Bharti-Walmart, one of the leading retailers in the world, has made forays in Himachal Pradesh with the establishment of a farmers training cum collection Centre at Jeet Nagar which is situated 1,965 meters above the sea level in Shimla district of the State to procure vegetables from local farmers under their direct farm programme.
Earlier, the company has covered places like ludhiana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi NCR, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka under their direct farm programme before deciding to start the same in the hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh.
Bharti-Walmart is focusing on the marginal farmers of the area and the company has started working with 120 farmers initially in Chail. These farmers have 3-4 acres of land and the produce that they get after tilling the land with special assistance from the company is in turn bought by the company to be sold at their outlets in Shimla.
The farmers are assisted in special seeding and cropping methods and latest way of sowing have been introduced in the area to ensure profit for the farmers. Special pesticide and seeds are provided to these marginal farmers to help them reap best quality produce. Nisha, the only female member in this team said, “I get better price for my produce from this company as compared to what I got in the wholesale market. Facilities like transportation and door to door collection has benefited me a lot.”
However Manoj, another farmer seemed unsatisfied with the rates he gets from Walmart. He said, “The margin is not quite high on my produce but I am happy with the assistance that the company provides and it has helped me a lot and I have gained a lot of knowledge about modern farming procedure.” There are few obstacles which Bharti-Walmart has to overcome to build a successful chain in this difficult hilly terrain and benefit the farmer most.
Irrigation is a big problem here and it doesn’t provide any monetary assistance to the farmers. The price of all the produce is fixed by the officials of the company in the plains which completely works on demand and supply.
Due to this, a few farmers are irked by the rates provided by Walmart. At times if the produce is high, the farmers have to go to the Wholesale market in Solan as the procurement made by Walmart is limited.
Few farmers are even facing payments problems as the company pays in check and in many rural areas, there are not adequate number of banks. As of now, farmers are getting benefits out of training, technology and the sale of produce directly to the purchaser without any middlemen.