‘Bhalo’ bridges gap for small cattle farmers
Two years ago, Obaidul Huq quit his teaching job at a private school in Dhaka out of frustration and decided to go back to his village home in Kurigram's Buribari union.
At home, the 33-year-old started raising bulls, but making a decent living by rearing a few bulls turned out to be difficult. Even though he tried his best, the cattle did not grow up as expected, and thus failed to fetch expected prices.
This problem extends beyond Obaidul and is faced by thousands of cattle farmers.
A key reason behind is that farmers cannot use high-quality farm inputs like seeds, fertilisers, and essential chemicals due to their unavailability, lack of know-how, and proper guidance.
Obaidul was no exception. After rearing the bulls for nearly a year, he only made a profit of around Tk 12,000 by selling one of them, which was not enough considering his investment and a year's hard work.
This was when he came to know about "bhalo", a social enterprise that offers curated high-quality farm inputs, reliable advisory and services, and low-cost credit and insurance facility for various farming needs, like dairy farming and bull fattening.
After he contacted them, bhalo took responsibility of two of his unsold bulls and got them ready for the market in just four months. bhalo gave the bulls high-quality nutrition products and ready-feed, and provided Obaidul with consultations, all at the cost of Tk 16,000.
"I was hesitant to avail the package initially, thinking whether the products will be harmful to my bulls. But after getting a positive signal from the local veterinary doctors, I took up the challenge in January," said Obaidul.
Last month, he sold one of the bulls and got a profit of Tk 38,000 after all expenses.
"I'm planning to sell the rest ahead of Eid-ul-Azha. I've already been asked Tk 70,000 for it," he said, adding that he will avail the package for three more cows.
BRIDGING THE GAP
'bhalo' CEO and founder Subrata Kumar said they intend to improve the earnings of smallholder farmers, connecting them to high-quality agro-inputs and services.
Starting in April 2019, the organisation covers 15 unions across three upazilas of Kurigram, one of the poorest districts -- Kurigram Sadar, Ulipur and Chilmari. It has served more than 1,500 farmers and reported a 50 percent increase in their income.
Subrata said over 80 percent of 16.5 million farmers in Bangladesh are smallholders who possess half a hectare of land and two to three cattle on an average.
"These small-holder farmers lack access to high-quality agro-inputs in their neighbourhood, credit facility for buying these inputs, and reliable advisory services to reap more benefits," he pointed out.
This is why when a farmer buys inputs from nearby shops, they cannot get the best value for money due to lack of product awareness, said Subrata, who used to work in the development sector before becoming a social entrepreneur.
"In terms of credit, microfinance offers loans but asks for weekly repayment, which does not match small cattle farmers' production cycle. Even after getting the required money, they lack the knowledge to make the best use of the credit to yield a good return," he explained.
As far as big companies of these products are concerned, they face challenges to reach these small farmers because of the higher cost involved in the sales, distribution, and promotion of their products, he said.
"This is the gap bhalo wants to bridge," Subrata said.
BHALO SERVICES
bhalo's services come in different bundle packages. The bundles comprise of high-quality agro-inputs curated for various farming needs, necessary credit facilities with a flexible payment plan, farming advisories to use the inputs, and additional farming services.
If someone wants to buy a four-month-long bull fattening package at Tk 11,260, it will include a nutrition package at Tk 1,100, ready feed at Tk 4,160, wheat bran at Tk 5,000, and a service charge of Tk 250 per month.
This apart, the farmer will get a full-cycle farming advisory and required consultation or treatment if needed and a micro health insurance for the farmer or their spouse.
bhalo has already connected high-quality farm input suppliers for livestock and financial service providers and farmers using a network of just six sales agents and two logistics hubs.
The sales agents, known as "Bhai-jaan" (brothers) to farmers, visit the villages to promote, sell, advise and manage transactions with farmers while the logistics hubs process and complete the orders.
"Since our journey began, our partner input suppliers have witnessed 5 times growth in farm inputs sales where bhalo operates. We've generated around Tk 1.9 crore revenue and 17 percent gross margin with excellent credit recovery," said Subrata.
"Our sales agents have earned an average monthly income of Tk 16,200."
END GOALS
bhalo aspires to expand its activities for 8,000 farmers of 40 unions of five upazilas of two districts within the next year.
"By 2027, we want to cover almost half of the country and eight lakh smallholder farmers with our products and services to help the farmers," said Subrata.
Sabina Begum of Buraburi union is one such beneficiary farmer.
The 40-year-old took a package for two of her dairy cows. Now she is earning two times more profit than before by selling milk. She is preparing to take the fattening package for two other bulls.
"Apart from the profit, I can save around Tk 2,000 per week," she said.
Dr Md Tunvick Zahan, a veterinary surgeon of Ulipur upazila in Kurigram, said if this initiative is expanded, farmers will be greatly benefitted.
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