Hari Bhari Agro Private Limited

189, Gazipur Subzi Mandi, Gazipur, Delhi -110096

"To provide a sustainable supply of fresh and healthy agro products  to consumers through organized retail and efficient distribution by vendors" 

The rapid pace of globalization in recent years has engrossed much attention, but globalization itself is not fresh. The globalization has brought a massive impact on the informal workers and informal economy. Street vendors constitute a large section of work force in the developing countries. Rapid changes are being made or taking place in the informal economy due to globalization. The process of international economic integration has been in progress for decades, facilitated by more open economic policies and trade liberalizations in a growing number of countries. Technical advances, notably in transport and communication, have lowered costs and also fostered globalization. But what is new is the speed and scale of the current wave of globalization, and the associated phenomena of outsourcing and off shoring subcontracting parts of the production process to specialized firms. So the “value chain” for any particular business – the value added by different processes or activities at each stage of production – is now often truly global. This makes sense for business, constantly trying to increase efficiency as growing competition in markets forces firms to lower costs. The development of value chains is also associated with the growing integration of developing countries in the global economy.

In the Indian context it has been a challenge to provide a sustainable supply of fresh and healthy vegetables to consumers through organized retail outlets. Fragmented, small landholdings and low awareness amongst farmers of good agricultural practices are some of the impediments to delivering fresh and healthy vegetables to consumers on a sustainable basis. The specific target is to improve the social and economic status of farmers and street vendors with interventions that involved ecologically safe plant protection products and marketing of such products.

Micro and small enterprises make up nearly 80 percent of the total number of landholdings cul­tivated. These small farms and vegetable vendors are not organized into associations or networks and are hampered by traditional agricultural practices and policies that do not favor private sector initiative. To change this and empower smallholders to increase their incomes and compete in local markets, NASVI is applying a value chain approach to the development of sustainable and scalable models for facilitating the growth of micro and small enterprises, delivering fresh-produce supply chain management in India. The main project objectives of the program are to integrate large numbers of smallholder horticulture farmers and vegetable vendors into organized commercial supply chains and facili­tate mutually beneficial partnerships between smallholder farmers and vegetable street vendors increasing their family income and giving them economic independence.

The Vegetable Supply chain involving and connecting the small and marginalized stakeholders, needs to get better return on their hard labour. But the major part of the share of the profit and assets generated in this chain is controlled by the middlemen, brokers, commission agents and other intermediaries. There is a need to organize the informal and the scattered vegetable growers (small farmers) and the vendors of rural areas in an integrated and common platform, so that they could connect directly to the mainstream vegetable market. Most of the places are within the grip of commission agents and contractors and the farmers and vendors have no choice but to be short bargained and exploited.

 NASVI have been working for long with the unorganized street vendors including the vegetable vendors in different parts of the country. It can emerge as a catalyst and facilitator by organizing the vegetable supply and producing stakeholders into SHGs and producers group and provide technical backward and forward linkages including infrastructure and marketing support to them. The final objective is to evolve community based cooperatives of the stakeholders, which can meet the market challenges effectively, while assuring better return through eliminating the intermediaries and the commission agents at various levels. This platform will also help the farmers to grow better quality of produce. Further adding value to their effort, the cooperative will also provide the quality product to the consumer in a bigger lot and on the other way negotiates the prices with them. It will also run marketing centers and collection at various places where whole produce is piled up and weighing is done.