gradcbookfina2copy

51

floriculture

Being a biodiversity rich area, Sikkim has gotten into the exotic market of
production. Orchids, Gerbera, Tulips are some of the main flowers produce.
Due the the increasing returns in the floriculture market, more farmers are
getting into floriculture. Near Kalimpong, clusters of farmers have gotten
into farming which has led to the area being called ‘Valley of flowers’.

bee-keeping

There are over 15,000 bee hives in Sikkim. The cold climate and an
abundance of rich, wild and unique fauna leads to good production of honey.
After the organic transition the government claims that yield has increased
by 30%-40%. Honey, wax, pollen, jelly and propolis are sold.
Old tradition of using boxes namely “madeley dur” is still carried out.
More than 7500 individuals practice it. 350-400 hectares of land in Sikkim
is under Bee-keeping.

animal husbandry

Animals are kept as secondary farming (to keep the money flowing no matter
what). Diary products including milk, curd, butter, cottage cheese and sour
cheese (churpi) are manufactured and sold locally. Beef is eaten on a daily
basis. It includes in the staple diet of the locals. Goats and Cows are kept to
be slaughtered when full grown. ‘Khora’ is a curry based dish made using the
stomach lining of a cow. Chickens and eggs are farmed to be sold on a daily
basis. Ting Momo is a momo as big as a fist; one whole egg in the center,
covered in chicken pieces.
52

medicinal plants

Sikkim, as mentioned before has fertile soil being a mountainous region.
Many locals reside in the forests. They use certain medicinal plants to cure
their diseases or symptoms. Though, due to increasing demand, increasing
human involvement in the forest areas leading to increase in human wild-
life conflict.

53

freshness (-)

carbon footprint (+)
supply chain graph

Value chain and supply chain - organic farmingdistance (+)

farmergovernment inputs inframsatrcwuhcointrruekaerrewyrslamnadttrearnisastlposorbarrtgaenmdainrtkgaexteinsg
tradertaxes transstpoordaretglievtaerxyesw[oerxkpeorsrt]
prpoalccaekbsasgiinnggorganic fertilizers
infrastructure [eg. storage]
land aquisation
labours
farmer groups
energy consumption
cattle care
time

cost (+)

54

55

monbeaygpacmkaogbaiinlpigtpycliautnlecerys bellingg
infracshterwfuscatiiutnerteressritoorrsraagwebmraanmtdeairnritakgaelsxteinsgvendor
storsatgoerveernetdnaotxres waste segregation?rceostnasuurmaenrt

56

empathise

57

1.
gather
assumptions

I wrote down and presented my understanding out of my secondary research. This is when I
started conversing with stakeholders to validate my findings. It is extremely necessary to go with a
background information and hence not get confused while understanding the challenges faced by
various stakeholders.

58

Fig. 2

59

stakeholder mapping

Primary
- Organic Farmers of Sikkim (FIG/FPC)
- NPOP/USDA
- Government officials - financial assistance, infrastructure (storage and transportation),
funds, tech assistance, forming production clusters, seminars, farmer training, value
addition, facilitating seed, effective implementation
- Private Farmers
- Locals
- Banks

Secondary
- Processing units(collection/supply/flaking/packaging)
- Tradyers
- Produce Brokers
- Export Market
- Government Officials - Marketing people, post-harvest management,
- Seedbanks/laboratories

Tertiary
- Restaurants
- Fast-food packaging units
- Government Officials - other states, head of national agricultural department.
- NGOs
- Countries of export
- States of export
- Farmers of other states

60

Fig. 3 61

findings
(non-validated)

Farmers

- farmers were not ready for the change when the ban of outside food
was produced
- there are less number of organic farmers, hence the quantity of produce
in general is less, in India
- farmers don’t have secondary occupations to survive on at
adverse times
- farmers have no control once the broker procures
the produce
- farmers are supposed to receive funds every year
- the farmers go into loss if the cost addition is higher than; if the farmer
would sell his own produce
- because of inconsistent topography, particular
crops require varied farming methods
- the government of India has no specific policy for
organic farming so as to encourage farmers
- furthermore, government taxes and market price fluctuations are
affecting factors.

