Santos Biswas
Improving market access brings higher profits to farmers
Santos Biswas from Palpara, Magura is vegetable farmer, and a group member of Esdep Concern Foundation (ECF), a Katalyst partner. His
smallholding is about an acre, and on it he grows chillies, aubergines, cucumbers, and a variety of gourds. In 2010, Mr Biswas took part in ECF
training in vegetable production and pest management. However, although the quality of his vegetables increased, his income did not.
Biswas’s major issue was one of market access. He used to sell his vegetables in Magura’s Kacha Bazar, and incurred a number of hidden
costs, such as bazar tax, and the transport fare to get his produce to market. All these effectively reduced his profit margins. He was also
heavily dependent on the availability of local traders to sell his vegetables for him, which increased the fluctuations in his profits. All these
factors meant he faced great difficulty in accessing better markets to sell his produce.
In collaboration with Katalyst and GMark, ECF began to address the issue of market access for farmers. It trained group members in the best
ways to produce higher quality, non-toxic vegetables and then ensured them a market by committing to buy a fixed amount of their produce.
Under this social business model, ECF procures directly from its farmer base and sells the produce under its own banner in the local market.
According to his contract with ECF, Biswas now supplies them with a variety of vegetables, which ECF buys at a premium price. He is very
pleased with this arrangement – he has increased his income by approximately BDT3,600 since he joined the scheme. Not only are sales
ensured through his contract with ECF, but at the same time he can avoid the inconvenience and uncertainty of transportation, bazar tax, and
potentially low prices. Santos Biswas knows his life has already improved and believes it will continue to do so, through the security this system
brings him.