Innovations and their large-scale application were already familiar in India. They must occupy the minds of the farmers and all those concerned with food security.
A recent innovative leap by GVT-Global Vikas Trust, founded by Mayank Gandhi, helped farmers with small marginal land holdings multiply their earnings per acre by 4 to 10 times and sometimes more. These were small areas of transition from large traditional crops, with good productivity, to altitude areas, where, by inertia, the same crops were cultivated, with deficient productivity.
How did Mayank do that? In a village in Maharashtra, the drought was tremendous, with no water for drinking or the animals. Luckily and coincidentally, in Mayank G’s action, the first step was to try to close the wine stores selling illegal wine. The owners closed their stores, one after another, because of the misfortunes it caused. A vast movement of the population raised and began to see Mayank G as a friend to help solve their problems of low productivity and many suicides of people who were in debt and unable to repay it.
After that, the local movement took the first step to solve the problem of lack of water: the local river was deepened and widened, and holes were made to reintroduce excess rainwater up to the water table, which was already 400 feet deep, because of the suction of water during prolonged dry periods, when before it was about 50 feet.
The final result of this action was 70 km of deepening and widening of the Paapanashi River and its tributaries; 162 farm ponds; 62 control dams, 5 KT weirs, hundreds of trenches; and 2220 million litres of water storage in underground deposits made for water harvesting, to pump when needed. At the same time, 120 GRA-Global Recharge Boreholes were installed along the Paapnashi River, resulting in the water table rising from 400 feet to less than 50 feet. All this took 45 days, with great widespread enthusiasm, and the water problem saw its definitive resolution in that location.
The soil is analysed to see which varieties of trees are the most suitable and profitable. In three consecutive years, they planted 43 million fruit trees. Fortunately, it was easy to find Agricultural Stations capable of preparing saplings of all the varied species, mainly the most productive ones. The purchase order for all interested farmers, placed in December, received the saplings ready for transplantation in June. GVT subsidised seedlings by around 7 to 12% with donations from companies that used their CSR-Corporate Social Responsibility funds.
It is not difficult to imagine the 43 million trees affecting the local climate, increasing rainfall and refreshing the environment. The rise in the water table was a boost for agriculture.
In general, land producing between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 per acre, now with the planting of different trees, with more sought after fruits, and planted according to the desire of the land owner, the same acre of land now produces Rs 200,000 to Rs 375,000 per acre! Some trees bear fruit in a short space of time, say one year, such as bananas and papayas; others in the medium term, such as custard apple, guava, pomegranate, lemon, sweet lime, mosambi, and long-term ones, such as mango and jackfruit. They increased annual income 4 to 10 times on average per acre.
In 2023, GVT worked in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. It was reaching over 23,000 marginal farmers. In September 2023, GVT could say: we work in 3300 villages, 27 districts. We impacted 91,000 people and 20,000 farming families, operating on 32,000 acres of land.
It was essential to create an Incubation Centre to train and disseminate these proven ideas throughout the country so that all farmers may benefit from them quickly. The centre is already under construction and will be fully operational very soon.
In 1950, Norman Borlaug, a biologist, initiated the Green Revolution in Mexico. Soon after, it came to India under the scientist M S Swaminathan. It acted by selecting the high-yield varieties of wheat, rice, etc, and at the same time, more resistant to excess water or heat. It gave outstanding results in improving the productivity of several cereals and practically ended the need for imports of such grains shortly after the 1970s. In 1969, India, with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, had to import 9 MT as that was a dry year. Criticism poured in from the West about how a nation aspiring to be a power could barely feed its population. They were forgetting the terrible colonial exploitation accompanied by the robbery India had suffered for decades. (See Herald, March 1, 2022, Green Revolution in India)
It is not enough to produce and produce well. The next step is to sell in good conditions, maintaining a reasonable revenue margin for the farmer who grows without leaving a significant margin in the hands of intermediaries. Therefore, many FPO-Farmers Producers Organisations surged, which purchase products from associated farmers at an acceptable price. They treat, package and sell. Sell to whom? To retail chains in large cities and others, which are usually poorly supplied with fresh and quality products.
When the production volume grows, create a large refrigeration zone for perishables to increase their shelf life and, at the same time, try to export. An FPO- Sahyadri Farms post-harvest Care, Ltd, associating with over 15,000 members, is exporting various fresh products, including fruit and vegetables. My attention went to the export of seedless table grapes, produced in India and exported from January to June yearly, to many EU countries and others. Mediterranean Europe has grapes in September and October. Now, you can see Indian grapes practically throughout the year. Sahyadri Farms has succeeded, positioning itself as a model to imitate and replicate across Indian geography. (See Herald, March 30, 2022, Learning from Cooperatives, Farmers’ Organizations, and Philanthropic Enterprises).
Innovative attitudes in agriculture cannot stop. Global Vikas Trust promises growing outcomes, spreading its knowledge through the Incubation Centre, which is nearly ready. It will foster continued impulses to launch and disseminate new, more productive ideas.
In 2022/23, India produced 329.7 MT (million tons) of cereals to feed its entire population, constitute an excellent reserve stock for emergencies, and export more than 22 MT Agriproducts exports accounted for US$53 bn in that year. By chance, I read that agricultural production from 2010 to 2020 had grown 34% in India, which seems very good, and all efforts are welcome to increase it further.
The innovative attitude must be well-rooted in the minds of entrepreneurs to find new, better ideas to continue increasing productivity. Not just incrementally, but from time to time, in a disruptive way, with significant jumps in land yield.
(The author is Professor at AESE-Business School (Lisbon), at IIM Rohtak (India), author of The Rise of India)
