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Comprehensive Revival of Millets programme has been launched in 44 mandals of 7

districts of Andhra Pradesh in 2016. It is expected that nearly 1 lakh acres will be brought

under millet cultivation through this program over a period of 5 years. In Rayalaseema,

this program is being implementing in Anantapur, Chittoor and Kurnool districts in 28

mandals. And also Department of Agriculture has taken up a large scale pilot program on

Navadhanya Cropping Systems in 46000 ac. These two programs are in partnership with

ManaVitthana Kendralu (MVKs) and Facilitating agencies (FAs). Expecting yield data

shows that this year marketable surplus will be huge apart from Household consumption.

To enable the farmers to obtain the best selling price for their produce, create the marketing

facility at farmers door steps, MARKFED intervention is required as an immediate step,

later entrepreneurs’ will go for value added products

In this context, MARKFED & Department of Agriculture have organised a multi

stakeholder i.e. meeting with MVKs, FAs, State Resource Person, Department of

Marketing, and MARKFED team; facilitated by WASSAN. MARKFED is going to

procure the millets and pulses through MVKs.

Sri Balabhasker, District Manager of MARKFED welcomed members and asked to introduce themselves. In his welcome note he explained about objectives of the workshop. Markfed, NGOs, MVKs, Department of Agriculture, Department of Marketing, Scientists and WASSAN team participated. The major objective is to open up procurement centers

by MARKFED in partnership with MVKs and VOs as Dept of Agriculture has taken up large scale programs i.e. revival of millets and Navadhanya cropping systems.

Venue: AF ecology center – Anantapuram Date: 16th August, 2016

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Sri. Sivakoti Prasad, General Manager of MARKFED said in opening remarks that DoA is encouraging farmers to take up millets cultivation and Navadhanya cropping method.

In the current kharif season, Ananthapur farmers started cultivation of red gram, in large scale. The purpose of the workshop was to generate a marketing strategy for MARKFED

which can work synergistically with MVKs and VOs in procuring millets ,pulses and other farm produce from farmers. In this entire process SRPS provides support in all aspects particularly in costing of commodity based on the quality of grains. The MARKFED provides infrastructure facilities and extends technical support in procuring grain of good quality which can offer reasonable market price to the farmer. This would ultimately enhance the marketing chances. He shared experiences of MARKFED in procurement of onions in the Kurnool district and Redgram in Anantapuramu district. He also narrated how farmers got benefitted by accessing close market and by getting good price Sri. Mallikharjuna, IFS, Commissioner & Director of Marketing appreciated that it is a good

platform where MVK’s, NGO’s, MARKFED, Bankers and SRPs came together to work for the benefit of the farmers. Special CS is keen about this intervention.

Sri. Krishna Murthy, DDA, Dept of Agriculture recalled that earlier the Rayalaseema region used to cultivate millets in ts 90% of area. Slowly millets were replaced by pulses , as time moves on. In this context the govt. of AP came forwarded to support for the promotion of millets and Navadhanya cropping systems. He said that Dept. of Agriculture is implementing large scale programs on millets and Navadhanya cropping systems in partnership with MVKs and NGOs in the Ananthpur district. Now the procurement of produce from the farmers by the MARKFED is timely intervention. He thanked all MVKs and NGOs for their participation in the workshop. Smt. S. Bhagyalaxmi, WASSAN suggested all MVKs and FAs to share crops names, area under each crop, expected harvest time, expected yield and problems in marketing the produce at present. This information is useful to develop the strategy and plan to open procurement centers by MARKFED through MVKs/ VOs. All participants were formed into divisional level groups and SRPs. MARKFED team members sat with different groups. Group presentation were made in the plenary session.

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Problems

Capacity building

Finance

MSP

Marketing skills

Processing

Storage

(A) KADIRI DIVIS ION Sri. Nissar Ahmmed from MYRADA and Smt. Syamala from REDS shared that the program is being implemented in 8 mandals in Kadiri division through 22 MVKs. Millets are cultivated in 1619 acres

and the expected yield is 8095 quintals, assuming 2000q will be used for local consumption and 6000 quintals for marketing. They anticipated the intervention of MARKFED in procuring redgram, castor and jowar which are major crops under Navadhanya Cropping systems. The present

capacities of MVKs to deal with these commodities are poor, need capacity building and back stopping. Finances, processing machines, storage, and market intelligence are bottlenecks.

