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Takes Indian spices to the global market. Based at Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam District, Kerala
It is an established agony, in spices market there exists layers of traders between the farmer and end user. “Due to these 6-7 trading transactions, farmer face price exploitation and the spices are sold at a high price to the end user. I could not see farmers being in losses as I too belong to spice farmers’ family. Secondly, in the global market bulk buyers have precise specifications for every spice they purchase that neither the farmer nor the traders understand or know about it therefore even though these buyers want to buy spices from India they do not make the purchases. Lastly, Indian farmers are using the chemical farming inputs but they want to make a switch to natural farming practices and work hard as they are passionate about farming but they lack the guidance and awareness. To fill in these gaps I decided to quit my job at Petrolink International. After few discussions with family members, idea to procure spices from farmers directly and selling it to the end consumer was instigated and we set up Farmer Cargo,” shares Mr. Asif Ali, Founder, Farmers Cargo.
Company was set up in 2012 at Muvattupuzha, Ernakulam District, Kerala. The product portfolio has more than 10 spices namely pepper, turmeric, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon etc. Initially Farmers Cargo started working with 10-12 farmers but within the span of 4 years the farmers count in the network has crossed 400. “We gave them 40% more price than the market rates so they were elated to associate with us. In addition I personally met many youth across Kerala and Tamil Nadu and encouraged them to take up spice farming with a promise to provide them every help required. As a result slowly the number increased and now we have great work relationship with all our farmer forums,” he asserts. Farmers are also provided the details as which spices are to be grown and quantity needed.
Farmers Cargo deals only in premium quality products. 60:40 ratio of domestic sales and exports prevails at the company. Outside India the spices are exported primarily to Germany, Poland and Canada while in India, spices are sold at New Delhi, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Nutmeg, pepper, turmeric and cardamom have good market in India. Most of the buyers are pharmaceuticals companies. “We do not sell spices to wholesalers or retailers as our products are sold at a premium price. Indian retail consumer is yet not ready to spend money for high-quality products. Price continues to dominate their purchasing decision therefore we have focused our sales to B2B category where our buyers are manufacturers and not ecommerce or big retailers,” he highlights.
Europe based pharmaceutical companies have immense knowledge on spices cultivation. They are interested in developing Indian spices growers hence provide insightful guidance and share their expertise. “They know much more than us about our soil and spice cultivation practices. They have suggested some amazing techniques to produce bio-insecticides and pesticides only using the ayurvedic herbs and raw material available in India. It is absolutely chemical free and improves the yield substantially. Using the same we have received phenomenal results!” claims Mr. Asif.
In addition company has associated with Europe based experts to improve the yield and minimize the pesticide use. Besides, these experts also help Mr. Asif and his team with exports intricacies. “They guide us on spices specification, export delivery, pricing and even cultivation. European standards lay out well defined buying requirements and they follow it meticulously. For example, every pepper should be minimum 4.5mm in size, absolutely residue free and so on. Experts have helped us largely,” he explains.
“Moreover, we are stringent about using very less or no pesticide use in farming because we take the complete responsibility of the quality of the spices sold by us. By and large, our products are tested in the foreign labs for the quality check before the consignment is dispatched. Hence we do not want any fall outs on the quality. Further, our farmers are also keen on growing only quality products,” asserts Mr. Asif.
Demand of organic products is very high in the International market. It is sold at premium price, “We give double the price to our farmers who grow 100% organically. I would like to mention, organic cardamom has a huge demand so we did a survey of farmlands where soil is free of chemicals for minimum 15 years. We were able to identify 150 acres of pure natural soil farmland. Cardamom plantation has begun at this identified area. Our target is to search for total 500 acres,” he adds.
In future Mr. Asif aspires to join all the spice growing farmers across South India into one big forum. Next he wants to help farmers in other states as well to produce best possible quality and quantity of spices.
He concludes sharing his dream, “India was once the top spices supplier in the entire world. People from other countries have taken our seeds and cultivation practices to their soil and taken up the spot of leaders. I want to bring it back! I foresee India to be the leader in spices global market once again and Farmers Cargo to contribute to the core to reach that number one spot!!”
Contact details:
Farmers Cargo
Pullichalil Building, Pezhakkappilly (P.O), Muvattupuzha,
Ernakulam District, Kerala
Phone: +91 485 2813456
Email: trade@farmerscargo.com
Web: http://farmerscargo.com/
https://www.facebook.com/farmerscargo/