Synergies & Customised Services to Empower Farmers

Presentation at the IFPRI-CSISA Roundtable, Delhi, 19th May 2014

•102 years old company

•Turnover ~ over US $ 7 billion

• One of top 3 sustained value creators over 2 decades---Stern Stewart Study – 2005

•Market cap > US $ 45 billion

A diversified Indian conglomerate

FMCGPaper &

PackagingHotelsAgri Business Information

Technology

Critical Agri-value Chains

Foods & Tobacco businesses –stable & assured production of finest quality of agri-products

Paper, paperboards & packaging businesses – assured supply of pulpwood from sustainable sources

Foods & dairy businesses –competitive base for quality milk

High Stakes in Indian Agriculture

• Direct engagement with nearly 2 lakh farmers thru crop development on more than 3 lakh hectares

• Farmer connect thru eChoupals – 4 million

• These farmers operate in moisture stressed areas:

Agriculture mainly rain-fed - crop production unstable

Depletion of bio-mass - aggravating top-soil losses & surface run-off

High soil erosion - implications for fertility & productivity of land

Sustainable growth in farm incomes

Challenges

• Biomass cover of 33% of project areas

• Progress towards ‘safe groundwater zone’ status

• Achieve 0.75-1% soil organic carbon

• 50% of village GDP from dairy activities

Desired Outcomes

• Nurture, preserve & expand competitive sources of raw material for our businesses

• Sustainable & accelerated growth in livelihoods and farm incomes

Creating an eco-system for agriculture development

Information &knowledge

Access to inputs

& markets

Sustainable agriculture practices

Natural resource

management

Integrated animal

husbandry services

Forging multi-stakeholder partnerships

• Leverage government programmes & resources (IWMP, NREGA, NHM,etc)Scale

• Collaboration with premier research institutions & agriculture collegesKnowledge

• Project & financial management capabilities of the private sector & the mobilisation skills of the NGOs

Execution

• eChoupals, Choupal Sagars & village institutions for flow of goods and servicesPlatform

Agriculture in Bihar, W Bengal & UP

Objective: Crop development in new areas close to markets thru Sustainable Agricultural Practices – introduced new wheat, potato &

mentha varieties

Facilitating agri-business services (varieties, PoPs, inputs & implements) through 138 Farmers Field Schools

Promotion of conservation practices like SRI (1,000 ac), Zero tillage (1,760 ac), Seed drill (3,200 ac), multi cropping (640 plots), nutritional garden (590 plots)

Promotion of Leguminous crops as intercrops/bund plantation/green manure/Cover crops

MOU signed with Bihar Agricultural University (BAU), Sabour to promote best agricultural practices in Munger

Animal Husbandry & Dairy in Bihar

OBJECTIVES

Increase productivity per animal

Improve quality of

raw milk

Accurate,

transparent

& timely payments

Cost efficient

milk handling

INITIATIVES

-- Breeding Services

-- Animal Management & Nutrition

-- 24*7 Call Centre (Pasudhan Seva Kendra)

-- Farm Hygiene

-- Screening for Bacterial Count

-- Training on CMP

-- Use of Certified Equipment

-- Automated Milk Collection and testing

-- E-Payment to Farmers

-- Strategic positioning of BMCs

-- Optimisation of Milk Routes

OUTCOMES

--- 20% increase in Milk Productivity

--- Lower Farm Management & Logistics Costs

--- High Quality Milk with Traceability

--- Higher Returns to Farmers

--- Emergence of Commercial Dairy Farms

Munger dairy – key interventions

Objective: Establish base for high quality milk in concentrated geographies thus ensuring higher returns per animal

Call Centres for veterinary health care and animal breeding services through artificial insemination

Herd Management System to increase productivity by capturing accurate data on line to enable timely decision making

Promote modern commercial farms to showcase latest technology and ensure superior quality milk

Collaboration with HDFC Bank for cashless farmer payments, with Sahayak as the banking correespondent

Thank you