Self Help Group-backed agro-enterprises in Chhattisgarh: A case of marketing opportunities

A Self- Help Group (SHG) is a financial intermediary committee usually composed of 10 to 20 local women between 18 to 40 years usually engaged in producing agro and allied food products. For such input-intensive products, the contribution of variable cost dominates in the price setting of final products to the tune of 60 to 75%. With such variable cost loading on final products, these SHGs were able to make a decent return of 1.5 to 1.6 times over the initial cost. Principle constraints faced by the SHGs in their marketing endeavour were lack of modern machinery, proper storage structure, marketing skill, company tie-up and competition with branded companies. Findings suggest intended use of mobile platforms for buyers and sellers, improved packaging and grading standards to make products attractive, tie-ups with local super markets/e-commerce space to increase shelf presence. Setting up a self-service kiosk in porch colonies will not only enhance the sales of products but will also educate the buyers about the health benefits of such low processed locally sourced products.