Farms N Farmers

Going back to the Roots : IIT grads leave MNCs for farming

On July 30, 2012

There are probably a hundred ways to earn money but in a country with about 50% people employed in Agriculture and more than 68% living in rural areas, how do you bring about a change in the lives of the people? How do you talk about the indices of Gross National Happiness and quality of living when educated and bright ones decide to move from rural to urban areas only to come back on vacation? Does it matter then to talk about suicides by farmers and blaming the Government? Does it help? No.
This post is about the people who somehow got this strange idea that no one is coming for help, and hence decided to  throw themselves into the dirt.(whatever gave them this idea is a sane one?) Two stories about IIT grads who left their lush jobs to help farmers. 
Farms’n'Farmers : A Non Profit NGO founded in Jan 2011
Shashank Kumar (IIT-D), and Manish Kumar (IIT-Kgp), embarked on their mission to improve the lot of farmers in the backwaters of Bihar with the aim to empower them, much to the chagrin of their parents. An initiative for  empowerment and improvement of farmers’ current socio-economic condition and trauma, by maximizing revenue using innovative ways of farming and by providing support resources offered by government.
It started when, after a lot of convincing, the duo persuaded 18 farmers to cultivate ‘rajma’ instead of the conventional crop of wheat on six acres of land. The experiment was huge success. ”The farmers earned Rs 1000 per kattha with an investment of Rs 400. For wheat, they used to invest Rs 350 and reap 50kg produce per kattha, earning Rs 400 to 500,” said Manish, son of a retired clerk. Since then, there has been no turning back.
Today, they help the farmers in every damn way thinkable from soil testing to providing a market. Also, they sell the crop directly to food processing companies which helps farmers earn more. The FnF charges a nominal 10% of total sale value from farmers.

Shashank after graduating in 2008 was working in a  FMCG consultancy services and supply chain management firm. During that period he came across problems of sourcing raw materials from farmers. He left the job after two-and-a-half years and reunited with his school time friend, Manish, to start their dream journey. Farms n Farmers has now spread to over 8 districts of Bihar.

Bhushan Agro :
In another such instance, with a strong intent to change the grim situation of farmers, Chandra Dubey ( IIT-Kgp and IIM-L ), set out on a mission to improve the situation by using scientific methods of farming on farm lands leased out from poor farmers in Madhya Pradesh.
Working on 56 acres of farm land in a village near Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Bhushan Agro is focused on contributing towards rural transformation and 2nd Green revolution of India by improving yield/revenue of the agricultural land. The business model has been developed to insure the farmer against any unforeseen losses by paying them a guaranteed upfront land rent, assuring him of a definite income.
The business model is to lease agricultural land from farmers at Rs. 8000-10,000 per acre per year and carry farming using modern scientific methods, equipment, systematic crop rotation, and water harvesting techniques.  The revenue from agricultural activities per acre per year is approximately Rs. 100,000 – 150,000. Also, because of the increasing number of farmers under debt and the consequent suicides, Bhushan Agro is looking to replace financial institutions and also provide them with crop insurance on reaching scale.
They are expanding business to another 5-6 villages in Gujarat in the coming year and are aiming to carry out their operations in 1 lac acres in next 5 years.

Courtesy: http://sanki.in/2012/07/30/going-back-to-the-roots-iit-grads-leave-mncs-for-farming/

courtesy: http://sanki.in/2012/07/30/going-back-to-the-roots-iit-grads-leave-mncs-for-farming/