Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

Group of farmers in Jhansi meet regularly to improve agriculture in UP

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editorialteam

New Member
Group of farmers in Jhansi meet regularly to improve agriculture in UP against all odds
Rahul Richhariya is part of a group of farmers based in Jhansi, Bundelkhand.
“We are an unregistered group and work on mutual understanding. We meet daily and interact on phone. Our agenda is how to do better farming by sharing thoughts and techniques,” says Mr. Ricchariya. “All farmers in the group are collectively trying to make agriculture better in UP irrespective of all odds. Our aim is to uplift Indian farming and farmer’s way of living by doing scientific farming and to stop farmers’ suicide in Bundelkhand,” he adds.
Scientific Methods
The group consults scientists of KVK learns and adopts latest scientific farming. “We ask questions and and they guide us. They also visit our land and give us training. We also visit fairs and seminars.” Speaking about help and guidance from government,” says Mr. Ricchariya. He adds, “If government provides us all agriculture related services like good quality seed, pesticides, mandi, and agriculture consultancy at village level at the right time, then farmers will get all agri related help at one stop shop. This benefits farmers as well as agriculture in India.”
Main Commodities
The main commodities grown in the Jhansi area are wheat, basmati paddy, all types of pulses, cereals, horticulture crop, and spices crop. “Here summers are dry hot and winters are not too cold,” says Mr. Ricchariya.
Eliminating Middlemen
Further speaking about middlemen in the business, Mr. Ricchariya says, “It is very heart breaking that mediators take all the profit of farmers. In India due to lack of any structured body which fixes the price of farmer’s output, farmers get cheated. The farmers also have no right to fix the price of his crop according to the investment, the middlemen fix the price and take the entire product below the input cost, and farmers cannot do anything about it.”
Inviting MNC food processing to set up plants in the area and collect grains directly from the farmers cutting out the middlemen, he says, “We can supply regularly all our harvested products as much as they want. I invite these companies to come and set a food process industry in the area and we are ready to cooperate with them.”
He adds, “If any agribusiness houses set up food process industry or implement PPP model farming with farmers then definitely farmers can benefit and increase their income. The companies too will get plenty of raw materials at the same place. So we want agribusiness comp to come and start an agriculture based project. “
Major Challenges
When asked about the main problems faced by the farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Ricchariya says, “They don’t get good market in UP and the lack of proper government channels for distribution of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, consultancy, water, electricity. Some state governments like in Punjab and Haryana provide free and subsidized inputs to the farmers but not the UP government.
He laments, “In India agriculture sector is a very broad sector. It is also unstructured and unorganized. Some government policies are not farmer friendly either. If Indian government allows privatization of the agriculture sector then we can become topper in the world. For example agri business companies can grow anything in the barren land by using scientific techniques and earn money, while farmers are unable to earn even from fertile land.”
Regarding exports, he says, “In UP most of the farmers are illiterate and poor. So they think first about fulfilling their basic needs. I contacted some exporters to do business with us but they give low price to the farmers for their product. When farmers have handsome money in their hand they will definitely think about exports and elaborate their agri business activities. Today farmers are poor and my aim is to first make farmers financially strong and then take help from others.”
Milestones Achieved
Mr. Ricchariya explains, “All the members in our group work independently in their own agriculture land on the basis of mutual understanding. We share our views, new and innovative agri scientific techniques and seeds besides others. This way we do farming and set a model farm in the area so that other farmers can learn from the model farm. Then apply same thing on their agriculture land. We always take initiative to do something new in agriculture. We always help and promote farmers to apply scientific techniques in agriculture.”
He adds, “Previously no farmer in our district was cultivating basmati paddy and pulses in our district, but now thousands of farmers are cultivating these crops and uplifting their way of living.
DAO also gave a proposal to UP government to set a basmati paddy mandi and rice mill in this area. This year our group also requested the DM of Jhansi to start water canals for irrigation of paddy and the DM approved our request. Now thousands of farmers have benefited from this approval.”

So what are your impressions are reading this article? Feel free to ask questions and leave feedback on this article. The editorial team of AgricultureInfomation.com and Mr. Rahul Richhariya will monitor and respond to your comments.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

pchat5

New Member
meeting

Daer Mr. Rahul Richhariya,

I would like to meet you to discuss my plan for framers in our area Jhansi, Bundelkhand. I also belong to same area and have plan to form group for Organic farming.

Please call me at 09860238578.

