Are mango growers ready for export markets?

What is shaping horticulture

Horticulture spans fruit, vegetables, flowers and plantation crops, with fast-moving prices and a high risk of post-harvest loss. Growers sell through mandis, traders and increasingly direct-to-buyer channels.

• Prices swing daily in mandi markets
• Post-harvest handling decides how much produce reaches buyers
• Organised retail and exporters set new quality standards

A state horticulture mission, working in India, with importer input from the UAE, UK & Japan. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A state horticulture mission

Sector

Horticulture

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Government research, Offline data collection (CAPI), Research consultancy

The mission wanted to expand mango exports but did not know how many growers followed the practices importers require, such as residue management, traceability records and post-harvest treatment.

• Answer the core question: are mango growers ready for export markets.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of growers.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of packhouses.
• Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
• Give the client evidence it can act on within 8 weeks.

The work focused on 1,300 growers and 22 packhouses.

• growers1,300
• packhouses22

Audiences we typically reach in horticulture

Growers and orchard ownersCommission agents and tradersNurseriesFresh-produce retailersExporters and packhouses

Coverage: India, with importer input from the UAE, UK & Japan. Markets: India, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and Japan.

• India
• United Arab Emirates
• United Kingdom
• Japan

A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Grower survey
3. 3Packhouse audits
4. 4Insight

We surveyed growers on spraying records, harvesting practices and buyer arrangements, and audited packhouses against a checklist based on common export requirements. Results were analysed by orchard size and district.

Government researchOffline data collection (CAPI)Research consultancy

growers

1,300

packhouses

22

• Respondents were selected across India, with importer input from the UAE, UK & Japan using quotas set in advance for each location and respondent type, so no single area or group dominated.

• Trained local-language interviewers conducted interviews in person on tablets (CAPI), with time and location recorded for every interview.
• Auditors and mystery shoppers followed a standard checklist, recording evidence at each visit.

• Back-checks on a share of completed interviews
• Time and location checks on field interviews
• Supervisor accompaniment in the field
• Photo or document evidence for audit points
• Second-reviewer checks on scores
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered

• Larger orchards linked to aggregators were close to export-ready; most small growers kept no spray records.

Readiness varies sharply within a crop; averages would have hidden where support was needed.

• Build on the core insight: readiness varies sharply within a crop; averages would have hidden where support was needed.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: larger orchards linked to aggregators were close to export-ready; most small growers kept no spray records.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The mission launched record-keeping training through grower groups and focused export promotion on clusters with packhouse access.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Insight report and management presentation
• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Evaluation findings with programme recommendations

• Repeat the measure after changes are in place to track progress.
• A natural follow-on question: how do growers choose which buyer to sell to?