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TNSCM OVERVIEW
The Project has been conceived as a part of the visionary and path breaking intervention steered by the Commissionerate of Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business (CAMAB), Government of Tamil Nadu (GoTN) called the Tamil Nadu Supply Chain Management Project (TNSCM) for fruits, vegetables and other perishable commodities.
This project is funded under the Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF) of NABARD at a total cost of Rs.482.36 crore for creating state of the art infrastructure facilities for primary processing and creating market linkages to handle fruits, vegetables and other perishable commodities in the select districts of Tamil Nadu.
The 10 districts in which the project is under implementation are Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Coimbatore, The Nigiris, Tiruchirappalli, Theni, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi.
Implementation Partner
Agribusiness and Innovation Platform (AIP) of ICRISAT
AIP is a pioneering, public-private partnership initiative of ICRISAT that work towards furthering ICRISAT’s mission by upscaling its technology and research outcomes through agribusiness ventures and advocating sustainable interventions with partners so as to benefit smallholder farmers, youth, and women in the rural community. The Platform aims to connect with other stakeholders in the agri-innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem to foster the growth of agribusiness ventures and sharing of knowledge and information, that will help in improving the livelihood of the rural community and enhancing the contribution of the non-farm sector to local economic development.
Based on the detailed study conducted by AgriBusiness Innovation Platform (AIP) of ICRISAT and recommendations given during the first phase of the SCM project and further ICRISAT was engaged for Developing an ICT platform on Management Information system for effective Decision Support System and Market Linkages and implementing for Enhanced Value Creation of Fruits, Vegetables & other perishables in Tamil Nadu. ICRISAT is engaged to provide Hand holding and mentoring for effective operationalization of Primary Processing Centres, establishing market linkages and farmer engagement for Tamil Nadu Supply Chain Management project for fruits, vegetables and other perishables in 10 districts of Tamil Nadu. TNSCM Project is aimed at creating effective forward and backward linkages across the supply chain for fruits, vegetables and other perishables by establishing primary processing centers in ten districts of Tamil Nadu. Under this scheme, 60 Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) have been created and 4 more PPCs are under construction for further implementation. The infrastructure caters to around 60 plus fruits and vegetables value chain across 10 districts of Tamil Nadu.
Key objectives of Hand holding and mentoring support provided to the Farmer Producer Organisations and project team
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Developing Market Integration Framework for Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and creating forward linkages
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Developing an Operational framework for Primary Processing Centres (PPCs) and operationalization of PPCs
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Exclusive Hand holding and mentoring the MIPs such as FPOs and JVs of FPOs to manage the PPCs and conduct business operations.
Production at a Glance
Tamil Nadu is one amongst the leading horticultural states in India, contributing to 5.88% towards national horticultural production and 5.4% in respect of total horticultural crops area at national level.
- 4.8% area is under cultivation for fruits in TamilNadu.
- The share of Tamil Nadu in production for fruits is 6.5%
- The share of Tamil Nadu in production for vegetables is 3.6%
- The share of Tamil Nadu in production for vegetables 3.6%
Objectives
The project aims to establish a supply chain with required social and physical infrastructure through strong market integration to provide primarily processed fruits, vegetables and other perishables in multiple forms, including, Ready to Cook, Ready to Shelf, Ready to Eat, Ready to Process to varied customers.
The Core Objectives of the Project are:
- To establish required infrastructural facilities to strengthen the supply chain for fruits, vegetables & other perishables.
- To create backward and forward linkages with viable business proposition for the value chain players.
- To provide necessary support for market integration with major market centres, processors and consumers and ensure remunerative prices to the farmers.
- To bring in other stakeholders and make them part of the supply chain and expand outreach benefitting the farming community.
Expected Impact
With the utilisation of infrastructure created under TNSCM project, the fruits and vegetables can be delivered to consumers in their fresh form without losing the nutritional values at affordable prices.
- The post-harvest management practices will have great impact in increasing the shelf life of marketable produce and stakeholders will be able to realize more value per unit of produce.
- The operational cost of entire supply chain will be optimized by reaping good quality produce with less cost of operations.
- TThe goodwill factor and overall market acceptance will go up for any buyer or seller in the fruits and vegetables value chain business
- Value chain of fruits and vegetables will become more organized where in the standard operating process will be followed at each step.
Problem
In spite of the huge production, about 30 % of fruits and vegetables is rendered unfit for consumption
Post-harvest losses
- Loss at Harvest
- Loss during Logistics
- Loss during Processing
- Pack house losses
- Loss during Storage
- Loss during Supply chain
Highly Perishable Nature
The reduction of post-harvest loss of fruit and vegetables is a complementary means for increasing production. Moreover, the supply chain for perishable products is highly fragmented.
- Post-harvest loss of fruits and vegetables has been defined as “that weight of wholesome edible product (exclusive of moisture content) that is normally consumed by humans and that has been separated from the medium and sites of its immediate growth and production by deliberate human action with the intention of using it for human feeding but which for any reason fails to be consumed by humans. Not only quantity and quality but even the appearance of fruits and vegetables are affected and their market value is reduced.’
- Fresh fruits and vegetables are perishable and highly prone to these losses because they are composed of living tissues. These tissues must be kept alive and healthy throughout the process of marketing. These are composed of thousands of living cells which require care and maintenance.
Reduce Post-Harvest Loss To Feed More
- An efficient supply chain can help in reducing post-harvest losses to a great extent. Considering the above rationale, the Tamil Nadu Supply Chain Management Project (TNSCM) has been planned in order to prevent Post-Harvest losses in Fruits and Vegetables Supply Chain to increase the wallet share of the farmers and to provide quality fresh produce to the consumers.
- It may not be necessary to considerably step up the production of fruits and vegetables with the growing demand if the post-harvest loss is reduced to a great extent.
- The cost of preventing losses after harvest in general is less than preventing a similar additional amount of fruit and vegetable crop of the same quality.
- Attention to the concept of post-harvest food loss reduction, as a significant means to increase food availability, was drawn by the World Food Conference held in Rome in 1974.
Business Models
Technical Feasibility
- Complete primary processing facility at every PPC location.
- Able to handle multi crops or segments at a given point of time without any slackness in the operations
- Capable of processing Ready to eat, Ready to Cook and Ready to Process fruits and vegetables.
- Caters to different segments such as Wholesalers, Retailers, Food processors, HoReCa, Export Houses and Institutions
- More outreach, covering 60 % farmer population in the cluster
- SCM facilities can handle about 60 crops round the year and on an average 10 to 12 crops can be primary processed in one PPC location
- Sufficient to handle about 25 % of key focus crops produced in an year
Financial Feasibility – TN
- The SCM project facilities can handle about @ 650 MT per day from 64 PPCs in 10 districts.
- It is equipped with high end facilities to primary processing of around 60 plus fruits and vegetable crops out of which 10 is fruit crops.
- It generates direct employment to 100 rural youth and # 500 rural women population. It also provides indirect employment to about 500 more people who will be part of the value chain.