end consumer price will be around $3 per kilogram then farmers will get
around Rs.45 per kilogram.
Figure 5: Share of different players in new system

Farmer
Share of different players
in new system
Commission
agent
5%
Whole Seller
20%
35%
Retailer
Transport
20%
10%
10% Grading,
packaging and
wastages
Chapter - 4
KADEC PROPOSED MARKETING SYSTEM
KADEC can not follow the current marketing system as many middle men are involved in
this system and price spread is very high. So the farmer gets very less share of the actual

price, paid by the end consumer. So KADEC has decided to change the current marketing
system and it has thought about a complete new procurement and marketing system.
4.1 Procurement
4.1.1 Collection centre
Collection centres will be established at each cluster level. A village collection centre will
cover the nearby three-four villages. Farmers will bring their produce to the collection centre
by their own transport vehicle. Farmers have to bring their produce at the pre decided time
that will be decided on the basis of availability of transport vehicle for sending the produce to
the central packaging house in Mundra. If a farmer is failed to supply his produce on the
given specified time, the produce will be sent by the next round vehicle. KADEC will not be
responsible for the deterioration in the quality of the produce in the meantime. The farmer
will be paid for final quality of the produce. At collection centre farmer’s produce will be
weighted first. Then a sample will be taken on the random basis from the produce of each
farmer separately. On the basis of this sample quality (A, B or C) price of the produce will be
decided. After this the whole produce will be sent to the central packaging house in Mundra.
Information regarding everyday prices of all types of vegetables and dates will be provided to
farmers. These prices will be different for different quality produces. Payment will be given
once in a week to farmers.
For managing the collection centre one secretary and two support staff will be appointed at
each collection centre. The secretary will be a permanent employee of KADEC who must
belong from agriculture background and must have knowledge about dates and vegetables.
The secretary will help the farmers in solving their field problems also in the free time. The
support staff will be appointed on the temporary basis from that village only. Their main
work will to load and unload the produce of the farmers.
Commission on the basis of per ton procurement will be given to every collection centre for
making it self sustainable in bearing its expenses of salary, rent etc.
4.1.2 Central Packaging House (CPH)

KADEC is planning to establish its central packaging house in Mundra as it comes under
‘Special Economic Zone’ and all the infrastructure facilities like electricity, road, railway,
port are available here. Main reason of choosing this place for establishing the central
packaging house is availability of very good port facility here. As KADEC is planning to
export most of its dates and vegetables, availability of nearby port will help in reducing the
transportation cost.
Dates and vegetables from all collection centres will be collected here. First the produce will
be checked for chemical residuals according the specifications of the buyer in the quality
testing laboratory. Then all one type produce will be graded. For grading semi automatic
system will be established. Then produce of different grades will be packed differently
according to requirement of the buyer. Then it will be sent to cold storage until it is sold.
After grading of the whole produce if the average grade is coming higher than the average
grade decided at collection centre, bonus will be given to farmers for compensating the
mistake occurred in sampling at the collection centre level.
Figure 6:

KADEC
International
Marketing market – Agripro
Department
(Mundra) Domestic market -
Agrocel
Central Packaging
House Quality
(Grading, Packaging, testing Lab
cold storage) (Mundra)
Weighting Collection
centres Collection
centres Collection Collection
Sample (Cluster centres centres
Grading level) (Cluster
level) (Cluster (Cluster
level) level)
Village 2 Village 3 Village 4

Village 1
4.2 Marketing

A marketing department will be set up in Mundra that will be handled by officials of Agripro
and Agrocel. The whole marketing plan can be understood on the basis of four Ps of
marketing.
4.2.1 Product – KADEC has the Barhi variety of dates that is well known all over the world
and has its own niche market. These dates will be marketed under a brand name that will be
related to its growing region, Kutch. When a brand name for dates of Kutch will be
established, and people will know it worldwide, then efforts for selling the other local
varieties of dates will be made. These varieties will also be sold under the same brand name
but at lesser price. Like this brand value of one variety will help in selling other varieties also.
4.2.2 Price – Price will be decided according to the quality of the dates. Quality will be
checked on the parameters like size, freshness, colour, smoothness etc. A quality produce will
be sold in the foreign market and B and C quality produce will be sold in domestic market.
As KADEC will have very good quality produce in its hands, it can get premium price for A
quality produce. The price offered to the farmers will be decided on the end price minus
expenses basis. After deducting all the expenses the net price will be given to farmers.
4.2.3 Place – Agripro will contact with international agencies who deal in agriculture
commodities. Dates will be sold through these agencies in the international market. For this
Agripro will get certain percentage of commission on total sale. In the domestic market, the
Agrocel will directly contact to fruit whole sellers in the big markets and existing supply
channel of ‘Kesar’ mango Kutch will be used. Apart from this dates will be kept in the big
departmental stores in the metro cities. If they get success in it, then a complete chain of retail
stores can be established in various parts of the country. The network of ripened dates of
Agripro Company will be used for promoting the fresh dates in the foreign market.
4.2.4 Promotion – Fresh date is not well known commodity. In India it is eaten only in very
few states. In foreign market also people are not much aware about it. So KADEC will try to
promote consumption of the fresh dates for increasing its demand. For promoting dates in the
domestic market, it will advertise it on the boxes of ‘Kesar’ mango and push strategy will be
followed with the help of whole sellers and retailers of ‘Kesar’ mango. In the foreign market
same strategy will be followed to promote fresh date by bundling with ripened dates.

