Creating Distinction Through Processing

Bera started the discussion by asking about the need of attractive packaging. He noticed that customers at the various food fairs he attended were willing to pay much more for well-packaged products. Their FPC was used to selling the rice loose, or in simple paper packets, but got lower prices because of certain preconceptions about the right price for such produce. In response to this point, Aditya explained the need for multi-tier marketing, the need to access separate “tiers” like retail, hospitality industry, and public institutions (like schools and offices). Packaging may be necessary for retail, where the consumer would pay attention to such things, but it was not the only segment accessible. Attempts would need to be made to sell into schools, for example, which may want rice and vegetables at a discounted rate, but would be a reliable and steady buyer. A further consideration would be the quality and price of the product. If it was high value cold- pressed oil, as an example, the retail tier would make more sense to engage in retail. The whole strategy would thus depend on what was to be marketed.

Bera responded that when they tried to take consumers’ preferences into consideration when trying to decide what was to be marketed, the crops they would need to grow would be difficult to grow, like aubergines and okras. Things like yams and roselle

(minor crops) were better from a cultivation perspective, but were not so popular among consumers when sent to the city markets when sent to the city markets. Indigenous potatoes [Deshi aloo] was perhaps an exception. Das remarked that it was not enough to let things out into the market, it was also important work to make the customers understand the distinctiveness of minor crops. His organization approached this issue by creating brochures and short clips about minor crops like yams.

Chatterjee used the example of tomatoes and the differences in prices in the rural Sundarbans and urban Kolkata. He explained how prices in Kolkata would hover around INR 30, but in the rural regions less than a 100 km to the south in the Sunderbans, the market price for tomatoes was less than a tenth (INR 4), often due to glut production and inadequate transportation facilities. The danger of the produce going bad meant the prices were always lower. He observed that engaging in processing at the village level would be a solution for any FPC that experienced such a situation. Aditya cautioned that the type of processing needed to be carefully selected, as anything too complex would require food licences and the oversight of the FSSAI. That being said, dehydration of vegetables like tomatoes would be possible. Das interjected with the observation that the markets for fresh tomatoes and dried tomatoes would be different, and would require understanding for the dynamics of each market.

Aditya shifted the discussion to explain what he meant by appropriate decisions on processing, recounting his experience working with a turmeric-producing cluster in Odisha. He described a World Bank project that had helped set up this cluster, but had had to abandon it once funding ran out. Ekgaon was approached by the state government to work in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) to continue work on this cluster. The first step was to assess the amount of capital available, and it was found that around 50 crore rupees was distributed among all the SHGs that were part of the cluster. The first action was to pool this money at the cluster level and to then use this capital to purchase the turmeric from their own SHGs, with the goal of processing them. It was what to do next that proved to be controversial. The members in the project representing the state (public interests) were intent on packaging the produce well, with a well-designed brand logo to sell through the online retailer Amazon. Aditya did not agree; he wanted to do value addition at the farmer level. What this entailed was

improving the practices involved in boiling the turmeric. Before the intervention, farmers were boiling the turmeric in whatever canisters or oil barrels they could get, using wood as fuel. Aditya’s plan was to get a boiler machine of INR 600,000 (EUR 7,000) for boiling the turmeric. This machine would be driven from village to village; it would boil the turmeric and then move on to the next village on a tractor-trolley system. This would improve the quality of the final output and increase prices by 5% to 10% on the local market. Another point of disagreement arose: the government officials did not want to use wood to fuel the boiler; they preferred it to be powered by solar energy or by electricity. But these solutions were not technically feasible given the need for a high and steady level of heat. Aditya argued for the continued use of wood, as the system would greatly increase the efficiency. The officials were adamant that wood not be used; it was finally agreed to use diesel. However, given the particular context, wood may have been a better option. Chatterjee helped clarify this point, citing the possibility of improving common property resources to fulfil the need for regenerative biofuels as a form of bio-energy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). In response to lack of water and increasing areas of wasteland in Purulia and Bankura districts, appropriate trees like Leucaena leucocephala, Vachellia nilotica, and Gliricidia sepium (fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing, well-burning wood) had been selected and planted by the community. Fuel was available to the community as early as 6 months into the project, and from the third year onwards around 10-12 kg of biomass as fuel was available from these trees, generating up to around 30-40 tons per hectare per year. So the wood burnt would be considered as a form of bioenergy, but it is difficult to convince government officials that this is a valid approach, as the common misconception was that wood was an outdated fuel, and should be replaced by electricity or solar energy.

