Tanager & Girijan Co-operative Corporation Limited to Improve Incomes of 6000 Tribal Cashew Farmers

Tanager formerly known as Agribusiness Systems International (ASI), a non-profit firm  organized a workshop on Cashew marketing strategy in association with Girijan Co-operative Corporation Limited (GCC) to improve the incomes of 6000 tribal cashew farmers of 3 Mandals of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh by facilitating procurement of 1500MT of cashew of total value Rs. 21 crores.

The activity is a part of Tanager’s ongoing project- Andhra Pradesh Farmer Market Readiness Program (APFMRP) supported by Walmart Foundation with help from Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA). The event witnessed participation of 52 stakeholders including SERP, FPOs, Line Departments and 10 potential buyers like Olam, Kailash Agencies, Agri Products, Alpha Cashew Industries, Bhanu Prakash Soap works and Sacred earth enterprises private limited. 

Talking about the workshop  Dr. T. Baburao Naidu  (I.A.S.), Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Girijan Co-operative Corporation said, “The goal of GCC is to work towards the development of the tribal farmers and we undergo every possible initiative to improve and doubling farmers’ incomes by making market at their door step by ensuring price support and to provide best nature product to the consumers. This marketing workshop is a part of the common goal we share with Tanager to provide better lives to the cashew farmers and we target to achieve it by procuring 1000MT of the produce this season”. 

The main objective of the cashew marketing workshop was to develop a strategy for creating demand and get better prices for the cashew grown in the 3 Mandals –Rampachodavaram, Gandavaram and Addateegala by adopting and nurturing the 3 Farmer Producer Organizations- Rampachodavaram Farmer Producer Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Limited, Addateegala Agriculture and Allied Producers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Limited and Gangavaram Agriculture and Allied Producers Mutually Aided Cooperative Society Limited respectively. During the procurement and sales activity, a process of collective marketing will be followed through support and partnering with GCC enabling the FPOs to eliminate middleman intervention and provide hike on MSP to the registered farmers as well as undergo online transactions. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Mr. Amit Kumar Singh, Country Representative, Tanager said, “APFMRP project is being implemented to provide improved incomes to the tribal farmers of Andhra Pradesh and through this event we are providing organized marketing and sales platform to them. I am confident that through this event we will help the farmers in making a direct linkage with the prominent buyers for getting best price of their cashew produce and get exposure of market readiness.” 

The event further provided a common platform and created an enabling environment for networking with several potential buyers for collaboration and linkages for procurement of cashew from tribal farmers. According to an MoU was signed with GCC, 1000 MT will be procured by them and remaining 500 MT will be sold to other organized buyers offering better prices. 

Finally, important aspects of the month-long activity like procurement process, quality control mechanism, mode of payment, defining responsibilities of each stakeholder, purchase intent of buyers, marketing map and route map and logistics management were also finalized during the event. 

About APFMRP: 

Andhra Pradesh Farmer Market Readiness Program (APFMRP) is a two-year project of Tanager formerly Agribusiness Systems International supported by Walmart Foundation which commenced from December 2018 and is targeting 15000 farmers, 5000 women farmers, and 9 FPOs. The goal of the project is to improve farmer incomes by providing farmers with the knowledge, resources, and services for getting market ready and reach diverse markets for their produce. The goal will be accomplished by building the capacity of farmer producer organizations (FPOs) and supply chain actors to address supply and demand constraints in targeted value chains. Tanager has also partnered with Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and is working with existing FPOs formed under Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth Programme (APRIGP). Tanager also works with ITDA in the tribal areas covering districts of East Godavari, West Godavari, Anantapur and Vishakhapatnam for farmers growing Cashew, Maize, Peanut, Coffee and Vegetables.