4.3 Feasibility Study

Before starting any business, doing feasibility study is very important. It gives the idea about
strengths and weaknesses of the business and identifies the major bottlenecks. It tells us the
reasons of success or failure of our business. Same is necessary for the proposed KADEC
plan for marketing of dates. We can check the feasibility of this plan on the basis of following
criteria -
4.3.1 Market analysis – In this section we will try to check the demand and supply dynamics
of dates in the world market. We will try to find out that it is buyer’s market or seller’s
market.
4.3.1.1 Demand for dates - Date is a very soft and delicious fruit. It is very good source of
fibre, potassium and other nutrients. It contains high percentage of natural sugar. It is eaten all
over the world by millions of people especially by Muslims. So there is demand for dates in
every part of the world and it is increasing day by day.
(A) Domestic market

India is one of the highest date consuming countries of the world but it is producing hardly
twenty percent of its total demand for dates. The idea of increasing date production in India
should be seen in the context of the world trade in dates. Of a total world trade of about half a
million tons India accounts for close to 40% of all the imports in the world.
Table 4: India and World Date Imports

Date 2000 2001
Qty (Mt.) Value Unit Price Qty (Mt.) Value Unit Price
Imports
($1000) ($/ton) ($1000) ($/ton)
World 512,453 291,958 570 583,599 294,14 504
6
India 192,619 41,554 216 244,367 52,786 216
(Source: FAO Trade stat)
India’s import of dates is close to 200,000 tons supplements its own domestic production
(primarily in the Kutch region) of 30,000 to 40,000 tons. Thus, the domestic market in India
is about 230,000 to 280,000 tons per year.

(B)International market
Table 5: Selected Gulf State Imports
Date 2000 2001
Imports
($1000) ($/ton) ($1000) ($/ton)
United 43,900 11,800 269 49,000 10,700 218
Arab
Emirates
Yemen 12,587 6,064 482 12,587 6,064 482
Qatar 270 160 593 1,875 1,380 736
Kuwait 1,182 1,672 1,415 1,182 1,672 1,415
Bahrain 819 528 645 728 521 716
(Source: FAO Trade stat.)
Table 6: Leading European Date Importers

Date 2000 2001
Imports
($1000) ($/ton) ($1000) ($/ton)
France 23,530 40,231 1,710 20,852 32,820 1,574
Italy 6,448 13,180 2,044 6,690 12,159 1,817
Germany 6,520 11,390 1,747 6,343 10,578 1,668
United 10,430 16,589 1,591 12,771 17,019 1,333
Kingdom
Spain 5,306 10,021 1,889 5,072 8,959 1,766
(Source: FAO Trade stat.)
From the above data it is clear that Europe is a key market for date exporters. Although the
Europe imports of dates represent only 10% of world imports in volume, they account for
some 30% in value. The reflects the fact that Europe import prices for dates are
comparatively much higher than the world average, since the Europe is importing primarily
high quality dates for fresh consumption. There is essentially no market in Europe for low
quality low priced which are in bulk of the market in India.
There is no separate data available for fresh date market in the world. But according to FAO
sources it is around 10% of the total date production. It was around 60000 tons in the year
2001. Date market is growing at the rate of around 8% per annum in terms of quantity and

around 4% in terms of total value (Source: FAO database). So we can forecast the demand on
the basis of current trend.
Table 7: Forecasted demand
Demand for
fresh dates (Ton) 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Europe market 7347 7934 8569 9255 9995 10795 11658 12591 13598 14686
Middle east
market 9551 10315 11140 12031 12994 14033 15156 16368 17678 19092
Total 16897 18249 19709 21286 22989 24828 26814 28959 31276 33778
If this trend will remain continue we can say that there is enough market available in the
world for the fresh dates produced by the KADEC.
4.3.1.2 Supply of dates - Middle East countries are the major producer of dates. Iran, Saudi
Arab, UAE and Pakistan are the major dates producing countries. Iran produced around
880,000 metric tons of dates in the year 2004 that is highest in the world. But dates produced
by these countries are not of very good quality. So they can not export much dates in the
European market as high quality dates are more in demand in this market. Tunisia and Algeria
are major date exporter countries for the European market. These countries are supplying
Deglet Nour and Megdool verities of dates. But none of these countries can produce fresh
dates due to unfavourable climatic conditions. Very few countries are growing fresh dates
including Israel and Jordan. Jordan exported around 1900 tons of fresh fruits in year 2004 to
European countries.
If KADEC starts its operation in the year 2006, then it will be able to supply the dates in the
year 2009. But at this time production of dates will be very less (245 tons) that will increase
upto the level of 8775 tons in the year 2015. (See annexure 3)
Table 8: Expected supply of dates
Year 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Expected 245 487. 1381 2356 3940 5971 8775
Production 5
(tons)
Possible problems in supply of dates

Oversupply – As dates business can give very high return, it is quite possible that many
farmers would like to cultivate dates in future. If they all will able to get planting material for
Barhi dates, it may create the situation of over supply in the market. In that condition prices
may fell down and farmers may not get enough returns that they are expecting.
Default from farmers – In the proposed plan there is no stake for farmers in the whole
system. They do not have any interest in the profit or loss of the organisation as a whole.
They just want maximum price for themselves. So if somebody will offer better price than
KADEC to farmers, it is quite possible that farmers will default from the agreement and they
will supply dates to the party who is offering more price. In that condition KADEC may face
the problem of undersupply of dates and it may not compete in the market due to less volume
in hand.
4.3.2 Competitive advantages
In this section competitive advantage of KADEC over its competitors will be explored.
Knowledge about strengths and weaknesses of competitors will give us idea about real
position of KADEC in the world dates market. Competitive advantages are explored on the
basis of following parameters
4.3.2.1 Quality – KADEC will supply very good quality Barhi dates. As all the dates will be
grown through offshoot technology it will have the same variety. KADEC will get continue
support from Israeli experts. Proper guidance will be provided to farmers time by time. It will
help in maintaining good quality. But there will be some problems in the initial years when
farmers do not have experience about date cultivation. Its competitors are farmers of Jordan
and Israel. They also produce same variety of dates. But size and sweetness of the dates of
Kutch is better than the dates of these countries. So KADEC really has advantage in terms of
quality of the product but they have to be very cautious in giving proper field guidance to
farmers for maintaining the quality.
4.3.2.2 Location – KADEC has some advantages in terms of its location. As it is described
earlier, Kutch climatic condition are very much suitable for cultivation of Barhi dates.
KADEC will get dates at the time when it is not available anywhere else in the world. So it

