5 Successful Rural Marketing Strategies in the Seeds Industry Worth Emulating

The Indian seed market is forecasted to reach around $9 billion by 2025, driven by favourable government policies and initiatives such as the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and the National Food Security Mission, and increasing total food grain production in the country. The market is segmented into hybrid, genetically modified, and varietal seeds, with companies like Syngenta Seeds  and Kaveri Seed Company Limited leading the market.

But the market is huge, and though every player desires to grow fast, Companies often need help with remoteness, poor infrastructure, labour shortages and product awareness amongst farmers.

Given that rural farmers constitute the major market for the seed industry, effective and efficient rural marketing strategies implementation is critical for these companies’ sustained growth Year after year.

Indian seed companies like Savannah Seeds, Malav Seeds, JK Seeds, Monsanto Biotech, and Syngenta are crucial in providing high-quality seeds to Indian farmers. These companies have adopted various marketing strategies to reach farmers effectively, such as promoting high-yielding and climate-resilient seed varieties, investing in research and development, and engaging in public awareness campaigns.

We have collaborated with these premier seed companies in implementing their rural marketing strategies, in various formats as detailed below:

Savannah Seeds Rural Marketing Strategy

They are the pioneers in introducing smart rice technology in India, providing rice seeds that adapt to the situation, and provide better output per acre, while requiring significantly less water and inputs.

Savannah Seeds’ dedicated rice specialist team offers year-round support and expertise on rice farming, enhancing the value of rice ecosystems. At the same time, their extensive sales network, spanning 11 states with over 500 distributors and 5000 retail outlets, plays a pivotal role in adding value to rice farming operations.

We collaborated with Savannah Seeds in managing the marketing strategy, by building awareness of two paddy seed variants-  Sava 134 (for Punjab) and Sava 127 (for Haryana) among farmers in these states.

The marketing objective was to increase awareness, reach, and engagement for these seed variants, and drive sales by convincing the trade partners (retailers/distributors) to prioritize and promote Savannah seeds.

The overarching strategy was to engage trade partners in Punjab & Haryana to promote these seed variants, by stocking the same and then promoting it to the farmers primarily engaged in rice production. The next step was to drive customer demand through the local language digital media promotion of product benefits, by associating trust and credibility with using Savannah rice seed variants.

We mainly used Google and Facebook campaigns to drive home the benefit and pride of association that farmers feel on higher yield using Savannah Rice seeds. The entire gamut of digital media creatives like videos, carousels, GIFs, and static images was

tailored for different objectives like reach, lead generation, link clicks, and engagement.

We addressed the key concerns of any farmer – higher yields, better crop quality, disease resistance and higher earnings, by using local language and dialects in creatives like-“healthy crop, great yield” and “Shiny Grains, Higher Production” to drive home our key differentiators.

Success Story

Our rural marketing strategy proved effective as evidenced by the results shown below-

Total Reach 

3.56 million

Total Impression

6.46 million

Total Clicks

18229

The Campaign effectively promoted Savannah Seeds products, reaching and engaging the target audience of trade partners and farmers in Punjab and Haryana. This generated sales and educated farmers on the quality aspect of Savannah Seeds.

Malav Seeds Rural Marketing Strategy

Malav Seeds is a well-known brand amongst farmers and is one of the largest onion seed producers in India, serving farmers in India and abroad. 

Onions are a cash crop for a large number of farmers in India and a lot of them depend on its success for livelihood. Because of the sentimental attachment to the crop success, Malav Seeds wanted to ensure that awareness of the product and its benefits is percolated to the farmers.

The brief given to us was to build awareness about the range of Malav’s onion seeds and explain product USPs to the targeted onion farmers spread across the onion-growing belt of MP and Rajasthan.

As part of the rural marketing strategy, We undertook a BTL campaign to create brand awareness and educate the Target segment on Product USPs. Van Campaign along with an aggressive poster display was how we approached the challenge. To make learning fun and easy, Product knowledge was imparted through product informative games in which the farmers participated in large numbers.

As an additional engagement, the distribution of freebies like Bags enhanced brand visibility and awareness.

Success Story

The campaign proved to be a resounding success as evident from the results below.

For more information on the detailed case study, please visit <Link of the case Study>

Syngenta Rural Marketing Strategy

Syngenta is one of the world’s largest developers and producers of innovative seeds and traits across grain, oilseeds, vegetables, fruits and flowers. Syngenta India has been operating since the year 2000 and is amongst the first few companies to improve farm productivity and the lives of Indian farmers across the country.