Regards
Pravin Chaturvdi
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

bbm123

New Member
Inviting MNC food processing to set up plants in the area and collect grains directly

Dear Mr Richiary,
Inviting MNC will not benefit the farmers in the longrun.They may get a market but selling to clients directly through your Community ie getting together and selling to clients will be best suited in the present climate
Small business communities who are engaged in selling the particular item will be best.
After all what the communities want is upgrading their own products and direct selling to clients .Thanks Regards
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

dvsvrb

New Member
Mr.rahul, what you're doing is nice.though farmers are poor &they need to liquidate their product as soon as possible, why dont you try to pool up a small portion of of their produce for collective marketing.collective marketing may fetch better prices and also better bargaining ability.is it not possible/
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

thanks

thanks to all of you and your comments.

dear rk satla
please cut down the price of your product because you are focussing rural india.and check your email.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

editorialteam

New Member
Farmers in Jhansi

Hi Pravin,

It seems you had a talk with Rahul.

Let us know if your any further questions?

Regards,
Editorial Team

Daer Mr. Rahul Richhariya,

I would like to meet you to discuss my plan for framers in our area Jhansi, Bundelkhand. I also belong to same area and have plan to form group for Organic farming.

Please call me at 09860238578.

Regards
Pravin Chaturvdi
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

editorialteam

New Member
Rahul what are your thoughts on dvsvrb suggestions?

Regards,
Editorial Team

Mr.rahul, what you're doing is nice.though farmers are poor &they need to liquidate their product as soon as possible, why dont you try to pool up a small portion of of their produce for collective marketing.collective marketing may fetch better prices and also better bargaining ability.is it not possible/
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

SWAMY1807

New Member
Dear Friends,
Iam from Karnataka and wants to share my knowledge with you.

From the post Iam picking few points mentioned in invited commas and comment on the same.

“uplift Indian farming and farmer’s way of living by doing scientific farming”

Please do not wait for someone to up lift you, you are the builder of your own fate my brother farmer. Our brother farmer have already implemented their innovative scientific methods and got results in their fields which way may not know. Why can’t we go and meet that farmer who achieved and share his knowledge? We can do it.

“We ask questions and they guide us. They also visit our land and give us training. We also visit fairs and seminars”.

Necessity is the mother of invention, therefore since knowledge is required for us hence we can travel and have visit to achievers and get guidance, training and discuss for clarifications.

“If government provides us all agriculture related services like good quality seed, pesticides, mandi, and agriculture consultancy at village level at the right time, then farmers will get all agri related help at one stop shop. This benefits farmers as well as agriculture in India.”

Why we should wait someone including government to serve, We should be self-dependent,. Our ancestors lived independently, they managed to have their seeds stock, and growth promoters locally and they were the consultants to each other, got help, and benefited happily.

“Inviting MNC food processing to set up plants in the area and collect grains directly from the farmers cutting out the middlemen, he says”.

Inviting MNC is nothing but we surrendering them forever please note. Who are working in MNC’s? Our children only. Talent is available with us, but we do not know how to utilize them. We can bring the hidden knowledge by way of touring and knowing and encouraging.

"If any agribusiness houses set up food process industry or implement PPP model farming with farmers then definitely farmers can benefit and increase their income".
Any business house will exploit you please note. We our self itself can do processing of our produce. Model farms are already existing, but in few numbers. Now we need to realize sustainability in agriculture and should immediately start innovative farming practices. Seed innovator and seed banker Chandrashekar Sing from Varanasi,Ramsharan Singh from Barabanki innovated short term Banana, Rajpal Singh from Saharanpur invented peach based farming system, Gopal singh from Kannouj invented new method in Roses cultivation and many more talents are their near to you.

“They don’t get good market in UP and the lack of proper government channels for distribution of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, consultancy, water, electricity. Some state governments like in Punjab and Haryana provide free and subsidized inputs to the farmers but not the UP government”.

If you will not produce agri commodity properly, no one will get good market. Unless and until farmers do marketing, no one will give profit to him. Green revolution made farmers worst and dependents, do our ancestors used fertilizers and pesticides. They used local solutions for problems instead of fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers are willing to do consultancy if we approach.

"If Indian government allows privatization of the agriculture sector then we can become topper in the world. For example agri business companies can grow anything in the barren land by using scientific techniques and earn money, while farmers are unable to earn even from fertile land.”