can enjoy first mover advantage. Apart from this there is very good port in Mundra. Other
infrastructure facilities are also very good in Mundra. So KADEC will not face any difficulty
in transporting these dates in any part of the world. It will help in reducing the transportation
cost and time of delivery also.
4.3.2.3 Cost – Labor is the major cost component in date cultivation. Labor is cheap in Kutch
compare to other date producing countries like Israel and Jordan. So it is an advantage for
KADEC. Because lower labor cost will enable it to sale the produce at lesser price than its
competitors. Apart from this lower transportation and packaging cost will also help KADEC
in keeping the price lower than competitors.
4.3.2.4 Other opportunities – There are many good verities of dates available in Kutch other
than Barhi. These verities also can be developed in near future and it can also give good
returns to the KADEC. KADEC has a complete plan to develop these varieties in future by
tissue culture technology. Apart from this vegetable business will help it in making new
contacts for dates business also. It can sale the dates through its network of vegetable market.
It can market other fruits also those are grown in the Kutch area. That will be extra source of
income for KADEC.
4.3.3 Financial Analysis
In this section we need to determine the breakeven point for the collection centre as well as
central packaging house. Initial capital requirement is also calculated.
4.3.3.1 Collection center – At every collection centre some fixed costs will be incurred like
office rent, salary and wages and other overheads. KADEC will pay some fix commission on
per ton procurement to every collection centre for covering their fixed cost. I assumed that
KADEC will appoint one secretary and two support staff at every collection centre. Total
estimated fixed cost for the first year is coming Rs.121200. If KADEC pays Rs.50 per ton as
commission on procurement to the collection centre, it has to procure at least 2424 tons of
vegetables or dates for compensating its fixed cost. Means break even point is 2424 tons for a
collection centre.

In the first five years when collection centre is procuring vegetables, covering fixed cost is
not problematic for it on this rate of commission. But from sixth year when there will no
procurement of vegetable, they have to cover all fixed cost from dates only. In this condition
either KADEC has to increase the commission or the collection centre has to increase the
procurement. Since in the sixth year the dates production will be very less, it will not possible
to cover all fixed cost from dates only on the same rate. So KADEC have to increase the
commission percentage. In the subsequent years when dates production will increase, this
commission again can be reduced. (See annexure 4(A) & 4(B))
4.3.3.2 Central Packaging House (CPH) – Initially KADEC is planning to outsource the
packaging facility as some private company is ready to install a packaging house in Mundra.
KADEC do not have much funds with it initially. So outsourcing the packaging facility will
be suitable for it. It will cost around Rs.3 per kilogram to KADEC. But it is planning to
install a cold storage in Mundra, having the capacity of 500 metric tons. Total operating cost
for this cold storage (including depreciation) is coming around Rs.525000 per year (See
annexure 5). KADEC will use this cold storage in the season of vegetables and dates. In this
season average daily procurement will be around 125 tons in the first year. I am assuming
that dates and vegetables will be stored on an average for four days before selling. So 500
tons capacity cold storage will be suitable for them. But in future when their total operation
area will increase, they have to increase the capacity of cold storage also. During off season
they can give it on rent for storing other horticulture produces like mango etc.
4.3.3.3 Initial capital requirement – KADEC is planning to import first installment of 15000
offshoots in September 2005. For importing these offshoots they have to arrange at least
Rs.2.7 Crores. Apart from this they have to invest money in establishing cold storage and
nurseries. So initial capital requirement will be around Rs.3 Crore. KADEC do not have any
fixed plan for arranging this money. They are saying they will get the money for importing
offshoots from farmers in advance. But there is very less possibility that farmers will pay
them without getting offshoots because there are chances of high mortality on offshoots. So
arranging for initial investment is a big problem for KADEC.

4.4 SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weaknesses
1. High quality inputs – High quality 1. No clarity about initial investment

produce for importing planting material
2. Well known variety all over the 2. No funds for infrastructure

world – No difficulty in finding facilities like nursery, packaging
market house and cold storage.
3. Six weeks early supply due to 3. No provision of crop sharing –

favorable climatic conditions High risk for farmers
4. Availability of cheap and 4. No planned organization set up

convenient transport facilities 5. No competent and skilled human
5. Able to supply dates at cheaper resources that is required for the
rate than its competitors project
6. Good linkage of Agripro in 6. No participatory approach –

international dates market Sustainability is the issue
7. Very high returns to farmers (Farmers do not have stake in the

system)
7. No transparency in the system –

Farmers are not aware about
commission charged by promoters
Opportunity Threats
1. Opportunity of developing a 1. Collection centre and Central

brand of dates for Kutch region Packaging House may not be
2. Same marketing channel can be able to achieve break even point.
used for other horticulture crop of 2. Natural calamities like Cyclone

Kutch like ‘Keser Mango’ and or Earthquake.
cheeku. 3. Perishable nature of the produce
3. Opportunity of providing and high seasonality in its
employment to rural youth. business.
Note: - Because of some conflict, Agripro which is an Israel based Agriculture Company,
withdrawn from the project on 14th July 2005. Now member base of the KADEC has
changed. Two other private companies became agree to be the member of the consortium.
One is Excel Crop Care Ltd. (ECCL), that is a subsidiary company of Excel Industries and
the other is the International Marketing Corporation (IMC). IMC is in the business of cold
storages and industrial machineries. IMC will establish its own cold storage in Mundra that
will help KADEC in storing its dates and vegetables. ECCL will provide other financial and
technical support. Other two organisations Agrocel Private Ltd and VRTI are still in the
consortium and their role is also same as before. For technical and marketing guidance they

have hired some experts from Israel who will get some consultancy fee and fixed commission
on the produce sold by them.
The share holding pattern proposed by promoters is following –
Figure 7: Share holding pattern proposed by promoters
Proposed share holding pattern
ECCL
49% 51%
Agrocel and IMC
CHAPTER – 5
RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION
5.1. Recommendations – This project has a great potential to give very good returns to
farmers. KADEC has taken an initiative but still a lot of things need to be done. Following
steps can be taken for better implementation of the project –
5.1.1 Proper organisational set up

