Entrepreneurial innovations for sustainable agriculture: Unleashing the creativity of youth
Having surpassed the national growth rate in agriculture almost by 100 per cent, Chhattisgarh has achieved a distinction which country can be proud of. There are not many states, which have done it. But, growth alone will not suffice. It has to be sustainable, inclusive and entrepreneurial so that benefits reach all sections of society. We cannot debit the account of nature and the future generation to credit current consumption. Having a long term view helps. It gives us energy for mounting major missions that seem impossible in the short run. Having pursed a shodhyatra in Narayanpur a couple of years ago, there are insights, which I would like to share about harnessing the anger and alienation of youth for creative and collaborative development.
I am extremely happy that the Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur has made significant progress in achieving various professional, social and institutional milestones in service of small farmers and entrepreneurs. However, if we need to make major breakthroughs, we will have to redefine the connections among communities, local knowledge systems, aspirations of youth and delivery of education, pursuit of research and the design of extension systems.
Rethinking extension:
Dr.K.L.Munshi, then Food and Agriculture Minister and President of the Governing Board of ICAR had eloquently argued for redefining the meaning of extension. In a series of lectures entitled, “The Gospel of Dirty Hand”, he had stressed the need in 1952 for soiling hands, learning from people, connecting water and nutrient cycles with village management systems. In a landmark idea, he had talked about the need for establishing land army. The first unit of land army comprising students of Delhi University had gone to clean up the Chattarpur drain. The idea was that youth would be mobilized for constructive activities to work with local communities and generate viable common property institutional solutions. The vision was revived in late 70’s in Karnataka. But it proved to be short-lived. There are several challenges which, agricultural research, education and extension systems are facing today and we cannot use conventional solutions for uncertain future in the wake of climate change as well as socio-economic turbulence around the world.
Challenges:
a. From ex-situ to in-situ value addition: Almost entire forest produce is brought out from the forest as a raw material. Practically, no value addition takes place inside the forest by the tribal communities. The loss of quality as well as extraction efficiency in oil, nuts and other products is inevitable. The dominance of contractors who obviously do not have long-term interest of the community in the mind is also obvious. The regulatory structures for developing ayurvedic medicine including simple powders prevent small-scale decentralized processing. While forest officers in parts of Udaipur have used bamboo incense making machines as well as food processing machinery developed by grassroots innovators like Dharamavir from Haryana, Paresh Panchal, Gujarat and Ralte from Mizoram increased the per day wages to ` 400/=, similar effort needs to be mounted all over the country. National Innovation Foundation [NIF] will support every such effort, which adds value to local produce, reduces drudgery for women and other workers using cycle hoe and motorcycle plough or other devices and generates self-employment opportunities. In agriculture as well as forestry, even the grading of the grains or the seeds adds value. Many years ago, in a meeting organized by solvent extractors associations, this issue of sorting and grading came up in a big way in the context of non-edible tree seeds used for oil for soap industry. There should be a special youth venture fund set up targeting youth to trigger an entrepreneurial revolution for value addition. The forces engaged in commodity trading may resist such efforts. But, no change has ever come about without facing resistance. The mitanin model developed in the state became the basis of countrywide Asha model not without resistance. During our shodhyatra, the two channels that were working most evidently in the remote villages were the health workers and food grain supply systems. It is possible to build upon locally acceptable solutions provided they meet strongly felt needs and address concerns of the youth. In the next five years the state should resolve to set up thousands of value adding units in forest as well as other rural areas to prevent exploitation of tribal and other small farming communities and ensure significant improvement in the quality of life. The education system will have to focus much more strongly on development of entrepreneurial skills. In a Vice Chancellors’ conference in Hisar, I had advocated introduction of such courses in every agriculture university so that we produce entrepreneurial leaders who will provide jobs rather than seek them.
