Weekend vegetable shopping features high on the “must do” activities
for most people. And the first point of contact is invariably your friendly
“sabjiwala” in the mandi. You choose your veggies, haggle a bit about prices
complaining how vegetable prices have shot through the roof and how he is not
rewarding his loyal customers, friendly banter, cribs and bargaining done, you
finish your weekly errand.
The interesting part is we never ever ask/ or are aware of the
travails of the poor tomato or for that matter any vegetable, in getting into
your hands; price is just one part
So here is Ratan. Ratan grows vegetables on his land, some distance
away from my farm. He harvests the produce late in the evening and then carries
the produce to Bhiwandi APMC the next morning. The transportation cost is borne
by the farmers themselves.
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| Vegetables are packed and transported in these bags |
Vegetables from the farm are packed in bags like these, that result
in more damage down the supply chain. Cabbages survive the assault of packed
like tin of sardines in netted bag lifted on shoulders and flung around..well!
Here these vegetables are weighed and sold to the middle men, after
price negotiations. This could be a one-to-one negotiation or some
kinda-auction. The quality of the produce is checked and anything that is
damaged or unlikely to get sold is taken out before weighing. Here the farmer
is a price taker. So even if the price does not cover his cost, he has to
accept the price. And mostly that is the case.
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| Vegetables are kept in sun that accelerates their damage |
The middlemen aggregate the produce and this is then taken to the
Vashi APMC market, to the wholesale traders.
So much physical labour means that some guys do need a bit of rest.
What better way than using the produce as cushions for resting.
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| Nice bed for resting |
The wholesale
traders at Vashi then pass on the vegetables to the retail shopkeepers. The
online portal sellers typical have tie-ups with some wholesale traders that
help them to get the vegetables at competitive prices.
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| The damaged produce is just thrown off, without a proper disposal system |
At each stage of handling, due to the multiple loading/unloading and
passage of time, the vegetables get damaged. This results in some amount of
wastage at every stage.
Accounting for the losses at each stage and the profit margins,
about 30 –50% gets added to the vegetable cost. It is estimated that close to
30-35% of fresh vegetables are damaged in transit, before it reaches the end
consumer.
Finally we consumers end up paying for multi-level inefficiencies of
the system. And then, even after shelling out money, there is no assurance on
the quality of the produce. The manner in which the vegetables are handled in
the supply chain impacts the quality of produce reaching our plates.
Imagine now a situation where you get vegetables from a farm that
you know about and directly delivered to your home. The inefficiencies don’t
exist, quality is assured and what is more you get it a much better rate. My
mind is ticking!
