Where is Krishi Janani After 4 Months?

Krishi Janani’s on-the-ground efforts launched in June with two ag tech centers, one in Erode district and another in Tiruppur district. So, where are these two centers (and in effect Krishi Janani’s member network) after four months?

Here are some cool numbers and charts from Krishi Janani’s membership database as of Sep 30, 2016.

Member Profile

Profile of Krishi Janani’s Farmer Members

Krishi Janani is made up of 678 farmer-members with nearly 2,500 family members. Our farmer-members control a total of 4,717 acres. They own 1761 cows, 2081 goats, & 7096 chicken.

This is a much, much better takeoff than anticipated. Krishi Janani is averaging about 200 new member registrations (100 per center) per month. This is a milestone that we were hoping to reach at the end of year one! <patting ourselves in the back :-D>

Farm Profile

Farm Profile: Predominantly Small Farmers, Minuscule Organic

Farm profiles reveal some good news and some not-so-good news:

• 59% of our members are small farmers, controlling (owning and/or leasing) up to 5 acres. 36.7% are medium farmers controlling between 5–20 acres.
• This is really good news for us since Krishi Janani’s mission is to build a better ag value chain for small and medium farmers.
• On the organic side, it is sad to note that only 1.5% of farmers self-identify as “fully organic.” A whopping 90% are conventional farmers.
• We have always had questions about the sudden spurt in the availability of organic produce since there seems to be no corresponding rise in the number of organic farmers. Granted this is a small sample size. However, our concerns about mislabeling in the organic sector seem valid. Buyers, beware!

Membership Type & Gender Breakdown

Breaking down our membership by type & gender

Breaking down our database by membership type and gender:

• 91% of our members have signed up for basic membership while 9% have upgraded to premium membership.
• We expect an increase in premium membership as the number of products and deals grow.
• Krishi Janani members’ gender breakdown currently stands at 91% male vs 9% female.
• We are currently exploring ways to increase the number of women farmers in the network. So, expect more reports on this topic in the future.