ICT application with Apple Service Project

1. Fostering Farmer’s Organization’s with Business through Apple Service project India which is initiated by
Rigor through ICT a consortium of partner organizations named Fresh food
technology (FFT)1, Agriculture & Organic Farming
Advancing local development through meso-credit, Group (AOFG) and Shri Jagdamba Samiti (SJS). The
Farmer Private Ltds and economic chain advent of ICT with this consortium has changed the
development scenario of cultivation and the livelihood of these
unreachable villages. It is convinced that ICT is the
Author right step for supporting agriculture into a new
Utpal Chandra(I.C.T Head) and L.P.Semwal (Chairman) dimension as it plays an important role by giving
Shri Jagdamba Samiti (NGO), Rishikesh, India solution to the challenges faced by the farmers as well as
mailto:utpalchandraa@gmail.com the organization and also accelerate earnings.
Aim - The aim of the new approach is to create a
Abstract – Apple service project India is a livelihood profitable partnership between investors and farmer
development project promoted by FFT consortium, in groups, by setting up ICT enabled joint venture of agro-
the year of 2007. The consortium is promoting sustained processing enterprises based on solid feasibility studies
economic development in rural areas by setting up and business plans. Similar to the self-help groups and
healthy agro processing enterprises in which farmer cooperatives, the aim is to set-up healthy business in
group themselves gradually gain economic ownership handling, processing and trading farmer’s commodities
with the help of both NGOs and experienced private on a commercial basis. The main difference of the new
entrepreneurs. It has undertaken this project for the approach is that the farmers, along with social-
small and marginal farmers of Uttrakhand and conscious corporate partners become equal business
Himachal Pradesh. The involvement of ICT with this partners of the investor. The farmers will only gain full
project is indispensible as it plays an important role economic ownership once the investment is repaid fully.
starting from information dissemination to ownership The economic ownership of the companies, however,
sharing. This paper discusses the impact of Information can be fully transferred to the farmer groups solely.
and Communication Technology(ICT) on agriculture
knowledge transfer on farming to small and marginal THE SOLUTION
apple farmers of remote villages of the Himalays and
establishing their agro processing enterprises through In India, small and marginal farmers tend to get
farmer organizations. caught in the powerful grip of middlemen,
informal lenders and other intermediaries. They
Keywords: ICT, Small and Marginal Farmer, Economic have lack of collective action and on the other
Ownership, Agro-Processing Enterprise, Farmer hand private sector is hesitant of giving ownership
Organizations. of the value chain to the farmers and sometimes it
is exploitative in nature.
Introduction
In India, Apple farming is practiced only in high hilly The vision of FFT is to provide solution for socio-
areas. Villages there are much scattered. Again apple economic empowerment of small and marginal farmers
orchards are located in the remote hills slopes in dense through livelihood improvement that tries to address the
forests, where there are no modern ways to reach. In above mentioned problems through a new system of
some cases orchards are 12 km inside the forest. Till a institutional design. Here a new form of partnership on a
few years back, it was common for the farmers to grow loan cum investment basis is being tried out. This is tried
apples in an age old conventional process. Though apple by organizing the farmers to form fair and feasible
production generates good revenues they hardly took business entities based on feasible business planning.
care of right time of harvesting, transportation to market
and selling at a reasonable price. This was due to small Therefore, an approach is targeted towards setting-up
and marginal farming, harsh and unpredictable weather healthy agro-businesses through joint venture of farmers
condition, lack of communication, knowhow of quality
and economy. 1
FFT is consortium leader for the project, AOFG is
overseeing the organization of farmer groups and coordinating
Fortunately, a new approach of socio-economic the implementation in the field, whereas and Shri Jagdamba
development approached to the Nagaon area of Samiti (SJS) support the farmer groups’ directly on location.
Uttrakhand and Jubbal area of Himachal Pradesh This consortium is under the financial assistance of SHGW (A
Private Dutch Foundation).

