Since we were talking about plants, I just thought of sending in this piece
which I wrote some time back. FN
--
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Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat, SALIGAO, GOA India
Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436
http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks
fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org
E-LINKS TO THE FIELD, SIMPLE COMMUNICATION CAN YIELD RICH CROP
By Frederick Noronha
Sometimes, what's badly needed is just the chance to link up, talk and share
notes. One initiative to bring together agricultural professionals from
across India is already beginning to show its results.
Called the ISAP (Indian Society of Agricultural Professionals), this network
has a carefully-charted map of what it plans to do and how. If its ambitious
plans work out, it could squeeze out a rich harvest by garnering the
potential of IT to benefit the field.
This e-network (also with brick-and-motar plans) aims to reach out to "at
leats 100,000" agribusiiness professionals, whom it aniticipats to involve
as associated within five years.
The firm has been set up as a Section 25 not-for-profit company, under a
provision which allows companies to be set up by Indian law without a
profit-making motive.
"The idea is to make it viable and sustainable in five years time," says
ISAP executive director Sunil Khairnar, a B.Tech in Agriculture and
post-graduate studies at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in
Ahmedabad.
So far, using the humble tool of e-mail and electronic mailing-lists, the
ISAP has already been able to start the flow of a vital information
exchange.
ISAPindia mailing list can be joined by sending a blank email to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Varied types of information is put out on this list.
Shripad Kanekar in Banda (coastal Maharashtra) is part of a group of farmers
wanting to sell upto 20 metric tons of seedless dried Garcinia Indica from
the Konkan belt. He's seeking advise for market linkages.
N.N. Bhuiya of the Assam Plants and Machineries at Guwahati needs to buy
cashnut grafting (planting material) for distribution in his home-state on a
large scale. Someone in coastal Goa has a tip of whom to contact.
Farmer-journalist and founder of recently launched water forum 'Jalakoota',
Shree Padre recently came out with his sixth book on rainwater harvesting.
Says Padre: "The book titled Rain Water Harvesting has been released at a
time when people are struggling hard for water."
Padre explains -- via this mailing list -- that out of the eight chapters in
the book, the first one describes the causes for the decline of the water
table. Chapter two to seven deal with different aspects of rainwater
harvesting. The last chapter gives examples of those who have successfully
implemented rain-water harvesting techniques in their livelihood.
Incidentally, Shree Padre is working persistently in the field of soil and
water conservation since several years in Karnataka and Kerala. Over the
past six years, Padre is vigorously collecting and documenting information
on rainwater harvesting from world over. Besides writing articles for
several leading newspapers in Karnataka on the theme, Padre has also
authored five books on the topic, in the Kannada language. "Rain is free,
catch it freely," is his punch-line.
Ashish Kotamkar in Pune draws attention to a website meant to help Indian
farmers bargain better (agmarknet.nic.in). Meanwhile other information
coming in points out that the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's
largest computer software exporter, announced a pact with a
Netherlands-based firm to develop Web applications for the flower and plant
industry.
If you're on the list, you might also be lucky to learn of one of India's
leading industry lobby group's announcement to organise a biotech mission to
the U.S. and Canada next week to promote cooperation among the companies in
the field.
Meanwhile, a Karnataka-based organisation, the Krishi Prayog Parivar is
working in the filed of organic, self-reliant agriculture. Due to their
efforts, many farmers have switched over to non-chemical, low-input farming,
they announce and associated farmers now have a stock of organically-grown
paddy, announces Anand from Shimoga.
NON-PROFIT, NON-POLICITAL
-------------------------
The ISAP -- or Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals -- calls itself
a "non-profit, non-politicial, non-government and public-interest
organisation dedicated to participants in the agriculture sector".
Its goal is to "enhance rural incomes" in India. This it hopes to do by
boosting access to 'appropriate agricultural technologies and market
intelligence' to the millions living in the hinterlands of India.
One of its goals is to create a national -- and even international --
network of food and agribusiness professionals involved "in all business
aspects of the agricultural sector". It also hopes to build and boost
'agribusiness clinics' to reach out with the products and services needed by
Indian farmers.
Indian agriculture, points out its promoters, contributes some 25% of the
country's economy and 65% of the entire employment. "Therefore, an increase
in farm incomes, however modest, will elad to betterment in the lives of 650
million people," it argues.
ISAP has a number of long-term goals. This includes creating a forum of
experts who would provide technical and market information services to
farmers and others, identifying motivated agricultural graduates and offer
training to run agribusiness clinics, and enable professionals with
information to "add value to their enterprise".
Besides, it wants to hunt for relevant information on technology and
markets, and make sure this reaches out to farmers through 'agribusiness
clinics'. It also aims to 'build new linkages' for marketing of agri
products by helping the 'disintermediation of trade channels' to benefit the
farmers.
ONLINE, OFFLINE CHANNELS
------------------------
One more goal is to develop online (Internet-based) and offline
info-dissemination channels. "We aim to conduct studies and research
projects on post-harvest technologies and marketing of agricultural
products," says Khairnar.
This way, it hopes to meet a number of goals. First, a national (and
international) network of food and agribusinesses professionals would be
created. This would lead to a few model agribusiness clinics being set up.
This would also possibly lead to a system that identifies 'motivated
agricultural graduates' and offers them training and project services to
help create, in turn, a larger number of sustainable agribusiness clinics.
But is this a scalable project, or just one more of those many showpieces
that works in on a micro-level but can't really make a difference to the
lives of many?
For India's size, argues Khairnar, we need something like 50,000
agribusiness clinics.
This project aims at building the mechanism that would create agri-clinics
on a "self-sustainable basis". ISAP says its own focus will be to set up
the knowledge network, identify interested agri-graduates, and train them
besides providing the 'information production and services' to keep their
agri-clinics working suitably.
"Thus the concept of agribusiness clinics becomes scalable and could expand
till it reaches ever major village in the country," argues ISAP.
This concept is based on the idea of creating a knowledge network. Together
with its knowledge delivery mechanism, it could -- if effectively worked out
-- reach out to a large number of agri-experts, and rural entrepreneurs who
will run the agri-clinics, besides farmers.
To recover costs, farmers using the agribusiness clinics would be charged
"modest fees" for using the information and expert services, in an aim to
also make it commercially viable.
SERVICES PLANNED
----------------
Services planned include a city-wise or center-wise network of functional
experts. These would be classified according to their domain of
specialisation -- horticulture, vermiculture, pathology, entomology and the
like. "We estimate the population of experts to be of the order of 5,000 and
we target to have at least 25% on our panel within two years," says ISAP.
Some 100,000 agribusiness professionals will be enrolled as associates in
five years time. These could be unemployed graduates, progressive farmers,
manufacturers, service providers, buyers and customers of agri products or
services, and the like.
Once this it done, it would help to launch and run agribusiness clinics.
This would need training, course-content, know-how and managerial inputs.
Initial finance for the launch would also be needed.
Currently, ISAP is seeking the to build up associates in a number of
categories. These include as an agri-expert ('pracharak'), disseminator of
agri-knowledge ('prasarak'), agri-knowledge volunteer ('krishi-sevak'), as
partner non-governmental organisations ('prepak'), as farmers intending to
use agri-knowledge ('krishak'), partner research organisations
('sanshodhak') or even as agri journalists writing extensively on
agricultural issues ('lekhak'). ENDS
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