Redefining agriculture through integration of demand chain and supply chain: Case Study of ITCs Project Symphony

Rajneesh Mehra

Agriculture is the second largest contributor to Indias GDP, amongst the three sectors of economy. Much similar to the other two, it also has its own bagful of woes faced by the protagonists in this sector. So typical to the Indian milieu are such problems like issues of soil fertility, lack of contemporary irrigation facilities, low levels of mechanization, poor information flow to the cultivators on various cropping options, market prices and so on. The problems that beset the Indian agriculture are a result of lack of change with the changing environment. After nearly two decades of independence the agriculture sector witnessed Green Revolution. The Green Revolution was all about food security and the focus was to prevent starvation, which was rampant during the period immediately after independence. It has been successful to a very large extent towards this end although incidences of starvation and subsequent deaths still occur in Orissa. The events of 1990-1992 saw cataclysmic changes in the world economic order, which had their repercussions on the Indian Economy. The Gulf War I saw drying up of cheap oil import sources of India forcing it to buy from the open market and at market prices. This created pressure on foreign exchange resources of the country forcing it to resort to institutional borrowing from IMF and other FIs. Assistance from these institutional lenders came with the pre-condition that regulatory framework for the entire economy will be changed or reformed and shall be made liberal. Another event that had further bearing on the Indian economic framework was the replacement of GATT by WTO in January 1995. India is a signatory to the WTO charter and it has among other things, changed the framework for agricultural sector. There is worldwide pressure to withdraw subsidies to this sector and the element of competition be introduced in trading agricultural and agri-based commodities. Hence the move towards corporatisation of agriculture and growth of agri-entrepreneurs. As is
*

Faculty Member (Marketing area), ICFAI Business School, Dehradun.

wont with every business whether established or sunrise it witnesses efforts towards streamlining of operations. One of the major bottlenecks in transition into agribusinesses is the
1

archaic distribution network. This distribution, comprising

intermediaries like 2kachcha adat, pakka adat, wholesaler, retailer is heavily loaded against the producer, i.e., the farmer, as he is completely dependent on these intermediaries for information on the prevailing market conditions and market prices. It is this lacuna that is proposed to be studied and ITCs Project Symphony to be analyzed in solving this problem. The reason for choosing ITCs Project Symphony is its success where other similar efforts have met with reasonably lower degree of success. Given this backdrop the study proposes to achieve innovative usage of tools made available by Information Technology, demonstrate the benefits of increased awareness about the trade and thus empower the farming community, and establish an alternative channel to reach the rural consumer who has been an enigma and enabling the modern day marketer to understand this entity of consumers better. The approach to this paper is exploratory and qualitative. Since a case always occurs in specified social and physical settings, it cannot be studied devoid of their context in the way that a quantitative researcher often does. Therefore it is possible to study the phenomenon under the inquiry only by giving due importance to the context in which the phenomenon is taking place. Thus the Case Study Research Strategy is opted for the study. It is proposed that the study will be conducted in Uttaranchal for cultivators of sugarcane.

Archaic distribution system refers to the system being followed that has not changed with time and is exploitative of the farmer. 2 Kachcha adat and pakka adat are the terms used in the distribution of the agricultural produce. It refers to the middlemen that the farmers interact with to sell their produce in the mandis or marketplace for agri-products. Kachcha adat is the first point of contact for the farmers. He is an agent and arranges to sell the produce through the pakka adat. Pakka adat further sells the produce to the wholesaler in the mandi or the marketplace.