2. and private investors with the help of FFT consortium. It
aims to set up healthy farmer owned businesses in  Joint Ventures for Primary Business Units – Six
handling, processing and trading farmer’s commodities apple Grower Groups, called as Farmer Trusts, have
collectively. been registered. Here the ownership/benefit
distribution shall be in the ratio of the contribution
The main constraints hampering the growth of pooled by the farmers. These farmer associations
industries in the hilly states of nation are summarized have entered into joint ventures with FFT to form
below: four Farmer Limited Companies. These farmer
limited companies are involved in level one value
 Geographical and environmental constraints in the addition of grading, sorting, packing and marketing
regions; as the primary operation in the value chain.
 Lack of availability of infrastructure including roads
in remote areas;  Joint Ventures - Secondary Business Unit - These
 Lack of marketing opportunities and avenues; and Farmer Trusts have representatives in a holding
 Non-availability of raw materials locally; Trust called E Trusts, in order to move up in the next
 Poor ICT infrastructure and services. level of value chain. This has entered into a Joint
Venture with the FFT to form a Processing Company
called the FFT Himlayan Fresh Produce Private
Limited Company and is going to undertake
construction of Cold Storage at Naogaon, Uttarkashi.
This model provides ample opportunities for the
farmers to improve the supply chain businesses. By
investing in infrastructure like long-term storage
facilities, grading and sorting machines, so that the
products can give them a good return when it is to be
sold in a better form.
Business Cycle Planning (Value-addition and
marketing)
Each year Business Planning is done by keeping in
An Apple farmer group involved in a meeting with SJS mind
officials to create Farmer Trust as it is first step towards  Input Planning
the solution. Source:- SJS Collection Center office,  Working Capital Planning
Nagaon, Uttranchal  Storage, Transportation and Marketing
 Sales and Distribution Management
PROJECT RATIONALE  Price Buildup
 Profit Realization and Premium Distribution
The proposed Solution’s relevance (in terms of
investments in agriculture development through Sustainability of the investments
concept of farmer joint ventures)  Investments are sustainable as they are meant to
be returned through the profits of these business
Some of the guiding principles are – cycles over the next few years.
 To enable farmers to move up in the value chain.  Further such investments shall then be made in
 Loan, No Free Money. similar such enterprises.
 Farmers involvement in joint venture company  Based on the above principles the joint venture
through farmers groups. companies can get loans and subsidies from
 Profit/Ownership distribution among the financial institutions and from the government
participants of the joint venture companies. which is presently only accessible by private
 Reinvestment of profit, partially, for building sector in urban areas. Through these joint
infrastructure of the company. collectives we are trying to extend the reach of
the farmers to these schemes.
Implementation of the model
The Basic ICT Model with Stakeholders in Apple
The partnerships are of following kinds. Project:

3. Advantages of this ICT model :-
The new structure offers many benefits to Apple Project
India.
1. The main purpose to accommodate all the key
stake holders has been solved.
2. Centralized ICT management with distributed
activities.
3. Ease of development and deployment of techno-
logy.
Figure1: ICT model with key Stakeholder 4. Information sharing among different stake hold-
ers and to make them familiar with ICT.
The impact of an ICT deployment with Apple Project In- 5. Cost effective.
dia is incremental. Apple Project India comprises of dif-
ferent stakeholders. Each and every stakeholder has an
equal importance in the ICT model; this includes small
and marginal farmers to farmer trusts, management
team, funding agencies etc. Thus, ICT identified the
different stakeholders involved in this project and inte-
grated them with the ICT work flow structures.
Each internal wedge of this model represents a stake
holder. The central “ICT Apple Project India”, works as
a facilitator of information exchange between different
stake holders. It also maintains an ICT team at different
levels to identify and cater to the demand of information
required by the different stake holders. Finally this fed-
erated structure is tested with a set of case studies and is
found suitable for this project. Title: Figure 2: ICT Work Flow Model of Apple Service Project
India
Stakeholder Agency Information to provide by
I.C.T
ICT Work Flow in Apple Service Project India:
Small and ≈ Agriculture Informa-
Marginal --------------- tion for Apple farm-
Farmers The entire workflow of ICT is divided into three
ing.
different levels. This is due to the similarities of scope of
≈ Weather forecasting.
works at each level. Each level should perform well
Farmers Sixteen farmer ≈
≈ PlanningPrice.
