Connecting Farmers with Consumers: An Initiative by Padmanabhan Bhaskaran

After working in the IT industry for several years, Padmanabhan Bhaskaran decided to quit his job. He then made a courageous move to start working in the direction of farmers’ welfare in 2012. He also began pursuing farming as a full-time profession. As a farmer, he discovered that the system is broken for the farming community and they are not getting paid a fair price for their yield. He coordinated with other farmers in his area and started working towards making farming a profitable business. He found out that certain people exploit farmers and make them helpless to sell their crops at a lower price, even lower than the MSP (Minimum Support Price) decided by government. After some research and feedback from farmers, he started working on a model to remove the middlemen buying the produce from farmers, storing and selling it to the government. Outputs from his fight as a farmer leader were not very effective and he decided to take it to the next level. He joined Aam Aadmi Party and fought 2014 parliamentary elections from Palakkad, Kerala. Unfortunately he couldn’t win the battle but continued his efforts to improve the condition of farmers. He also helped AAP Kerala team in building the organization with his experience and resources. Performance of the communist party in Kerala has declined in the past 10 years, which gives AAP an excellent opportunity to fill the void and bring back the glory of Kerala. 

There is a network of 25,000 farmers in Kerala which fights for farmers rights and organize events for farmers. As a part of this network, Padmanabhan achieved two milestones: 

1. Launch of “Neera” under Palakkad Coconut Producer Company Ltd, a coconut farmers owned initiative 
2. Connecting farmers of Kerala directly with the consumers 

Connecting farmers of Kerala with the consumers: Farmers To Consumer Sangam

Kerala Farmers: Like many other states in India, Kerala farmers are also suffering from low yield price and delayed payments. However, the only reason that farmer suicide rate is low in Kerala is the external financial help which they receive from their family members. Most farmers have at least one family member working abroad, in a govt or private sector job etc. But, due to the present economic crisis, family members supporting their farming family are also affected which causes increased stress for everyone. 

Kerala Flood and Rescue Operation: Recent flood in Kerala did extensive damage to its infrastructure. Residents had to leave their houses and take shelter at safer places. People from different parts of India and the world contributed their best to help Kerala. Padmanabhan was present in the state during this disaster. Seeing people in trouble, he immediately contacted his friends and AAP volunteers to help flood victims. With the help of his friends in the fishing industry, he managed around 28 boats and immediately started the rescue operation. Different teams took charge of various affected areas and coordinated with other teams to get maximum output. They also collected food materials from unaffected areas and distributed it to the suffering people. Padmanabhan and his team worked with different shelters set up by the government and other organizations. They appointed at least one volunteer to each shelter who maintained records of shortage of material and any kind of inappropriate activities. The team then coordinated with other active teams in the area to fill the shortage. In future, funds collected via farmer’s charitable societies will be used to restore and provide basic items to adopted villages after they become livable (the contents of this blog were recorded in a call which was organized right after the Kerala floods). 

Political Preciseness: Flood damage is vital in Kerala and it will take months to restore it. While people are working to their level best, Padmanabhan expressed his concern that it will take more than the expected time to bring back Kerala pride. This is because we are not politically precise and lack honest administrative officers in various government departments. In this respect, Padmanabhan is very inspired by leaders such as Chandrababu Naidu who transformed Madhapur (in Hyderabad) into an IT hub and built a national stadium in less than a record 90 days with an innovative incentive program. After Naidu decided to build a stadium, tender was allotted to L&T with a bonus of Rs 1 lakh for every day saved in the completion of the project before 90 days. The project was completed in 89 days. Padmanabhan hopes to see this level of precision from officials in the Kerala government. People had huge expectations from current Kerala CM but his work history proves him to be incapable of any efficient work after a massive natural disaster. Kerala has received enough money to restore its condition, but the big question of how the government will handle the money and execute the work, still remains unanswered.  

Lower Yield Price: Unlike other states of India, Kerala farmers receive increased MSP decided by central govt (that does not include labour cost) which makes their MSP higher than the national average. Even with a higher MSP, farmers in Kerala are not able to come out of financial debt. While guidelines are in place and MSP is declared in advance, every year there is huge confusion between govt procurement officials and industries who process paddy to cultivate rice. Both parties fight for months over processing and handling charges during the peak of harvesting season. Their only agenda is to make farmers suffer by forcing them to sell their produce at a lower price when the crop starts rotting due to bad weather and lack of storage space. Farmers who worked hard throughout the season are offered a lower price (sometime half than previous year) by agents that specifically appear during this period. This is one of the major reasons for increasing suicide rates across India. 