Millets Navadhanyalu Sl. No.

Crop Acres Expected Yield

Sl. No.

Crop Expected yield

1. Korra 567 2835 1 Redgram 2500 2. Sama 300 1500 2 Cow gram 810 3. Sajja 397 1985 3 Field beans 810 4. Ragi 219 1095 4 Black gram 81 5. Arika 29 145 5 Castor 1165 6. Bariga 107 535 6 Jowwar 1417 1619 8095 7 Bajra 250 Local Consumption 2000 8 Nuvvulu 10 For Market 6095 9 Vegetables HHC

Shri Dinesh, Earth 360 replied to a question that they are analyzing the processing units and costs in their unit at Kadiri which will be finalized within 3 months, These can be established at village level.

Smt. Bhagyalaxmi informed that these kind of processing units are budgeted in Comprehensive Revival of Millets program which trigger the HH consumption of millets.

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Issues for Market

Middleman

Godowns

Payment system

Transport

Certification

Insurance

Wastage

Packing

Labour cost

Reasonable Price

Finance support

Storage facility

Equipments

Maintenance of Quality

(B) ANANTAPURAM AND DHARMAVARAMU DIVISION

Mrs. Rizwana explained that there are 6 NGOs and 20 MVKs working in 14 Mandals in this division. Total acreage covered is 14979 acres out of which 11133 acres by Navadhanya cropping systems and 3846 acres by millets.

Sl. No. Mandal NGO Navadhanya AC Millet Ac

1. Kuderu AF - RIDS 2012 0 2. Atmakuru AF - REDS 1098 616 3. Dharmavaram AF 500 500 4. Rapthadu AF 500 500 5. Kalyanadurgam AF 511 6. Pelagappa AF 500 7. Kundepi AF 500 8. Setturu AF 500 9. Garladinne RIDS 1000 780 10. Sinaganamalla RIDS 1000 11. Kambadur RIDS 0 950 12. Thadimarri GVS 1700 13. Ramgiri PASS 750 350 14. Anantapur REDS 562 150

11133 3846 ISSUES: The group members shared that the message of millets procurement by MARKFED through MVKs should reach to farmers. MVKs are expecting the support from MARKFED in providing infrastructure, assessing quality parameters, trainings on book keeping, labour charges, identification of godowns and financial resources etc. as they don’t have much capacities on it.

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12226 Qtls for Market

Infrastructure

Value addition

Transportation

Grading

Capacity building

Godown

(C) PENUGONDA, MADAKASIRA

DIVIS IONS

Mr. Narayana explained that they are going to produce 2920 quintals of pulses and 14560 quintals of oil seeds from Navadhanya cropping systems. They too have identified issues similar to other groups.

Sl. No. Mandal MVKs Navadhanya (Qtls) Millet (Qtls) 1. Penugonda 4 3009 1161 2. Somandepalli 1 671 0 3. Rolla 1 460 64 4. Gudibanda 1 1671 375 5. Amarapuram 1 1522 800 6. Kothachervu 3 1191 0 7. Bukkapatnam 4 1782 520 8. Puttparthi 3 2304 0 9. Gorantla 1 1950 0 Total 14560 2920

(D) GOOTY, KALYANDURGAM AND URAVAKONDA DIVISIONS: The present program is being implemented in 5 mandals of Kalyandurgam, 5 mandals of Uravakonda and 4 mandals of Gooty divisions. A total of 27 MVKs are participating in the millets cultivation and Navadhanya cropping systems with the strength of 10743 farmers and 16516 acreage. They are expecting the harvest of 82580 quintals out of which 30% may be used for household consumption, remaining will be marketed.

