Asia Landscape - Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural value chains

VCB-N has launched a series of Webinars on the COVID crises to offer a platform for learning and exchange about the current situation. This is the summary of the webinar on impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on agricultural value chains by VCB Network.
Speakers:

1. Mr. Barua Kaushik, Country Director IFAD Cambodia & Mr. Fabrizio Bresciani, Regional Economist IFAD Rome - IFAD perspectives
2. Anirban Bhowmik, Country Director, Swisscontact, Bangladesh – the smallholder farmers and the informal sector perspectives in Bangladesh
3. Mr. Andrew Wilson, Regional Coordinator Market Systems, HELVETAS – The market perspective
4. Prof. Liu Yonggong, China Agricultural University (CAU)- The market perspective from China

Summary:

1. The COVID crisis does negatively impact households in three inter-connected areas i) food security ii) income and iii) investment ability. In rural areas, the down-fall of prices has diminished the investment ability thus working capital of smallholder farmers which will again affect the production thus income and broader food security in the mid-term. The decreased ability to invest in next season’s crops is further deteriorated by the insecurity about next season’s markets. Farmers are falling back on local food systems and traditional production and solidarity mechanisms to deal with the crisis.

2. IFAD is using Rural Poor Stimulus Facility having 4 main pillar: i) safeguarding access to inputs and basic access for production purposes ii) facilitating access to markets incl. support to logistics, storage etc. iii) targeted funds to assure access to services mainly through existing programmes and iv) funds to develop / disseminate digital services / tools to farmers. This will help actors to overcome both Income shocks and Asset shocks.

3. Upstream actors like traders and retailers saw their income flow diminishing with falling business volumes and are short of liquidity which hampers their ability to pre-finance inputs for smallholders. Ability to extend credit line to farmers will be reduced for next season as traders are getting hit.

4. Food production chain especially fish will face big trouble in Bangladesh. April and May are the peak season of stocking of fish and many smallholders are not going to stock due to poor transport, price and availability of inputs. Hatcheries are only able to supply at least 50% of their total production and struggling to keep these all fish fry in their limited area.

5. International value chains for non-perishables like the trade in food ingredients are less affected by the logistical complications. As their exists a 6 weeks lag between shipment and retail at destination markets the real impact on trade volumes is still unclear.

6. “Stress reveals the cracks” : Structural weakness of agriculture value chain related to access to finance along the chain (production and forward market linkages) has been exposed in the current food systems.

7. Policy Narrative- Fiscal and Non fiscal: Non fiscal interventions must focus on production support with timely supply of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. Fiscal support must be given to the farmers to manage their debt and allow them to invest in future production cycles.

8. Technology based entrepreneurs are not enough and form minuscule part of supply chain. Investments should be balanced along the VC (farm-level, storage, processing, logistics, and market access) to avoid bottlenecks which can be a "time bomb" for commodity prices, and farmers' income in the end.

9. Responses at company level should typically include software (adapted procedures, regulations) as well as hard-ware (protective gear etc.).

10. Responses as applied in China might be difficult to duplicate in other countries that lack the mechanisms for direct support to producers or financial reserves to apply similar support measures.

Ankur Capital Dialogues - Navigating Recovery Post COVID-19 for Consumer Food Brands

I have the privilege to attend a webinar on 15th April, Wednesday Navigating Recovery Post COVID-19 for Consumer Food Brands organized by Ankur Capital.

The panel had good expertise in FMCG and the food industry. They shared a more comprehensive range of challenges and issues faced by the consumer food brands amid lock-down. I will summarize the webinar in six points:

1. Managing human resources: The legal aspects of managing human movement was relatively easy for the firms. But, a lot of personal communication was established by the leadership team to establish trust between them and employees. There were a lot of queries on the risk involved as the mainstream media has heightened a sense of panic and anxiety. Communication with the employees and all key stakeholders is the key!

2. Organization culture: While business metrics are important, companies should adopt a people-first approach and ensure that the well-being of their employees and customers is the key. The whole culture has been put to the litmus test and the lock-down has put the values of the companies in the action.

3. Alternate partnerships: Companies have ensured seamless supply through partnering with new partners and tackling logistics issues. Companies have re-prioritized the channel distribution strategies by considering the willingness, infrastructure, and payments of the partners. The situation is different for each partner.

4. Embracing technologies solution: Leadership has been pushing for technology like Microsoft Team and Zoom to the reluctant adopters.

5. Financial Liquidity: Startups have negotiated cash discounts to distributors. The Cash crunch has led to the cutting cost and made them functional for 2-3 months. There will be changes in the product portfolio, and processes to make companies more efficient.

6. Ecosystem Recovery: The recovery curve will be U shaped rather than V-shaped in consumer food brands. The behavioral habit of the consumer such as out-of-home shopping, and dining will change as people venture out less often. There will be trust building by brands through reassurance, hygiene, quality, and the process they follow at the back end. Unknown brands will be either buried or raised from the debris. The online groceries ecosystem will change and rapidly evolve in the next 6 months. A lot of medium food brands will change the rules of engagement in the online space.

