Fertiliser Dealers in Nepal: Run the Year by the Crop Calendar

A farmer can postpone buying a new phone. He cannot postpone top-dressing his paddy. Fertiliser demand is set by crops, not by salespeople, and it arrives in short windows that close whether the dealer has stock or not. A dealer who receives a lot two weeks late has not just lost two weeks of sales; he has lost customers to whoever had sacks on the shelf first. This guide is organised around that reality: a season calendar first, then what to do before, during and after each window, and how to keep stock, deliveries and credit in one place.

This is general operating advice. Fertiliser supply in Nepal can involve cooperatives, programmes and procedures that have their own rules. Follow those, and keep the records they require.

The crop calendar, from a dealer's side

Exact timing differs by district, altitude and irrigation, so treat this as a sketch to adapt with your own sales history.

Nepali months (approx.)	What the fields need	What the dealer should be doing
Baisakh to Jestha	Preparation for paddy; maize in hills	Confirm lots for paddy, clear space in godowns, settle last season's balances
Asar to Saun	Paddy transplanting and basal dose	Peak counter and delivery days, daily stock check
Saun to Bhadra	Top-dressing of paddy	Second peak, often for urea; rebalance godowns
Asoj to Kartik	Harvest; festival spending	Collect credit, count stock, review the season
Kartik to Mangsir	Wheat and other winter crops sown	Third peak; deliveries to cooperatives
Poush to Magh	Top-dressing of winter crops	Smaller peak, steady replenishment
Falgun to Chaitra	Spring maize and vegetables in some areas	Plan next year's paddy stock, credit review

Your own calendar will look different if your area grows vegetables, sugarcane or a second paddy crop. The point is to write it down and plan stock and credit decisions against it.

Before the window: the stock position

Two to four weeks before a peak, every dealer should be able to answer five questions in a few minutes:

Question	Where the answer comes from
How many sacks of each type do we hold?	Stock per godown and SKU
Which godown is thin?	Low-stock levels
What lot is due, and when?	Expected receipts, recorded when they land
What did we lose last season to damage?	Damage and adjustment movements
How much stock is already sitting with sub-dealers?	Monthly dealer stock reports

If you supply through sub-dealers, the last question matters most. A sub-dealer who still holds last season's sacks will order less, and you would rather know that before you place your own order.

Godown checklist before the peak

• Sacks off the floor on pallets or planks, away from damp walls.
• Older lots in front so they move first.
• Torn or caked sacks counted and recorded, not hidden at the back.
• A clear path for loading vehicles quickly on peak days.

During the window: speed without losing the record

Peak days are long. Counters are crowded, vehicles leave every hour and the phone does not stop ringing. This is exactly when records slip, and the gap is discovered months later as a "shortage".

Deliveries by weight

Fertiliser is heavy, and the vehicle's weight limit is the real constraint. Group orders by route and day, add up the weight and load only what fits. Cooperatives and farm groups at the far end of a route should be told the delivery day in advance.

Credit decided before, not during

The worst time to decide a credit limit is when a cooperative secretary is standing at the counter with a tractor waiting. Decide limits for each cooperative, sub-dealer and large farm before the season. During the window, the only question is whether they are within it.

After the window: harvest and collection

Most farm credit is repaid after harvest. That gives the dealer a short collection season of his own, usually around Asoj and Kartik for the paddy crop.

Post-harvest review

1. List every balance by age, from oldest to newest.
2. Plan a visit or call for each large balance, with a date.
3. Compare stock received with stock sold; the difference should match recorded damage.
4. Note which lots arrived late and how many sales you think were lost.
5. Write a one-page summary and keep it for next year's plan.

Questions dealers ask

"Our supply arrives whenever it arrives. What can a system do about that?" It cannot make the truck come earlier. It can make sure that the day it lands, everyone knows how much arrived, in which godown, and where it should go next.

"Do I need a sub-dealer app?" Only if you supply sub-dealers. If you sell mostly to farmers over the counter, start without it.

"Our officers visit cooperatives in hill villages with weak signal." Orders, visits and payments need a connection; the app shows an error without one. Only the GPS location trail is kept on the phone and synced later. Before rollout, walk one hill route and note where the signal is too weak, so you know which stops need a different plan.

How this runs in gamitrack

Catalog and lots. Create each fertiliser type and sack weight as a SKU with weight in kg. Record each arriving lot as a receipt with a batch reference into the right branch. Stock movements are append-only, so the history of every sack is preserved.

Godowns. Each godown or depot is a branch. Low-stock levels and branch stock show where to transfer before the window opens, and transfers between branches are recorded as movements on both sides.

Buyers. Sub-dealers, cooperatives, farm groups and large farms are parties with a type and location. Price lists resolve from a party override, then the party-type list, then the default. Keep programme-related sales identifiable with a separate party type or notes.

Field visits. Routes have ordered stops by market centre. Visits are geofenced with photo proof, and visits outside the geofence, too short or without a photo are flagged for review. Outcomes record orders, reasons for no order and closing stock at the dealer.

Orders, bills and dispatch. Orders take the right price automatically. Dispatch is all-or-nothing, so a confirmed load is either sent in full or not at all. VAT is applied only on taxable lines; check the current rules for your products with IRD or your adviser. Invoices are numbered per fiscal year in Bikram Sambat.

Delivery. The assigned delivery person sees the amount due and directions, marks delivery with GPS, photo and receiver, and can collect payment afterwards. Far-delivery flags highlight drops far from the buyer's saved location.

Credit and collection. Payment due days run from dispatch, payments settle the oldest bills first, and statements and aging show every balance. Weekly collection plans compare planned and actual collection per officer, which is exactly what you need in the post-harvest weeks.

Sub-dealers and targets. In via-dealers mode, sub-dealers see orders and reminders in the dealer app, and monthly dealer stock reports compare expected with actual closing stock. Dealer targets are set annually by fiscal quarter, in kg or amount, and officers get monthly targets with a daily pace.

Damage and returns. Torn or caked sacks are recorded as damage movements. Returns are reviewed and approved into a branch with a credit note.

A season in miniature (hypothetical)

Suppose a distributor receives one lot of urea in early Asar and splits it across two godowns. A week into transplanting, the low-stock view shows the hill-side godown running thin while the bazaar godown still has plenty, so a transfer is recorded and a vehicle moves sacks the same afternoon. In Kartik, the aging list shows three cooperatives still unpaid from the paddy season; the officer adds them to the weekly collection plan and visits each one. The figures and places are invented to show the routine.

Related reading

Pesticide and crop protection distribution, seed companies, monsoon route and delivery planning and the agro inputs industry page.

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