Privatization is nothing but us becoming slaves with them. No one will come forward if profit is not his or hers. Why can’t you do and get profit? Business companies knows nothing, they hire knowledgeable people mentioned above. Still more talent is within us and we need to search it. A knowledgeable farmer equals to university. Mother earth has every power to grow, but we destroyed our earth with fertilizers and pesticide along with farming practices against to nature.

"We share our views, new and innovative agri scientific techniques and seeds besides others. This way we do farming and set a model farm in the area so that other farmers can learn from the model farm. Then apply same thing on their agriculture land. We always take initiative to do something new in agriculture. We always help and promote farmers to apply scientific techniques in agriculture.”

Yes right now go and share your knowledge with genius farmer and earn technics and become model for others and their by help others.

“Previously no farmer in our district was cultivating basmati paddy and pulses in our district, but now thousands of farmers are cultivating these crops and uplifting their way of living.DAO also gave a proposal to UP government to set a basmati paddy mandi and rice mill in this area. This year our group also requested the DM of Jhansi to start water canals for irrigation of paddy and the DM approved our request. Now thousands of farmers have benefited from this approval.”

Why all will grow same crops at same time? Why cannot start new kind of crop production. Why can’t someone a farmer can start mandi business? Why waiting for canals to come? Why not small check dams on your own efforts in your own land?

Dear friends, farmers are failing because of marketing. Why farmers allow others to market our produce? Why can’t we sell our produce our self without allowing middlemen? Within the village itself Growing, processing and marketing can be distributed within the farmers to avoid middlemen and get retain profit in villages itself? Farmer tour to innovative farmers field. Adopting diversification in farm production, Sharing knowledge. Executing same knowledge for processing and making value addition to agri produce, finally doing marketing on our own will uplift our farmers please note. During my last visit, I noticed that tree plantation in some parts of UP is not up to the mark. Please note planting one tree will serve you and your decedents, therefore go for more plantation to get more rain, cool climate, more productivity in your farm.
Regards.
SWAMY.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)


Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

thanks

dear swamy
thanks for your comments.
iam agree on some of your points .

Dear Friends,
Iam from Karnataka and wants to share my knowledge with you.

From the post Iam picking few points mentioned in invited commas and comment on the same.

“uplift Indian farming and farmer’s way of living by doing scientific farming”

Please do not wait for someone to up lift you, you are the builder of your own fate my brother farmer. Our brother farmer have already implemented their innovative scientific methods and got results in their fields which way may not know. Why can’t we go and meet that farmer who achieved and share his knowledge? We can do it.

“We ask questions and they guide us. They also visit our land and give us training. We also visit fairs and seminars”.

Necessity is the mother of invention, therefore since knowledge is required for us hence we can travel and have visit to achievers and get guidance, training and discuss for clarifications.

“If government provides us all agriculture related services like good quality seed, pesticides, mandi, and agriculture consultancy at village level at the right time, then farmers will get all agri related help at one stop shop. This benefits farmers as well as agriculture in India.”

Why we should wait someone including government to serve, We should be self-dependent,. Our ancestors lived independently, they managed to have their seeds stock, and growth promoters locally and they were the consultants to each other, got help, and benefited happily.

“Inviting MNC food processing to set up plants in the area and collect grains directly from the farmers cutting out the middlemen, he says”.

Inviting MNC is nothing but we surrendering them forever please note. Who are working in MNC’s? Our children only. Talent is available with us, but we do not know how to utilize them. We can bring the hidden knowledge by way of touring and knowing and encouraging.

"If any agribusiness houses set up food process industry or implement PPP model farming with farmers then definitely farmers can benefit and increase their income".
Any business house will exploit you please note. We our self itself can do processing of our produce. Model farms are already existing, but in few numbers. Now we need to realize sustainability in agriculture and should immediately start innovative farming practices. Seed innovator and seed banker Chandrashekar Sing from Varanasi,Ramsharan Singh from Barabanki innovated short term Banana, Rajpal Singh from Saharanpur invented peach based farming system, Gopal singh from Kannouj invented new method in Roses cultivation and many more talents are their near to you.

“They don’t get good market in UP and the lack of proper government channels for distribution of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, consultancy, water, electricity. Some state governments like in Punjab and Haryana provide free and subsidized inputs to the farmers but not the UP government”.

If you will not produce agri commodity properly, no one will get good market. Unless and until farmers do marketing, no one will give profit to him. Green revolution made farmers worst and dependents, do our ancestors used fertilizers and pesticides. They used local solutions for problems instead of fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers are willing to do consultancy if we approach.