62

Consumers

- consumers in general are not aware of the ill-effects of eating chemical
based produce
- it is unclear what kind of people are buying organic
- there is less awareness of the amount of environmental impact caused
by conventional farming
- if organic farming is mostly seasonal, how will it break the habit people
are comfortable with
- consumers are used to the abundance and variety
of produce
- staple produce has more demand but less production
- consumers will buy what is available
- organic markets are an initiative; conscious consumers have a place to
buy organic produce
- consumers prefer better looking vegetables compared to a better quality/
nutritional food
- tourists want organic
- potato, local spinach, wild greens and tomato is mostly eaten with rice
and noodles
- produce of Sikkim is insufficient for the locals of Sikkim
- there is a misconception of healthy vegetables food being associated
with good looks

63

Miscellanous

- the government is not considering farmer profit as much as the economic
growth of the State
- the government has taken a good environmental step though the
execution has failed several times
- there is a gap between the traders, farmers and
the end consumers. This is leading to miscommunication and
cost addition
- the government has no policy which supports organic farming which
would actually profit the farmers by providing incentives
- it is unclear if the cost of organic production is less, why is the end cost
more than conventional, in the case of Sikkim, is the yield equal
to what it was before?
- there is a lack of marketing via branding for the local produce.
- organic produce is costly compared to
conventional produce; overall produce for distribution is less, nobody
knows for a fact if something is organic, you don’t get the off-seasonal
crops easily, vendors near the houses may not have organic, marketing
has failed, the vegetables don’t look as good and consistent
-production clusters are crop specific

64

weak insights
(non-validated)

- there is a lack of awareness when it comes to organic farming
- there is a lack of awareness in terms of responsible
consumerism
- the produce distribution for import and export is exponentially
not defined, leading to unknown end markets in the
farmers’ perspectives.
- the locals have gotten used to the supply and hence a demand
has been created, leading to an endless loop
- there exists individual growth than communal growth, small
land owners suffer more than big land owners
- there is no such blanket ban on mixing wet and dry waste,
leading to a linear economic cycle when it comes to farming

65

2.
forming interview
questions

It was a week long process. It’s not about being right, it is about asking the right questions. It is
necessary to validate previous assumptions by asking questions to the stakeholders.

66

67

for the farmers

1. Name, age, education
2. How long have you been farming? (Are you a private farmer//FPC)
3. Why did you decide to be a farmer? What do you love about farming?
4. Were you a part of the training provided by the government? Any thoughts
about it?
5. Which vegetables/fruits do you prefer to harvest the most vs which
vegetables/fruits do you harvest? Why? [demand/supply]
6. Could you describe the journey of that vegetable from your farm to the
market, and how does the price rise, who all are involved? Is the supply
process efficient? What factors affect it? How much value is added in the
process?[Question for understanding value addition process]
7. Do you practice Animal husbandry? Is it beneficial in regards with the
income flow vs income usage?
8. What factors contribute in regards with the income flow (earning) vs the
income usage(spending)?[the profit-loss flow]
9. What is SOM? What happened when they announced Sikkim’s transition
to Organic? And how was the transition itself? What do you feel/think about
organic farming?(What is the condition of Organic produce in Sikkim?)
[organic movement]
10. What challenges have you faced while practicing it? Have you heard
of any innovative new ways that would solve these problems? [Challenges
can include - climate/government/energy/cost/storage/supply/marketing/
produce/money/certification/water]

68

11. What has the government done for you as a part FPC/FIG? [funds/
supply/infrastructure/storage/marketing/production clusters]
12. What happened when they stopped the Siliguri goods from entering the
state?
13. Whom do you take advice from at adverse times?
14. What do you need to make things better (what thinks vs needs)?
15. What do you think the government/locals should be doing vs what they
are currently doing?