At this time there is no proper organisational set up for KADEC. There is no separate staffs
for KADEC and the concerned staff of the related organisations is not sure about their goals.
KADEC should recruit new staff for its operations including project coordinator, marketing
manager, agronomists, social mobiliser and other support staffs. All the employees should be
clear about their role in the organisation and must have freedom in their work. If some
employee of related organisation is working for KADEC, he must be totally free from his
parent organisation. So that he can devote all his full efforts to this project only.
5.1.2 More emphasis on guidance to farmers
Most of the farmers are not aware about the proper date cultivation techniques like pruning,
thinning etc. If they will not be guided well, they will commit the same mistakes those are
doing today. In that case maintaining good quality of dates will not be possible and return to
farmer as well as the organisation will fall down. So KADEC have to make sure that proper
guidance is given to farmers about cultivation techniques. For this they have to employ extra
staff including agronomists and horticulture specialists.
5.1.3 Proper price mechanism
At this time it is not clear that how the net return from dates and vegetables will be
distributed among promoter companies and farmers. There must be a proper mechanism for
deciding the share of each stakeholder.
Initially 60% of total selling price can be given to farmer according to quality of his produce.
From the remaining 40% first all the operating and administrative expenses should be
deducted and then some dividend can be offered to shareholders. Some part of remaining
amount should be kept as reserves for future investments and remaining amount should be
returned back to farmers as bonus on the basis of their patronage.
5.1.4 Create stake of the farmers in the system
After 4-5 years when market for Barhi dates will be well established by the efforts of
KADEC, any other buyer can come in this area and he can offer better price to farmers than
KADEC initially for getting produce from farmers. Since farmers do not have any stake in
the organisation they can supply their produce to anybody in the greed of more returns. In

that case KADEC may not be competitive in the market as it will not have much volume in
its hand.
For preventing this KADEC should try to create some stake of farmers in the organisation so
that they think once before defaulting in supply. In that situation if they will default it will
affect their returns also. So they will not go to any other buyer if price difference is not very
high. For creating stake of farmers in the organisation KADEC can issue some shares to
farmers. It will also help in mobilising the funds for initial investment through capital
financing. The initial share holding pattern can be in the following way –
New share holding pattern
5%
ECCL
5% 25% Agrocel
IMIC
30%
Farmers
20% Employees
15% Foreign Expert
Farmer’s share can be increased in the subsequent years and at last this organisation can be
converted into a producer company that will totally governed by farmers.
5.1.5 Provide right information to farmers
KADEC staff is not providing proper information to farmers. Like farmers are told that they
will get offshoots at their farms and KADEC will not be responsible for after plantation
mortality of offshoots. But field staff did not tell to farmers that they have to bear the
mortality during import and quarantine processes also. Apart from this they also did not tell to
farmers that they have to pay for offshoots in advance. There is high possibility that farmers
will not pay in advance due to high chances of mortality in offshoots during quarantine
process. They are also saying to farmers that farmers cooperative will be formed for
procurement and marketing of dates and vegetables but promoters do not want to form a
cooperative. This information asymmetry can create problems in future. So KADEC should
provide right information to farmers and should make everything clear to them.

5.1.6 Farmer groups
Initially mobilising the individual farmers to participate in the project and then guiding them
about cultivation practices will not be easy for the staff of KADEC because farmers do not
believe on outsiders easily. For faster and easier implementation of the project, KADEC can
take the help of progressive farmers of its target villages who understand the project and have
good influence on the local people. Some group of progressive farmers can be formed who
explain the project and its benefits to farmers and assure them about credibility of KADEC.
5.1.7 Risk diversifications
After five years when there will be no vegetable or cotton in the field, farmers will become
totally depend on dates for their income from that part of land. In case of any natural calamity
or dieses in date crop, there will not be any alternative source of income for farmers. For
reducing the dependency of farmers only on date crop, KADEC should explore the possibility
to plant some crop that can be grown in less sun light. It will be planted on the free space
available in between of the date trees. This crop will give them alternative source of income
and will reduce their dependency on date crop.
Some people are thinking about growing fodder in that space. Fodder can also give good
returns as it is in very good demand during summer time in this area. These types of
initiatives should be encouraged by KADEC.
5.1.8 Solution of labour problem
Labour is a very scarce resource in this area. Many farmers can not do proper pruning and
thinning in date trees because these are very labour intensive activities and labour is very
expensive in Kutch. Once the dates trees will be planted under KADEC project on such a
large scale, the labour problem will become more magnified.
For avoiding this condition, KADEC can create the groups of worker who are expert in a
specific task. For this a proper training programme can be arranged where worker will be
taught about pollination, pruning, thinning, harvesting etc. Availability of skilled labour will

help the farmers in improving the quality of the fruit and it will also reduce their dependency
on local labour.
5.1.9 Arrange for required investment
As mentioned earlier, KADEC have to arrange initially at least Rs.3 Crore for importing
15000 offshoots and set up nursery and cold storage. They are planning to charge money
from farmers in advance for offshoot import. But it will not be possible as farmers will not
pay without taking the live offshoot. So promoters should arrange for this money by taking
some bank loan or some other source. Interest expense and loss due to mortality in offshoots
during quarantine process can be charged from farmers in the form some commission on end
selling price.
5.2 Conclusion
There is a great potential of growing various types of horticulture crops in the Kutch region
and these crops can give very good returns to farmers provided good marketing is available
for these crops. At present marketing is the major problem for all the fruits and vegetables
grower farmers of this area. Commission agents and traders are keeping the lion share of the
end price of the produce while farmers are getting very less return on it. Most of the farmers
are agree with it that if better marketing system is available to sale their crop, they can get
more returns.
KADEC has taken a very good initiative for first improving the quality of dates of this region
and then develop a new marketing system for selling all the horticulture produces. This
marketing system will be free from many intermediaries and will provide better returns to
farmers. But developing this type of system will not be easy for KADEC as farmers and
promoters of KADEC may have different interests. But if KADEC change its policies

