AJITH SREEDHARA

• Evaluated new and current vendors to determine suitability of products and pricing negotiations.
• Set up the National Procurement Team(NPT) for fruit sourcing ensuring consistency in supply and product quality
• Worked on sourcing differentiated products compared to what is available in current market.
• Able to source 24 varieties of mangoes in the single season (widest variety of mangoes available in eCom platform)
• Introduced 7 varieties of Indian apples and ensured consistent supply throughout the season.
• Did Highest ever strawberry procurement of 6 lakh punnets generating a revenue of 3.7 Cr in a single season
• As a Product expert, contributed in building content for educating customers for differentiation of products

https://youtu.be/kly5QlKEJZk

https://youtu.be/RaWQji_uYL0

https://youtu.be/Q7_bwB_ERn8

https://youtu.be/OHXv10A8y2Q

· Working with management and technology partners to develop world class quality and handling processes for agriculture procurement, delivery and packaging at a large scale

· Oversee and manage agriculture sourcing teams to meet quality and procurement goals

· Coordinate with supply chain team to ensure seamless information flow and timely interventions where required

· Work with software development teams to provide information to incorporate the company’s processes and product information into software business platform

· Focus on the business of agricultural facilities including planning crops to maximise profit and minimise losses, creating budgets, optimally using resources deployed at the farms, hiring and overseeing production, farm maintenance, packaging etc.

· Develop & Oversee a team to develop sources for high quality produce across the country

· Overseeing the daily operations of commercial agricultural operations across the large farms owned by the company and look over and provide management assistance to the farming operations

· To provide leadership and management to the entire farm operations staff deployed at multiple farm and sourcing locations

· To assist management in long term planning and development of annual business plan and budget as well as plan for any crisis response and contingency

· Design Package of Practices (POP) for Various Crops

· Co-ordinate with Technology Partners in order to provide end to end traceability of produce to our customers

· Manage Collection Center Buyers to meet procurement goals

· To Design and Develop SOP for Farmer Procurement Module

· Crop Planning with Grower Partners as per the Requirement

· Co-ordinate Procurement of National Sourcing Products

· Set up end to end facility for backend supply chain including identification of sourcing cluster, development of farmer base, starting of collection centers, collection center operations, quality and Logistics management

· Identifying, onboarding and contracting with farmers to procure traceable produce with minimum chemicals.

· Procurement of all range of fruits and vegetables ranging from hard veggies, soft veggies, greens, exotics, imported fruits

· Provide technical support to farmers on modern agricultural technologies

· Develop Crop calendar

· Farmer Training

· Drive competitive pricing, quality for farm produce

· Commercial ownership and sourcing accountabilities of all citrus fruits. Responsible for delivery of price, volume & profitability targets of raw materials (Sweet Lime, Mandarins, Kinnow, Lime & Lemon) from all sourcing locations.

· Understand price & Cost structure and their associated drivers. Optimize total cost of ownership through leveraging internal and external drivers.

· Lead negotiations with suppliers for assigned commodities and evaluate supplier offers based on balanced evaluation criteria i.e cost, quality, service, innovation and sustainability

· Responsible for developing price standards for assigned components. Accountable on same components for forecasting and analyzing the purchase price variance, year over year and performance versus market/competition.

· Responsible for Purchase of Lab Chemicals/Ingredients/Equipment for Field Lab

· Develop strong Agri-Extension program by developing linkages with Agri-input manufacturers, University & Govt. Horticulture Department.

· Design farmer training, field demonstration and other technical interventions to improve yield.

· Deliver >5% increase in yield as a result of direct farm program.

· Implementation of Global GAP program

· Ensure traceability and food safety-Global GAP Compliance

· Deliver EDLP in citrus fruits

· Drive sustainable agriculture in India

· Implementation of Technical and Agri-Extension projects-Setting up farmer training centers, supporting farmers techno commercially to set up HDP (High Density Planting), Nursery Projects etc.

· Formation of Farmer Self Help Groups (SHG’S). To secure loans & Subsidies to farmer groups.

· Champion sustainable agriculture in India. Ensure stewardship in all direct farm clusters. Ensure Sustainability in each area of farming, supply chain & sourcing.

· Meeting budgeted targets on cost savings

· Undertake continues improvement activities on all aspects of systems, people, process and ethical management of system.

· To direct, reporting associates of procurement division to drive best agronomical practices, agriculture extension, commercial procurement, price discovery, supplier/vendor management, supply chain management, quality management & mechanization.