___________________________________

*DURING THE INTERVIEW
1. Profiling
2. Can you tell us about farming in Sikkim?
3. What are your thought on Organic?
4. What challenges do you face while farming?
(the rest was in a flow, but the earlier mentioned topics were covered)

69

for the traders

1. Name, age, education
2. How long have you been living in Sikkim? What do you feel/think
about Sikkim?
3. How and why did you decide to use organic produce compared to the
conventional and did it change the money discharge for raw materials?
Do you check for the NPOP/USDA certification while procuring the produce?
4. What is your job exactly? Describe your product. Since when have you
been making this product? How did the functioning of your company begin?
Describe some remarkable instances.
5. Who all are involved for your job to function smoothly?
6. What happened when they announced Sikkim’s transition to Organic? And
how was the transition itself? What is the condition of Organic produce in
Sikkim?[organic movement]
7. Describe the process from acquiring the produce for it to go through
various treatments(with description) till it being sold in the market. How
long does it take?
8. How much, from whom, how often, and what produce do you procure
every year? How is the value added in terms of factory infrastructure/
machinery and supply? And how does it affect the money influx?
9. What happened when they stopped the Siliguri goods?
Did you face any challenges?

70

10. How have you been marketing your product? Examples of it
working in terms of sales.
11. Who are your customers? Where all do you supply your
product? [end consumers]
12. What do you think about the tourism in Sikkim? How do your
sales differ in the tourist season?

______________________________

*No specific traders were interviewed. It was later found that
most of the farmers are traders of their own cluster.

71

for the government
official

1. Name, age, education
2. How long have you been living in Sikkim? What do you feel/think
about the same?
3. Describe your job exactly? How is it to work for the government here?
Describe some remarkable instances.
4. What do you think about the tourism in Sikkim? What has the government
done for the steady growth of tourists? What problems has the government
faced during the tourist seasons?
5. What is SOM? What do you know about the farmers situation here in
Sikkim? What has the government been doing for the farmers?
6. How often do you go grocery shopping? Do you have a preference when
it comes to organic food? What challenges do you face while purchasing the
same? How do you understand which is organic/not? Certification?
7. What happened when the government announced Sikkim’s transition to
Organic? And how was the transition itself? What led to this decision?[organic
movement]
8. Why is the produce getting costlier if the cost for production is less
compared to conventional farming?
9. Whom do you take advice from at adverse times?
10. What are the next steps for a smoother implementation of SOM?
11. Why were the Siliguri goods stopped from entering the state? What
happened of it?

72

12. Is the government meeting the goals set up in terms of output? How
different is the targeted quantity of production compared to the current
production quantity? What is happening exactly (if not met the demands)?
13. What efforts has the government taken in terms of marketing the Sikkim
Organic Produce? How efficiently is it working?
14. How are the locals responding/ reacting to the organic change?

____________________________________

73

for the entrepreneurs

1. Name, age, education
2. How long have you been living in Sikkim? What do you feel abut Sikkim?
3. What is your job exactly? What d o you like about it? Describe some
remarkable instances.
4. Who all are involved in the process from supply to delivery, for your job
to function smoothly?
5. Can you identify some differences between supplying organic and
supplying chemical produce?
6. What and where all do you supply and how much? What times of the year
is your job affected and how? How is the organic market outside Sikkim
compared to that of Sikkim?
7. Who are the ones(vendors) interested in selling organic produce? How do
you get to know about them?
8. How are you marketing the produce inside and outside the state? What is
the difference in value?
9. What happened when they announced Sikkim’s transition to Organic? And
how was the transition itself? What is the condition of Organic produce in
Sikkim?(What is this organic movement all about)
10. How does the value addition of the produce work and how is it affected
by your involvement?
11. What challenges do they face in procurement/delivery? How can the
process be more streamlined?
12. What happened when they stopped the Siliguri goods? What challenges
did you face?(cost/supply/sales/loss)
13. Can you say something about the farmers situation in Sikkim?

