Manthan Topic: Sowing Prosperity

A comprehensive Plan to boost agricultural productivity

Team Name:eXperts Team Members: Arijit Das Rajnish Mehta Nandalal Boxi Uddalak Banerjee Vikram Malik
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Despite record food grain production during the course of the past few years, the share of agriculture and allied sectors to India's gross domestic product (GDP) has declined by more than 4.5% between 2004-05 and 2010-11; Source :CSO data
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Agriculture Industry

Major Issues are:

Source:Assocham

Population Pressure
As per 2011 census, population density is 364 per sq km and ncreasing trend of industrialization and urbanization

Small and fragmented Land holdings

As per agriculture census 2000-01 , average area per holding is 1.33 hectare causing Farming activity to be Uneconomical , social tensions arising along with discontentment.

Inadequate Irrigation Facilities

half of the total area under food crops has been brought under irrigation and the remaining half is left to the mercy of monsoon rains which are erratic in time and space

Depleted Soil
Lack of scientific knowledge , deforestation ,lack of material resources causing depletion of soil fertility

Storage of food grain

Nearly 10 percent of harvest goes to waste every year

Farm implements
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Most farmers are poor so dont use sophisticated tools

Imparting knowledge and skills to farmers through specialized group selected from among private and public companies selling or producing agricultural products regulated by Ministry of Agriculture and ICAR

Selection

Volunteers from public and private organizations to be selected in a ratio 50:50 based on skill ,past achievements and interest to contribute . Volunteer should possess adequate experience of working in rural environment and should be sensitive to farmers needs and beliefs . Specialized group to function under the aegis of Ministry of Agriculture and ICAR with adequate representation from both as supervisors who would undertake on the fly visits and regular Progress reports from the group apart from granting authorizations in specific cases. Specialized group will conduct workshops and on field training for farmers

Working Model

Advantages

It will help to create awareness among farmers and hence improve yield It will reduce unnecessary wastage of time because of red tapism in case of day to day farming related issues which often require government approval even at local level.

Regulation

All decisions related to existing process change or new process initiation relating to farmers in general need to be taken on3/4th majority among the supervisors ICAR and Ministry of Agriculture can voluntarily terminate a member or group of members on the basis of complaint of farmers after enquiry and adequate proof of misconduct is found.

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Target set of volunteers to be working in the specialized group are primarily from the professionals and retired executives along with students with adequate experience relating to agricultural products

Network of Volunteers Professional s

Rationale for choosing the group Have experience of being in the agriculture related business Can impart specific training Can relate with the issues more Around 16 crore ( as per ncw survey) professionals working in Agri allied businesses. Fertilizer usage methods Information on different Yojana s for credit

Retired Executives
Have experience of being in the agriculture related business Can impart specific training Can relate with issues Have lot of time Around 4 crore professionals (approximately 25 percent of the professionals) Different Tools usage methods Experiences of dealing with micro credit institutions Storage methods

Graduate Students
Opportunity to learn through hands on experience Easy to recruit Motivated to translate theory into practice so often try innovative ways 15000 students in India from 42 state universities (SAUs) ,5 deemed universities Latest technology usage Efficient ways to store Efficient ways to increase efficiency Innovative solutions to tackle perennial problems
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Number

Potential skills imparted

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Volunteers to apply both from online and offline channels so that even individuals who have limited technological sophistication can also feel free to apply.

Recruitment
Need assessment
Requirements at district level would be carried out through liaison team with district administrators Direct interaction with farmers and officials of ICAR and IARI ( Indian Agriculture Research Institute) Complete district wise list prepared for needs of farmers in order to increase productivity Direct interview with the district administrators so as to identify progress made on issues put forward by farmers

Management Mapping
Recruitment of Volunteers
Direct recruitment from district central/state offices Campus Recruitment from SAU s Interviews to be conducted by teams selected by Ministry of Agriculture Online registration and Offline registration forms to be collected by ICAR

Implementation
Awareness Building
Large scale media and offline campaign to support the recruitment drive through famous personalities ( actors , cricketers etc) Both traditional and social media to be used to spread the message News paper advertisements should be made on all major dailies Career growth aspect and Learning prospects should be underlined in such advertisements

Around 0.1 million volunteers to be recruited

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Volunteers to be managed by Central management system which would be primarily governed by ICAR under direction from Ministry of Agriculture

Recruitment

Management Mapping

Implementation
Specifications
Training location preferences to be taken during recruitment only In case of over capacity application for one location the candidate who has his home town nearest to the location will be given preference Central management system to be handled by ICAR and ICRI under direction from ministry of agriculture

Training at district level District offices Schools

Campus

Central management System

Govt buildings

Education camps Volunteer homes

Online

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The Initial set of recruits would be 10 lakhs ,however it may need to be extended based on need and success of the program hence scalability and sustainability are important features

Recruitment
Training Delivery Model
Medium of Instruction: English and Hindi Training Period : 1 months regular. Module content based on need identified for the area where transfer is to be made Venue: Local Government buildings ,schools , volunteer houses etc Trainer: Qualified and Experienced Trainer from ICAR or ICRI . Evaluation : Through weekly tests in pen and paper and also through simulations by the trainer.

