A unique initiative titled Consumer-Farmer Compact in Telangana is ensuring food availability and access in COVID-19 times.

Such innovative models of agricultural marketing are very crucial while highlighting the limitations of APMCs and eNAM. Make personal notes of such initiatives.

Consumer-Farmer Compact

• The initiative is kicked off by some NGOs in June 2018 and has been endeavoring to bring farmers and consumers on the same platform for their benefit.
• The consumers support farmers with their agricultural needs; in return, farmers ensure consumers are able to access food in a hassle-free manner.

What does the initiative do?

• The initiative requires consumers to support farmers at the beginning of a farming season.
• Each consumer supports a group of farmers with about Rs 12,500 per acre for their farming needs.
• In return, at the time of harvest, consumers are given products according to the value they invested, leaving the middlemen out.
• They are provided with millets, pulses, oil, jaggery and other necessary items produced organically — either in bulk or on a monthly basis.
• The initiative also aims to give millets a push in the urban market, enabling consumers to move beyond the commonly consumed grains such as rice and wheat.

Significance

• This model of sharing economy in the village has helped alleviate hunger and ensured their nutritional needs are met.
• The farmers who are part of the initiative practice traditional ecological farming with an emphasis on biodiverse cultivation.
• It helps them have dietary diversity in their food choices and control over their land and food production that is not dictated by the vagaries of the market.
• The practice has brought them closer to a group of consumers who have been keen on trying an alternative route.

Conclusion

• At this juncture in crisis — when the free-market system and global trade are staring at an uncertain future — local solutions such as ‘Confarm’ hold greater prominence.
• Such supply chains such are the need of the hour. Farmers and consumers must come together to face crisis moments in the future as well.

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