according to need of time and keep farmer’s interest in mind, this project can change the
future of farmers of Kutch region.
References:
1. Abbott, J.C. (1970) “Marketing Fruits and Vegetables”, FAO, Rome.
2. Handbook of Agriculture (1997 ed) Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR),
New Delhi
3. www.indiaagronet.com
4. www.agmarknet.nic.in
5. www.nhb.org
6. www.fao.org

Annexure 1.
Assumptions
Following assumptions were taken before doing the financial analysis of the project.
1. 125 offshoots will be planted in one hectare of land at the spacing of 9*9 meter.
2. There can be maximum 35% mortality in offshoots.
3. Production will start after four years of planting the offshoots.
4. In fourth and fifth year 60% of the trees will give average production of 20 Kg. per
tree.
5. In sixth and seventh year 80% of the trees will start to produce dates and the
production will be 55 and 75 Kg. per tree in sixth and seventh years subsequently.
6. From eighth year onwards all the trees will produce dates and production will increase
upto 150 Kg. per tree in the tenth year.

7. Each offshoot will cost around $41 to farmers.

8. Every plant will give average two offshoots in sixth and seventh years.
9. Farmer can sale his offshoots at the price of Rs.750 per offshoot.
10. KADEC will able to provide at least Rs.45 per Kg. to farmers for their produce of
dates.
11. Vegetables and cotton will be planted as intercrops for the first five years. The area
covered under inter crops will be 80% of the total area and it will reduce upto 40% at
the end of fifth year. After that intercropping will not be possible.
12. Bank will provide loan for 85% of the net project cost. The loan can be paid in next
ten years.
13. Farmers will grow vegetables according to the schedule provided by KADEC and
they will rotate the crops as per requirement.
14. KADEC will start its project with 250 hectares initially. The area will increase upto
750 hectares in three years.
15. We will get only 50% A quality produce in the first two years of production. It will
increase to 60% in third and fourth year and 80% in the following years. B quality
produce will be 25% in first two years and then it will reduce to 20% in the following
years. C quality will not be produced after fourth year of production.

Annexure 1 (A) Establishment cost of setting of one date orchard with intercropping
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total
out flows
offshoot cost 230625
new offshoot plant cost 80718.75
drip irrigation 115000
land preparation 3000
pitches 4375
fertiliser and chemicals during
plantation 5000
labour for plantation 1250
transportation of the plants 4375
packing material cost 9000
offshoot covering expenses 2500
455843.7
total fixed cost 5
less subsidy on drip irrigation 50000
405843.7
net project cost 5
subsidy NHB 81168.75
net investment by farmer 324675
Margin money 48701.25
275973.7
Bank loan required 5
Repayment of bank loan 30357 30357 30357 30357 69702 69702 69702 69702 69702 69702
gap filling 2150 2150
fertiliser cost 1250 2500 3750 5000 6250 7500 8750 10000 11250 12500 68750
weeding of plants 1875 1250 1525 1875 2500 3125 3125 3125 3125 3125 24650
offshoot removing 1250 6250 6250 13750
new offshoot development 2500 2500 5000
pollination cost 250 1125 1500 1500 1500 1875 2500 2500 12750
irrigation cost 12500 12500 12500 18750 25000 25000 25000 25000 25000 25000 206250
bunch management (labour ) 1875 2500 2500 2500 3125 4375 4375 21250
bunch management material cost 3000 5000 5000 6000 6000 10000 12500 47500
harvesting cost 375 500 1375 1950 2915 3750 4690 15555
Transportation to for dates 750 1000 2750 3750 5625 7500 9375 30750
new offshoot fertiliser cost 2500 3750 5000 5000 16250
land preparation 1680 1680 1780 1780 1880 8800
total cash outflow by farmer 94683 48757 50882 68107 127702 133882 123957 129147 138982 145647 1061747
production of date 1500 2000 5500 7500 11250 15000 18750

number of offshoots 250 250
inflows
sale of dates 67500 90000 247500 337500 506250 675000 843750 2767500
sale of offshoots 187500 187500 375000
Income from vegetables 98173.6 12920 98173.6 9690 49086.8
139086.
total inflow 98173.6 12920 98173.6 77190 8 435000 525000 506250 675000 843750 3142500
3490.237 -35837.112 9082.887
net cash flow 5 5 47291.4875 5 11384.8 301118 401043 377103 536018 698103 2348797.3
3490.237 336530. 737573. 1650694. 2348797.
cumulative cash flow 5 -32346.875 14944.6125 24027.5 35412.3 3 3 1114676.3 3 3
$994,571.2
NPV (Rs.) 4
IRR 46%
Pay back period 6 year

