CONVOCATION ADDRESS
by Padmashri Dr. Anil K Gupta,
Professor, Indian Institute of Management & Executive Vice Chairman
National Innovation Foundation, Ahemadabad
Indira Gandhi Krishi
Vishwavidyalaya Krishak Nagar, Raipur (Chhattisgarh)
6th Convocation January 20,
2013
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, educationand 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 will 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. Shekh 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. Richharia 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 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 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.
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