Market
defined ICT activities. Level boundary denotes the
Group groups four each ≈ Forecasting
in Uttrakhand exchange of information.
and Himachal ≈ Market Price
Trust of Six farmer trust Profit distribution Level 1: ICT activity in this level is concerned with
Farmers in six different remote villages, apple farmers and village center offices.
location at Hi- ≈ Ownership allocation
Joint Venture FFT Consortium ≈ Budget
Companies with six farmer
Level 2: The important ICT activity of Collection center
≈ Planning
groups offices is to provide support and training and bridging
between the levels.
Support Orga- Shri Jagdamba ≈ Maintain ICT team
nization Samiti, NGO and provide ICT in-
formation to different
Level 3: Head Office- Shri Jagdamba Samiti, FFT,
Funding SHGW (A Pri- ≈ Budget and Expendi- Controlled Atmosphere Store and Funding Agency etc.,
Agency vate Dutch Foun- ture. are the main entity of ICT.
dation)
ICT Services

4.  Establishes link between Apple Producers, Village During the apple season, purchasing apples, grading
Centers, Collection Centers and Head Office. apples, packaging apples, billing, dispatching, inventory
 Agricultural information transfer and sharing. management related activities are also managed from
 Farmers Database Management Information System. Collection Center Offices. All these activities are fully
 M.I.S. on planning and target of Apple collection - controlled by the customized software which is
prior to apple season. developed and maintained by in-house ICT team. The
 Current market price analysis such as Price Build up head office controls and monitors the overall ICT
and Finding best buyers. activities of different branch offices located in the far
 Quality control of apples. flung areas. It provides a technical support to different
 Purchasing Apples from the farmers. branch offices. Besides controlling and monitoring of
 Processing and Centralized Inventory Management various ICT activities of different offices, it is also
System. involved in price buildup management system for
 M.I.S. on Ownership transfer and profit distribution different branch offices. Price buildup is one of the
to the farmers. important activities during apple season as it offers the
 ICT kiosk at different village centers. best price for selling apples for the farmers, according
to market condition. With this, exploitation through
For organizing and ease of management, different middleman and other buyers is completely overcome.
nearby villages are connected to village center offices.
The main activities of the village center offices are to Central inventory management system is one of the most
work as a resource center for the framers, to look after crucial activities of the ICT as it keeps track of every
agriculture related problems, to give weather related record of transaction of every farmer during apple
information, to provide training on apple farming, season. Farmer participation is meant for partnership
honey bees keeping, fruit processing, price buildup etc. towards the organization. This partnership leads the
farmer to earn their profit by their participation and
The other activities of the village center offices are to gradually get the percentage of ownership of the
work with Farmers Database Management Information company.
System, where the detailed information of the farmers
are kept along with their personal details, information of
land details, numbers of trees they have, average age of
trees etc. The process of ICT work flow begins with this
primary information that is very much crucial for further
analysis and decision making.
Farmer Database Management Information System also
involves registering new farmers, feeding information
of newly registered farmers, providing ID cards,
feeding data of expected apple production on a periodic
intervals etc. Beside these, every village center runs an
ICT kiosk which also has an internet connection for the
communication with the next level offices as well as for
the benefit of the villagers.
Grading of apples in the Collection Center. Source:- SJS
Village center offices, in turn are controlled by the Collection Center office, Nagaon, Uttranchal
Collection Center offices. Collection Center offices
work as a second level resource center for these village THE SOLUTION’S SUCCESS/IMPACT
center offices and also control other villages nearby to
the centers. From this level planning, forecasting and Progress So Far - Four collection centres (for grading,
target of apple collection related activities are conducted. pre-cooling and packing centers - two each in Himachal
ICT plays an important role by providing different and Uttaranchal) have been established in 2007 and two
M.I.S. reports on planning, forecasting and also other more centers in Uttranchal were established during 2008
reports of day-to-day activities to the head office. The in the proximity of apple growing areas. While
other activities of collection center offices are to provide preliminary processing activities like grading and
training to the village center officials and farmers. packaging were done in the first three business cycles,
the second business cycle of secondary value addition is

5. expected to be done next year through cold storage unit.  ICT kiosk with internet facility for the farmers/
During harvesting season of 2008, 2009 and 2010, all villagers
the centers purchased apples from the participating
farmer groups, individuals and committees and sold the All the participating farmers will get daily updates on
processed produce ( sorted, graded and packed) in the weather forecasting, alert messages through SMS on
market at comparatively higher price. apple cultivation on their mobile phones. They will
obtain technical support in terms of managing their
Table1: Financial Review of Apple Project India orchards, improving the quality of their yield, harvesting
Year Apple Boxes Profit(Rs.) and post-harvesting activities. Field extension officers
Targeted Achieved have conducted a detailed survey of 2567 apple growing
2008 50000 37,000 Rs 3,75,420.00 farmers covering their land, socio economic status and
2009 50000 20,000 Rs 1,03,020.00 estimated production for the improvement of ICT
2010 60000 35,000 so far N.A workflow. ICT is also planning to provide training on
financial management, operational management to
Three business cycles have been completed. In the year different official levels.
