Urali Pazhangudiniyar Producer Company Ltd.
Building a Producer-Owned Enterprise in Kadambur
A new chapter in community-led enterprise development is taking shape in Kadambur, Sathyamangalam, with the establishment of the Urali Pazhangudiniyar Producer Company Ltd.
Located in the Kadambur Hills of Erode District, the Urali community has a long relationship with agriculture, forests and the natural resources of the region. Millets, pulses, honey, amla and other forest produce form an important part of local livelihoods. However, much of this produce has traditionally been sold in its raw form because there has been limited infrastructure nearby for cleaning, drying, processing, packing and marketing.
The new Producer Company is being created to address this gap.
From Individual Producers to Collective Enterprise
The Urali Pazhangudiniyar Producer Company Ltd. is being developed as a company owned and governed by the producers themselves.
The idea is to bring produce together at the village level, establish systems for quality checking and processing, and connect the products to organised markets. By doing this, the community can move beyond selling raw produce and retain a greater share of the value created through processing and marketing.
The FPO will initially focus on millets, horsegram, lab lab, rajma, wild honey, wild amla, haritaki and other permitted NTFPs. These products represent both the agricultural diversity and the traditional forest-based livelihoods of the region.
Building the Infrastructure in Kadambur
A major milestone in the project has been the construction of a 2,000 sq. ft. value-addition centre in Kadambur.
Construction began in April 2026 and the building, including roofing, finishing and painting, has now been completed. A sub-road connecting the facility to the main road has also been developed, making it easier to bring machinery and materials to the centre. A borewell and pump have been installed, providing an important water source for the facility.
A *solar dryer was installed in May 2026*. This will allow the FPO to dry millets, pulses, amla and other produce under cleaner and more controlled conditions, helping improve quality and storage life.
The millet processing machinery has also been procured and is ready for installation. The first processing line is planned around destoning, hulling and grinding, allowing locally produced millets to move from raw grain towards cleaned, processed and market-ready products.
Creating Value Where the Produce is Grown
The significance of the Kadambur facility goes beyond the building itself.
For a remote community, transporting raw produce to distant markets often means that much of the value addition happens outside the region. The FPO creates the possibility of keeping more of these activities closer to the producers.
Millets can be cleaned, processed and packed locally. Pulses can be aggregated, graded and packed. Honey can be collected from trained producers, quality checked, filtered and bottled. Seasonal forest produce such as amla and haritaki can be dried, stored and linked to appropriate markets.
This creates a simple but important value chain:
Producers → Collective Procurement → Processing → Value Addition → Packaging → Markets → Better Value for Producers
An Enterprise Built Around Local Resources
The FPO is designed around the resources and knowledge already present in the community.
The initial operating plan estimates potential first-phase procurement of around 15 tonnes of millets, 7 tonnes of horsegram and 10 tonnes of wild honey, along with initial aggregation of lab lab and rajma and seasonal collection of wild amla and haritaki. These are planning targets and will grow with producer participation, market demand and the FPO's operational capacity.
The diversified product base is important. It allows the enterprise to work across agricultural and forest-based products while creating opportunities across different seasons.
At the same time, the project places importance on sustainable harvesting and Forest Department regulations. The intention is not simply to increase collection, but to create an economic system that values and protects the natural resources on which the community depends.
Creating Opportunities for Women and Youth
The FPO also has the potential to create local employment.
The project has a women-centred employment plan beginning with five direct women employees in the first year, with the potential to increase as procurement, processing and market operations grow. Roles can include processing, packing, procurement records, quality and hygiene, administration and village coordination. Seasonal and indirect opportunities are also expected through producer aggregation, honey collection, transport, packaging and processing.
This creates an opportunity for local people to participate not only as producers, but also in the different stages of the enterprise.
Building an Institution, Not Just a Facility
In March 2026, a meeting was held in Kadambur with around 100 village leaders and Forest Rights Committee members, where the formation of the FPO was discussed and promoters and directors were elected. The registration documents have since been prepared, with the official door number for the registered office being the key pending requirement before incorporation can proceed.
This process is helping establish a structure through which producers can participate in decisions related to procurement, pricing, processing, markets and the future direction of the enterprise.
Aadhimalai Pazhangudiniyar Producer Company Limited is supporting the initiative through mentoring in areas including training, accounting, operations, sales, documentation, monitoring and company registration.
The Beginning of a New Local Economy
The Kadambur FPO is still at the beginning of its operating journey.
The next steps include completing company registration, obtaining the required licences, installing and commissioning the millet machinery, establishing procurement systems and beginning the first procurement cycle. The focus will then move towards building reliable markets and developing products that can create greater value for the producers.
But an important foundation has already been created.
A community that has traditionally produced and collected valuable agricultural and forest products now has the beginnings of a producer-owned institution and a local value-addition centre.
The journey of the Urali Pazhangudiniyar Producer Company Ltd. is therefore not simply about setting up a processing unit. It is about creating an enterprise that is rooted in the community, built around local resources and governed by the people who produce them.
From producers to owners.From raw produce to value addition. From individual livelihoods to a collective enterprise. Kadambur is taking its first steps towards building a stronger local economy—one that keeps more value within the community while respecting the land, forests and traditional knowledge that sustain it.