Billing for your organic store in Manipur
Black rice from the sack, gift packs from the shelf, and the farmers who still wait for their money: all on one phone.
From the farmers' lot at the door to the gift pack at the counter
A whole sack for the sweet-maker, at the sack's own rate
A woman who makes chakhao sweets at home buys a whole sack. Make the sack its own item with its own rate, apart from the kilo item. Her page shows what she has taken across the weeks of the feast.
Pay the consortium lot by lot, in the parts you agreed
When the consortium's coordinator brings a lot, note its weight and put it into your stock. Pay half when it is weighed and the rest when the lot has sold, and write both on one page under the consortium's name. When he comes again, you open the page and both of you read the same totals. The consortium's coordinator is a busy man, and a page he can read in a minute is worth more than a conversation.
Chahao asked for by its new name, and written on the bill by that name
A customer who has seen the name Chahao outside the state asks for it at the counter. Name the item Chahao, black rice, and keep it apart from the plain red rice, so the bill carries the name she asked for and what she tells her family outside the state is on paper.
Why a black-rice sack empties in kilos and refills in packs
One scoop, two baskets, and everything written down as rice
The same scoop dips into the black rice and the red rice, and the baskets stand side by side. By evening the notebook says only rice, and you cannot tell how much of it was black. The scoop for the black rice is a small steel cup, and a customer who asks for a few cups is billed for a weight no one measured.
The farmers who supply you have had nowhere else to go
At the launch of Chahao in Imphal, a coordinator of a Manipur farmers' consortium said that for the last two years farmers had struggled to find buyers for their organic products. When they bring you a lot, they want to know how much you took and when they will be paid. If you pay in parts and the notes are scattered, you add to the worry you meant to relieve.
"Is this really chemical-free?" at the counter
A customer weighs a bag of greens or rice in her hand and asks where it came from. You know the answer on the day the lot arrives. A month later you know less, because the supplier's name and the date were on a slip that is now under a pile. You do not want to guess when a family is buying food for its children.
Tools for a store that sells Chakhao by weight and by the pack
Low stock warnings
The sealed Chakhao packs running low before a feast week, shown before the last one is sold.
Orders to suppliers
A lot from the farmers' consortium noted at the door with its weight and its day, so the answer to 'where was this grown?' sits in your own record.
Daily reports
The weeks of each consortium lot read side by side: which lot of black rice sold first, and which waited.
Hill oranges, terrace paddy and the farms that stock an organic shelf
An organic shelf is only as good as the farms behind it. Here is what three districts of Manipur grow.
- Bishnupur's district headquarters is popular for hill-grown oranges, yongchak (tree-bean) and vegetables.
- In Senapati, farmers grow paddy, maize, cabbage and potato on terraces, and 80% of the area is forest.
- In Ukhrul, 64.6% of main workers are cultivators (2011 Census).
- Imphal East has 45,346 business establishments, of which 14,061 do handicrafts or handloom work (Economic Census 2013).
Farmers' market stalls and an online shop in one set of books
Questions organic stores in Manipur ask
A customer asks if my black rice is organic. What can my shop show her?
It can show what you noted when the lot came in: the supplier and the day. Read both out to her from the lot's page, and say the day the black rice came.
Chakhao comes in sealed packs and I also sell it loose. Can one list hold both?
Yes. The sealed pack is sold by the piece and the loose rice by the cup, so the customer who wants a gift takes the pack and the one who wants a taste takes a cup. Both go on the same bill when a family wants both.
A sweet-maker wants a whole sack of the black rice at once. How do I bill it?
A sweet-maker's sack is for his kitchen, and he wants one bill with the whole weight on it to show in his own accounts. Put the sack's weight on the bill as one line, and the count of black rice comes down by that weight.
Chahao and the organic mission in Manipur
The Manipur Organic Mission Agency aims to turn the maximum farming area in the state into chemical-free organic zones by 2025 and trains farmers in organic farming. The farmers on that programme are the people who will bring lots to your door.
Manipur's scented black rice, locally called Chakhao or Chahao, was formally launched in Imphal under the brand name Chahao for national and global markets. A customer who has seen the name outside the state may now ask for it by that name in your shop.