With the organic food debate raging, many people are confused about what counts as organic food. The definition of organic food is quite simple; literally, organic foods are grown, preserved and stored without the use of artificial elements like pesticides and fertilizers. The purity of their growing process and preparation leads to an incredibly natural flavour that is demanded as much for its health benefits as its great taste.
Organic agriculture, when compared to the conventional sector, has a very small market share and proportion of total customer food expenditure. The market is underdeveloped in terms of innovation and infrastructure, and has not expanded as rapidly as first expected. Supermarkets require guaranteed supplies of large quantities of food, produced to specific standards at low prices, the biggest factor affecting availability and responding to demand is discontinuous or lack of supply.
To label a ready meal organic 95% of the ingredients must be organic, however across the sector there are issues of availability and discontinuity of supply, and fragmented, poorly organised, organic supply chains due to small-scale production, poor infrastructure and uneven supply.
One factor that has hindered the growth of the organic food sector is a lack of consistent supply. Improved distribution channels, production techniques and a growth in the number of producers has helped reduce the number of instances of retailers running out of a product. However, this problem has not been completely eliminated and retailers continue to seek out producers who cannot only supply a new or innovative product, but those who can supply a product consistently.
- For the growers, growing organic food crops is fine. But what to grow, how much to grow and where to sell?
- For the consumer, is it okay if you just got rice and dal from organically produced crops and other ingredients from conventionally produced crops?
- For the trader, calling your shop an organic shop is fine. But are you able to source all ingredients required for daily consumption, economically, from genuine organic producers within the vicinity of your area of operation?
The ICCOA WHOLE MEAL Project addresses these issues!!!
The ICCOA Whole Meal project will generate a report, which will contain:
Estimates of the requirement of every ingredient forming a normal meal in an urban household.
Estimates of the market size in each of the cities in our country.
A project report for an organic retail outlet in three models:
- Model A – Comprehensive outlet with a café
- Model B – Normal outlet
- Model C – Basic outlet
All the details required for setting up a retail outlet including the financial projections for appraisal by Financial Institutions.
Estimates of details of excess supply / excess demand for every ingredient within the vicinity of every city to enable producers to decide on their production programmes.
List of how ingredients can be economically sourced and from where to help the entrepreneurs set up an outlet.
List of the producers and their capacities.
- ICCOA will act as an interface between farmers/ farmer groups and entrepreneurs thus enabling the business.
- ICCOA will offer comprehensive consultancy services to enrolled stakeholders in all the aspects of the business chain (from production to retail sale).
- ICCOA will start consumer awareness programmes in areas where stakeholders are enrolled.
Who can enroll:
- Farmer / farmer groups.
- Entrepreneurs for collection, packaging & distribution.
- Entrepreneurs for retail trade.
- State Govt. interested in promoting Organic Agriculture & domestic market development.
- Input manufacturers.
ICCOA believes that if the concept is designed and standardised it can be successfully transplanted to any other location with sufficient population density. We would envisage developing a number of these outlets around the main population centers of Bangalore, first. Once the viability has been established we see a huge potential for expansion in major cities of India. The concept is both an excellent means of generating money and a wonderful way of passing on a message of health and well being for people and the planet.
Standardisation is vital to the success of the concept and this is where ICCOA provides the main input. In order for the idea to be franchisable it must have a reproducibility that gives the customer the security of 'known what to expect'. We want that standardisation plus high quality products and services.
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