Optimization of Input Cost: Padmanabhan had a solution in his mind and started on its implementation with some of his friends. He wanted to remove the role of middleman and connect farmers directly with the consumers. While pursuing farming and talking to different farmers, he found out that farmers are not using their resources efficiently and many of them use unnecessary pesticides and fertilizers. His first goal was to reduce input cost. Many farmers in Kerala (and probably across India) use pesticides/fertilizers based on knowledge gained from generations which do not consider changes due to climate, weather and other environmental developments. Padmanabhan along with his team visited different parts of India to study their farming model. After coming back to Kerala, he started from sample collection followed by soil testing at multiple labs. Amount and type of pesticides and fertilizers were suggested based on results from soil tests. This small step reduced usage of pesticides and fertilizers by 70% which also resulted in reduced input cost. Many other similar measures were also adopted. 

Model Development: In order to make farming a worry-free and profitable business, Padmanabhan wanted to connect consumers directly with farmers. It wasn’t just about buying directly from farmers at MSP but Padmanabhan’s plan was a step ahead. He was developing a model where certain number of families could come forward and adopt a farmer by giving them an amount against the total crop produced by a farmer. Using data available with the government, Padmanabhan concluded that a farmer owning 1 acre of land could feed 10 families with 4-5 members each. After minimizing unnecessary expenses and including farmer’s own labour cost, Padmanabhan calculated the total input cost and divided among families based on total land own by a farmer. Each family would have to pay their share of input cost to farmers and by the end of harvesting season, families could collect (or delivered to their doorstep) their share of produce from farmers. In simple words, 10 families come together and adopt a farmer owning 1 acre of land. This way farmers get a fair price for their produce without any worry about selling their produce at lower rates. This model includes the labour work required (along with farmer’s own labour) whereas the current MSP calculation doesn’t consider labour cost. 

Connecting Farmers with Consumers: After all the calculations and procedural development, the model was ready to be tested by real-life implementation. To spread the word, Padmanabhan contacted AAP Kerala convenor CR Neelakandan who was very impressed with the model and helped to launch it during a Kisaan Nyay Sammelan in Palakkad. A call was made to the families if they wanted to register themselves to help farmers by buying the produce directly from the farmers. The appeal was sent to all Keralites in India and abroad via 2.5 lakh AAP volunteers, WhatsApp messages, emails and social media. Many people from different parts of Kerala, India and abroad approached through the given helpline number. All of them wanted the best food supply for their loved ones living in Kerala and support farmers. On the occasion of World Food Day on Oct 16, 2017, Padmanabhan’s team collected 7.5 tonnes of paddy as its first procurement and delivered it to the doorsteps of buyers. 

Padmanabhan Bhaskaran (right) with AAP Kerala convener C R Neelkandan (left)

Future Plans: After its first success, the team formed a small charitable society for the project which they now wanted to expand into a cooperative society. In the second season, 10 tonnes of paddy was procured. This initiative from Padmanabhan is growing slowly and gaining popularity among the people of Kerala. Every season, the team sets up a target for procurement based on their manpower and resources. Also, the model is dynamic which adapts according to the economic and inflation changes with every season. 

Out of the 100% demand for paddy in Kerala, only 20% is produced in the state. Government spends a lot of money in food/crop storage and salaries of employees for procuring just 20% of the produce for which they fail to pay a fair price to the farmers. Padmanabhan is now targeting to expand his idea to other states in India. He is looking for like minded people to join his team and help farmers to get a fair price for their yield.

Watch complete video of Padmanabhan Bhaskaran speaking to overseas volunteers during an AAP Ka Radio conference call.

AAP USA chapter organizes a weekly conference call (AAP Ka Radio) every Sunday at noon 12:00PM EST. More details about the call and guest can be found at @aapchat (https://twitter.com/aapchat).

Read More: Dr. Sanket Thakur's fight to revive farmer's condition in Chhattisgarh

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