Bernzen asked a question about the need for separate processing areas for rice throughout the supply chain, which are a common requirement of certification. Chandi and Bera said that they had an agreement with their respective rice processors that their organically-produced rice would be processed as the last batch of the day. Before this would take place, a load of bran and chaff would be passed through the machine to clean residues as best as possible. While a far cry from the meticulous demarcation of space that we learnt that large companies were practicing, Aditya observed that this was

possibly the best way to deal with the issue. Under the circumstances, where time is limited and there is not much understanding or interest for adherence to certain standards, it appeared to be good enough for the domestic market. The dearth of processing capability in most locations in India, making it difficult to outsource in a cost-effective way that attains a high level of quality, making the question of “make or buy” a meaningless question. Bera elaborated on the lack of options they experience when processing rice. They currently process rice through husking machines with metal hullers, which lead to broken rice having a reduced market value. They need to process aromatic rice but they do not have access to processors who use rubber hullers, which are comparatively gentler on the rice but tend to wear out faster. The traditional dheki rice pounder is not available anymore either. Further, using the example of cowpea [Biuli] (Vigna unguiculata) grown as a secondary crop, he explained that while farmers sold it at a pittance to processors, they would then buy back the same pulses at the grocery store for a price almost three times as high. His concern, therefore, was whether the FPC should invest in buying processing equipment, like an electric dheki, to meet their needs. The decision to integrate processing capabilities would require a careful calculation of the quantities of produce to processed, required to generate a good return on the investment and running costs entailed, perhaps distracting FPCs from the main goal of rice production. Mitra reported that a minimum size electric dheki that they got from the agricultural university cost around INR 300,000 (EUR 3,500). Aditya warned that the machine may be cheap but would have require a three-phase connection, which would be more expensive. Referring back to the example of the turmeric cluster, he noted that it was important to calculate strategically if there enough production from a particular production unit to make enough profit to cover the cost of non-use of machine as well, thus alluding both to the cost of acquiring the capital as well as covering operational expenses. The FPC would, in other words, need to operate with financial accounting requirements in mind. At the same time, Chatterjee tried to emphasize that conforming to these financial boundaries did not necessarily imply having to accept that things would have to be done as always. He referred to the issue of electric supply that Aditya had highlighted, and explained the possibility of using pyrolysis of rice hull as a source of energy to generate electricity not only to run the machines but to even power the whole village (S. C. Bhattacharyya, 2014; Ma et al.,

2015). Indeed, similar set-ups have been tried elsewhere in Asian countries, an example being a study by the Mitsubishi Research Institute explored the feasibility of an approach to low-carbon emission societies through an integrated rice mill approach in Myanmar (Mitsubishi Research Institute, 2015).

Some cautious members of the discussion suggested that this was a very impractical and would require larger investments, and a commitment over a long period of time. And indeed, it sounded like something far removed from the current reality that was being discussed. Chatterjee countered that all the elements, including funding and machinery were available, but were not being brought together and harnessed. In other words, no assemblage was coming into existence: the heterogeneous elements remain apart. The components of the gasification plant remain in China where they are manufactured, the funding remains stuck with donors and governments, and the farmers resort to burning the husk as waste, and greenhouse gases keep being emitted into the atmosphere. The need to integrate environmental concerns into the very design of new assemblages, along with their “unrealistic nature” was a key learning point of this workshop.