Its mission is to make farming profitable and sustainable by developing technologies that reduce the cost of production. One aspect of this mission is developing seeds that are resistant to pests and diseases.

Syngenta approached us to develop the whole rural marketing strategy, including Brand communication and positioning for Okra Hybrid OH 517, which is promoted as a disease-resistant variety of Okra.

We developed an extensive communication deck, with local language creatives focussing on the regions where Hindi, Odia (a language spoken in Odisha, India), and potentially other regional Indian languages are used. Used a combination of traditional and digital media channels for campaigning and outreach.

We addressed the challenge of communicating technical product features and benefits in a simple, easily understandable manner for farmers through audiovisual content like videos, jingles etc in local languages. We used creatives to highlight product USPs –  Ease of plucking, wholesome crop and faster harvesting.

Success Story

The campaign proved to be a resounding success as evident from the results below.

In essence, we crafted powerful, targeted rural marketing strategies for Syngenta, utilizing local languages, storytelling, and diverse channels to effectively promote Syngeta’s products.

For more information on the detailed case study, please visit: 

Syngenta’s Diva okra seed brand featuring as a bhindi ke beej ki maharani – Ascent Group India

• JK Seeds Rural Marketing Strategy

JK Seeds has been at the forefront of providing innovative agricultural solutions to farmers. They are primarily engaged in research and development of hybrid variants, mainly cotton. Hybrid seeds, as you might be aware, are at the forefront of ushering in the second green revolution, which a hungry and growing economy like India ill-afford to miss out on.

Rural markets present unique challenges and opportunities due to their distinct consumer behaviour and infrastructure limitations. JK Seeds wanted to communicate the unique value proposition of the JK 1947 Bt Cotton seed variant to the cotton farmers in the states of Punjab, Haryana & Rajasthan.

We helped JK Seeds in conceptualizing, developing and implementing the “Azadi Ke Beej” Campaign – which talked about the freedom that every cotton-growing farmer aspires to have i. e. freedom to have inspected free crop, freedom to have crop early, freedom to have another crop etc.

Thus the campaign idea directly addressed the freedom aspirations of farmers that they want in terms of getting a hassle-free cotton crop.

The main objective of the rural strategy was to Reach out to farmers with the core message of Freedom – “Azadi Ka Beej”, To Engage them on the key message and Drive Sales through Video activation at the retailer point.

The idea was conveyed using a branded van as a communication vehicle. A location was prepared and farmers were invited by an anchor to this specific area. Through visual aids, the hardships of a farmer were detailed and the drawbacks of not utilizing JK 1947 were stressed upon. 

Post this interactive engagement, videos of the farmers were filmed with our van providing the backdrop. These unprocessed videos were dispatched to our office, where they underwent editing and then sent back to the retailers in that locality wherein the Campaign was done. A dedicated tele-calling team made sure that each farmer was informed about their video compact disc (VCD) getting delivered to their retailer. So, when a farmer visited the outlet for purchases, the retailer suggested JK seeds, effectively translating the entire activity into actual sales. 

Success Story

The whole concept and campaign was a success story of our strategic rural marketing team. As per the client, It helped JK seeds double the revenue from the state.

For more information on the detailed case study, please visit <JK Seeds Rural Campaign for Cotton Seeds in Rajasthan, Punjab & Haryana – Ascent Group India>

Success Story

The initiative enabled better farmer relationships and awareness about the benefits that BT Cotton II provided. It translated into adoption and sales for the second-generation cotton variant.

For more information on the detailed case study, please visit <Mosantao’s Bollgard II to Reach out Farmers in Cotton Growing Belt of MH & MP – Ascent Group India>

Conclusion

The rural marketing strategies implemented by leading Indian seed companies such as Savannah Seeds, Malav Seeds, Syngenta, JK Seeds, and Monsanto Mahyco have delivered remarkable success in reaching and engaging rural farmers, resulting in increased sales and improved crop quality. By leveraging various targeted approaches like digital media campaigns, BTL campaigns, van campaigns, and setting up health and wellness camps, these companies have effectively communicated the unique benefits of their seed variants to the rural farming community. These strategies have not only boosted brand awareness but have also contributed to the overall prosperity and sustainability of Indian agriculture. As the Indian seed market continues to expand, the significance of innovative rural marketing strategies cannot be overstated, and these success stories serve as compelling examples for similar initiatives in the agribusiness sector.

Reach Us  In case you are thinking of enhancing your rural marketing efforts. We are sure that this decision will be worth taking.