For Saffola, one of the premium brands of Marico, Kardi seeds are a
critical raw material. Marico hence started a contract farming
initiative to enrol farmers to produce Kardi seeds as a crop. Under
this initiative, Marico provides the know-how and the basic support
to start the farming process.
Over the last two years, the acreage increased to 80,000 acres. The
total farmers enrolled in the program have increased to 31,000
across 2,000 villages and 10 states. Since the initiative is
growing in size, it called for tools and techniques to gather
information and sharpen the decision making process.
At Marico, Field Agri Representatives (FAR) are the backbone of
the contract farming operations. FAR are the field forces who sell
the idea of contract farming and enrol farmers into the program.
Given the nature of their work, Marico designed a solution that
could be easily loaded on a cell phone.
An easy-to-use J2ME application was built in-house to track and
record information on a low-cost Nokia handset (which could also
transmit photos). The FAR record photographs of soil conditions and
crop growth and also of critical operations such as application of
pesticides with geo-tagging. This information is then relayed to
the analysts in the corporate office. Using GPS on the phone, the
efficiency of the FAR (including his route and the time spent at
each location) can be also tracked in real time by the management
team. This does away with the need for physical audits. Unique
identification of the FAR by the IMEI number of his mobile, ensures
the required security and confidentiality.
The mobile-based application has helped farmers gain
additional 2,000 MT of seeds from the same acreage.
This has resulted in additional income of Rs 4 crore for the
farmers.
- Girish Rao, Head - IT, Marico
The mobile application feeds into a central consolidation
application which sorts information based on the state, villages
and farmers. This creates a central repository of farmers. Thus,
Marico can then relay information via SMS pertaining to the
weather, sowing inputs, schemes, etc.
The results
The coupling of
the mobile application and the central application ensures
real-time information in an otherwise difficult geography. The
real-time flow of information also ensures that the right
information is available at the right time and place to accelerate
decision making. Innovative use of geo-tagging allows managers to
check the efficiency of the field force and also track the progress
of the crop at the contract farming sites.
Post deployment of the mobile application, productivity has
increased by 30 percent from 1.78 to 2.33 quintals per acre. Damage
to crops has reduced by 50 percent—from 31 percent to 17
percent of sowing acreage. This has increased satisfaction among
stakeholders (especially farmers) in the value chain—thereby
increasing Marico’s equity. The company says it has been able
to gain additional 2,000 MT of seeds from the same acreage. This
has resulted in additional income of Rs 4 crore for the
farmers.
Formation of a central farmer database helps to accelerate the
settlement of dues and also provides the necessary information to
the farmers in terms of weather forecasts, pesticide information,
etc.
By using tools and technologies, the need to recruit additional
support staff has been reduced. Thus, despite a growth of 30
percent in operations, the support staff has remained the same.
Highlights
- Despite 30 percent growth in operations, support staff have
remained the same
- Productivity increased by 30 percent — from 1.78 to 2.33
quintals per acre
- Damage to crops has been reduced by 50 percent— from 31
to 17 percent of sowing acreage
Marico is a Diamond EDGE (2010) winner. The complete list of EDGE
winners is published in the October print issue of InformationWeek
(India)
"Disclaimer Note: "InformationWeek India and UBM India do not endorse, and have not verified the views and claims expressed in this vendor Press Release."