74

__________________________

*DURING THE INTERVIEW
1. Profiling
2. Can you tell us about farming in Sikkim?
3. What are your thought on Organic?
4. What challenges do you face while farming?
5. Balance of distribution?
(the rest was in a flow, but the earlier mentioned topics were covered)

75

for the
end-consumer

1. Name, age, education, occupation, how many people live and earn in your
house?
2. Do you watch movies? Which ones and why? What about music?
3. How long have you been living in Sikkim? What do you feel/think about
it?
4. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your monthly salary?
5. Do you buy local items (specifically) - clothes, cutlery, foo, etc.? Why/
why not?
6. What do you think about the tourism in Sikkim? How has it grown over
the ages?
7. Do you cook? Are you a foodie? Thoughts about the local food? Favourite?
8. Which vegetables/fruits do you prefer/love to eat the most? Why?
9. How often do you go grocery shopping? Do you have a preference when
it comes to organic food?
10. What obstacles do you face while purchasing the same? Do you verify if
the produce is organic and how? Is there a cost difference?
11. What all do you buy with it(provision goods)? When and why? How
much do you spend approximately while grocery shopping?
12. What do you feel/think about organic farming? What is SOM? Does the
taste differ? Do you feel different/healthier? What do you know about the
farmers situation here in Sikkim? [organic movement]
13. What do you know about the farmers situation in Sikkim?What happened
when they announced Sikkim’s transition to Organic? and when they stopped
goods form Siliguri to enter the Sikkimis’ markets?
14. What is the government doing for them?

76

for the vendor

1. Name, age, education
2. How long have you been living in Sikkim? What is the specialty here?
What do you feel/think about it?
3. Do you cook? Are you a foodie? Thoughts about the local food? 4. How
is the food delivered to you? How efficient is it? What factors affect it? How
much value is added in the process?
5. Do you sell organic food? Which ones are organic? What thoughts do you
have on organic food? [off-season crops/ seasonal identification]
6. What kind of people usually buy specific organic food (locals/tourists), do
they verify by looking at the certification? [End market]
7. What happened when they announced Sikkim’s transition to Organic? And
how was the transition itself? What is the condition of Organic produce in
Sikkim?(What is this organic movement all about)
8. What happened when they stopped the Siliguri goods? What challenges
did you face?(cost/supply/sales/broker)
9. What do you know about the farmers situation here in Sikkim?
10. Whom do you take advice from at adverse times?

____________________________________

*DURING THE INTERVIEW
Questions to the vendors and end-consumers were asked after arriving
at an opportunity area according to the synthesized data

77

3.
findings
and synthesis

After interviewing three stakeholders, certain observations were recorded in the form of findings. In
this way, presumed findings were denied or validated. This led to a deeper understanding about the
challenges faced by the stakeholders.

78

79

Political will

- Political will defines policy changes to corner consumers into
choice-making
- Staple produce such as Onions, tomatoes, rice and potatoes is less
compared to, the focus is on cash crops for sustainable cash inflow
[Socio-economic development has led to exotic market instead of
staple produce]
- There is no pool of knowledge for farmers or entrepreneurs or vendors,
basically any stakeholders for transparency
- What are the government policies about processing food? Who is
actually doing it?
- As promised, is the government giving funds for infrastructure
[storage mostly]

Organic

- Sikkim is the bigger brand than organic
- When it comes to packaging, the demand defines it on convenience,
way more than what is necessary
- Organic has less yield- supply increase leads to decrease in value-
waste increases
- What can a farmer with low yield do compared to a large-scale farmer
as Plan B?
- Relative knowledge can help in local growth
- Being a farmer is supposed to be ‘poor‘
- No particular market for seeds is visible[existence unknown]
- There is no Plan B for farmers if they stop depending on rain
- Alternate energy is not used in farms [frugality]

80

Processing supply waste [distribution]