Annexure 1 (B) Establishment cost of setting of one date orchard (without intercropping)
out flows 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Total

fixed cost for plantation in first year
offshoot cost 230625
new offshoot plant cost 80719
drip irrigation 65000
land preparation 3000
pitches 4375
fertiliser and chemicals during plantation 5000
labour for plantation 1250
transportation of the plants 4375
offshoot covering expenses 2500
total fixed cost 396844
less subsidy on drip irrigation 32500
net project cost 364344
subsidy NHB 72869
net investment by farmer 291475
Margin money 43721
Bank loan required 247754
gap filling 2150 2150
fertiliser cost 1250 2500 3750 5000 6250 7500 8750 10000 11250 12500 68750
weeding of plants 1875 1250 1525 1875 2500 3125 3125 3125 3125 3125 24650
offshoot removing 1250 6250 6250 13750
new offshoot development 2500 2500 5000
pollination cost 250 1125 1500 1500 1500 1875 2500 2500 12750
irrigation cost 12500 12500 12500 18750 25000 25000 25000 25000 25000 25000 206250
bunch management (labour ) 1875 2500 2500 2500 3125 4375 4375 21250
bunch management material cost 3000 5000 5000 6000 6000 10000 12500 47500
harvesting cost 375 500 1375 1950 2915 3750 4690 15555
Packing cost(Crates) 9000
Transportation cost 750 1000 2750 3750 5625 7500 9375 30750
new offshoot fertiliser cost 2500 3750 5000 5000 16250
land preparation 1680 1680 1780 1780 1880 8800

Repayment of bank loan 27253 27253 27253 27253 58563 58563 58563 58563 58563 58563 460391
total investment in a year 333103 45653 47778 74003 116563 122743 112818 118008 127843 134508 1233021
production of date 1500 2000 5500 7500 11250 15000 18750
number of offshoots 250 250
Inflows
sale of dates 67500 90000 247500 337500 506250 675000 843750 2767500
sale of offshoots 187500 187500 375000
Bank loan 247753.8
total inflow 247753.8 0 0 67500 90000 435000 525000 506250 675000 843750 3142500
net cash flow -85349 -45653 -47778 -6503 -26563 312257 412182 388242 547157 709242 2157233
cumulative cash flow -85349 -131002 -178780 -185283 -211846 100411 512593 900834 1447991 2157233
NPV (Rs.) Rs. $828,699.10
IRR 49%
Payback Period 7 Years

Annexure 2 (A) Year wise cropping pattern for vegetables

Crop Details 1st Year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year
1st 2nd Net 2nd Net 1st 2nd Net 1st 2nd Net
Season season Income 1stSeason Season Income Season Season Income Season Season Income
Tomato
Total Income 134400
Total Expenses 83487.6
Net Income 50912.4 50912.4
Brinjal
Total Income 76800
Net Income 47261.2 47261.2
Chilli
Total Income 38400
Total Expenses 29680
Net Income 8720 8720
Beans
Total Income 35000
Net Income 4200 4200
Tomato
Total Income 134400
Net Income 50912.4 50912.4
Brinjal
Total Income 76800
Net income 47261.2 47261.2
Chilly
Total Income 28800

Net income 6540 6540

Beans
Total Income 26250
Net income 3150 3150
Tomato
Total Income
Total Expenses
Net income
Brinjal
Total Income
Total Expenses
Net income
Total income 98173.6 12920 98173.6 9690
Annexure 2 (B) Income - expenditure for tomato plantation per hectare
Income unit quantity unit price total value Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

yield -A quality kg 24000 3 72000 57600 57600 57600 43200 28800

yield -B quality kg 16000 6 96000 76800 76800 76800 57600 38400
Total income 134400 134400 134400 100800 67200
Expenditure
Land Preparation
Ploughing 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Other Labour 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500
Organic Manure
F.Y.M. kg 25000 1 25000 20000 20000 20000 15000 10000
neem cake kg 1000 7 7000 5600 5600 5600 4200 2800
Seeds kg 1 12000 12000 9600 9600 9600 7200 4800
Labour charges 2 100 200 200 200 200 200 200
Weeding
Inter cultivation Men day 50 60 3000 2400 2400 2400 2000 2000
herbicide litre 2.5 480 1200 960 960 960 720 480
labour for herbiside application men day 3 100 300 300 300 300 300 300
Routine fertilizer
UREA Begs 15 255 3825 3060 3060 3060 2295 1530
DAP Begs 2.5 467 1167.5 934 934 934 700.5 467
Potash Begs 2.5 222 555 444 444 444 333 222
other fertiliser Begs 10000 8000 8000 8000 6000 4000
labour Manday 10 60 600
Pesticides 7112 5689.6 5689.6 5689.6 4267.2 2844.8
labour for pesticide man-day 35 100 3500 2800 2800 2800 2100 1400
petrol litre 35 40 1400
Harvesting women day 300 50 15000 12000 12000 12000 9000 6000
Packing material (depr. 20%) crates 200 50 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Transportation cost 6000 6000 6000 6000 6000 6000
Total 99859.5 83487.6 83487.6 83487.6 65815.7 48543.8
Net income 68140.5 50912.4 50912.4 50912.4 34984.3 18656.2
Annexure 2 [C] Income from Brinjal plantation per hectare

total
Income unit quantity unit price value Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
yield -local kg 24000 4 96000 76800 72000 72000 57600 38400

Expenditure
Land Preparation
Ploughing 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Other Labour 1250 1250 1250 1250 1250 1250
Organic Manure
F.Y.M. kg 25000 1 25000 20000 20000 20000 15000 10000
Seeds kg 0.5 1100 550 440 440 440 330 220
Labour charges 2 100 200 200 200 200 200 200
Weeding
Routine fertilizer
UREA Begs 15 255 3825 3060 3060 3060 2295 1530
DAP Begs 2 467 934 747.2 747.2 747.2 560.4 373.6
Potash Begs 2.5 222 555 444 444 444 333 222
0
Pesticides 4200 3360 3360 3360 2520 1680
Harvesting Men Day 120 60 7200 5760 5760 5760 4320 2880
Packing material (Depr.

