BHUBANESWAR: Seven years back, Tilak Jani of Jhariguda and Tankadhar Mukhi of Bilaput in Koraput district could hardly grow three to four quintal paddy every season on their donger (land on the hill slopes). Growing millet, their traditional crop, also did not help as they were forced to sell their produce to middlemen at throwaway prices in the absence of an organized market. Today, though, there has been a turnaround.
The two in 2016 joined hands with three other farmers from the district - Surendra Masti and Trinath Patra of Mahadeiput and Murali Adhikari of Borigumma - to form a farmer's producer company ‘Jaivik Sri’ which now does an annual business of more than Rs 2 crore.
Bringing them together was Pragati, a local organization that has been working for farmers' welfare in southern Odisha. “Our concerns were the same. Even though Surendra, Trinath, and I own plain lands and had good yields of both millets and paddy, unlike Tilak and Tankadhar, we never got the right price for our crops. Middlemen were the biggest roadblock as they bought the produce cheap,” said Murali, who sold millets at Rs 7 per kg till 2016.
After the formation of the company with the five members of the board of directors, the team roped in as many more farmers. Murali - a progressive farmer - suggested all grow ginger as its demand was high and also adopt the SMI (System of Millets Intensification) to enhance millet production.
Murali added that they invited more farmers to join the company as shareholders by paying just Rs 100 and to do away with the middlemen system, they decided to procure ginger and millet from their doorsteps. When the state government launched the Odisha Millet Mission (OMM) in 2017, it provided them the much-needed market linkage (mandis) and a minimum support price. “During Covid, we were provided a vehicle by the government to supply millet seeds to all our farmers and procure the crop at MSP from their doorsteps,” said Surendra. This prevented the distress sale of millet despite the pandemic.
Sensing profit in the ‘Jaivik Sri’ business model, hundreds of farmers from across Nandapur, Kotpad, Borigumma, and Lamtaput joined the company. Today, it has 1,064 registered farmer shareholders. The company also works with producer groups with close to 6,000 farmers.
Apart from procurement under OMM, the company sells the stock to dealers in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Assam, Nagpur, Rajasthan and Bengaluru.“We are in the process of introducing Kodo and Barnyard millet in our district which will fetch more money to our farmers,” Trinath said. Trinath along with Surendra and Murali are showcasing the millet products of their farmers at the International Millet Convention here.