Sl.No NGOs Mandal Farmers Area 1 Hands Gooty 2002 3700 2 Yadiki 760 1500 3 Pamidi 1261 2100 4 Peddavaduguru 1274 1700 5 Uravakonda 1050 2100 6 Gunthakal 2111 2008 7 Vajrakarur 1576 2008 8 Vinapadakalu 350 700 9 Belugappa 359 700 Total 10743 16516

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Procurement centers require godown facilities with following materials viz., tarpaulins, gunny bags, weighing machine, moisture meter, banner, pamphlets and books. They have also shared that harvesting periods are varies with crops for example Bajra harvested in the month of October, Jowar in October, Redgram in January, Greengram in November and sesame in the month of December. (E) CHITTOOR DISTRICT Mr. Eswaraiah and team members explained group presentation with following details. The program is being implemented in 6 mandals with an acreage of 1720. An expected yield is 7114. Sl. No

Mandal Acres Crop Ac Total Yield

Yield for Market

Ragi Saama Korra Jowar Bajra Arika

1 Thamballapalli 72 51 26 167 31 13 Ragi 665 2660 1860

2. Peddamandiyam 70 34 43 57 210 2 Korra 155 620 430

3. Valmikipuram 40 40 36 80 54 0 Samma 217 650 455

4. B. Kothakota 179 30 2 45 45 7 Jowar 248 1488 1040

5. Gurramkonda 155 0 0 99 73 0 Bajra 413 1652 1156

6. Ramakuppam 140 0 110 0 0 0 Arika 22 44 30

TOTAL 665 155 217 448 413 22 Total 1720 7114 4971

ISSUES/ SOLUTION: Smt. Bhagya, WASSAN summarized the points from the group presentations. From above presentations it is evident that there is marketable surplus of millets and pulses. The MARKFED support is required where MVKs don’t have capacities. Since millets are growing under rainfed conditions there are always risks in the form of dry spells and rainfall fluctuations. She also raised an interesting question that; is there any possibility of covering millets under crop insurance (Phasal Bhima Yojana). Sri Bala Bhasker, District Manager of MARKFED shared that the MARKFED had done 21 crores business in the previous year with commodities like maize, red gram through VOs. SRPs of MARKFED given trainings to procurement committee members. Last year 10000 quintals of redgram was procured through VOs. With this efforts traders increased the procurement price which benefited farmers. He also shown and explained the crop calendar. Most of the crops will be harvested during September and October months. During the present Kharif season, the acreage of redgram and maize

crops increased with 61480 ha and 21000 ha respectively. MARKFED prepared the action plan for procurement. It provides infrastructure facilities such as moisture meters, weighing machines, sieves, stitching machines, tarpaulins, and gunny bags. It also identifies the warehouses, addresses transport costs and payments issues. It provides trainings to build the capacities of procurement committee members and to increase the market intelligence.

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Sri. Pavana, Development Officer, MARKFED shared how an injustice done to farming community during local marketing by unauthorized persons. Some of them are ; low price at the time crop harvest, delay in payments, exploitation in weighment and other malpractices by traders. Farmers also suffers due to lack of market intelligence. They tend to incur more expenditure on transportation. They are forced to depend on traders on cash or kind loans. He also explained about importance of community based procurement. To enable the small and marginal farmers to obtain the best selling price for their produce, create the marketing facility at farmers door steps, provide trainings and information on markets, eliminate the hassles created by local traders, train the farmers on quality aspects and grading. And to educate the farmers on functioning of markets, market intelligence, wholesale, retail markets etc. Most of the AMCs are non-functioning in the state. MARKFED interventions are essential to curb the exploitative procurement practices of private players and to offer marketing services throughout the year for all agricultural commodities, increase the income of farmers and to get optimal share of consumer price.

MARKFED has to improve their operational efficiency, the capacities of State Resource Persons and concerned officials. It should provide continuous support to trained and experienced SRPs for institutionalizing the agricultural marketing in AP state. He also informed about Minimum Support Prices (MSP) of different commodities announce by government for KMS during 2016-17. He shared that MARKFED has three types of procurement strategies 1) Purchase, store and sell. 2) Aggregation at farm gates for FCI / NAFED /

others. 3) Store, pledge and sell by farmers. In the strategies of 1 and 2, farmers sell their produce and get full payment from MARKFED within 48 hours. In 3rd strategy, farmers can keep their produce in warehouse where MARKFED facilitates the loan up to 75% of total value based on warehouse receipt. MARKFED provides commission to MVKs for aggregation. MARKFED also provides the infrastructure to procurement center. The following table depicts list of materials with estimated value.

