Dream harvest just a mile away
In a blitzkrieg that began on Baisakhi day, more than 50,000 farmers in hundreds of villages across the country have sent one lakh soil samples to the nearest labs for a health check-up over the last seven weeks.
By Nidhi Nath Srinivas, TNN |
NEW DELHI: The desh ki dharti is now getting checked out for the proverbial sona. In a blitzkrieg that began on Baisakhi day, more than 50,000 farmers in hundreds of villages across the country have sent one lakh soil samples to the nearest labs for a health check-up over the last seven weeks. Never before have so many farmers discovered how much cash their top asset can generate.
And guess who is doing all the running around? City boys like Chambal Fertilisers, Tata Chemicals, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Nagarjuna, Spic and Iffco have been delivering this service to their doorsteps. These companies, along with 40 more crop input players, have also divided all the major districts between themselves to show growers how the same farm can yield a dream harvest.
In Haryana and Rajasthan, the state governments themselves have now allocated districts to different companies for undertaking soil testing and farmer training programmes. In some districts, this is the first time in 25 years that a field has been tested.
Given the huge market for soil check labs, several corporates may soon start offering it as a separate value-added service to the bigger farmers. “Right now these tests are mostly free because farm sizes are small.
But given the rapid increase in awareness among the larger farmers, soil testing will definitely be a viable service for companies,” said BK Saha, director general, Fertiliser Association of India, which is co-ordinating the soil health check programme.
Most state agriculture departments and agricultural universities are also contributing to it, as part of the ‘06 national soil health enhancement action plan mooted by MS Swaminathan. But farmers will only pay for a service only if they believe it improves profits.
And that is exactly what the corporates are trying to achieve. “Our main goal is to teach good growing practices by actually using them on a piece of a small farmer’s field. Once the soil test results are in, every farmer is educated about what he needs to do to improve yields.
The extra expenses are shared by the company and the farmer. At a pinch, even FAI is willing to pay for it. The results are usually so encouraging that most farmers in the village adopt GAP enthusiastically,” he added.
While a few companies are limiting their contribution to soil testing and farmer awareness campaigns, others like Chambal Fertilisers are taking it further to include rural employment, cattle wealth, and contract farming. “Our Uttam Bandhan programme is a tripartite understanding of trust between the company, the dealer and the customer — the farmer.
We provide customised services to each customer and we are duty-bound to deliver quantifiable benefits,” said Jaideep Singh, director of corporate communications at Chambal. To measure the increase in individual income, an evaluation is done after a rabi/kharif season.
And guess who is doing all the running around? City boys like Chambal Fertilisers, Tata Chemicals, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Nagarjuna, Spic and Iffco have been delivering this service to their doorsteps. These companies, along with 40 more crop input players, have also divided all the major districts between themselves to show growers how the same farm can yield a dream harvest.
In Haryana and Rajasthan, the state governments themselves have now allocated districts to different companies for undertaking soil testing and farmer training programmes. In some districts, this is the first time in 25 years that a field has been tested.
Given the huge market for soil check labs, several corporates may soon start offering it as a separate value-added service to the bigger farmers. “Right now these tests are mostly free because farm sizes are small.
But given the rapid increase in awareness among the larger farmers, soil testing will definitely be a viable service for companies,” said BK Saha, director general, Fertiliser Association of India, which is co-ordinating the soil health check programme.
Most state agriculture departments and agricultural universities are also contributing to it, as part of the ‘06 national soil health enhancement action plan mooted by MS Swaminathan. But farmers will only pay for a service only if they believe it improves profits.
ADVERTISEMENT
And that is exactly what the corporates are trying to achieve. “Our main goal is to teach good growing practices by actually using them on a piece of a small farmer’s field. Once the soil test results are in, every farmer is educated about what he needs to do to improve yields.
The extra expenses are shared by the company and the farmer. At a pinch, even FAI is willing to pay for it. The results are usually so encouraging that most farmers in the village adopt GAP enthusiastically,” he added.
While a few companies are limiting their contribution to soil testing and farmer awareness campaigns, others like Chambal Fertilisers are taking it further to include rural employment, cattle wealth, and contract farming. “Our Uttam Bandhan programme is a tripartite understanding of trust between the company, the dealer and the customer — the farmer.
We provide customised services to each customer and we are duty-bound to deliver quantifiable benefits,” said Jaideep Singh, director of corporate communications at Chambal. To measure the increase in individual income, an evaluation is done after a rabi/kharif season.
Download
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
The Economic Times Business News App for the Latest News in Business, Sensex, Stock Market Updates & More.
Download
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
The Economic Times News App for Quarterly Results, Latest News in ITR, Business, Share Market, Live Sensex News & More.
ADVERTISEMENT
