Business Development Service (BDS) Program

IDEI commenced operations in Maharashtra on October 1, 2001. It adopted a Business Development Services (BDS) approach with the objective of facilitating market development for addressing the demand and supply side constraints to improve the socio-economic and environmental conditions of small and marginal farmers.

The program focused on horticulture crops which are widely cultivated in Maharashtra. These are high value fruit crops (banana, sweet lime, orange, pomegranate, etc) as well as vegetables (egg plant, chili, tomato, gourd) for which relatively better market linkages exist in the region.

Water has been a major constraint in development of horticulture. Scarce ground water as well as non-availability of affordable irrigation equipment have been the prime issues for small and marginal farmers. Although, drip irrigation had been in use in the area, most of the systems available in the market were designed considering the needs of affluent farmers. Even after the government subsidized the drip systems, these mostly remained beyond the reach of small and marginal farmers. Moreover the non-availability of government funds as well as the cumbersome procedure added to the misery of farmers. Besides, the provision of an irrigation system alone could not improve the economic condition of the smallholders as other constraints such as access to quality agri-inputs, techniques, planting material etc. remained unaddressed.

To address the issue of irrigation for small holders, IDEI introduced its affordable, divisible and simple drip irrigation technologies. The range of products include Bucket Kit, Drum Kit, Easy Drip and Customized systems. These can cater to the range of irrigation needs from kitchen garden to medium sized horticulture farms of about 1 acre. The simple design enables farmers to not only manufacture/assemble these systems locally but to easily install and maintain these systems. Moreover, the recently developed Easy drip systems have vastly improved the marginal farmer's access to drip irrigation technologies and are today the lowest cost drip irrigation systems in the world (as low as Rs. 2500 per 4000 m2).

IDEI in its role of facilitator, explored and identified providers for assembling the systems. The source of components was identified and the assemblers were linked to these manufacturers. These assemblers procure components from various manufacturers/ suppliers, assemble the kit locally as per the needs of the farmers and then sell them to the farmers.

To create demand for the products, IDEI has collaborated with a few watershed NGOs and has leveraged their penetration among the farmers to disseminate the information on drip systems. IDEI staff has also initiated demand creation activities in the field. These include several promotional activities such as demonstrations, village meetings, exposure visits, video shows, etc. The acceptance of drip kits can be gauged from the fact that in the very first year the assemblers could sell over 5000 systems with no element of subsidy. The numbers have been growing ever since. The increasing demand and interest in drip kits have motivated many local mechanics to join in the project. The increasing number of assemblers has given the farmers choice of dealers/ assemblers. At the same time it has prompted the assemblers to improve their services and product quality. Although IDEI has been promoting the technologies, now the assemblers have themselves started promoting their firms and the products. A few of them even advertise in the local print media.

In the first year of the project IDEI developed a new product - Easy Drip. As the price of this system is very low, assemblers make less money per system. However, since the system is so affordable, it is spreading like wild fire and assemblers more than make up on increased turnovers. The adoption of IDEI drip systems has considerably increased as farmers who had access to very little water can now afford drip systems. These affordable systems are allowing them to use this scarce water effectively for income generation. The assemblers also see benefit in disseminating such information as it expands his market.

In addition to assemblers, IDEI has identified other service providers such as agri-input dealers, nursery growers and agronomy trainers. Several such providers have been linked into the program and participate in training programs. Such linkages have resulted in increased awareness of the dealers, nursery growers and farmers on inputs, production techniques, etc. and has been seen to result in quality inputs being provided to farmers.

In IDEI's experience, with the right sized, priced and marketed products and services, the private sector can deliver income generating technologies and services to small farmers in a sustainable 'win-win' relationship. However, the creation of this market mechanism requires initial groundwork and certain investments up-front. External aid assistance routed through organizations such as IDEI help to create sustainable pro-poor market mechanisms that the private sector on its own may not be willing to bear initially.

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