- People are comfortable to experiment in their hometown -comfort +
finance + knowledge [frugality]
- An amount of Entrepreneurs and units with workers are needed to
decrease waste when it comes to distribution
- A huge pharmaceutical/fruit/flower market exists in Sikkim because of
the Himalayan Belt. And its bounty
- There is no communication to re-introduce local produce for
rural upliftment
- Processing excess can reduce overall waste
- Unaware stakeholders of farm supply/ cold storage/ waste
responsibility/ processing [distribution][40% produce is getting wasted,
many]causes[Farm-cold storage-market/processing unit instead of farm-
market]
- If supply cost exceeds import cost, local produce cost increases
- Imported food/ produce is not fresh, reporting food is too costly initially
- Trading the produce or product outside the state increases the value on
an exponential level

81

82

interviewing the
farmers

Farming journey

- He uses permaculture techniques such as planting a prey plant, so that
the pests get attracted tom only one crop in case organic fertilizers fail
- The government has done their certification in the form of SSOCA
- He used to put chemical fertilizers before
- To him God is watching over him and the land is also the God.
- A theist who believes in nature worship
- Since 1989 he started experiencing health problems, mostly kidney
- It was a high maintenance job; the medical stuff
- Sickness made him demoralize himself
- He was always interested in farming
- Earlier, he used to get disoriented because of the irritation of traveling
and multi-tasking, farming has made him more focused
- Knows traditional as well as new methods
- After farming he realized that the chemical produce he consumed earlier
deteriorated his health
- He got better health-wise drastically after consuming only organic
- Started farming in 2007
- He is an educated man, has served as an officer
- He is a big picture person, he wants the condition to get better
by collaboration
- He is environmentally aware and active
- He is making relative notes comparing agriculture practices between
India and Europe, as he respects the European discipline and their behavior
towards farmers
- Frugality matters more than impact creation of a particular product

83

84

New farmers

- He wants famers to continue and respect the traditional farming while
using new technological methods
- Farming is not valued
- People will have money, not food in the future
- It is not considered a respectable profession in the eyes of all
- Education talks about the ‘poor farmer’
- Everyone is going for easy money and less physical efforts
- There are less farmers in the fewer generations
- His elder generations are farmers
- Lack of a well-defined cold chain system leads to excess wastage and
unnecessary value addition

Miscellaneous

- Mainstream acts of environmentalism can be found but introspecting to
a level deeper is missing
- Even if the common man is aware of climate change, he is only doing the
mainstream minimum to reduce his carbon footprint
- If one cares about their plants, they treat them with care
- People are eating more proteins than they need
- Majority and proximity plays a major role in decision making
- Lookism is a major factor in consumerism
- He thinks the younger generation has no sense of direction when it
comes to life decisions
- Economic gap increases leading to unreasonably bad treatment of lower
classes leading to discontent

85

Farmer clusters
- He makes groups consisting of educated farmers, non-educated
farmers, experts, students together to conduct workshops of farming and
its importance
- There are numerous groups of 10-12 farmers in one cluster
- You can communicate with the farmer according to the farmer
- The government initiated a competition ‘best farmer’ and the farmer
receives one Crore rupees. He is suggesting for the best cluster, so
that they can divide the money and there will be some communal
development
- When there is a demand for mass production, at least a seeding
interval of the day, cluster by cluster can lead to a better system of
implementation
- The FPO sells the produce together, which leads them to have a fixed
price of produce
- The only distributor he has is the vendor at the laal bazaar
- Communication between the farmers happens through WhatsApp.
Though, most farmers are not using WhatsApp, they then have monthly
meetings to ensure communication takes place.
- The farmers and traders are of a frugal nature, it matters to them that
the produce is being sold, not where it is being sold
- Locals would get knowledge and wisdom from their own kin/trusted
colleagues, more than new entities; effortless trust exists
- Farmers choose traders upon trust

Empowerment of women
- Women groups in the village process food and packaging, now they are
doing something more than watching television shows
- He wants his children to be good leaders than being stuck as workers/
laborers
- Respects women, thinks they work more professionally than men