20%) crates 200 50 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Total 55714 47261.2 42662 42662 38808.4 30355.6
Net income 40286 29538.8 29338 29338 18791.6 8044.4
Annexure 2 (D) Income from chilly plantation per hectare
Income unit quantity unit price total Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

value
yield -local kg 6000 4 24000 19200 19200 19200 14400 9600
yield -export kg 4000 6 24000 19200 19200 19200 14400 9600
Total income 48000 38400 38400 38400 28800 19200
Expenditure
Land Preparation
Ploughing 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Other Labour 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500
Seeds kg 1 800 800 640 640 640 480 320
Labour charges 2 100 200 200 200 200 200 200
Weeding
herbicide litre 2.5 480 1200 960 960 960 720 480
labour for herbiside
application men day 3 100 300 300 300 300 300 300
fertilizer 5000 4000 4000 4000 3000 2000
labour Manday 10 60 600 480 480 480 360 240
Pesticides 6000 4800 4800 4800 3600 2400

20%) crates 200 50 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Total 34100 29680 29680 29680 25260 20840
Net income 13900 8720 8720 8720 3540 -1640
Annexure 2 (E) Income from beans plantation per hectare
total
Income unit quantity unit price value Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5

yield -local kg 7000 5 35000 28000 28000 28000 21000 14000

Expenditure
Land Preparation
Ploughing 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Other Labour 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500
Seeds kg 20 200 4000 3200 3200 3200 2400 1600
Labour charges 2 100 200 200 200 200 200 200
Weeding
fertilizer 4000 3200 3200 3200 2400 1600
labour Manday 10 60 600 480 480 480 360 240
Pesticides 3500 2800 2800 2800 2100 1400
20%) crates 200 50 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000
Total 30800 26980 26980 26980 23160 19340
Net income 4200 1020 1020 1020 -2160 -5340
Supply
Annexure 3 Estimation
Years
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Additional project area (Ha) per year 250 250 250

No. of Plants 31250 31250 31250
No. of survived plants in first (35%
mortality) 20313 20313 20313
Additional planting from offshoots 40625 81250 81250 40625
Total no. of trees in the project 20313 40625 60938 60938 60938 101563 182813 264063 304688 304688
Production from trees planted in the first year 243750 243750 893750 1218750 1828125 2437500 3046875
Production from trees planted in the second year 243750 243750 893750 1218750 1828125 2437500
Production from trees planted in the third year 243750 243750 893750 1218750 1828125
Production from the offshoots planted in the sixth year 487500 487500
Production from offshoots planted in seventh year 975000
Total date production (Kg) 243750 487500 1381250 2356250 3940625 5971875 8775000
total date production (tons) 243.75 487.5 1381.25 2356.25 3940.625 5971.875 8775
% increase in production 100 183.33 70.59 67.24 51.55 46.94
A quality production 121.875 243.75 828.75 1413.75 3152.5 4777.5 7020

B quality production 60.9375 121.875 276.25 471.25 788.125 1194.375 1755
C quality production 60.9375 121.875 276.25 471.25 0 0 0
Cash flow of the village level collection centre

Annexure 4(A)
year
year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 year 5 year 6 year 7 year 8 year 9 10

Outflows
Weighting Machine 12000
rent 24000 24000 24000 25200 25200 25200 26460 26460 26460 27783
salary and wages (one secretary and two support
staff) 84000 84000 84000 84000 84000 66000 66000 66000 66000 66000
electricity 6000 6000 6000 6600 6600 6600 7260 7260 7260 7986
overheads 6000 6000 6000 6600 6600 6600 7260 7260 7260 7986
Total outflows 132000 1E+05 120000 122400 122400 104400 106980 106980 106980 109755
Inflows
membership fees 20000
commision on procurement 256000 60000 188000 109500 100000 55000 75000 90000 120000 112500
Total inflows 276000 60000 188000 109500 100000 55000 75000 90000 120000 112500
-6000
Net cash flow 144000 0 68000 -12900 -22400 -49400 -31980 -16980 13020 2745
Cumulative cash flow 144000 84000 152000 139100 116700 67300 35320 18340 31360 34105
Annexure 4(B) Profit and loss A/c for collection centre

For the year ended March 31, 2007
Dr. Cr.
Amt(Rs Amt(Rs
Particulars ) Parti culars )
By commission on
To Rent of office 24000 procurement 256000
To salary and wages 84000 By Membership fees 20000
To electricity 6000

To overheads 6000
To Depr. On weighting machine 1200
Total Expense 121200 Total income 276000
To net profit 154800
Breakeven point for first year procurement 2424 Tons

Breakeven point for fourth year
procurement 2400 Tons
cold storage
Annexure 5 calculations
Land requirement 2 acres yr-1 yr-2 yr-3 yr-4 yr-5 yr-6 yr-7 yr-8 yr-9 yr-10
Storage space requirement 3400

Gravity
circulation/
Bunker type/
Technology preferred Fin-coil
Cold storage room height 12.2 to 18.5 m
Total
Cost
(Rs.
Avg. cost of investment Rs. per MT lakhs)
Civil cost 2800 14
Insulation cost 700 3.5
Equipment cost 2200 11
Miscellaneous cost 300 1.5
Total 6000 30
Operational cost Rs./MT/year
Electricity & utilities 420 210000 220500 231525 243101 255256 268019 281420 295491 310266 325779
Establishment expenses 70 35000 36750 38588 40517 42543 44670 46903 49249 51711 54296
Maintenance and repair 40 20000 21000 22050 23153 24310 25526 26802 28142 29549 31027
Gas, Fuel and Lubricants 20 10000 10500 11025 11576 12155 12763 13401 14071 14775 15513
Labour charges 30 15000 15750 16538 17364 18233 19144 20101 21107 22162 23270
Insurance 40 20000 21000 22050 23153 24310 25526 26802 28142 29549 31027
total operating cost 310000 325500 341775 358864 376807 395647 415430 436201 458011 480912
Total Electrical load 125 kW
depreciation schedule of
cold storage
land and building 5% 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7
plant and machinery 10% 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45 1.45
total depreciation 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000 215000

total operating cost 525000 540500 556775 573864 591807 610647 630430 651201 673011 695912

Annexure 6 (A)
Questionnaire for farmer
Name …………………….
Village …………………... Questionnaire No………
Q.1.How much land do you have?