Management Mapping
Curriculum
Basics of Agriculture ( Hygiene , Soil Fertility , Water , Nutrient needs , Seed quality ) Various government schemes for microfinance in order to meet to secure funding for improved infrastructure in farm land . Various Issues faced by farmers and how they can be tackled through live examples if any Various modern tools and usage methods

Implementation
Corporate support ,Scalability and sustainability
Most agri based industries would be very forthcoming for investment on this scheme because it would effectively lower the cost of production The agri equipment selling organizations like Escorts conduct regular drives for farmers to educate them on latest technology so for them such an initiative would be most welcomed . With greater productivity results , more and more investors will start investing in it .
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Overall Setup for implementation of the model

Central Management Team

Chief will act under direction of ministry of agriculture

Chief controller

Recruitment Team FTE : 15 Will coordinate recruitment

Coordination team FTE : 35 Will coordinate the volunteers

Media team FTE : 6 Corporate support and media strategy

Finance Team FTE : 15 Funds management

Curriculum Management FTE : 6 Curriculum design

IT team FTE : 3 Manage online application issues

Supervisor team FTE : 35 Will supervise work of the volunteers

Integration of regional to central authorities

FTE : 1

Chief Controller State Controller District Controller

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Will supervise all activities in india Will supervise all activities within the state Will supervise all activities within the district
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FTE : 34

FTE : 671

The entire model will require funding of approx INR 13022 crore for full india implementation . However for partical implementation the cost will be less .

*FTE= full time employee *S.T=Specialize Team

Chief Controller( 1 FTE@ 8 lakh pa) State Controller(34FTE@5lakh pa) District Controller(671FTE@ 3lakh pa)

Organization Cost
Total Funding Required

INR 21.91 Crore

Transportation Cost

Logistics Cost

Establishment Cost Equipment cost

S.T Volunteers( 10 l@10 k pm)

INR 1 crore

Remuneration Cost

Central Management Team members

INR 13000 Crore

Trainer Cost We recommend that cost be bourne by public private partnership with leading agri based companies though a 50:50 partnership. And intially a low cost pilot implementation be done in a few villages to see the response first.
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The idea has a potential to reach out to the 95.8 million main cultivators and 22.8 million marginal cultivators.

Flow of Control
National level
(Regulated Union Ministry of Agriculture and ICAR)

State Level
(Monitored by State Ministry of Agriculture and State Agriculture Training Institutes)

District Level
(Monitored by District Agriculture Officer and District Consultative Committee headed by the Collector)

Block Level
(Monitored by BDO and Block Coordination Committees)

Panchayat Level
(Co-ordinated by the Sarpanch and Panchayat level Agricultural Committees)

Ideation Network
Professionals (on a sabbatical basis) Retired Executives (mainly agricultural administrators)

At every stage of the flow of control, an ideation network has to be involved. The ideation network will be a think tank and a executioner also. The whole system will be based on new ideas and innovation to bring about another agricultural revolution. The idea of bringing on-board subject matter experts and the common man will infuse trust as well as performance in the whole agricultural machinery.
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Graduate Students (based on the internship model)

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The challenges this model faces is enormous due to the sheer size and complexity of our country. But every challenge has a solution. One just has to find it. Challenges Policy Challenges No such set policies for such appointment of such groups. High chances of it being just a rubber stamp. Chances of overlapping of duties of various stakeholders. Probable Solutions to take on the challenges head-on Vesting power at all levels of the flow of control to get on board their ideation networks. Clearly demarcated responsibilities with expected results and timelines. Performance to be audited by counterparts from other states.

Implementation Challenges Different agriculture department structure in different states. Chances of corrupt people entering the system making it even more murkier. Monitoring the performance of such an ideation network would be a tough ask. Non-implementation of ideas due to logistical and financial constraints

Mapping state-wise structures with the new structure Thorough background check and behavioral interviews to weed out probable non-performers entering the teams. Putting in place a cross-monitoring system where one state network audits another state network. Aggressive campaigning by general public and industry bodies to ramp up infrastructure facilities (mainly road and rail). When changes will show up, the inertia will break away like it did in the era of Green revolution. A new organic fertilizers driven green revolution is waiting to happen.
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Inertia Challenge Biggest challenge Indian agriculture and related reforms face is the inertia of the past few decades.
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References
ONLINE RESOURCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_districts_of_India http://www.escortsgroup.com/ http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/site/home.aspx http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.AGR.EMPL.ZS http://ncw.nic.in/pdfreports/impact%20of%20wto%20women%20in%20agriculture.pdf http://www.cmie.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agriculture_in_India BOOKS AGRARIAN POWER AND AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY IN SOUTH ASIA by SUSANE RUDOLPH AND ASHOK RUDRA Agricultural productivity in Eastern India Vol 1 by Reserve Bank of India Challenges facing agriculture and rural development by R.N .Poduval

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