Farmer turns middleman

30/03/2010

It is one of the riskiest businesses to be involved in, yet there are those who are willing to take those risks in their stride and are making good returns out of the business.

One of them is 1992 Sugarcane Farmer of the Year Mr Kamlesh Prasad, formerly of Sigatoka but now residing in Navakai in Nadi. The business of dealing with fragile agricultural produce with its seasonality, short shelf life, bulkiness, quality and supply related problems can test the resolve of a saint, yet Mr Prasad is relishing the challenge.
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Mr Kamlesh Prasad (2nd from right) speaks to Principal Economic officer Mr Abdul Imtiaz of the Ministry of Finance. 
(Credit - Ministry of Primary Industries)

He took up the challenge with eyes wide open because he had been there before and he knew the risks involved. Forty-year-old Mr Prasad was a farmer, who understood the frustrations that farmers go through to sell the fruits of their hard work to earn a decent living off the land. In fact, one of the main reasons he became a middleman was his inability to sell pawpaws that were rejected because they did not meet the required quality standards.

“That was when I decided to do my own marketing and I just slowly built on my success over the years to be where I am today.”

Mr Prasad was born in a farming community in Sigatoka and after leaving school at form six he started sugarcane farming on his family farm in Nadi. He soon became a full time sugarcane farmer and also had a machinery business whereby he was hiring out machines to cane farmers. His hard work as a cane farmer was recognised when he won the Best Farmer of the Year Award in 1992.

After the 1987 coup, Mr Prasad fell into hard times and had to sell some of his machines to pay his loan.

“It was really difficult to run the machinery business so with the advantage of my childhood experience in farming and being a son of a very dedicated farmer, I ventured into pawpaw farming,” said Mr Prasad.

“I grew pawpaws for the export market and I became very frustrated because there were too many rejects which resulted in wastage of the fruit and high labour cost, and that was when I decided to do my own marketing,” Mr Prasad said.

“I had a small van and through hard work and dedication, I was able to convince some hotels like Sofitel to buy the fruits.”

The positive response from the hotels prompted him into action and he started identifying and convincing some good farmers with the help of the Ministry of Agriculture in Sigatoka and Nadi areas to grow crops exclusively for him.

“That was the time that I got the idea of being a middleman. Instead of marketing my own crops, I was going to act as the middleman to buy produce from the farmers and sell them off to the hotels and local markets.”

“I started working with farmers that I had identified to supply produce to these markets on what to grow, the quality requirements, the need for consistency in supply and also supplied them the estimated price of buying the produce when they are harvested,” he said.

“Hotels are very demanding when it comes to consistency in supply and meeting their quality requirements and these had to be stressed to the farmers.”

Mr Prasad operates from his home in Navakai where he has set up coolers and a small packing shed where produce are graded, packed and stored before they are taken to hotels. For the last six years, Sofitel Fiji Resort and Spa was the main buyer of Mr Prasad’s produce.

He now supplies fruits and vegetables to other hotels such as Sheraton Denarau, Radisson Resort, Turtle Island and Malolo Island Resort. Apart from the resorts, he also supplies produce to the top chef training institutes in the western division, namely the Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji (TPAF) and Australia Pacific Technical College (APTC).

“I always take time to also discuss with the chefs of resorts the produce that is in demand in their hotels to get an idea of the hotel requirements and pass this information on to my farmers to grow,” he said.

Mr Prasad is also looking for reliable and consistent suppliers of fruits and vegetables to meet the market demand.

“I know the difficulties that farmers go through to sell their crops after the hard work that they put in to produce them or the difficulty of trying to transport their produce to the markets and those are some of the problems I aim to solve in my business.”
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Mr Kamlesh Prasad directing work from his home in Navakai, Nadi.

Mr Prasad buys produce directly from the farmers and transports the produce to his home in Navakai. He hires labourers to assist in grading and packing of the produce before they are taken to the hotels. Recently he bought a cooler truck to maintain the quality of produce from the farm to the hotels.

Mr Prasad said he was willing to buy produce from farmers around the country, provided they meet the quality requirements of the hotels. With the increase in demand of produce and the changes in the weather pattern Mr Prasad could not rely on one district alone to supply him with fruits and vegetables so he moved to the Tavua area.

Last year Mr Prasad met Agricultural Extension Officer Vinay Anand Swamy at the Tavua Agriculture Office and came to know that the farmers in Tavua and Nadarivatu had difficulties in finding markets for their produce.

“With help of Vinay we met the farmers of Tavua district and started a pilot project for  crops such as capsicum, tomatoes, carrots and zucchini and people of that area were happy with the move,” he said.

“These four crops were chosen in line with the Agriculture Ministry’s plan on the import substitution programme,” Mr Prasad added.

“At the same time with the help of Vinay we approached the farmers in Nadarivatu and requested them to grow offseason crops to target the tourism market.” 

“Nadarivatu is the best area to grow these crops because of the suitable climate and the high quality of the crops that the area produces.”

A meeting was held in 2009 with Nadarivatu farmers and the officials from the Agriculture Department where it was resolved that farmers will supply their produce to the Navakai middleman. Mr Prasad then advised the farmers to grow capsicum, zucchini, carrots and lettuce and he also gave an estimate buying price at the farm gate to the Nadarivatu farmers.

Being a very good farmer, Mr Prasad always takes time to talk to the farmers and identify problems and advice them on how to get good quality produce.

“I am very grateful to the staff at the Tavua office, who always go out of their way to help me and the farmers to keep this marketing link open and viable to both parties.”

At the moment Mr Prasad buys $7000 to $7,500 worth of crops from the Nadarivatu area each week. While some farmers are paid at their farm gates, most are paid through the Tavua Agriculture Office as Mr Prasad is not keen on carrying large sums of money on his buying trips.

“To improve the quality of produce I have plans to organise training for farmers of Nadarivatu with the help of the Agriculture Ministry,” he said.

“We plan to include the chefs of the top resorts in Fiji to participate in the training to advise the farmers on the quality of crops required by the resorts.”

Mr Prasad is urging farmers, who are interested to supply farm produce to him, to call him on his phone 9951302 or 6700625 or fax on 6703460.

“Farmers who wish to supply their produce should call me before they start planting so that I can recommend to them what to plant and how much to plant depending on the demand,” Mr Prasad advised.