TOPIC – “Doubling Farmer Income” The opportunities & role of Oorjagram

Submitted to – Team Oorjagram Submitted by - Akanksha Nagar

Programme – Retail Management

Name of institute – Birla Institute of Management Technology

Year of submission – 2021

THE BASIC OVERVIEW

In India's economy, agriculture is the major employer and not only this but, India happens to be the world's
second-largest producer of agricultural products. This particular sector alone generates almost 18 percent of
India's GDP and employs more than half of the country's population.
The agriculture-based Indian economy necessitates a high level of agricultural income for the farmers who
feed India's 1.25 billion people. Not only that, but India, like industrialised countries that export a large
number of farm products while having a considerably smaller area under cultivation, has to be a major
exporter of agricultural products. As a result, more people will be drawn to agriculture, the country's
backbone. However, how to realise the goal of significantly expanding farm revenue definitely happens to
be a major concern.
But, as of now farming may not seem a profitable endeavour. The reasons majorly responsible for this
could be as follows-
a) large yield gaps
b) Inefficiencies in the supply chain management

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Talking about yield gaps so, they can be caused by a variety of factors. Farmers are resource-poor, and
land fragmentation over the previous few decades has lowered farming viability. In India, there are
138.35 million operating holdings with an average size of 1.15 hectares and 85 % of overall holdings are in
the marginal and small farm categories, with holdings of less than two hectares. Other challenges that are
faced by the framers in rural areas could possibly include climate change and greater competition as a
result of globalisation.
Another point of concern is that the farmers' revenue levels have also been affected due to poor post-
harvest management procedures. Semi-perishables and cattle products post-harvest have also witnessed
losses of 10-25 %, and perishables a loss of 30-40 % respectively.
But on the brighter side, in India agriculture is mostly uncharted area for technology-based solutions. The
problem of missing intelligence in traditional farming may most likely be solved by using precision
agricultural techniques to induce artificial intelligence (AI).
Today many other start-up companies are looking at robotics, big data, smart equipment, sensors, and
farm management software, as well as novel production and business models including indoor or
controlled environment agriculture, cellular agriculture, and more for better efficiency and increased
productivity for agri-business.

FRAMEWORK FOR OORJAGRAM

More over half of India's population relies on agriculture for a living and because of its continuous
significance in employment, income, and, most crucially, national food security, doubling farmers' income
in such a short timeframe is an enormous job. In general, this could be possible through increased total
output and higher market price realisation, lower production costs, product diversity, efficient post-
harvest management, value addition, and so on.

For more clarity a systematic detailed framework should be made such as-
 What is the time frame and year for doubling the farmer’s income?
 Is it the output, value added, or revenue gained by farmers from agricultural activities that needs to
be doubled?
 Whether income should be doubled in nominal terms or in real terms?
 If the targeted revenue just comprises income from agricultural activities or also includes money
from other sources for farmers?
It's crucial to be clear about what has to be doubled. Is it the farmers' income, the sector's output or income,
or the value added or GDP of the agriculture sector? Farmers' income would rise at a far faster rate than
output if technology, input costs, wages, and labour use could result in per unit cost savings.

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It is self-evident that if agricultural price inflation is high, farmers' income will double in nominal
terms in a considerably shorter time span. When non-agricultural prices do not rise or rise at a very slow
rate, the growth in farmers' income at real prices is essentially identical to the growth in nominal prices.

DATA ON INDIAN FARMERS

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 ROLE OR BUDDING OPPORTUNITES FOR OORJAGRAM

Following could be the ways that can be adopted by Oorjagram for doubling the income of the farmers
working under or in association with them –
 Trying to provide farmers with real time solutions – As we can say that pre-harvest losses due to
disease/pest infestation can likely to be controlled in a more timely and cost-effective manner with
the help of mobile-based plant protection advising. Through providing these precision agriculture
solutions Oorjagram can optimise the input resources and maximise their yields.
For example – a start-up company called Cropin through its farm ERP solution enables farmers to
practise connected and data-driven farming. For revolutionising the agro-ecosystem, the company
uses cutting-edge technology such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence, geo-tagging, and
satellite surveillance. Oorjagram could also try their hands at developing an m-commerce platform
for agriculture and have a developed technology platform that leverages data analytics and
agronomy knowledge to give farmers in India with real-time solutions.

