Billing for your fruit and vegetable shop in Nagaland
Greens by the bundle, fruit by the kilo and a family's udhaar, all on one bill on your phone.
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A glut of pineapples, greens that wilt by noon and a morning lot that costs more than it looks
The Murgipatti lot and the village woman's basket sit in one heap
Some of your vegetables come from the wholesale market at Murgipatti in Dimapur, and some from the village women who bring baskets to your door. The market prices the lot and the woman prices her basket. Both sit in the same heap on the shelf, and you cannot tell later which one earned and which only paid its way.
The pineapple glut that pulls the rate down through the week
When pineapples and tree tomatoes are in season, a lot of the fruit arrives together, and the rate falls through the week as more of it comes. A woman who bought on Monday sees a lower rate on Thursday and stands at the cart asking why. Each day goes out at a different rate, and you are never sure which one to say first.
Bamboo shoot in season, and a heap that shrinks by the hour
In the bamboo-shoot weeks the shoots come in fresh each morning and lose water by the hour. A heap that was fair at seven looks thin at noon, and a customer who saw the morning heap thinks she is being cheated. Leafy greens and herbs go the same way.
Tools for a counter that sells in bundles, heaps and kilos
Bills on your phone
A bill for the eating house with the king chillies, the kiwi and the jungle greens it takes each week, kept on its page.
Orders to suppliers
The order to a wholesaler or to the village women who bring greens, with a note of what really came.
Daily reports
Each day of the pineapple season and of the tree tomato harvest on its own line with the week's fall in rate beside it, so you see how far the rate dropped before the glut ended.
Credit book (khata)
A page for the eating house that takes king chillies and bamboo shoot every week and settles at the month's end.
Your own online shop
A page of this week's kiwi and oranges, sent to families in town the evening the truck comes in from the villages.
From the second lot of the week to the last bundle of greens
Hill kiwi kept apart from the fruit that comes up from the plains
Kiwi from the hill farms and the apples that come up from the plains sell at different rates to different customers. Keep each as its own item, and at the month's end the report shows how much hill fruit you sold beside the plains fruit.
Orange crates sent to relatives, each with its bill
In the orange months families buy by the crate to send to relatives in other towns. The bill for each crate goes to the buyer's WhatsApp, so the relative at the other end knows what it cost and what was paid.
Bamboo shoot that turns by evening
Fresh bamboo shoot does not keep. At closing the count shows how many baskets should be left; if there are fewer, some went bad or were given away, and tomorrow you take one basket less from the village women.
Fruit, vegetables and the wholesale town: what Nagaland counters hear about
Three places a Nagaland vegetable counter hears about from its customers.
- Dimapur is where the state's main commercial activity is centred, and its only railhead and airport are there.
- Wokha is famous for oranges, passion fruit, plums and bananas, and sells organic vegetables in its local market all year.
- Phek grows tree tomato, persimmon and cabbage, with kiwi as its One District One Product.
A farmers' group whose market stalls and online shop share one list
Questions Nagaland fruit and vegetable shops ask
Pineapples come in two seasons, July to September and the autumn. What do I do with the fruit I cannot sell?
Keep the pineapple as an item with its count. At closing the count shows how many are unsold. Most of the farm's fruit goes on to Assam through middlemen at the farm gate, so a shop that buys late buys what is left, and the count tells you before you buy more.
Can I keep king chilli apart from the ordinary green chilli?
Yes. Make each its own item with its own rate. The king chilli's row shows how much of it sold, and it never mixes with the cheaper chilli in the count.
Can I see how many kilos of kiwi went to the hotels and how many to families?
Yes. Each hotel has a page, so its kilos are on it; what is left in the day's sales went to the families at the counter.
A school hostel wants a crate of oranges for its Christmas party. Can the bill go to the warden?
Yes. Make the bill under the hostel's name and send it to the warden's phone. The payment goes on the hostel's page when it comes.
Murgipatti, Muolvom pineapples and the tree tomato: the fruit and vegetable trade of Nagaland
Dimapur's vegetable and fruit wholesale market is at Murgipatti. In July 2020 the Deputy Commissioner said it had moved back there from the Super Market area.
Muolvom pineapples, grown about 30 km from Dimapur, have two seasons, July to September and autumn. Middlemen collect at the farm gate and most of the fruit goes on to Assam.
Naga tree tomato got its GI tag on 23 March 2015 and is grown mainly in the high-altitude districts of Kohima, Phek, Wokha and Zunheboto.