<5 acre 5-10 acre
>10 acre
Q.2.Details of crops that you are growing right now –
Serial Crop Area Cropping Input Output Net

No. name under season income
crop
Q.3.Do you have date plantation in your field?

Yes No
If yes, then
(1) How many trees ___________________________
(2) Which variety ___________________________
(3) Last time selling price ___________________________
(4) Place of sale ___________________________
(5) Mode of selling (Trader/comm. agent) ___________________________
(6) Total production ___________________________
(7) Total income __________________________
If no then what are the reasons (Mark tick on that)

(1) Require higher investment
(2) High water requirement
(3) Unawareness about technology
(4) Unavailability of good quality inputs
(5) Not getting good market price
(6) Any other (Please specify) ___________________________
Q.4.Which technology you are using for date cultivation?

Seedlings Tissue culture Offshoots
Q.5.Is date cultivation is the main source of your income or it is just a secondary activity?
Main income source Secondary activity

Q.5. Are you growing vegetables also in your field?

Yes No
If yes, then
(1) Types of vegetable _______________________
(2) Area under vegetable cultivation _______________________
(3) Place of selling ________________________
(4) Average income per acre from vegetables ________________________
Q.6.Which type of irrigation you are using right now?

Flood irrigation Drip irrigation
Q.7.How you carry your agriculture produce to the market?

Own tractor or bullock cart Public transport vehicle
Buyer’s vehicle
Q.8.Do you face any problem in transporting your produce to the market?
Yes No
Q.9. Are you selling dates and vegetables directly to wholesalers or commission agents?
Whole seller Commission agent
If you are selling through commission agent, then how much commission he charges?
………………………………………………………………………………………
Q.10.When do you get payment for your produce of dates and vegetables from trader /
commission agent?
Cash After one week
After 15 days After one month
Q.11.Does the trader / commission agent provides you any credit facility?
Yes No
If yes, then how much interest he charges?

Nothing 0-10%
10-20% > 20%
Q.12.Do you think that trader / commission agent is giving you fair price for your produce?
Yes No
Q.13.Do you think that trader / commission agent correctly weight your produce?
Yes No
Q.14. Is there large number of buyers in the market or not?

Yes No
Q.15.Do you like to get different price for different quality produce or an average price?
Different price Average price
If you want to get different pieces, then do you grade your products before selling?

Yes No
If yes then what are your parameters of grading?

Size Colour Variety
Freshness Sweetness
Q.16. Is there any mechanism for giving different prices for different quality products in the
existing system?
Yes No
Q.17.What do you think that if better grading, packaging and storage facilities are available,
then you can get better price for your produce?
Yes No
Q.18.Are you satisfied with this overall system of marketing of your dates and vegetables?
Yes No
If no, then would you like to change it if a better option is available?

Yes No
Q.19. If no then what are the reasons?

Don‘t want to change
Good relations with the existing trader /commission agent
Threat from existing trader / commission agent
Q.20.Have you heard about farmer’s cooperatives?

Yes No
If yes, then what do you think that a farmer cooperative can help you in getting better price
for your produce or not?
Yes No
Q.21.If yes, then would you like to join a farmer cooperative if the same is formed in this
area for marketing of dates and vegetables?
Yes No

Annexure 6 (B)
Checklist for commission agents / Traders
1. Experience in the field

2. Procurement system (Auction or open market)
3. Quantity traded per day
4. Scale of operations
5. Quality assessment (grading)
6. Prices paid
7. Payment system (cash or credit)
8. Suppliers
9. Facilities provided to suppliers
10. Demand pattern (periods of high Demand)
11. Supply estimation
12. Price fluctuations (reasons also)
13. Expenses incurred
a) Shop rent
b) Employee
c) Packing materials
d) Storage
e) Maintenance & others
f) Spoilage
9. Margin
10. Sales price to whole sellers / retailers
11. Profile of retailers (prominent retailers)
12. Problems faced in the trade
13. Value addition (Packaging etc.)
14. Access to facilities like cold storage, ware house etc.

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Community Motivation for agri and horticulture output marketing (Especially for dates and vegetables of Kutch)

IRMA OTS – 2005 1 Anshul Goyal

1.2 Kutch – General Introduction

1.3 Dates in Kutch

IRMA OTS – 2005 2 Anshul Goyal

1.4 Objectives of the study

The major objectives of the study were as follows –

IRMA OTS – 2005 3 Anshul Goyal

1.5 Scope of the study

Table 1: Schedule of the study

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Analysis of KADEC proposed

1.6.1 Sampling plan for survey of farmers

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Table 2: Sample survey break up

2.1 Marketing Channels

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Figure 1: Current marketing channel for dates and vegetables

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2.1.1 Direct to consumers

2.1.2 Commission agents in the outside market

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2.1.3 Commission agents in the local market

2.1.5 Trader agent

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2.2 Fruit and vegetable market of Anjar

2.2.1 Infrastructure facilities

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2.2.2 Market association

2.2.3 Trader / commission agent

2.2.4 Trading system

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Figure 2: Share of different players in Anjar market

Share of different players in Farmer

2.2.6 Estimation of supply of dates in the Anjar market

2.2.7 Average price for dates in the Anjar market

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2.2.8 General observations

2.3 Fruits and vegetable market of Mumbai

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2.4 Findings of the sample survey

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The major findings of the sample survey are following –

Figure 3: Average price offered in different markets

Average Price offered in different

Figure 4: Share of different intermediaries

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Share of different intermediaries

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2.5 Analysis of the sample survey

2.5.1 Benefits of the current system for farmers

2.5.1.2 No commission from farmers – In Anjar market no commission is charged from

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2.5.2 Problems in the current system for farmers

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2.5.3 Major reasons for these problems

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2.6 Change in the farmers’ perspective: A case study

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3.1 Consortium approach

3.2 Change in propagation technology