Billing for your organic store in Assam
Honey by the jar, bhut jolokia by the gram and a pack with the grower's group on it, billed on one phone.
From the bhut jolokia pinch to the honey jar and the week the road is shut
The pinch of bhut jolokia counts for what it sold
A pinch of bhut jolokia weighs almost nothing, so it is easy to think it does not sell. The report keeps its grams on a line of its own, beside the lemons by the piece, so when the grower asks what sold you answer from the list, and the pinch that looks like nothing is counted for what it is.
The honey jar named after the group that filled it
On Sunday a helper stands at the counter who never saw the lot come in. The group's name is on the bill, and he reads it out, so a customer is told whose honey she is taking. When the next lot of the other group is on the shelf, the helper reads the right name for that one too.
The shop page that stays open in the flood weeks
When the monsoon water cuts the low roads, share your own online shop page with the regular families. They choose joha rice, black rice or honey from it and send the order; you pack it, and they collect it when the water goes down. What you promised is on the page and in the order, not in a phone message.
Tools for a shop that gathers honey, chilli and lemons from growers
Bills on your phone
One bill for ten grams of chilli, four lemons and a jar of bamboo shoot, each in its own unit.
Low stock warnings
Honey, a group's jaggery and the dry goods shown as running low before the week the road may be shut.
Orders to suppliers
The next order to a grower group for its honey, sent from the phone, and a note of what came when the bag arrived.
Bhut jolokia by the gram, kaji nemu by the piece, bamboo shoot by the jar
Hot chilli by the gram, lemon by the piece, bamboo shoot by the jar
The shelf of an Assam organic store holds a pinch of bhut jolokia that weighs almost nothing, kaji nemu that go by the piece, and fermented bamboo shoot that goes by the jar. A customer wants ten grams of one and four of another. You weigh, you count, you add it up in your head, and the notebook line says only organic goods, which is no help when a grower asks what sold.
The grower group's bag has a name, and the shelf has only a word
A group of growers brings its lot in a bag with the group's name on it. You pour it into a jar, and the jar says organic. A customer asks which group's honey this is, and you remember, because you were there when it came, but the girl who helps you on Sunday does not. By the next lot the two groups' bags are poured into one jar.
A good month for the orders, then a week when no one can come
When the water is high the road to the shop is closed for some families and open for others. The ones who can get through buy for two weeks at once, and the ones who cannot send a message asking if you still have honey. You answer each from memory and often get a number wrong, which a customer who is trying a new thing does not forgive.
Jute fields, tea plains and a river port: where Assam's organic growers sell
Assam's organic growers sell into the markets of the districts around them. A few of those districts, and what keeps them busy.
- Nagaon is one of Assam's main jute-producing districts, and the Assam Co-operative Jute Mills, the country's only co-operative jute mill, is at Silghat in Nagaon.
- Cachar is known for its tea plantations; paddy, vegetables, pulses and tea are grown on the plains along the Barak river.
- Under the British, Tezpur became an important centre of trade and commerce, used as a river port for the surrounding tea gardens.
The Farm's market stalls and online shop, counted on one phone
What Assam organic stores ask about gram weights, group honey and the growers' report
Lemons come in a sack and I sell them by the piece. How do I know by evening how many are left?
Put the sack in as so many pieces. Each bill takes its pieces off, and in the evening the stock shows the lemons left, so you know what to keep for tomorrow.
At season's end a group asks which jars sold best. How do I tell it?
Open the sales of the group's honey day by day through the season. The days with most jars show what customers took, and you can read it to the group.
The road is cut and the growers' group cannot deliver joha rice. What do I tell the families?
Tell them what the stock of joha rice shows today, in kilos, and no more. The families who asked for it can be put on a page in their name, so when the road opens and the rice is weighed in, you know whom to tell.
Ten clusters in Assam, and the jar of honey at the end of the chain
Assam formed ten organic clusters under the central MOVCD scheme, in Chirang, Cachar, Dhemaji, Majuli, Golaghat, Kamrup, Sonitpur, Kokrajhar and Nalbari, each targeting 500 hectares. A customer in one of those districts may ask whether the honey or the lemons on your shelf come from a cluster.
The MOVCD scheme aims at certified organic production, taken through aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building to the consumer. For this shop that means the honey and the lemons of the clusters named above reach the shelf packed by a group, and the shop's part is to keep that group's name on the jar.