86

Storage
- Increase in mushroom quantity reduce the cost, increased competitors,
quality decreased
- There is a need to get fresh mushrooms in the market
- Local farmers take the produce to the market themselves [lot of
climbing is involved]
- Didn’t the government promise funds for storage?
- It is a challenge of mobility getting produce to the processing unit in
mountainous regions
- How do you redistribute produce? Where do you store them? What is the
fact cycle?
- Mushroom has a requirement where humidity has to be maintained at 4
degrees Celsius
- Mushrooms need a period of 6 months to grow
- A log lasts 3 years to produce mushrooms, that is 6 cycles, depends on
the girth of the log, increasing the life and value of the log until it goes to
being firewood
- “Wood felling happens”
- How to identify new products?
- What is Sikkim Supreme doing about it?

Seeds
- Seeds are bought directly from the market
- Each time approximately 2000 rupees is invested
- Some vegetables do give the seeds without the produce going
- The seeds go with the vegetables, and they are consumed
- 4/5 farmers handle one big land
- All wet waste goes to cow food
- Crop rotation is practiced
- Less efforts in irrigation
- No market for seed distribution is observed

87

Sikkim Organic?
- He appreciated the Sikkim Government Farming Movement
- He used to put some chemical fertilisers before
- Wants to be a helping hand to the soldiers, as they would need food to
fight
- Organic produce : Chemical produce = Ayurveda : Allopathy
- You have put organic fertilisers periodically
- He considers birds as their teachers, they trust their wings, not the
branch
- Chemical fertilisers are fast solutions
- Taste of organic is different
- They reuse most of the wet waste

Government involvement
- The government constructs green houses and poly-houses for the
farmers
- He is making relative notes internationally as he respects their discipline
and their behavior towards farmers
- Land rate is decided by the government
- Farmers trust the main government, not its department as they shows
lack of interest in solving problems
- Government took a long term decision with organic
- Even if the produce is exported, processing can take place in Sikkim
- What the department says, doesn’t do
- There is no point of someone to head something without having
practical experience in the matter, that is what is happening with the
governmental departments
- Political competitors conspired and increased the price of vegetables in
the end market and an end perspective has been made
- The government has no immediate solutions, they have a long term
plan which is distressing the farmers on a short term future

88

89

4.
forming
insights

Synthesizing data lead to relation of insights from different stakeholders and form deeper
conclusions which may or may not lead to help in the ideation stage.

Fig. 4

90

Insights

- Nature-worship leads to a deeper and active [action-based]
environmentalism among the locals
- More than seeing is believing, experiences lead to stronger beliefs
- Influences of media and education [globalization and industrialization]
lead the decision making which is endangering indigenous values and
practices
- People choose familiarity[comfort] in front of risk
- Well communicated and scalable systems with immediate as well as
long-term impacts are more sustainable
- Frugality among all stakeholders strengthens as the economic gap
widens
- Trust-building with long-time colleagues and family members and hence
is preferred
- Irresponsibility - in implementation and unaccounted causes - leads to
demoralization of trust

91

92

brief

93

1.
mapping and synthesis
of opportunity areas

A user journey of the farmer helped in putting the observed problem areas out there.

94

95

surface level problem structuring

Fig. 5
surface level problem structuring

Consumer On surface
Vendor
Processor Consumers are not buying organic food

Mainstream environmentalism does not allow consumers
to give efforts and money

How might we create a new value equation of organic
produce among the consumers?

Vendors do not seperate the produce

They care about selling vegetables, not which ones
How might we create adaptable guidelines for vendors
to store organic food?

Less people are interested in setting up processing units More than the product, the packaging is taken

[entreprenuership] into consideration

Investment, energy, labourers, raw materials, support Lookism is the major factor for marketing
industries are necessary - financial risk
Plastic generation and usage has increased as
How might we create supportive environments and there exists a lack of an alternative
incentives for more people so that they choose
processing for a better re-destribution of produce?

Plastic - easy usage/available and low cost material

How might we create sustainable packaging
alterantives for packaging while at the same time
creating job opportunities for the commoners?