"If Indian government allows privatization of the agriculture sector then we can become topper in the world. For example agri business companies can grow anything in the barren land by using scientific techniques and earn money, while farmers are unable to earn even from fertile land.”

Privatization is nothing but us becoming slaves with them. No one will come forward if profit is not his or hers. Why can’t you do and get profit? Business companies knows nothing, they hire knowledgeable people mentioned above. Still more talent is within us and we need to search it. A knowledgeable farmer equals to university. Mother earth has every power to grow, but we destroyed our earth with fertilizers and pesticide along with farming practices against to nature.

"We share our views, new and innovative agri scientific techniques and seeds besides others. This way we do farming and set a model farm in the area so that other farmers can learn from the model farm. Then apply same thing on their agriculture land. We always take initiative to do something new in agriculture. We always help and promote farmers to apply scientific techniques in agriculture.”

Yes right now go and share your knowledge with genius farmer and earn technics and become model for others and their by help others.

“Previously no farmer in our district was cultivating basmati paddy and pulses in our district, but now thousands of farmers are cultivating these crops and uplifting their way of living.DAO also gave a proposal to UP government to set a basmati paddy mandi and rice mill in this area. This year our group also requested the DM of Jhansi to start water canals for irrigation of paddy and the DM approved our request. Now thousands of farmers have benefited from this approval.”

Why all will grow same crops at same time? Why cannot start new kind of crop production. Why can’t someone a farmer can start mandi business? Why waiting for canals to come? Why not small check dams on your own efforts in your own land?

Dear friends, farmers are failing because of marketing. Why farmers allow others to market our produce? Why can’t we sell our produce our self without allowing middlemen? Within the village itself Growing, processing and marketing can be distributed within the farmers to avoid middlemen and get retain profit in villages itself? Farmer tour to innovative farmers field. Adopting diversification in farm production, Sharing knowledge. Executing same knowledge for processing and making value addition to agri produce, finally doing marketing on our own will uplift our farmers please note. During my last visit, I noticed that tree plantation in some parts of UP is not up to the mark. Please note planting one tree will serve you and your decedents, therefore go for more plantation to get more rain, cool climate, more productivity in your farm.
Regards.
SWAMY.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

editorialteam

New Member
Hi Friends,

Same as Jhansi group of farmers, yet another group of farmers in Kerala are doing cocoa farming. They have got their first breakthrough when Chocolate Stella, a Swiss chocolate company have started procuring cocoa from India for the first time. We have attached the story below which appeared in Business Standard.

Please put forward your thoughts, suggestions and queries if any.

Stella sweetens Indian cocoa's fortunes

An Indian wins the Olympic 100-metre dash. Indian beer becomes the toast of the world. Indian cocoa is selected by finicky Swiss chocolate company for use in its sweets—all seemingly improbable events on a global stage that may never happen in the foreseeable future. Except that the last bit about the Swiss chocolate company is—as unbelievable as it sounds—true. Fifty years after India started growing Cocoa in Kerala—currently still the largest cultivator of the crop in the country—a Swiss company has begun importing Indian-grown cocoa for use in its dark chocolate, while clearly advertising its source country on the wrapper.

Chocolat Stella is a family-owned business with a long history of producing quality chocolates in Switzerland and is globally recognised as a specialty chocolate maker. For the last fifteen years the company has been focusing on making organic chocolates, especially from developing countries such as Ecuador and Brazil. Stella’s Indian version—a 70 gm bar comprises of 72 per cent cocoa—was released globally in January at the International Confectionery Fair held in Cologne in Germany. The event was called ‘Incredible India’—a suitable moniker considering the country has never met the rigorous quality benchmarks for cocoa production that the Swiss are famous for.

However, what makes this story truly incredible, perhaps even bizarre—and heartwarming—is the extraordinary efforts that the Swiss company took in reaching out to Kerala’s farmers, educating and guiding them—despite repeated failures—in order to make this event a reality. It is as much a story about winning cross-border alliances and stick-to-itiveness as it is about sound business practices.

Banding together
The eighties weren’t the rosiest of times for cocoa farmers, who found that demand for the crop plummeted after their one primary buyer stopped procuring from them, causing many to hack their plants down and use the land for other crops for lack of a better alternative. This tortured memory was probably a major incentive for Kerala farmers, in the 2000s, to begin searching for other ways to market their produce for better prices. They soon came to know that organic products got better prices abroad, but realised that achieving such standards would require an organised effort. Thus, the Indian Organic Farmers Producer Company Ltd (IOFPCL) was born.

