Save The Farmer, Ensure Your Future
Agriculture is the prime source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population. Gross Value Added by agriculture, forestry and fishing is estimated at Rs 17.67 trillion (US$ 274.23 billion) in FY18. Agriculture being the vital sector of the nation, any nation, it is also important to focus on supporting the core of this industry, its dynamic force — farmers.
Shouldering a Responsibility In Just 60 INR
With information on any subject, at any length available to us statistically, graphically and pictorially at the tap of a finger, we are not in the “information age” for nothing. Information has become the most important element for progress in society.
As in this modern world every problem finds a solution via information. Everyone grabs information from wherever possible and finds well-researched solutions to their problems. However, it is important to note that although we are living in the modern world, not every sector is well-versed with symmetric information particularly in a vast base like agriculture.
It is also important to note that information, especially in a sector like agriculture will never be stagnant, it will change constantly, and widespread and there was never any one-stop shop for spreading information until IVRS came into being.
Help him beat the loan moans
Be it an election manifesto or a political party’s ambitious gimmick, the facts and figures splashed continuously in the dailies is simply and painfully ‘shocking’. Farmers build their profession on “loan”, it is a legacy they are born to and a legacy they pass on; the land they plough is borrowed, the seed they sow is borrowed, the ploughing equipment is borrowed and the storage they use is rented amongst other things.
And this is only the professional front. Their homes are generally mortgaged, they have to honour societal norms of expenditure at weddings, dowry and even rituals at death in the family. There are no government subsidies there.
“Jagdeep Singh woke up to the sudden death of his 45-year-old father, a farmer and village head who drank pesticide. The father had run up a debt of ₹40 lakh following several years of losses in farming and dairy businesses, and a failed attempt to find Singh a job in Dubai, which cost nearly ₹14 lakh.
Singh, who holds a master’s degree in history, returned from Dubai after a 11-month wait to find a driver’s job and took to farming. He now gets up at four in the morning. The nights go by worrying how the family land mortgaged to banks can be freed.”
Can you come to the aid of the farmer?
Currently 50% of the population work under the agricultural sector whereas by the end of 2050 there will be less than 40% of the population engaged with this sector.
Everyone, globally but predominantly in India, wants to become a lawyer, a doctor, an engineer but nobody wants to become a farmer. We need food every day, in fact, 3 times a day, that makes all of us dependent on agriculture for sustenance and yet we wouldn’t exchange our lives for that of a farmer.
The modern world would be shocked to know that there are farmers who have committed suicides for even some thousands of rupees. But can status quo change, what can I do?
Information again is the biggest saviour of this class of people too. The public sector has commissioned many programs to help the farmers, not just survive but to better their lot. These schemes are a target to make lives easier but may be complex to understand by the untaught, unexposed farmer.
Technology makes his life better and this is where the private sector steps in. There are softwares today to facilitate our understanding of any subject. The agrotech companies of the day are rewriting this story. FarmGuide started 2 years back in a remote village in Rajasthan and have transformed it considerably and are targeting a remodelling farming in India.
Customizing technology to the Indian agricultural dynamics, they have developed products to revamp the complete sector, providing solutions across the board; for farmers, wholesale buyers, FMCGs, commodity traders.
Contingency Information Calls
Air pollution caused wheat yields in densely populated states to be 50 per cent lower than the yield in 2010, reported The Pioneer. Per se, the exponential decrease in the yield due to floods, excess rainfall and droughts cause debilitating loss to the farmer. A stitch in time could save the nine for the farmer. If only he knew! Farmguide works on eliminating the dichotomy of ifs and buts for the farmer by keeping them duly informed.
Agriculture Market Advisory
The reason for price volatility from the farm to the kitchen has hit everyone in their household budget, sadly the benefit thereof is not even transferred to the farmer. Farmguide updates the farmers on the closest mandi and the price his crop could fetch there.
Government Schemes Information
FarmGuide information services include calls that provide information about not only the government schemes but also the way to get maximum benefit from the schemes. These calls are filtered as per region, crop and cropping cycle.
Storage and Warehouses Information
And if natural problems were not enough to shatter the farmer, man-made troubles plague him further. If the crop survives all other threats, inadequate storage can lead to distress selling, resulting in drastically reducing the profits he would have made otherwise.
Farmers need to be abreast about the nearest cold storage and warehouses capable of accommodating their produce. This will not only prevent post-harvest loss but also reduce the time taken in decision making regarding transport and logistics cost.
At a $ store? Sound sleep in Rs. 60?
You may not be able to buy a meal in 60 rupees but you can ensure that the food is grown at a steady pace for all times to come. The above-mentioned information services are being extended to farmers in 60 INR for 6 months through phone calls throughout the week. The phone calls extended would be in regional languages of the farmers in order to promote smooth two-way communication.
An agrotech firm, FarmGuide, addresses the above issues through an advanced combination of push mechanism and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system that has mapped 16000 customer scenarios in 18 different languages. Information services available in the market already can surely benefit the farmer, but the involvement of technology increases the cost attached and makes it impossible for a small or marginal farmer to afford them. You could play a very crucial role in rehabilitating the farmer and in doing so ensure a constant supply of food to your table and his.
Your Support Could Go a Long Way
Amidst the naked rude reality of farmer woes, in 2018 we also learnt of some success stories and agrotech companies can help boost this (agri) culture for harmonious and sustainable future. We read about ‘Bharat Bhushan of Khellani village in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir who switched from maize to lavender for his 2-acre plot nearly 20 years ago and has never looked back.
By this November, he will be adding another 10 acres.’ It was not a common pattern to grown lavender where he lives but he learnt of the ways and means through info services. Lavender flowers are harvested and processed to obtain oil, dry flowers and other value-added products.
“Led by strong and rapidly growing industry demand, a small group of farmers are earning as much as Rs 3 lakh per acre by cultivating herbs. This figure can be put in true perspective when you consider wheat and rice farming doesn’t pay more than Rs 30,000 per acre. An average a farmer can earn Rs 60,000 per acre by growing herbs, provided there’d assured demand.”
These examples not just reveal the changing consumer market but also represent life-changing income opportunities for some farmers, enabled again by info services
Sponsor Hope and Solidarity
You can share the load by sponsoring a farmer with as little as 60 INR for 6 months. Connect the farmer to this wealth of information through IVR calls which cover a different range of information like market calls, government scheme calls, and marketing calls. An effective communication system can keep the farmer’s head above the water. With a mere 60 rupees, the farmer can get proper tech-based information service for a whole season and after.
‘Sponsor A Farmer’ can trigger a much needed green revolution, this time for the man behind the machine. #Sponsor_A_Farmer can go a long way in dispelling the cloud of gloom that hangs over a wearied head, that of the man who puts food on your table every single day.