Traders

Farmer There is not enough respect for farmers Communication among farmers is time-consuming Mostly produce seasonal crops Mountainous farmers depend upon the gro
Even if people are interested in farming, sometimes they No pool of knowledge exists for new farmers as a water resource and are rain-fed
choose other careers because of familiarity resource of knowledge Without the force of artificial technology, nature
does not allow unseasonal cropping Excess water is not re-used
Education degrades the value of a farmer and Farmers don't use whatsapp, so general
their responsibility happens through meetings How might we create technological innovation How might we create supportive farm envir
How might we increase connectivity among for aseasonal crops to grow without disturbing to harvest or redirect fresh rain-water?
Young-adults get excited by new, fast money when the farmer clusters [old and new] to create the climate?
it comes to profession effective communication?

How might we eliminate the barriers of participation
among the new generation while inculcating endangering
values to provide food security in Sikkim?

96

Waste System haaha Transportation
Landfills are increasing
Consumers are not aware where what comes from
It is unclear if the waste is segregated
They have no proof of produce being organic
There is no blanket ban for waste segregation? when fresh

Food goes to waste [storage] How might we communicate the consumers of the
How might we create supportive environment authencity of fresh produce
for the vendors to separate produce?

There is no cold storage infrastructure with Lack of re-distribution system leads to a waste
the farmers creation

Farmers mostly supply the produce right How might we create a sub-system for redistribution
after harvest of waste for processing on the market level?
How might we make a technological innovation
to provide cold storage in the relatable
environment to decrease waste and increase
shelf-life of the produce?

How might we counsel adoption of new skills in
order to create an industry of organic fertilizers?

Excess waste is generated due to lack of a good Traders do not report to anybody Transportation methods are difficult because of the
cold chain system mountainous terrain

Bad roads and excess cost addition-bad transport Farmers are often bound by the trader How might we make technological interventions
-less quality of produce-cold chain is bad in order to reduce effort for traders while
Deals with traders leads them to focus on transporting the produce to the market?
How might we invent services to increase the production more than post-harvest management
performance of cold chain system to reduce
unnecessary cost addition? Traders export the produce which decreases the
availability of fresh produce in local areas

Undefined distribution system leads to chaos and
no transparency

How might we provide guidelines for the traders
to enable relationship with the government for a
more streamlined supply chain process?

ound There is no/minimal cold storage infrastucture on Farmers have no idea of the distribution system,
the farm level they can only trust the traders
Lack of market creation for organic pesticides SYS Distribution system can differ farmer to farmer, Physical efforts are required to maintain a farm
Farmers mostly supply the produce themselves there is no standard system
Organic fertilizers can mostly be used for long-term right after the harvest Mountainous farming is labour intensive
effects, not immideate SYS Production was planned, not the distribution
How might we make a technological intervention Machinery and it's delivery is expensive
ronments Every farmer practising organic farming is not to provide cold storage in the relative environment
an "organic farmer" to decrease waste and increase the shelf-life? Quantity of produce is less than required if they
were to hire a cold vehicle
Certification requires cost and efforts Government has no means of storing data
How might we make technological interventions
How might we create an enjoyable user experience How might we enable fulfilling relations and in order to reduce effort for farmers while keeping
for the SSOCA certification system to certify all cultivate an ecosystem of knowledge sharing the produce intact?
Sikkmese farmers? among all stake-holders for effective outputs
and data collection?

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product journey

farmer-education-profession decision-working as a farmer-living as a
farmer-seed procurement-area-land health-ploughing-water-irrigation-seed-
ing-infrastructure-time planning -money-weeding-labour-workers-pesticides
periodic input-pheronome trap-harvest-willowing-storage-post harvest-clean-
ing-clearing-fodder-
trader will procure-storage management-produce distribution-
transportation-
processing units-storage-consumer-preservatives-packaging-labelling-
transport-consumer-baggage-
wet waste-transport-segregation-recycling

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2.
exploring
a hunch

One of the opportunity area observed was data storage and analysis. I brainstormed with several
individuals in the office. It was fruitful until I realized something.

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