Introduction of a business model for onion storage

Background

There is a lack of modern onion storage facilities in Bangladesh and a lack of opportunities or incentives to invest in them. Companies are reluctant to invest in modern onion storage facilities as 1) they do not have the required knowhow and, as 2) onion prices fluctuate a lot and are affected by several factors such as Bangladeshi onion imports from India.

What do we do?

An onion storage business model will be introduced where the storage owner has direct control over the storage conditions. The economic and financial viability will be assessed.

The following activities are therefore implemented during the project period:

  • Feasibility studies are performed that use collected baseline data from the local partners and technical data from Allround and Waterman Onions as input. The objectives of these studies are twofold:
    • to provide an assessment of the economic and financial viability of the introduced onion storage business model; and
    • selection of suitable local partners who want to invest in a storage facility where the pilots and demonstrations with improved storage and product handling technologies can be implemented.
  • The economic performance of the introduced business model is monitored and evaluated during the project period.
  • The results demonstrate whether the introduced onion storage business model contributes to reduced post-harvest losses and increased onion trader income.

The feasibility studies are conducted by Advance Consulting with local support from Deltadesh and technical inputs from Waterman and Allround.

Downloads

Allround Vegetable Processing
Allround offers a range of storage, sorting, grading, washing, polishing, brushing, weighing, bagging and material handling lines for vegetables and potatoes. The company has dealerships worldwide, including in Bangladesh. Allround will demonstrate its storage, sorting and grading solutions at the selected onion traders. In addition, the company will provide technical assistance to facilitate the uptake of the demonstrated solutions.
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Bejo Zaden

Bejo Zaden is a major horticultural seed supplier with global outreach and experience in Southeast Asia including Bangladesh. Bejo breeds and produces a range of onion varieties suitable for Bangladesh. Together with the local partner Lal Teer, Bejo will set up demonstrations of new onion varieties and provide training to farmers and distributors.

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Waterman Onions

Waterman Onions is a leading Dutch onion company, that handles, packages and delivers around 150,000 tonnes of onions across the world each year. The company has expertise in all steps of onion postharvest handling, storing, packaging, distribution and marketing, and will transfer this knowledge to its counterparts in Bangladesh. Waterman Onions will be responsible for training onion sector stakeholders such as medium farmers, traders, storage providers and agriculture extension workers.

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Deltadesh Pvt Ltd

Deltadesh is a Dutch-owned private company headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The company is specialized in procurement, contracting and implementation of turn-key projects in different sectors, including agriculture. Deltadesh will act as the local support office and will assist with the data collection for monitoring and evaluation of the project’s progress and impact.

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Lal Teer Seed
Lal Teer Seed Limited is the leading vegetable seed supplier in Bangladesh. The company has outstanding technical knowledge of agricultural farming in Bangladesh and, through its field officers, delivers tailor-made advice to farmers all over the country. Lal Teer will supply the seed varieties, set up demonstration units, organise and implement field days and farmer training.
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Advance Consulting
Advance Consulting is a Dutch business advisory firm for investments and projects in emerging economies. The company assist government agencies and development organisations on sustainable business development. Advance Consulting is responsible for the overall project coordination and management of the Onion Impact Cluster. In addition, the company will provide technical support on business assessments and financial and economic analyses of new business models in the onion sector.
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RVO
The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland) encourages entrepreneurs in sustainable, agrarian, innovative and international business. RVO provides 50% co-funding for the pilot activities implemented with support from the private sector partners.
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Address

Deltadesh (Pvt.) Ltd.
Apt. C-1, House 1/A, Road 79, Gulshan-2, Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
 project @ dutchbanglaonionsupport.com
 + 880 1632 845385