Three months ago, about a hundred farmers from across the State — and some based as far as Maharashtra — had gathered on a plot of land in Nungambakkam, produce in tow. From beetroot leaves to bok choy, most of their offerings had been sold out in the first two hours of what was supposed to be a day-long santhai .
While that last farmers’ market might still be pegged as a commercial success, this time around, organiser SunnyBee is making it a point not to underestimate the appetite of Chennai. Sanjay Dasari, co-founder of the retail and supply chain, explains, “We have a little more variety, and a larger base. We’re holding it at Phoenix MarketCity this time, and hence have double the space. We had 5,000 customers through the day last time; assuming each of them had come in with at least one companion, our total footfall had been 10,000. The new venue can hold 20,000 people.”
The space isn’t the only change. The santhai — whose proceeds go entirely into the farmers’ pockets — has widened its reach, and sent out invites to 200 farmers to visit Chennai and sell their produce directly at the fag end of the supply chain. Among the new participants, so to speak, will be farmers from “Gujarat, who will be bringing in their stock of potatoes and drumsticks. Farmers from Pune, who had sent us their crop for the previous santhai but were unable to travel themselves, will be coming in this time. They’ll be able to interact with their end customers one-on-one,” gushes Dasari.
This interaction between their customers and their supplier-farmers is the raison d’etre for SunnyBee’s santhai . That the final consumers of agricultural produce should get to know, understand and bond with the people growing their food, is the crux of this initiative. The market plan has been redesigned to facilitate this, through lessons learnt from the maiden event in January.
“It was all too cluttered last time; the interaction between the farmers and customers was mainly transactional. This time, the focus will be on relationship building. The farmers should have the time and space to have conversations, so we’ll have more hands on deck. The stalls and produce will also be arranged in such a way that the farmer isn’t flustered about sales the whole time,” says Dasari.
The change in layout will also put seasonal produce centre-stage, he informs, “We will have one large tent dedicated entirely to different varieties of mango, and another dedicated to all kinds of melons,” in addition to the regular spread of broccoli from Ooty, apples from Kashmir, oranges from Nagpur and everything in between.
Most of these changes — like tripling the billing the counters and turning the market into a quarterly event — are based on customer feedback, says Dasari. The farmers, he says, had only one request, “They wanted the market to be spread over two days, so they could some time actually be in Chennai. So we’ll also be giving them a tour of the city. We’re readying a list of sites to visit: the final choice will be theirs.”
SunnyBee Santhai will be held on April 21 and 22 at Phoenix MarketCity, Velachery. It is open to all.