b. Knowledge networks for sustainability: The soil health, plan and animal health and human health are interlinked. If soil becomes deficient in zinc, boron or other minerals, that deficiency will inevitably affect our health. The regions, which receive low rainfall are rich in mineral because of poor drainage. The crops grown in such regions are likely to be rich in location-specific minerals. Similarly, the intensively cultivated regions will have the opposite outcomes. The health experts are aware how many chronic diseases can be indicated because of deficiencies or in a few cases, excesses. If mineral rich grains and oil seeds are characterized for their health benefits, they become functional foods and the value goes up tremendously. The consumers are willing to pay extra for such crops. Who had imagined that flax seeds would be sold in grams rather than quintals? Every time we change the unit of sale per quintal to per 100 gram, we have transformed opportunities for farmers and also for consumers. Preventive health is more democratic than curative health. A healthy society does not wait for symptoms to accentuate before taking action. This is an area of buoyant growth in years to come. It will also give boost to organic agriculture and particularly those small farmers who pursue low external material – input agriculture. The knowledge networks among experts from agriculture, health, nutrition and other related disciplines will have to be created to harness the potential of huge global market for the purpose.
c. Venture fund for agriculture: It is ironic that despite contributing so much for the national economy, there is no dedicated incubation and innovation promotion social venture fund in the country. Whatever efforts are being made by various agencies are mired in the bureaucratic mindsets and structures. University should set up an autonomous section 25 company with people of high integrity and eminence including representatives of private sector and civil society organisations to provide risk capital for building value chain around innovative technologies. This fund could target ventures by faculty, students and even unemployed youth or professionals who wish to start new businesses. A separate fund could be created for young budding entrepreneurs from rural and urban areas to promote agri-food-herbal value chains. There could also be machineries or processing plants that innovators want to set up using new technologies developed by university or independently.
d. Blending formal and informal science and supporting innovators: Most agriculture universities do encourage innovative farmers but an institutionalized mechanism is missing. For instance, the Directors [Research] generally do not monitor how many experiments were started, stopped or modified in the light of the feedback from farmers. Likewise, there is no dedicated space and fund for validating, value adding and disseminating innovations by farmers and mechanics at every Krishi Vigyan Kendra. I hope Chhattisgarh will become the first state to do so. And thus ensure a close blending of formal and informal system. Honey Bee Network and its affiliated institutions such as SRISTI, Grassroots Innovation Augmentation Network [GIAN] and NIF are committed to support such an initiative. The innovations could be from or for Chhattisgarh. Basic purpose is to ignite the mind of farming community about new ways of improving productivity, conserving resources and generating enterprises. We must have time bound targets for reducing and eventually eliminating the chemical pesticides and other inputs by working with nature and utilizing herbal alternatives. There should be special fund to pay testing fees for farmers’ innovations so that their products can compete with the formal sector. Many times, scientists feel inhibited in appreciating a solution developed by a farmer, which is better than their own. Recently, a farmer in Tamil Nadu improved a weeder developed by the university. The university not only acknowledged it but also bought five such devices from that innovator. Sheikh Usmani is one of the awardees of NIF who developed bamboo based splitting and incense stick making machine. The variety HMT developed by Dada Sab Khobragade from Maharashtra is ranked on the top in several districts of Chhattisgarh. If more such innovations can be tried out from various parts of the country for improving the local economy, why shouldn’t university become a hub for sourcing and sinking such ideas.
e. Combining open source with intellectual property protected knowledge systems: A concept of Technology Commons developed during our research implies that even in the case of patented technology, farmer to farmer or artisan to artisan copying and improvements should not only be allowed but also encouraged. People to firm transfer of technology should be through licensing and benefit sharing agreement. We should popularize such concepts which adapt the instruments of IPR for our needs. Further, every student of M.Sc., and Ph.D should be required to review the patent databases including the expired and the abandoned patents in their research synopsis. This will ensure that our students work on the edge and benefit from global pool of knowledge, which may not have been included in the books or journals yet. We should incentivize both patent protection as well as creation of open source databases. Honey Bee Network is willing to provide about 8000 – 10000 practices for wider dissemination in local language through computers in every village or school. When we share ideas, many people will realize that they too have equally important or valid ideas. The experimental and innovative ethic will then grow and spread.