The IOFPCL started with 800 farmers and today has 2,000 of them from Pallakad, Kannur, Waynad and Idukki districts of Kerala. The company’s 1500 shares are now held by these farmers. It wasn’t an easy beginning. Between 2004 and 2008, the company was not able to find a single buyer overseas, and customers who were interested were not able to match the price that the company was quoting says P J Chackochan, chairman, IOFPCL, who was with MS Swaminthan foundation earlier and is now a farmer in Waynad.

Consequently, the company began selling its products in the domestic market for four years and soon racked up debts of Rs 25 lakh with the State Bank of India. The bank ended up lending money to the company against Chackochan’s property and was used to procure pepper. Again, the company could not sell it due to the mismatch in prices.

The big break
The real break for the Kerala farmers came in 2008 when the company decided to participate in a fair in Germany. There, IOFPCL got an order to supply coffee to an agent. In 2009, the same agent also procured cocoa from these farmers, which was supplied to chocolate manufacturers including Stella, one of the oldest chocolate brands in the World.

Fifteen years ago, Chocolat Stella did try and import cocoa products from a Kerala company but the venture fizzled out because the cocoa was of poor quality. Yet, for whatever reason, it decided not to give up on the country. It had first become interested in India because of Antony Panakal, one of its export managers, who has worked with Chocolat Stella for 30 years. When Panakal came to know about IOFPCL, he approached the company directly and asked them to send samples. “When we first sent the sample, it was not accepted due to some processing issues. Moisture level in the Cocoa was 20 to 30 per cent, whereas Stella wanted the same in the range of 6 to 8 per cent, which is essential for the chocolate to taste better,” said Joykutty Vincent, Director, IOFPCL.

Stella then sent one of its technical heads along with Panakal to India to appraise the situation on-ground. The Stella team ended up giving farmers valuable tips for improving the drying and fermenting of beans which are important post-harvest processes. IOFPCL then exported the lot—only to find them of sub-par quality again. This should have effectively buried any chance of the Kerala farmers making any progress with international sales.

Yet, it didn’t. Not only did Stella decide to keep at it—in fact, it upped the ante. It invited four Kerala farmers—PJ Chakochan from Wayanad, Joykutty Vincent from Kannur, Dr Joshy V Cherian from Coimbatore and Vivek Mathew from Mannarkad—to its Switzerland-based factory for a one-week training stint. There, they got some first-hand experience of how delicate the process of working with Cocoa beans is, where a slight error in processing or methods could mar the entire effort. Technical assistance to the farmers continued for a year or so. “We are now able to maintain that level, thanks to Stella’s efforts. Today, among the 20 countries which supplies cocoa to Stella, Indian cocoa is on the top of the table,” Chackochan said.

Stella even went one step ahead and gave the farmers interest-free loans to set up nurseries, processing centres and transportation. 2009 was a historic year for the Kerala farmers—a batch of their beans was finally accepted by the discerning company. “Our relationship is only with Stella, whatever we produce they take and it will continue to remain the same,” says Chackochan. Stella’s requirement is 5,000 tonnes every year, of which 23 tonnes are currently supplied by IOFPCL which doesn’t deal with middlemen but with companies like Stella directly. The estimated value of the business to Stella is around Rs 1.2 crore and the company expects this will triple in the next three years. According to Chocolat Stella, the fruits, spices and cocoa grown by the members of the IOFPCL cooperative are of high quality, organic and Fair-Trade certified.

The Fair-Trade premium prices guarantee the small farmers better revenues, enabling them to improve their living conditions and enhance the welfare of their communities and consequently contribute to sustainable development. “We made a profit of Rs 26 lakh last year, of which we paid back the loan of Rs 25 lakhs, now we are a debt-free company and next year we are planning to give 15 per cent bonus to the members,” said Chackochan.

This should be sweet music not just to Kerala cocoa growers, but to anyone who believes that fairytale stories such as this are possible today.

