Starting procurement relationships is easy.

Stopping them is not.

Most systems spend months designing entry:

• onboarding farmers,

• setting rates,

• issuing guidelines,

• making promises.

Exit, when it comes, is usually:

• sudden,

• poorly explained,

• and emotionally damaging.

Yet how you exit defines what people remember.

________________________________________

Exit is not failure. Mishandled exit is.

Procurement relationships end for many valid reasons:

• volumes don’t scale,

• quality doesn’t stabilise,

• cash cycles don’t work,

• markets shift,

• strategies change.

Ending a relationship is not unethical.

Ending it carelessly is.

Governance must treat exit as a designed phase, not an awkward afterthought.

________________________________________

A familiar ending near Viratnagar

For two seasons, a group of farmers supplied cucumbers.

Volumes were inconsistent.

Losses were high.

Processing options were limited.

One day, procurement simply stops.

Phones go unanswered.

Messages are vague.

“Abhi nahi lenge.”

No closure.

No explanation.

No timeline.

Farmers don’t protest loudly.

They just remember.

Next season, when the buyer returns,

trust is already gone.

________________________________________

Silence is the most unethical exit

Many buyers believe silence is the gentlest way to exit.

It is not.

Silence creates:

• confusion,

• false hope,

• and lingering resentment.

Farmers keep producing,

keep waiting,

keep guessing.

Ethical exit replaces silence with clarity — even if clarity hurts.

________________________________________

Exit should never arrive as a surprise

The worst exits are sudden.

Farmers hear:

“From tomorrow, we won’t buy.”

No warning.

No transition.

No alternatives.

This is not governance.

This is abandonment.

Ethical exit begins long before the last purchase:

• through signals,

• reduced volumes,

• honest conversations.

________________________________________

Distinguishing pause from exit

Not all stoppages are exits.

• A pause is temporary and defined.

• An exit is permanent or indefinite.

Confusing the two creates chaos.

Governance insists on naming the situation clearly:

• “We are pausing for two months.”

• “We are exiting this crop permanently.”

Ambiguity is cruelty.

________________________________________

Exit does not erase obligations

Ending procurement does not end responsibility.

Pending payments, unresolved disputes, and open questions

must be closed before exit.

Leaving loose ends:

• poisons future re-entry,

• damages reputation,

• and spreads distrust beyond one relationship.

A clean exit is a complete exit.

________________________________________

Live animals and milk demand extra care

In milk and live animal systems,

exit is especially sensitive.

Daily dependence means:

• income stops immediately,

• routines collapse,

• alternatives are limited.

Ethical exit here requires:

• advance notice,

• transition support,

• and absolute payment clarity.

Abrupt exit in these systems is remembered for years.

________________________________________

Why “commercial decision” is not enough

Many buyers justify exit by saying:

“It’s a commercial decision.”

That may be true.

But commercial logic does not cancel human impact.

Governance does not ask you to stay forever.

It asks you to leave responsibly.

________________________________________

Exit is a test of values

Anyone can talk about ethics during growth.

Exit tests whether those values were real.

• Did you communicate?

• Did you honour commitments?

• Did you respect dignity?

These answers travel faster than marketing.

________________________________________

A simple exit governance test

Ask this honestly:

“If roles were reversed, would I accept how this exit was handled?”

If the answer is no,

the system has failed — even if the decision was right.

________________________________________

Why this chapter matters

Many procurement organisations don’t realise this:

You are judged more by how you exit than how you enter.

Farmers forgive mistakes.

They rarely forgive disrespect.

Ethical exit preserves:

• trust,

• reputation,

• and the possibility of future collaboration.

________________________________________

What comes next

We’ve now walked through:

• decisions,

• money,

• behaviour,

• failure,

• and exit.

The final part of this doctrine is about making all this usable.

Because governance that cannot be applied

remains theory — however wise.