Cool Bihari

Friday, July 08, 2011

IITians leave cushy jobs to work with farmers

A farming initiative by the two IITians Shashank and Manish has helped the villagers of Bihar's Vaishali district earn three times what they used to earn a year ago. The initiative has been introduced in 30 villages so far.

The two IITians who refused to pursue a cushy and lucrative career and decided to work at the grassroots. They headed to Bihar to help farmers get a better life. The conventional farming is now being turned into scientific farming, new crops are being experimented and the bumper harvest is already changing the facet of the region. Not only this IIT duo, but thousands of farmers are benefited in the process.

'Farms and Farmers', the name of their farming initiative, has now become a household name. The initiative has helped farmers learn and implement new techniques such as water harvesting and organic farming. Each technique is tailored to the soil content and land size. Cash crops such as rajma and flowers have replaced the conventional rice and wheat farming in the region.

Labels: Agri Business, Agricultural Innovation, Entrepreneurship, IIT, Innovation, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 11:01 AM | Permalink | Comments

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Agricultural Innovation in Rural Bihar

Bihar has seen significant growth in the area of infrastructure and related dimensions of economic development in the last few years. Bihar has around 60% of its workforce sustaining livelihood through agricultural sector and 42% of the State Domestic Product comes from agricultue. It clearly indicates that without agricultural development, growth will remain on periphery and majority of the rural and semi rural areas will be marginalized.

Bihar has a total geographical area of about 93.60 lakh hectare, out of which only 56.03 lakh hectare is the net cultivated area and gross cultivated area being 79.46 lakh hectare. About 33.51 lakh hectare net area and 43.86 lakh hectare gross area receive irrigation from different sources. Principal food crops are paddy, wheat, maize and pulses. Main cash crops are sugarcane, potato, tobacco, oilseeds, onion, chillies and jute and. Bihar has notified forest area of 6,764.14 sq km, which is 7.1 per cent of its geographical area.

In recent times, we are seeing significant innovation in the way agricultural sector has been reaping the benefits of modern and scientific agri farming models. There has been series of success stories of farming winning recognition for their innovative agri business approach.

The prestigious Jagjivan Ram Kisan Purushkar was awarded to a Bihari Farmer, Sudhanshu Kumar of Nayanagar, a remote village in Samastipur district. Sudhanshu, a Delhi University alumnus has been a harbinger of change in Samastipur district by promoting many innovative tools and skills of modern farming. He successfully raised the productivity of his Mango orchard from mere ten thousand to nine lacs in a period of three to four years and similarly experimented the innovative modern techniques to his litchi orchard.

Ramashaker vaidh, came to Rampur chai village in Arwal district around 30 years back. What was then an infertile stretch of land has now become a blooming garden due to his ardent belief and sustained effort.He has almost every fruits in his huge garden spread over 50 acres. The key differentiator about his farming technique is the organic method, which he believes is sustainable and healthier. He spread his wisdom by helping other farmers in adopting organic & modern methods of farming.

Kedar Nath Jha’s journey has also been equally interesting . A pioneer in Makhana cultivation, Kedar Nath Jha of Ujjan village of Manigachhi (Madhubani district) raises this crop in about 70 ponds taken on lease from others. He grows and markets the crop himself. “Cultivation was uneconomical earlier due to the low price paid by traders in this remote rural area with poor communication and market information facilities.

Entrepreneur Satyajeet Kumar Singh who has established a modern makhana processing plant at Patna by investing of Rs.70 crore and has also established linkages with farmers spread over in eight districts. His network currently covers more than four thousand farmers and his Sudha Shakti Industry and Centres of khet se bazaar tak (from field to the market) network for increasing production and organizing marketing is paying dividends to a large number of farmers.If farmers in Bihar properly exploit this crop, they will have the potential to produce makhana worth more than Rs. 400-500 crores.

These success stories really augurs well for the state’s agricultural growth and sustained growth as agricultural growth lays the foundation of a more self sustaining and covers majority of the marginal farmers in the state.

Labels: Agri Business, Agricultural Innovation, Grassroot Innovation, Rural Development, Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, March 15, 2008

Innovation in Bihar's Agricultural Sector

Bihar's economy is primarily agriculture based and it’s encouraging to see the innovative practices which farmers in Bihar have been adopting over the year to generate various sources of revenue. Traditionally our fertile land has been the major source of revenue and livelihood for the agrarian society in the villages. However over the years floods have become a perennial cause of concern and in view of the nature’s fury new means to generate alternate streams of revenue from the agro based industries has gained momentum.

