AGRILEAF EXPORTS CASE STUDY

How Agrileaf Exports used Zoho Creator to digitise leaf collection, grading and farmer payments across its village collection centres.

Industry: Areca Palm Leaf Dinnerware Manufacturing and Export
Location: Dharmasthala, Dakshina Kannada, Karnataka, India
Application & Services Used: Zoho Creator
Implementation Partner: V-Align Technologies, Zoho Premium Partner

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OVERVIEW

Agrileaf buys areca palm leaves directly from local farmers at village collection centres, grades them by quality and pays each farmer based on the grades supplied. The whole process ran on paper and Excel, so the company could not reliably tell which farmer had supplied what, at which grade, or how much had been paid.

V-Align built a Collection Center Management app on Zoho Creator that records every delivery at the collection centre, captures grade-wise quantities and calculates farmer payouts automatically from a central, region-wise rate master.

Key takeaways:

• Agrileaf’s first business system for collections: paper and Excel records replaced by one Zoho Creator app.
• Farmer payouts calculated automatically from grade-wise quantities and region-wise rates, with no manual calculation.
• Rate changes set by management apply instantly to new entries at every collection centre, while past entries keep the rate they were recorded at.
• Built and rolled out in about three months with no third-party integrations, and in daily use for nearly two years.

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Agrileaf Exports Private Limited is a leading manufacturer and exporter of eco-friendly, biodegradable dinnerware made from naturally fallen areca palm leaves. Founded in 2019 by Avinash Rao (CEO) and Athishay Jain, and built on over ten years of research, the company is based in the areca-growing region of Karnataka, with its factory at Nidle near Dharmasthala in Dakshina Kannada district. Its plates are microwave-safe, fully compostable, and made without chemical preservatives, adhesives or resins, offering a green alternative to plastic, bamboo and paper plates.

Agrileaf’s biodegradable areca palm leaf plates and product range. Images: Agrileaf

Agrileaf runs automated production lines making about 3 million plates a month, and has exported over 30 million biodegradable plates to markets across the US, UK and Europe. It also offers private labelling and custom-engraved plates. Its clients include VerTerra, Taj, Zomato Hyperpure, Ocean Pearl, Tamara and Cater Ninja. The factory is operated daily by rural women from the surrounding villages, as part of a bio-ethical business model that also benefits the farmers who supply its raw material.

The business depends on a steady supply of good-quality leaves, which Agrileaf sources directly from areca farmers through collection centres in villages around its facility. Farmers bring their leaves to a centre, where staff check weight and quality and then segregate the leaves into grades over one to two days. Each farmer is paid according to the quantity supplied in each grade, and the graded leaves then move to the factory for manufacturing.

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PROBLEM STATEMENT AND KEY CHALLENGES

Before this project, Agrileaf had no system for its collection operations. Every delivery, grading result and payment was recorded on paper or in Excel sheets at each collection centre. With leaves arriving from many farmers and grading taking a day or two, entries were easily missed, and management had no reliable view of its own supply chain.

• No farmer-level traceability: When a farmer supplied leaves, how much and at what grade was not reliably recorded.
• Unclear payment status: The team could not easily confirm how much each farmer had been paid, or whether a payment was still pending.
• Slow, manual calculations: Staff worked out payouts by hand from grade-wise quantities and rates, which took time and invited errors.
• Inconsistent rates: Rates differ by region and change over time, and keeping every centre’s sheets on the latest rate was difficult.
• Weak data security: Paper and spreadsheets gave no controlled access to sensitive payment data.

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EVALUATION OF THE PROBLEM

V-Align’s consultants mapped Agrileaf’s collection process end to end, from a farmer’s arrival at a collection centre through weighing, quality checks, grade segregation and settlement, to dispatch to the factory. Three findings shaped the solution:

• Capture data at the source: Errors crept in because records were written up after the fact, so entries had to be made at the collection centre as each farmer delivered.
• Grading is a separate step: Leaves are weighed on arrival but graded over one to two days, so the system had to link each delivery to a later grade-wise entry.
• Rates need one owner: Pricing differs by grade and region and changes over time, so rates had to be set centrally by management rather than kept in each centre’s sheets.

This process was specific to Agrileaf and did not fit an off-the-shelf product, which made a custom low-code application the right approach.

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PROPOSED SOLUTION

V-Align recommended Zoho Creator, Zoho’s low-code application platform, to build a custom Collection Center Management app around Agrileaf’s process. Each challenge was mapped to a specific capability:

• No farmer-level traceability: Delivery entry at each collection centre recording the farmer, date, quantity and quality at the time of supply.
• Grade segregation: Grade-wise entry of quantity per grade, linked to the original delivery.
• Manual calculations: Farmer payout calculated automatically from grade-wise quantities and the applicable rate.
• Inconsistent rates: Central rate master with grade-wise and region-wise rates, controlled by management.
• Rate changes: New rates apply automatically to new entries at every centre, while past entries keep the rate they were recorded at.
• Unclear payment status: Farmer-wise record of supply, grades and amount payable.
• Weak data security: Role-based access to records within Zoho Creator.

Zoho Creator fit Agrileaf because it let V-Align model a unique farm-to-factory sourcing process quickly, without heavy custom development, and gave management one controlled place to set rates and see every centre’s data.

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IMPLEMENTATION

V-Align built and rolled out the app in about three months.

1. Process mapping: Documented the collection flow at the centres, from delivery and weighing through grade segregation, settlement and dispatch to the factory.
2. App design and build: Built the Collection Center Management app on Zoho Creator, covering farmer records, delivery entry, grade-wise entry and automatic payout calculation.
3. Rate master setup: Configured grade-wise and region-wise rates, with the rule that a rate change applies only to entries made after the change.
4. Rollout and training: Trained collection centre staff to record deliveries and grades directly in the app, and moved the centres off paper and Excel.

Data: Agrileaf’s earlier records were on paper and scattered sheets, so the team started fresh in the new app rather than migrating historical data. Every record since go-live is captured in Zoho Creator.

Integrations: None were required. The solution runs entirely on Zoho Creator, which kept the build fast and the app simple for centre staff to use.

RESULTS

Agrileaf has run its collection centres on the app for nearly two years, and it remains in daily use. For the first time, the company has an accurate, farmer-level record of what it buys, at what quality and for how much.

• One system across centres: Paper notes and Excel sheets at each centre replaced by one Zoho Creator app.
• Automatic farmer payouts: Payouts calculated from grades and rates instead of by hand.
• Instant rate updates: Rates set once by management and applied to new entries at every centre.
• Full farmer history: A complete record of supply, grades and amount payable for every farmer.
• Secure data: Role-based access in place of unrestricted paper and files.

The biggest gains are speed and accuracy at settlement. Staff no longer cross-check sheets to work out what a farmer is owed, payouts always use the correct, current rate, and management can trust the numbers coming from every centre.

“Zoho is a great platform and gives us flexibility to develop applications faster. Partner was responsive and met the deadlines.” - Agrileaf Exports Private Limited

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ABOUT V-ALIGN TECHNOLOGIES

V-Align Technologies Private Limited | Zoho Premium Partner

With 16 years of Zoho expertise, 1,500 projects completed, 500+ clients across 26 countries and 600+ Zoho Creator apps built, V-Align helps businesses replace paper and spreadsheets with Zoho applications built around how they actually work.

Email: transformsales@v-align.in
Phone: +91 7337696002 / +91 7353769605
Web: www.v-align.in

Still running operations on paper and Excel? Talk to V-Align about a custom Zoho Creator app built around your process.