Covid is a moment of truth and companies are looking to emerge from this stronger. Brands should focus their efforts on building trust and ensuring that the values that the organization stands for come to the forefront during times like these.

Solving for agri procurement and market linkage in times of Covid

I attended a webinar on 4th April, Saturday Solving for agri procurement and market linkage in times of Covid organized by Hemendra Mathur, Gauri Sarin, Abhilash Thirupathy, Om Routray, Ashish Khetan and Vijay Pratap Singh Aditya.

Agenda: The idea is to table the challenges and solutions in the context of upcoming Rabi harvest during and after the lock-down. The focus of discussion will be on post-harvest interventions needed from first mile including farm labor, harvesting, procurement, warehousing and cold chain. The stakeholders likely to join the call are mandi traders, farmer bodies, NBFCs, warehousing, cold chain, logistics companies, agri startups in the market linkage side, industry association etc.

Speakers: Anil Kumar SG - Sammunati Jayant Chattarjee (Star Agri ), Pushpendra Singh (Farmer Leader), Khalid Hussain, ITC, Sachin Sharma ITC, Aleen Mukherjee (NCEDX), Aneesh Kumar (NAFPO) and Rahul Gupta, Avanti Microfinance

Discussion: The focus of the call is on food supply chain with areas like farm labour, mandi auctioning, value chain financing, significant credit line and warehousing.

1. Anil Kumar SG- The two phases of the lockdown to be addressed are before and beyond 14th April. The agriculture sector has best of the chances to bounce out earliest. This means that agriculture will get resource allocation, priority attention and collaboration. Samunnati is paying attention towards liquidity crisis as working capital becomes most important in this scenario for both demand and supply partners. Samunnati is looking for: What do FPO have currently, require in next few days and planning in next 3 months with timeline? Access to loans become most important to all the value chain players.

2.Jayant Chattarjee: Agribaazar is a platform to get buyer and seller to meet similar to like e-nam. Since trade must go on to minimize impact on farmers, there is need of alternative market place.

3. Pushpendra Singh: 70% economy is nearly closed at this time and food security of 130 Crore population is in focus. Labour problem is affecting Rabi harvest and will eventually sowing season of Zaayad and kharif is approaching fast. The supply chain is broken due to which both consumer and farmer are paying high prices. Poultry is affected by the rumors and supply chain disruption of feeds. There is an urgent need of liquidity that can be provided through PM Kisan Yojna by increasing the amount by 4 times. Jan Dhan Yojna accounts holder estimated to be about 38 Crore can be transferred INR 1000 per month. KCC limit can be doubled for existing farmers.

4.Khalid Hussain: The cascading of the information hasn't happened in the lower layers of the bureaucracy. Currently, the mandis are closed and harvesting has been stalled. There is need to open mandi in phase manner and allowing private player to purchase directly from farmers with price control as the farmers are exposed to vagaries of the weather. The warehouse and processing units has to be declared as market yards to disperse farmers at multiple points . The financial support will be required for private players working in the loose grain supply chain and logistics. Concor has done a wonderful job by giving subsidy on empty container. For agri-processing, UP Power Corporation has given waiver for few months to food processing industries. To safe guard fruits and vegetables, the import duty has to be increased on fruits and vegetables concentrates. Government has to intervene on the export sector and port functioning to build trust with exporting partners.

5.Sachin Sharma: Procurement of food grain is very important especially APMC acts should be make liberal for the private players. This will avoid crowd gathering at Mandi. There is need to give confidence to labours so that smooth migration becomes easier for them. Green corridors has to created for the movement of milk tankers, truck and food containers. Railway can help through multi point loading and reducing freight charges. Need to re-look RODTEP scheme. Processing of F&V has to be encouraged due to perishable nature of products and power sops can boost the industry.

6.Aleen Mukherjee- Digital transaction has to be increase on FPO level. The storage part has become an issue as silos/jutes bags aren't available on the farm gate level. NCDEX is working on solutions especially through two ecosystems: NERL and NEML spot market. Electronic warehouse receipt can be issued as generating finance can becomes easy. This will ease cash flow on FPOs. MSP procurement can be done through electronic ware house level that is already working with strict quality norms. The third aspect is about uncertainty around futures bench-marking. Percolation of the government instruction on transportation of essential commodities has become essential. FPO as sourcing points will ease on cash flow issue for farmers.

7. Aneesh Kumar: There is a pending payment for NREGS that will create liquidity in the rural areas. Extending the insurance coverage can ease the situation for the farmers. Creation of support cell in Agriculture Department in each state maybe helpful. Major consumption centers like Delhi will not be fully opened for the business. The new economic challenge is returning migrant in the rural areas. Basic Income transfer to mitigate the risk is an urgent step that can be taken.

8.Rahul Gupta: Avanti Finance is involved in both Balance sheet lending and off balance sheet lending. Financing is critical hence moving on the paperless and cashless digital platform becomes more important. Relevant will be government intervention to PSBs for priority sector lending. This can be passed to the end use either farmer or FPO to fight liquidity squeeze.