Sl.No Particulars Qty Estimated value

1 Weights& Measures (1kg to 100 Kg) 2 14400

2 Sieves for 4 commodities 2 10000

3 Paddy cleaners 2 70000

4 Digital Moisture meter 1 8450

5 Tarpaulins 50 45000

6 Stitching Machine 1 4200

7 Calculator 1 250

8 Books of Records 1000

9 Analysis Scale 1 750

10 Sample Bowls 3 100

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Sl.No Particulars Qty Estimated value

11 Sample Drawer 1 50

12 Computer with Printer 1 60000

Total Budget 214200

Computers with printer & paddy cleaners will be given to MVKs which performs well consistently. There are two committees, one is procurement committee another is advisory committee. Procurement committee consists of 3-5 members with one book keeper. It monitors the procurement operations. Constitution of Advisory committee: Sarpanch’ as Chairman, one progressive farmer, MVK/VO member, member of Rythu Mithra Group and one village elderly person. It acts as bridge between MVK/VO and farmers, settles disputes arising out of quality and other issues. It negotiate fixing of Hamali and Labour charges on behalf of farmers and also advices MVK/VO in establishing procurement centers. Sri. P.V. Sreeramamurthy, Joint Director of Agriculture said that this is a good opportunity to establish market linkages for millets and he appreciated the MARKFED intervention to

support procurement of the commodities. He requested farmers, MVKs and NGOs/FAs to utilize the opportunity. We were successful in the supply of Navadhanya kits to the farmers with support of MVKs and NGOs/FAs. He was optimistic that this work also gives the good results. He extended thanks one and all who have supported for the Navadhanya cropping systems. Smt. C. Bhanuja from REDS informed that they did not get the solutions for the problem that raised by groups. Sri. Ravindra from WASSAN urged the participants to understand the process of marketing and how MARKFED help MVKs. He asked all the groups to discuss on 3 types of procurement strategies.

If farmers stores the produce in warehouse and take loan of 75% of the total value, farmer has to born the interest and warehouse charges until he sells his produce.

GM, MARKFED has shared that MARKFED will enter into MoU with MVKs to make it official.

1% commission will be paid to MVKs/VOs to meet the committee wages, book keeper cost and stock point rent at village level.

Trucks will come to MVKs to pick up the stock and transports to the warehouse.

Transportation and warehouse rent will be paid by MARKFED.

Is there any provision to FAs as service charges? At present it is not there. We can take FA services in capacity building that can be built in ATMA proposal like SRPs.

Once MARKFED pays to the farmers, produce belongs to MARKFED. MARKFED will go for e-auction to sell the produce.

With the help of NCDEX, they will communicate the prices and gives the price forecast to the farmers

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MVK has to take care of book keeping. Procurement committee, procure the

produce; if it full fills the quality parameters. Filling the produce in 50kg bags and loading into truck is farmers’ responsibility.

If 10 ton produce is available in 3-4 villages (adjoining villages), truck go to villages and collects the produce. It is farmers responsibility to fill 50 Kg bags and load them on to the truck.

Whenever farmers are not available for loading on to after truck arrival, MVK can pay and deduct it from farmers’ payment. Otherwise it should be borne by MVK.

Is MARKFED ploughs back the profits to MVKs? At present NO, in future it may emerge, not sure. As an immediate intervention, marketable surplus will be procured by MARKFED, margins will be more when MVKs move into value addition.

If quality is not good, lot will be rejected by traders; commission will not be given to MVKs on rejected quantities.

All books that need to be maintained will be given by MARKFED. Details of farmers can be seen in the website.

MARKFED will prepare the CB plan for MVKs.

SRPS and dates have to be worked out and share with FAs.

MVKs and FAs together need to publicize that MARKFED is going to open the procurement centers for multiple commodities to start with millets.

Dates to open the procurement centers will be declared, start with one per mandal, number can be increased based on arrivals

Submission of CB proposal to PD, ATMA. Submission of note to Dist Collector to

introduce millets into ICDS, Social welfare hostels.

Ensure quality produce is the responsibility of the center & if rejected by warehouse manager on FAQ parameters then the transportation & other cost to borne by the center.

Commissioner and Director of Marketing said in his concluding remarks that different stakeholders are going to involve in it. It is a clear indicator for successful intervention. Dept of Agriculture, CBOs, NGOs, MARKFED work together, this is good combination. Today’s morning I have learnt that in this district, NGOs are doing good work and working since long time. Earlier we had prepared design for milk, now we can plan for millets. Smt. S. Bhagyalaxmi from WASSAN given vote of thanks to all the participants.