Resource detail

Title: The Apple Project
Organization:Shri Jagdamba Samiti, India
Year:2014

Apple Project creates a profitable partnership between investors and farmer groups, by setting up joint agro-processing enterprises, based on solid feasibility studies and business plans. The project has been implemented in 108 villages of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh through 6 collection centers, using web and mobile technologies.

Started in 2007, the project is based on apple farming. The farmers included in this project are small and marginal. The deliverable starts from the beginning of apple cultivation till the col-lection of ripened apples. The project helps in: technical inputs on apple farming; apple orchards maintenance; weather forecasting through SMS; information on current market rates; purchasing their products based on market price; giving shares for their contributions. This farmer-run joint venture enters into a loan agreement with (social) investors and becomes responsible for setting-up and running the business in a commercially responsible manner.

The Apple Project

Business Model: The ‘collective’ feature of the business model is promoted to save individual time, distribute risk, maintain price assurance, pursue damage control and save on handling costs such as storage and transportation. Shri Jagdamba Samiti and Fresh Food Technology (FFT) identify farmer trusts and limited companies as institutional forms of collectives which can be placed at the two ends of a continuum can be located in between.

The advent of ICT with apple project has change the scenario of cultivation and the livelihood of these unreachable villages, as it plays an important role by giving solution to the challenges faced by the farmers as well as the organization and also accelerates earnings.


Outcome/Benefits: The Apple Project has established link between Apple Producers, Village Centers, Collection Centers and Head Office through ICT. The project has facilitated information sharing on issues related to planning, premium distribution and ownership transfer to farmers. The achievements of the Apple Project include agricultural information transfer and sharing, mobilization of investments, market chain development for quality and assured buyers, and recognition and reputation from government, buyers, media (TV, print media) banks and financial institutes.

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