 As we know that this industry is particularly characterised by longer gestation periods, so purchasing
modern, expensive equipment could be a burden for farmers and a source of concern for investors
interested in agri-business at Oorjagram. As a result, agri-renting can relieve a farmer of the burden
of input costs. Here, Oorjagram could possibly try using the technique of “Pay per use farm
service” for land development, land preparation, seeding, sowing, planting, crop care, harvesting,
and post-harvest field management, as well as other aspects of the cultivation process.

 Oorjagram could try using sustainable storage system for farmers as, this doesn’t require an
electricity grid, but relies upon unconventional sources of energy such as cow dung, rice husk,
and other materials that are abundant in rural areas. In the coming years, these types of solutions will
undoubtedly aid in reducing post-harvest losses. Same as, another start-up company New Leaf
Dynamic Technologies that offers GreenCHILL chillers.

 Oorjagram could use IoT as an instrument to offer value-added engineering solutions for
companies in survey/mapping, industry inspection and precise agriculture across GIS
(geographic information system). Through its solutions for optimising irrigation, fertilisation,
pesticide distribution and early warnings, this can transform and change the way farm decisions are
taken and simultaneously benefitting the farmers associated with it directly or indirectly.

 A multitude of intermediaries are involved in obtaining produce from farmers to markets because of
marginal farming, inadequate logistics, and a lack of market information. As a result, the farmer
only receives one-fourth of the price paid by the consumer. Oorjagram could try on cutting out
the middlemen from the supply chain to avoid unnecessary waste in the supply chain.

 Taking another example of a start-up company called Better and Boon’s an end to end fresh fruits
and vegetables Supply Chain Company. The company showcases farmers produce in their retail
stores and sells these farmers product at a premium on a profit sharing basis thereby,
Oorjagram could also try adopting this particular measure as it would benefit both the famers by
giving them higher margins and the customers by providing them better product and with
enhanced traceability.

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 Through these innovative ways/ideas Oorjagram could be able to hold a good potential in
mending current deficiencies in the supply chain system with a fairly transparent mechanism
and the mission of doubling the farmers’ income will no longer be a pipeline dream.

STATE SPECIFIC STRATEGIES FOR DOUBLING FARMERS INCOME

1. UTTAR PRADESH - Uttar Pradesh is the fourth largest state with 75 districts and happens to be
one of the most populated states in India (16.5% of total population) with 19.95 crores population
(2011 Census) with an area of 24.09 million hectares covering large part of the highly fertile and
densely populated upper Gangetic plain with the state average population density of 828 persons per
km². Uttar Pradesh has a lot of potential for agricultural growth because of its diversified agro-
climatic conditions and farming techniques. However, a lack of adequate infrastructure (such as
roads, energy, marketing, processing, transportation, irrigation, and so on) has been a stumbling
block to achieving these goals.

Here are some of the strategies to be followed by Oorjagram for enhanced functioning, better
productivity and generating additional income to the farmers-

