Will this experiment bear fruit? In south Bengaluru, an agri-supply chain start-up Humus is piloting a ‘fair price’ supermarket for fruits and vegetables (F&Vs) with the idea of expanding it into a chain.
Selling fresh produce sourced directly from growers, Humus not only aims to help farmers get better realisation but wants to see that consumers get F&Vs at a fair price.
“F&Vs typically change four to five hands in the supply chain. We plan to reduce it to one or two, so that both the farmer and the consumer gains,” says Manjunatha TN, promoter and Managing Director of Humus, who comes from an agricultural-family in Kolar, a major vegetable-producing region in the South.
“We want to replicate the Amul model in the F&V segment but in the private set-up,” says Manjunath, a serial entrepreneur who had earlier started a bike rental business Royal Brothers.
Keeping costs low
Of course, there are others such as Ninjacart and WayCool Foods trying to disrupt the challenging F&V space. But Humus is trying to sew up the whole chain.
The acid test is keeping costs low. On the retail side, Humus hopes to do that by building super markets in vacant plots in the city in partnership with land owners. On the sourcing side, it has set up three collection centres in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh and has a base of around 200 farmers. Currently handling a daily volume of 3 tonnes, it plans to add six more centres in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over the next six months as it expands to at least five more outlets in Bengaluru. It has raised seed funding of ₹1.7 crore from Venture Catalyst for the expansion.
The opening of collection centres in the interior regions has helped farmers like Adarsha Reddy BM at Dyavarahalli, near the Andhra Pradesh border, who grow English cucumbers. “Earlier I used to travel about 25 km to supply. Now I just have to go 6 km,” says Reddy who is also happy that payment made is within 48 hours as promised.
Interestingly, the business model of Humus has caught the attention of the Bengaluru International Airport. “The Bengaluru Airport authorities want us to set up a fair price shop in their premises to cater to about their 18,000 employees and also to the passengers and we are keen that it materialises soon,” says Manjunatha.