1. Building a supply chain

A Township Agricultural Collective Enterprise (TACE) is established to provide services via a Service Centre for Smart Villages (Service Centre or SCSV for short) at each town.

TACE will organise farmers in the township to gain economies of scale and provide services through the Service Centre that will generate a profit as well as create higher returns for farmers. Key services include group purchase of agri-inputs, post-harvest sorting, packaging and branding, labour brokerage, financial services, and “Farming-as-a-Service”. The SCSV serves as a platform for agricultural service providers to provide services to members at scale through a more efficient and cost-effective manner.

The Association of TACE at the county-level then connects the TACE at each township to ensure resources are coordinated and external stakeholders like the government are managed. It is also in charge of creating standards for product and traceability system standards. Investors, whether institutional or existing service providers, will provide funding and act as business partners for TACE.

Each Producer Group (PG) conducts its own economic activities based on the type of crop they grow (e.g. grapes, apples, peaches and field crops etc.). This division is due to the different conditions for each type of crop, particularly between field crops and economic crops. Each Producer Group will aggregate demand for training and services to work directly with the SCSV.

However, Producer Groups are limited by geographical proximity, so various PGs are then grouped into FGCs by location for easier management. Each FGC will have a self-elected leader for better management and communication with TACE.

Scale is achieved when farmers are organised into Farming Group Communities (FGC). Each FGC consists of different Producer Groups (PG) that grow the same type of crop and are within geographical proximity of each other. Farmer-members of TACE will become owners of the organisation through an initial investment, and will have voting rights as well as be part of a shared profit scheme.

3. Leverage Scale to Develop Technological Advantage

Digital technology can help create higher value for farmer produce, through information sharing and service provision.

Currently, market information is inaccessible to farmers, which limits their ability to capture value. Vice versa, consumers have increased concerns about food safety and sustainability, yet know very little about what happens in the production stage.

TACE will develop a digital application that:

1. Provides Producer Groups access to market information, trends and intelligence that can support management decisions, planning and negotiations with buyers.
2. Improves traceability of products by tracking data from inputs, production, sorting, logistics and sales. Traceability not only improves consumer confidence and supports branding, it is also a risk-management tool which allows businesses to recall products identified as unsafe.
3. Provides a platform for labour management and sourcing for Producer Groups.
4. Provide a platform for transaction of financial services like loans and crop insurance.

Data throughout the value chain can be shared via the digital application, with an emphasis on production data (agri-input orders, production data points like location, temperature, humidity etc., and storage/logistics information). The platform can also be used to share market information and labour information to facilitate other services offered by the SCSV. With this centralised data, the TACE team will be able to unlock new insights and patterns throughout the value chain, leading to better and more efficient operations.