Mohan Padmanabhan
Kolkata, July 1
MANY State Governments and even some international
development agencies have evinced interest in the e-choupal initiative launched by ITC
Ltd, especially the creative harnessing of information technology across the value chain
on a massive scale, for speeding up community development works.
The e-hubs are being created by the company to service the
information needs of clusters of villages, as well as create the infrastructure to
facilitate efficiency in purchase and sale of high quality inputs and farm produce.
It is learnt that the comprehensive online network, created
by the company (through the pioneering soya choupal in Madhya Pradesh in July 2000) mainly
to connect the Indian farmer with the domestic and international markets for realisation
of a better value for his produce, has caught the fancy of some of the international
development agencies, which see an opportunity here to reach out to India's rural mass at
a minimal cost.
Described by company's insiders as the largest
internet-based intervention in rural India by the corporate sector, some 770 e-choupals
covering 4,500 villages across four States now reach out through the vernacular medium to
more than half-a-million Indian farmers, providing web-enabled real time data on weather,
commodity prices and best farming practices.
ITC leverages its effective proprietary knowledge base of
customer behaviour and customised product development to link the farmer's produce to
appropriate customer segments.
The e-initiative has also enabled the international
business division (IBD) of the company to increase agri exports by over 48 per cent during
2001-02 at Rs 535 crore against the Rs 361 crore in the previous financial year, despite
the near stagnation of aggregate exports of the country.
According to ITC's 2002 Annual Report, the division's IT-
based customer relationship management (CRM) initiative represented a "trend-setting
customer-centric business model", that vindicated its utility even in the commodities
business by efficiently servicing the specific needs of identified customers.
The online initiative now covers soyabean in Madhya
Pradesh, wheat in Uttar Pradesh, aquaculture ("aquachoupal" in Andhra Pradesh)
and coffee ("plantersnet.com in Karnataka).
The plan, according to sources, is to extend this facility
to a range of crops, including cotton, which holds meaning for ITC's new life-style
retailing business, based on the concept of 'fashion to fibre'. The company, it is pointed
out, is already committed to cover some two million Indian farmers in about one-lakh
villages within the next five years.
According to the report, the 'aquachoupal' has helped aqua
farmers in Andhra Pradesh to deal with the threats posed by undetected virus, soil
contamination and faulty levels of salinit, any one of which could ruin the entire shrimp
crop.
Risk management initiative, which has been made possible by
the choupal, has added a new value dimension to the economics of aqua farming, benefiting
hundreds of farmers in the State.
The laboratory at the Aqua Care Centre in Kakinada, which
helps farmers to detect the deadly White Spot virus in the shrimp seed, is said to have
revolutionised the concept of shrimp seed testing. The company is now planning to
introduce this facility to West Bengal.
The 'tradersnet', a special link on the 'plantersnet.com'
Web site, brings a large number of coffee planters, traders and roasters together in a
virtual market, providing opportunities to discover the most attractive prices. The
planters are also enabled to understand trends, trading ranges and chart patterns from
customised fundamental and technical analysis by experts. Growers, according to the
report, can also determine quoted raw coffee prices at international auctions from the
'Parity Chart' and the 'Calculator' provided on the site. The volumes traded through the
Web site are said to be averaging more than 200 tonnes per month.
The company has also joined hands with the Tobacco Board to
develop and launch the tobacco farmers' portal, named 'Pogaku Vedika', in Telegu, and
'Tambaku Vedike' in Kannada, to provide online information on the modern farm practices,
integrated pest management, curing and grading techniques, post-harvest product management
and prices prevailing in global markets and at the auction centres in the country.