2008 and 2009 the turnovers of 37,000 and 20,000 CHALLENGES AND PROBLEM USING ICTS
boxes (926.2 MT and 558.52 MT) are achieved FOR APPLE PROJECT
respectively, while in 2010 till now 35,000 boxes have
been collected (500 MT). Operating profits of Rs ICT experiences many challenges in respect to
3,75,420 and Rs 1,03,020 are generated as a result of the information dissemination and accessibility with the
sales of the apples. The same was distributed amongst remote village center offices and the farmers also. These
the members as premium and as capitalization fee. include lack of information and communication
facilities, poor infrastructure of information and
Table2: Villages and Farmers involved with Apple Project communication delivery channels in these high hilly
India regions, sometimes unavailability of communication
services also contribute.
YEAR Total Number of Total Farmers
Collection Centers Number Involved Collecting information about the farmers, farming and
of their crops is also a challenging job for our ICT team
Villages members, as the villages are very much scattered.
2007 4 12 300 Although it is very time consuming to go to the
2008 6 35 1500 villages and collect the information about them, still it
2009 6 72 2567 is a routine duty (visiting the villages and information
2010 6+1 Central Cold 72 2567 collection) of the village center office staff members.
Store As many of the information fields about the farmers
still remain blank, it affects ICT for further processing
of information and preparing MIS reports.
FUTURE PLAN OF ICT Again adaptability and readiness to involve with the
new technology and services is a major problem. Even
Encouraged by the positive outcome of the use of I.C.T though, agricultural expertise and knowledge is
on Apple Service Project India, some ambitious I.C.T available, majority of farming community still resort to
based plans are being considered in the coming their old methods and are unwilling to take advices like
financial years. Extensive research is being carried out honey bee keeping, spraying of hormones on the trees
on different aspects of those I.C.T plans and also at right time etc. Excessive rain and snowfall also
looking for deriving benefits from different government affect the functioning ICT.
ICT schemes.
CONCLUSION AND SOCIAL IMPACT OF
Future plan INNOVATION
 Mobile information services- Introducing Small
Message Services for the farmers, Local Weather As a result of implementing ICT, all the four project
Forecasting for next 24 to 48 hour. centres have selected various schemes and projects for
 News -Agri News, Horticulture News. getting support from other agencies (both government
 Soil testing and Input Application advices. and non-government) and are looking forward for better
 Net Banking for the farmers, Mobile banking business planning during 2010-11. By gaining technical
services. know-how through attending the training on marketing,

6. quality grading and packing apple collection, estimates
have been prepared and harvesting of apple is scheduled
as per the demand of market/buyers. The stakeholders
have now started planning for the next season in advance
to cover the essential managerial costs for full year and
also to capitalize the center as quickly as possible.
Farmer groups are now convinced to invest in
infrastructure out of their increased returns for the
betterment of the project and the livelihood.
REFERENCES
§ L.P. Semwal (SJS) and Edwin Willemsen (FFT) (2009)
– Fostering Farmer ‘s Organisation with Business
Rigour.
§ Obayelu Abiodun Elijah -Effects of the Emerging
Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on
Agricultural Knowledge Transfer to Smallholder
Farmers in Nigeria.