Take the example of Mr. Shanker Kishore Chaudhary, a progressive small scale farmer of Vaishali district,Bihar, who cultivates elephant foot yam (commonly called as Ool in North India) in his three-acre field. Without stopping with just growing the tuber crop, he has also taken up value added products by creating 33 different varieties of recipes from it such as sweets, pickle, mouth-freshner, and brewing powders similar to the tea.

Elephant foot yam is a tuber crop commonly used as a vegetable and for preparation of pickles and sauce. The tuber is commonly called as Jimikand or Ool in North India, Sooran in Gujarat and Maharashtra, Kand in Andhra Pradesh, Karnai Kilangu in Tamil Nadu and Suwarnagatti in Karnataka, it is cultivated all over the country.

“This value addition has increased the marketability and has demonstrated immense product potentials of this tuber,” said R. Ramadhar, Chairman, Bihar State Farmers Commission, Patna. Mr. Chaudhary grows the crop in his field and also takes the lands of other farmers on rent for raising the crop.“I normally harvest 50-60 tonnes from a hectare of land and earn a gross income of Rs. 2 lakhs in about 10 months.

A number of farmers in the state have adopted Ool farming as a means to supplement their income. Mr. Choudhary provides marketing support to the other yam farmers at a margin of 5 -10 per cent through contract farming. “Besides the contract agreements between Mr. Choudhary and the farmers, there are individual farmers who have taken up Ool cultivation and sell the products to local traders,” said Mr. Ramadhar.

For more information readers can contact Mr. Ramadhar, Chairman, Bihar State Farmers Commission, Pant Bhawan, 1st Floor, Bailey Road, Patna- 800001, e-mail: ramadhar@vsnl.com and kisanayog@gmail.com, phone:0612-2206169 and 2232847

Labels: Agri Business, Bihar Economic Development, Grassroot Innovation

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Saturday, February 09, 2008

Bihar's new Brand Ambassador

What appeared to be a herculean task few years back is now translating into reality on ground. Bihar’s effort to revive its glory and pride is on fast track with all around development in the areas of education, scientific development ,industrial growth, private and public sector investment.

The Planning Commission recently approved a plan outlay of Rs.13,000 crore for Bihar for 2008-09, which includes additional Central assistance of Rs.100 crore for “projects of special importance” to the State. It was also agreed that on the basis of mid-year performance and absorptive capacities, an additional outlay of Rs.500 crore, in the special package of assistance based on performance, can be included in the Annual Plan for the year 2008-09, taking this to an effective plan size of Rs.13,500 crore.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia complimented the Bihar Government on the major initiatives taken towards administrative reforms, decentralisation and simplification of procedures, delegation of powers and also focused attention towards implementation of flagship programmes launched by the Central Government, which has lead to acceleration in plan expenditure.

The state is also getting favourable support from the private players and big business houses have shown great interest in promoting investments in Bihar. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) president and telecom major Bharti chief Sunil Mittal and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar have identified agriculture and tourism as key sectors for private investment in the state.

"I can say that Bihar is the best place for agriculture and horticulture based industries, there is plenty of potential for investment in this sector," Mittal stated.Mittal, leading a high-powered CII delegation of Eastern India at an interactive session with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, added that investments in agriculture and horticulture could change the face of the state.He hinted that his group plans to make substantial investment in the food processing and agro-based industries as both have huge growth potential in the state.
"Bihar is a place waiting to happen and from now on I am going to work as the brand ambassador of the state to encourage other industrialists to come and invest in Bihar," Mittal said while describing the changes in Bihar as 'miraculous'

The education system in the state is also seeing marked changes in the prospects as more and more companies are visiting the campuses to hire fresh graduates.NIT Patna has been able to ensure more than 100 per cent placement for its students this year. Each student has been selected for more than one job. NIT director U C Ray said that as many as 26 pre-final year students have been selected for jobs by different multi-national companies. Last year, only 80 per cent students could be provided suitable jobs.

Labels: Agri Business, Annual Plan, Bihar 2.0, Bihar Economic Development, Bihar Finance, Brand Bihar, Campus recruitment in Patna University, Education in Bihar, Sunil Mittal

Posted by Ajit Chouhan at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments