While
there have been consistent reports of farmers committing suicides in
several parts of the country – primarily because of their inability
to pay debts for high end farming resources, there is also the
emerging facet of the Indian farmers this time around. Interestingly,
many farmers are breaking away from their bondage with the society as
mere suppliers and now are becoming their own masters – in terms of
adopting farmer-entrepreneurship.
On
one hand there has been a growing initiative on the part of
institutes like IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute, also
called Pusa Institute) that has led the farmers to turn over a new
leaf by becoming more enterprising. And this was not to happen in a
jiffy. They had to create awareness, involve the farmers in producing
seeds germinating into crop varieties, and above all improve the
availability of quality seed while disseminating the necessary skills
and technology. And this sort of initiative has boosted the farmers
to make seed production a lucrative business and enrich their own
lives.
Interestingly,
however, such programmes have widely been extended in the northern
states of the country. Majority of the northern states like Haryana,
Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, have benefited from the initiative. The
farmers have been provided overall guidance at every stage. And all
this mentoring is done free with some initial payment and royalty
from private seed companies with whom IARI signed MoUs and entailing
which the companies help multiplying the Pusa variety seeds. And as a
result the participating farmers augmented the total output of Pusa
crop variety seeds from nearly 5000 quintals in 2005-06 to over 11000
quintals in 2009-10, as reported elsewhere.
On
the other hands we have stories of men like Dyaneshwar Bodke who quit
their regular jobs and the prime source of income after their
new-found interest in farming especially as he was inspired by yet
another farmer in Sangli who made Rs. 12 lakh a year simply by
growing carnations. Dyaneshwar’s initiative blossomed so well that
now his farming has grown into a producing company that grows and
exports exotic flowers and fruits.
These
instances show that there is an emerging segment of educated farmers
whose entrepreneurial inclinations have been brought to the attention
of the governmental authorities to formulate policies and lay
guidelines so as to enable men like Bodke and other farmers to follow
their dreams. And indeed the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development (Nabard) have helped Bodke’s initiative and bodies like
Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) have identified the
urgency to promote agricultural producer companies and plans to set
up more 250 companies around the country in near future.
Now
what do we learn here? It does sound like a good deviation from the
suicidal stories of our farmer brothers. But this has been made
possible only by some solid backing who were instrumental in coaching
the farmers, the supporting companies, and more so the enthusiasm of
the farmers too. But the light is yet to be passed on to our brothers
in rest parts of the country. But this is to happen soon, the
movement must march as a renaissance and save the food-providers
before they take away their own lives for once.
- See more at: http://www.nuziveeduseeds.com/blog/
No comments:
Post a Comment