Saturday, March 19, 2011

Pesticides Ok for Indian Consumers?

Recently I visited Nasik Area in Maharashtra. Not being an Agri professional, I have had to learn the fundamentals of products at the field itself, with the help of my colleagues. Nothing gives me more pleasure than a new thing to learn (and I hope like hell it will keep Alzheimer away!).

I have come to see that there is a big difference in being an expert in Grapes and being a Marketeer of Grapes. Let me illustrate.

      The grapes industry, as you might not know if you are not deep into its working, is surprisingly well organised, in parts. The part that is well organised is part that exports grapes to Europe and the part that is horrendously disorganized is the one that supplies grapes to the Indian consumer, that is you and me.

      Grape farmers have to make a decision at the beginning itself, whether are they going to make the field to cultivate grapes suitable for the European or the Indian market. If for Europe, then the soil maintenance, the kind of pesticides used, the dosage, the row distance, the leaves per stem, etc. gets well kept, as dictated by whom? The European Food laws.All grapes to Europe are "Pesticide Residue free". And grapes for Indian consumers? Well Chalta Hai! Pesticides residue is OK?
       The European grapes are 16mm in length, and the grapes supplied in India: 8mm to 10 mm, assorted. Do our Indian consumers not deserve pesticide residue free grapes, 16 mm and clean and crispy? 
      Why would they not be supplied to the Indian market? This is because the Indian Consumer is SAID to be price conscious. I decided to test this (what I thought was a Myth). 
       My company (Future Freshfoods, Mumbai) sourced grapes meant for Europe, redefined the sizes, put them in punnet boxes(plastic boxes), and sold them in the FoodBazaar outlets in Mumbai at prices which were Rs. 10 higher per kg than the market, but these are14 to16mm length grapes with pesticide zero residue, no infestation, no surface cracks - clean and neat. Everyone of the experts inside and outside told me that I was being foolish, that the punnet would add cost to the grapes, and that the cost would render the product a non-starter.
    I may not know the botanical name of grapes, but my wife is the consumer-silly, I hear it from her!  
It was sold out! 15,000 boxes in a day. Don't believe me see the pics. I believe the consumers in India have never eaten such delicious and top quality grapes consistently available. 
Don't Indian consumers, deserve to eat grapes of the standard that  European citizens eat? We need to get out of the mind-set that we Indians will make do with lower quality.It is not about being rich it is about being discerning. So help me God!  

2 comments:

  1. Dear Radha Uncle,
    This had been an amazing insight! Coupled with the pictures and your own 'experiment', you have indeed put out very cogent point.
    You have rightly said that we Indians have a very dangerous 'chalta hai' attitude. The drama and heart-breaks around the Endosulfan case is proof enough. Living in Mumbai, I have seen around me that our people almost always make their choices based on the immediately visible options, and choose to be ignorant with even basic necessities. This is perhaps due to our innate tendency to be fatalistic. That might also explain why our 'producers', from the food and retail industry to the film industry are afraid to break out of the box and stand up for an idea.
    You showed a great example as to how this can be done!
    It's been an inspiring article, looking forward to reading more from you!
    With best regards,
    Abhijit Sunil.

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  2. Sir,
    NAMASTHE.
    India has all type of customers.It has people who travel by Govt.red bus,Semi-Super luxury, Volvo, multi axle ...all.None of these catogory is plying empty.All buses are full.The challenge is how to identify customers for various catogories.
    There are people who will buy only
    organic products though they are bit costly.

    Your experience is wonderful.

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