- The Virtual Agricultural Clearing House (VACH) was created to directly connect farmers in Sri Lanka to hotels and food importers using WhatsApp. This reduced costs for hotels by obtaining fresh, local produce while supporting farmers' businesses. Over 400 farmers and 20 hotels participated. - Common crops traded included pineapples, melons, peppers, cabbage, and tomatoes. The VACH provided farmers awareness of market values and improved the relationship between chefs and producers. - Moving forward, the VACH aims to develop an electronic platform for real-time transactions, promote farmers, and support diversifying crops and developing enterprise funds to aid producers and reduce payment delays.

1. Virtual Agricultural Clearing House Presentation
Noorani M. Azeez
Caribbean Agrotourism Policy Setting Workshop
10.10.19

2. WHY AGROTOURISM LINKAGE
• Visitor demand to experience local fruits and
vegetables
• Build relationships which could evolve into farm to
table experiences for visitors
• Improving access to fresh produce while reducing
inventory and food costs
• Members were spending approximately $15m on
imported high value crops
• Bridge the knowledge gap between purchasers, chefs
and farmers
• Encourage direct trade between farmers and hotels

3. WHY A VIRTUAL MODEL?
• Whats App was readily available and used by most
farmers
• Inexpensive
• Allowed us to immediately bridge the knowledge
gap regarding availability
• Simple means of communicating with multiple
persons at once
• Reduced “middle-man” by putting suppliers in
direct contact with purchasers

4. HOW THE VACH WORKS
• Database of participating farmers called the Virtual Agricultural Clearing
House.
• Farmers post information about their produce preferably three weeks
before harvest.
• The information provided from the farmers is then disseminated to the
Purchasing Managers of the participating hotels on separate platform
• Purchasing Managers will contact farmers directly to convey their interest
and arrange all transactions with the farmers.
• Farmers/ purchasing personnel will be asked to apprise the SLHTA
Agriculture / Tourism Liaison Officer of the transactions

5. PARTICIPATION
• Over 400 farmers at end of third year of the project
• 20 Hotels
• 2 Food and Beverage Importers

6. LOCATION OF FARMERS

7. MOST FREQUENTLY TRADED PRODUCE
•Pineapples
•Cantaloupe
•Honey Dew
•Watermelon
•Bell Peppers
•Cabbage
•Tomatoes

8. SOME BENEFITS DERIVED FROM VACH
• Farmers acquired greater awareness of the value added of their produce
through hotel visits
• Improved perception of Tourism’s outreach to support agriculture
• Improved network between chefs and farmers
• Attracted other partners from friendly Foreign Donors, Good Food Revolution
Youth Training Program, enhanced appreciation of local produce by young chefs
through Chefs in Schools training program
• Destination attracted a lot of attention from international observers for sustainable
tourism practice

9. MOVING FORWARD
a. Need for real-time electronic platform
b. VACH Farmer of the week
c. Tradeshow for new Farmers at SLHTA’s AGM
d. Face to face interaction between both partners is critical to building trust
e. Hotels were paying more for produce than Supermarkets and Local Farmers
Markets
f. Technology and education are important to ensuring consistency in quality and
supply
g. Diversification into other crops such as micro-greens, edible flowers, mushrooms,
etc.
h. Creation of an Enterprise Development Fund for farmers and other producers
i. Fund to reduce delays in payment