Rural Crusaders 2016

Barrix Agro Sciences Pvt. Ltd

Introduction: The pesticides industry in India has undergone a rapid growth and structural
change in the product mix. Pesticides are generally toxic in nature and bulk storage has to be
very controlled or else accidental spillage of such chemicals may cause environmental or health
hazards. Due to lack of effective, affordable and eco-friendly technologies to control pests,
farmers have no choice but to continue spraying harmful and toxic pesticides on crops. Farmers
require high performing, non-chemical based crop protection products which will not only help
them cultivate agri outputs which are free of pests and residues, but will also boost agricultural
yield significantly.
Industry: The industry as a whole is relatively new to the world. With few players in the
market, Barrix(http://www.barrix.in/) stands out as a pioneer in developing cutting edge
products which have overcome the shortcomings of every other competitive product in the
market. Industry is witnessing a growth trend and small time players are seen trying to enter
this space. The pace of which is expected to increase significantly in the years to come. The
main challenge still lies at developing synthetic form of pheromones and convert them into a
product which adds value to the end customer.
About Barrix: Barrix is a pioneer in pheromone based pest control technology and provider of
IPM (Integrated Pest Management) products & solutions. Established on 7th Feb 2011, Barrix
provides chemical free pest control solutions to farmers which are economical and eco-friendly.
Barrix has a DSIR certified R&D centre which helps in developing new molecules and
technologies.
Products: Barrix has 3 major product lines viz. pheromone traps, chromophore traps and
growth supporter. Pheromone traps at present has two products addressing vegetable and fruit
fly problem (Bactrocera species). Chromophore traps have yellow and blue coloured products
at present which address almost 23 types of flying pests. Growth supporter will tackle 5000
varieties of bacteria and fungi and helps the crop build its immune system from within.
Marketing problem:
Entry level barrier: Agriculture market has always been a tough market to venture into.
Traditional practices have rooted their methodologies deep within the system and farmers are
least experimental with new technologies. Pesticide industry has been over emphasised and has
been excessively depended on which makes new product permissibility even harder.

Rural Crusaders 2016

Low income levels: Average holding per farmer in India is around 1.5 acre. Low land holding
results in lesser income to the farmer. The pesticide industry which has dominated agriculture
for decades have rendered the farmers with very less savings. Given the current PCI levels, it
becomes almost impossible to convince farmers to invest on new technology and products or
make them switch farming practices.
Education: Education levels are very low due to which farmers have a very conservative
approach towards adopting new methods of farming. This acts as a huge hindrance as reception
levels are low. Awareness regarding developing technologies and solutions often do not reach
the farmer completely.
Conservative mind-set: Fear of low levels of produce by adopting new methods acts as a
setback for our business.
Sale convertibility: Lot of expenditure is incurred on providing demos where the farmers are
able to see the product operating on the field live. It is generally seen that less than 50% of
these demos are converted into sales. Push marketing takes a huge portion of total expenditure.
Efforts on institutional sales have started but there are few who operate with the same
wavelength as Barrix. On the positive, once the farmer uses Barrix products he generally makes
a repeat. Collections take a backseat as the target customers are farmers predominantly.
Government & Institutions: Support for the growth of this industry is very lukewarm from
the government. Commensurate efforts to recognise these products and promote them have not
been taken. Many NGOs and institutions which contribute to farmer awareness have not been
able to be an active part to promote the industry.

Deliverables: Devise an implementable marketing strategy for Barrix, which enables it to

address the above mentioned problems, with minimal costs

Rural Crusaders 2016

Submission Guidelines:
The participants are requested to work based on the resources provided above and further
clarifications would not be entertained
Entries for Round 1 should be submitted to ruralcrusaders2016@iimahd.ernet.in ; Deadline
for submission is 26th December, 2015 , 11:59 PM
First stage submission of deliverables should be in a word document, maximum of 4 pages
(excluding details page of participants)
Any supporting files should be zipped along with the word document
Documents should adhere to the naming convention given below:
Name of the document: [ruralcrusaders_teamname_institute.doc/docx/xlsx] e.g.
[ruralcrusaders_WIMWIANS_IIMA.docx] or ruralcrusaders_WIMWIANS_IIMA.zip
Subject line of the mail: [Team Name]_ ruralcrusaders_Submission
In case of query or further details, please send an email to
ruralcrusaders2016@iimahd.ernet.in
Submissions sent after the deadline will not be considered under any circumstances