IFPRI- CSISA organized a one day high level policy roundtable on Sustainable Intensification in India’s Risk-Prone Ecologies: Investment strategies for productivity growth, resource conservation, and climate risk management” on May 19, 2014 in New Delhi. This roundtable, brings together a high-level small group of individuals from the corporate, government, and research sectors to address one of India’s most urgent challenges to food security and economic growth—how to encourage private sector investment in accelerating productivity growth in India’s risk-prone ecologies while simultaneously conserving the environment. There are solutions already in farmers’ fields and rural markets that respond to these challenges, and this Roundtable will highlight recent advances, for example: innovative financial products and information services for small-scale farmers; diagnostic tools for managing water and soil nutrient scarcity; custom-hired resource-conserving machinery for small farms; crop diversification and high-value marketing strategies; and stress-resistant wheat and rice varieties. But the search for solutions is far from complete. This Roundtable is meant to engage participants in a rapid-fire discussion of recent technical solutions in Indian agriculture, the prospects for policy change, and corporate outlooks for the next five years. The purpose is to help public and private sector players to identify common investment strategies, forge partnerships, and chalk out collaborative efforts to effect technological, market, and policy improvements in India’s risk prone ecologies.

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Farmers Empowerment
- from Field to Market
Kaushlendra
IFPRI – CSISA
19 May 2014

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Changing dynamics of Agriculture in Bihar and Eastern UP
• Ageing of farmers
• Role of Women – from helping hand to
decision making
• Decreasing size of farms
• Increasing Role of technology, skills and
knowledge
• Low cost of communication
• Outsourcing of farming/ production
processes/ activities
• Irrigation, weeding, harvesting
• Climate Change

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Our innovation/ interventions
• Capturing values ( marketing)
• Supply chain streamlining, product branding, AC cool cart , Trainings and handholding
• Promotion of production technologies for small farmers
• Polyhouses, mulching, hybrid seeds, IPM , Demo plots
• Farmers institution formation – FPCs
• Entrepreneurship model within FPC model
• Each Director represent atleast 100 farmers
• Incentives on transactions
• Micro-enterprise – especially for organic inputs
• ABC ( Agribusiness centers)
• One stop shop
• Input
• Output
• Advisory

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Socio-economic Impacts
• More than 5000 farmers member of FPCs
• New technology adoption – communication, seeds, farming methods, processes
• Farmers income increased by 25 to 40%
• Shift towards reduced usage of inorganic chemicals
• No product or equipment sale (cost impact) to farmers
• Inclusive & transparent strategic partnerships with producer and suppliers & buyers
• Traceability/ Tagging used to enhance pride and associated onus for product.
• Participation in business model encouraged across sexes.
• Organisational benefits to disorganised farmers
• Evidencing collaboration across a traditionally feudal farm & rural community.
• Scalability that fetches growth, partnership & hope to agricultural society.

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Partnership Developed,
Challenges & Recommendations

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• IFFCO
• Surya Shree
• KVKs
• ICAR
• KGPL
• Naamdhari
• Sungro
• Bioseed
• Shri ram seeds
• HDFC
Finance (Long
term & short
term
Investment &
insurance)
Seed
Crop nutrient,
crop
protection,
crop advisory,
Machineries
Marketing-No formal markets
-Finance & micro-
finance for marketing
activities ??
-Suitability of
technologies
(economics vs user
requirement )
-Govt. policy
(Land leasing)
-Bank ( term loan &
crop credit) – cost of
availing it

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Suggestions
• Simplification of input licensing process
• Government should relook at lowest price bidding model
• Fund/Finance for marketing and entrepreneurship development
• Skill development of rural youth for providing services like
implements/ equipment servicing, advisory, soil testing etc.
• Redesigning of Input companies distribution model – because of FPCs
• Focus on women
• Communication, technologies, processes, policies, research
• Land leasing policy of the state

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Opportunities with us
• Reach to aggregated market
• More than 5000 farmers
• Low cost of transaction
• 4 farmers institutions
• Experience in technology promotion and adoption,
Value chain creation/ establishment
• Agri inputs, Machineries / implements , output
marketing through ABC / FPC
• Skill development and knowledge enhancement
• Technology promotions – Demonstration on
farmers plot and training to communities for
accelerated adoption

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Thank You
Contact no: 7765991209