· Ensure the integrity of the Fruit Procurement, Commodity price tracking & facilitate buying decision

· Monitor availability forecast & price forecast of raw material on weekly & monthly basis

· Negotiating best prices with vendors & transporters

· Presenting Procurement recommendations to the management, developing strategic business relationships with the Suppliers

· Conduct Farmer Training Programs to sensitize and train the farmers on plant protection, INM and postharvest technology.

· Establish Agri-Labs at Potential clusters to analyze the fruit samples for Brix, acidity and BAR.

· Increase the area under Oilseed crops around plant location.

· To Drive procurement through extension-provide seed to seed assistance-Linking agro input companies-for inputs, Banks-Financial services, Agri Machinery Companies- Mechanization, agriculture universities-Technical guidance. Establish strong relationship with farmers rather than price relationship.

· Oversee warehousing activities to ensure continues supply to the plant

· Monitor stock positions, trigger risk alerts and propose backup plans

· Provide technical guidance to farmers to increase production and productivity of oil seeds

· Responsible for obtaining FSSAI licenses & other statutory licenses for all Purchase centers

· Organize farmer training camps regularly in tie up with university

· Tie up with agri input companies to provide extension services to farmers

· Identify potential areas to establish oilseeds purchase centers that can sustain supplies throughout the year

· Procurement of oilseeds from farmers at advantageous price over trader purchase

· Identify and select potential growers for contract farming of Hioleic Sunflower

· Organize Soybean seed production program in order to provide quality seeds to the growers

· Establish input supply business, sourcing of corn & Pulses, Contract farming of potatoes in order to generate additional income to the division

· To play an important role in the development of buying & merchandizing strategy.

· Ensure EDLP (Every Day Low Price) to customers by ensuring EDLC (Every Day Low Cost)

· To develop financial plans which take into account market risks and opportunities within the overall corporate budget processes

· To accurately phase sales, stock, margin, markdown & in-take plans and projections taking into account prevailing market trends.

· To develop new suppliers and maintain genuine, sustainable partnerships with existing ones.

· To effectively plan & execute all departmental and divisional promotions in line with group promotional plan

· Create, foster and manage farmer base consisting of 1500 farmers

· Provide technical and extension services to farmers to increase yield, quality and income of farmers.

· Farmer Training on GAP in Fruits and Vegetables, improving yield, productivity, quality and income of associated farmers

· Establish Demonstration Farms – Set up company assisted demonstration farms in each village to showcase and train new innovations & techniques to farmers

· Farm Diary and Passport – Maintain Traceability of each Farm by capturing and maintaining records of soil test analysis, fertilizers, seeds and chemical applications to ensure 100% traceability of farm sourced products

· Design Sowing to Harvest Calendar in order to give forecast on availability

· Establishment of commercial nursery in order to provide better seedling to member farmers in lower prices.

· Registration of farmer society and helping society to avail credit from banks.

· Working closely with partner NGO, Agri Input companies and global suppliers to implement latest technical interventions in direct farm extension program

· Responsible for obtaining FSSAI licenses & other statutory licenses for all Purchase centers

· To take ownership of each and every farmer P&L registered under Direct Farm Program. Monitor and Report Farm passports to evaluate farmer income.

· Establishment of collection center in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

· Sourcing of fruits and vegetables and supply to Retail and Cash & Carry Outlets.

· Customized packing of Fruits and vegetables in order to create brand value.

· Promoting organic agriculture.

· Contract production of vegetable seeds.

· Sourcing of new areas of seed production.

· Negotiating purchase of inputs such as fertilizers, Pestisides and other accessories required for in-house production

· Nursery management

· Managing supply chain from purchase till processing

· Farmers training about new technologies of seed production and extraction

· Assisting contract growers in getting subsidy from government departments for purchase of drips, nethouses and mulch.

· Seed Production of tomato, watermelon, gourds, cucumber and chilly through contract production with growers, contract production with organizers and in-house production

· Planning and execution of contract farming of processing potatoes in kharif season in Hassan-Karnataka

· To make success of contract farming, linking all beneficiary to farmers to avail credit facilities from nationalized banks

· Offseason sourcing and procurement of potatoes at indore, Ujjain, shajapur and Punjab

· Taking care of experimental trials of new potato varieties

· Training of farmers group in adopting new technologies

· Arranging all necessary logistics and storage units at sourcing area

· Cold store management at Indore.

· Nearly 10000 MT processing potato sourcing and procuring from different parts of the country to Pune and Haridwar processing plants.