f. In-situ conservation of agro biodiversity: The gene banks have played an important role in conservation of germplasm. At the same time, several studies have shown that many important genes are lost in the gene banks because the stresses under which those genes have to express are missing at research stations. Given the likely hazards caused by climate change, we have to ensure that outcome of historical experimentation and conservation by our communities is not lost because of absence of proper mechanisms for conserving agro biodiversity. The contribution of Prof. Richaria is well known. We need to identify endemic zones of different varieties of various crops and animal breeds. Through design of appropriate incentives and insurance mechanism, every village could be persuaded to set aside a few plots to conserve local varieties for future use. The loss of yield in comparison to the improved varieties can be off-setted by procuring these grains for urban consumption. By organizing Sattvik – Traditional Food Festival at IIMA campus during last ten years, SRISTI has demonstrated that many of these crops and their varieties are readily purchased by the urban consumers at premium once the nutritional advantages and traditional recipes are shared. More than 45,000 people came to IIMA campus during Dec 29 – 31, 2012. Several organic farmers and providers of traditional food, local crafts earned several lakh rupees in three days. University could organize such festivals with the help of voluntary organization in different cities and the entire procurement of traditional varieties can be easily sold at premium at such festivals. A viable market based model of conserving agro biodiversity and associated knowledge of women can be developed based on the results Sattvik during the last decade. Similarly, many products of local breeds of cows and other animals are also preferred by the consumers.
g. Water conservation through large scale community mobilization: Gujarat has achieved an enviable reputation for in-situ conservation of water through 100,000 and more check dams, farm ponds and other mechanisms. Group of farmers can visit Saurashtra and see how civil society led efforts have brought about a large scale transformation. Similarly, we observed in many tribal houses, an effort to conserve rooftop rainwater. Groups could go to Mizoram where almost every house has rooftop water harvesting structures. The quality of sanitation in the villages is exemplary. Any number of delegations go abroad to study models of development but we seem to hesitate in learning from within the country.
h. Harnessing anger and alienation of youth for reconstructing entrepreneurial transformation of tribal areas: There is a very painful conflict going on in several parts of the state sapping tremendous energy of all concerned. I believe that by engaging with the youth and changing the mindset of the police department, we can bring about a conciliatory atmosphere for dialogue and collaborative development. We should not use such areas as places of punishment posting. The only request we received during our walk was transfer of a teacher who was not doing his job well. That shows that people value education even in the most interior areas and they want their children to get better opportunities. Expansion of ITIs, community polytechnics and other community workshops can help youth acquire new skills. Every village school should have computer labs for building skills and acquire knowledge. A database of high quality open source teaching materials with local examples and references can go a long way in turning the mood around. The peace is possible and participative development perhaps can be the only way.
Let me conclude by highlighting the tremendous opportunities we have for making Chhattisgarh a model of sustainable and healthy state by blending cultural, technological and institutional knowledge and values of our society. I congratulate all the students who are passing out today to enter the real world with enormously complex challenges. I trust that you will remember that there is at least one thing in the world, which each one of you alone can do better than others. Once you discover that, you will find the elusive passion that connects purpose with performance. Indian agriculture requires a redefinition of knowledge intensive engagement with soil, society and sustainable spirit of humankind. We cannot build a model of sustainable agriculture without sustaining soil eco system, water quality and level, agro biodiversity and reconnecting the innovation, investment and enterprise.
I am sure many of you will pave the way on which future generations will walk with pride. No change is too small and no initiative too timid. Every step in the direction of making the consumption and production compatible within the caring limits of the environment counts. May you all be the vanguard of connecting culture of creativity, conservation, collaboration and compassion towards nature and each other.
Anil K Gupta
