"It was a wonderful experience interacting with you and appreciate the way you have planned and executed the whole publication process within the agreed timelines.”
Subrat SaurabhAuthor of Kuch Woh Pal
Over 300 million MT of fruits and vegetables gets distributed to 125crores of Indians, in an area of 3.28 million square kilometres during a year. There is no technology involvement, no company controls, and not even government management. In this massive movement from farm to fork, there are millions of hands involved. How does this uninterrupted supply system operate? Who engaged the millions? Are they engaged or employed?
Most of it has a shelf-life of a couple of hours to a couple of days. Yet, there is little involvement of cold chain, and almost everything is transported in ambient. Still, it intends to head to every Indian plate as fresh produce. The gifted 127agro-climatic zones, produce any and every F and V that is produced anywhere in the world. Therefore, the best of processed food has not been able to replace fresh. Often, the supply chain is surprised by unpredictable floods, cyclones, hailstorms and droughts. How resilient is it to respond to these calamities, who manages demand and how does the supply marry the demand?
· What is its future? Where is it heading for? Is it changing, adapting or evolving?
· Can the farmer have a bigger say in the supply chain, or can he have a larger share of the consumer pie?
· How easy or difficult is it to move farmers from “distress” to “doubling income”?
Most Engaged, Little Employed is an attempt to paint reality in the context of the supply chain. Discover the mystery of this wonderful supply chain.
Mihir Mohanta
Mihir Mohanta, an agri-business professional, settled in Delhi NCR, has been in the field of agri-food supply chain over three decades. Farming is deep in his blood as he hails from a family which had strong engagement in it. He has varied experience in the workings of the entire food-chain from crop production, procurement, food processing, supply chain, as well as food retailing. He has a rich organizational understanding as he has worked in multinational companies, cooperatives and private as well as quasi-government organizations.
Despite the organizational shift, his focus had been on the farmers. His ability to grasp and understand farming issues is remarkable. He has put a business sense in many agriculture projects and turned them into agri-businesses. His market-based solutions in agri-food supply chains have impacted many a farmer’s life and earned them better livelihoods. Many of his business solutions, on implementation, have also had developmental outcomes.
A childhood passion for creativity made him a self-taught photographer and an artist. He can give his imagination shape through camera and colours. Of late, he has started writing articles on a subject that have been explored little - “Perishable fruits and vegetable supply chain”. For years, he travelled in the farmer's fields and agri-commodity mandis across India to fathom farmers’ issues. His endeavour has been to create an appreciation of these by policy-makers, academicians and consumers.