Article Courtesy: Business Standard Newspaper
Written by: T E Narasimhan
Place: Idukki, Wayanad, Kerala
 
Last edited:

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

thanks

i thanks to stella and his company for their valuable support to kerala farmers.it seems that good people/angels are still living in the world.they serve the society for the upliftment of needy people. and spread unconditional love and help.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

adi123

New Member
Group of farmers in Jhansi meet regularly to improve agriculture in UP against all odds
Rahul Richhariya is part of a group of farmers based in Jhansi, Bundelkhand.
“We are an unregistered group and work on mutual understanding. We meet daily and interact on phone. Our agenda is how to do better farming by sharing thoughts and techniques,” says Mr. Ricchariya. “All farmers in the group are collectively trying to make agriculture better in UP irrespective of all odds. Our aim is to uplift Indian farming and farmer’s way of living by doing scientific farming and to stop farmers’ suicide in Bundelkhand,” he adds.
Scientific Methods
The group consults scientists of KVK learns and adopts latest scientific farming. “We ask questions and and they guide us. They also visit our land and give us training. We also visit fairs and seminars.” Speaking about help and guidance from government,” says Mr. Ricchariya. He adds, “If government provides us all agriculture related services like good quality seed, pesticides, mandi, and agriculture consultancy at village level at the right time, then farmers will get all agri related help at one stop shop. This benefits farmers as well as agriculture in India.”
Main Commodities
The main commodities grown in the Jhansi area are wheat, basmati paddy, all types of pulses, cereals, horticulture crop, and spices crop. “Here summers are dry hot and winters are not too cold,” says Mr. Ricchariya.
Eliminating Middlemen
Further speaking about middlemen in the business, Mr. Ricchariya says, “It is very heart breaking that mediators take all the profit of farmers. In India due to lack of any structured body which fixes the price of farmer’s output, farmers get cheated. The farmers also have no right to fix the price of his crop according to the investment, the middlemen fix the price and take the entire product below the input cost, and farmers cannot do anything about it.”
Inviting MNC food processing to set up plants in the area and collect grains directly from the farmers cutting out the middlemen, he says, “We can supply regularly all our harvested products as much as they want. I invite these companies to come and set a food process industry in the area and we are ready to cooperate with them.”
He adds, “If any agribusiness houses set up food process industry or implement PPP model farming with farmers then definitely farmers can benefit and increase their income. The companies too will get plenty of raw materials at the same place. So we want agribusiness comp to come and start an agriculture based project. “
Major Challenges
When asked about the main problems faced by the farmers in Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Ricchariya says, “They don’t get good market in UP and the lack of proper government channels for distribution of seed, fertilizer, pesticide, consultancy, water, electricity. Some state governments like in Punjab and Haryana provide free and subsidized inputs to the farmers but not the UP government.
He laments, “In India agriculture sector is a very broad sector. It is also unstructured and unorganized. Some government policies are not farmer friendly either. If Indian government allows privatization of the agriculture sector then we can become topper in the world. For example agri business companies can grow anything in the barren land by using scientific techniques and earn money, while farmers are unable to earn even from fertile land.”
Regarding exports, he says, “In UP most of the farmers are illiterate and poor. So they think first about fulfilling their basic needs. I contacted some exporters to do business with us but they give low price to the farmers for their product. When farmers have handsome money in their hand they will definitely think about exports and elaborate their agri business activities. Today farmers are poor and my aim is to first make farmers financially strong and then take help from others.”
Milestones Achieved
Mr. Ricchariya explains, “All the members in our group work independently in their own agriculture land on the basis of mutual understanding. We share our views, new and innovative agri scientific techniques and seeds besides others. This way we do farming and set a model farm in the area so that other farmers can learn from the model farm. Then apply same thing on their agriculture land. We always take initiative to do something new in agriculture. We always help and promote farmers to apply scientific techniques in agriculture.”
He adds, “Previously no farmer in our district was cultivating basmati paddy and pulses in our district, but now thousands of farmers are cultivating these crops and uplifting their way of living.
DAO also gave a proposal to UP government to set a basmati paddy mandi and rice mill in this area. This year our group also requested the DM of Jhansi to start water canals for irrigation of paddy and the DM approved our request. Now thousands of farmers have benefited from this approval.”

So what are your impressions are reading this article? Feel free to ask questions and leave feedback on this article. The editorial team of AgricultureInfomation.com and Mr. Rahul Richhariya will monitor and respond to your comments.
Hi Rahul<
Please share your mobile number.
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

editorialteam

New Member
Dear Readers,

Please note this thread is now closed since the Editors are no longer moderating this topic. If you wish to discuss further on this topic please free to contact the members directly via private message or by posting a new topic in the "Q & A" forum.

Regards,
Shweta - Editorial Team
 

Business Opportunities in Agriculture: 150 Field Interviews (Book)

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