 Promoting crop diversification with fruits, vegetables, oilseed and pulses and crop intensification
through adoption of intercropping for risk mitigation, providing complementary advantages and
increase system.
 Distributing and dissemination of leaflets and bulletin containing information about promising
varieties, recent technologies, system intensification models, several Government schemes, success
stories etc.
 Entrepreneurship development among rural youth for establishing low-cost compost unit and soil
microbial inoculant cum-bio-fertilizer unit through the intervention of KVKs and State Department
of Agriculture.
 Adoption of integrated farming system models for recycling of resources and by-products, reducing
dependence of inputs like fertilizer from external sources and generating round the year employment
for farmers’ family members.
 Promoting IFS models among small land holders for increasing on-farm income by 50-60% and
mitigating risk against the aberrant weather conditions and biotic stresses.
 Promoting low-cost small implements already available in the market for sowing, weeding, irrigation
and harvesting operations to the small land holder for reducing cost of cultivation.
 Creating Incubation Centres for experiential learning and Training Centres for providing training to
the rural youth in livestock/poultry/fish farming. Expedite integrated industrial township projects in
Auraiya and Jhansi.
 Encourage non-conventional use of energy in agriculture like solar pump, solar fencing.
 Trying to increase the awareness amongst farmers on organic farming by implementing Participatory
Guarantee System (PGS) and creating awareness among the farmers about Parampragat Krishi Vikas
Yojana (PKVY) implemented by Government of India.
 Trying to develop an Agri/Rural-tourism at the outskirt of the selected cities like Varanasi,
Mathura, Faizabad, Allahabad etc. on protected cultivation, micro irrigation system, milking
devices, model cattle shed, natural farming, technology park, genetic garden with bio fortified crop
etc.

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  Encouraging rural youth / farmers / entrepreneurs through different schemes to dig fish ponds on
their private lands for enhancing fish rearing activities.
 Empowerment and capacity building of Mahila Kisans about household micro-processing, post-
harvest value addition etc., creating Gram Panchayat Mahila Funds, creating awareness about the
several National Schemes for Mahila Kisans, making inventory of the farmers who doubled their
income and establishment of Farm School.
2. DELHI - India's capital city is Delhi. It is surrounded on three sides by the Yamuna River on the east and
spurs from the Aravalli mountain range on the west and south. Having Haryana and Uttar Pradesh border it
on all its side. Delhi's National Capital Territory is 1,483 square kilometres. (573 km2), including 1,114 km2
defined as urban and 369 km2 classed as rural. For assessing the farmers’ needs and requirements for
doubling farmers’ income in coming five years, a farmer-scientist meet was also being conducted on July
25, 2017.
Here are some of the strategies to be followed by Oorjagram for enhanced functioning, better
productivity and generating additional income to the farmers-
 Dedicated outlets for the sale of farmer's produce should be established in various areas of Delhi's
urban areas.

 Organic farming, dairy farming, nursery raising, and other profitable enterprises exist in Delhi, and
farmers may be given the opportunity to practise them through capacity building and other means.

 High water efficiency should be assured for greater crop output by using appropriate technologies
such as drip and sprinkler irrigation, selection of compatible varieties, landscape engineering such as
LASER levelling, contour bund preparation, and adoption of water saving crop husbandry
methods, as well as the construction of check dams and channelization of run-off.

 Seeds, planting materials, and nutrients of high and premium quality should be provided to the
farmers for better productivity.

 Oorjagram could try motivating the farmers to move their focus away from conventional farming and
toward related sectors such as flower cultivation, honey bee cultivation, fisheries, mushroom culture,
and protected exotic vegetable growing, among others. It will boost family labour employment and
create more opportunities with a consistent source of income for them too.

 The technology of protected cultivation of horticultural crops has great potential especially in
peri- urban agriculture in near future, since it can be profitably used for growing high value
vegetable crops like, tomato, cherry tomato, colouredbell peppers, parthenocarpic cucumbers,
flowers like cut flowers, chrysanthemum, Lilium, fruits like strawberry, grapes etc.

 One of the major factors playing a pivotal role in doubling farmers income is the use of high quality
seeds and planting materials as these are the critical determinants of agricultural production on which
the performance and efficacy of other inputs depends. Sustained increase in agriculture production
and increased farmers income necessarily requires continuous development of new and improved
varieties of crops and efficient system of supply to farmers.

 The farmers of the proposed green belt should be provided with subsidized manure, electricity and
all other agro-inputs needed. State of the art agricultural technologies e.g. hydroponics, aeoroponics,
green house etc. and requisite trainings are to be given to the farmers.

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  All residential colonies and apartments of Delhi, especially those situated near the farmlands should
have at least one dedicated Kisan stall operated by farmers.

 Allied enterprises like bee keeping, cultivation of baby corn, sweet corn, mushroom, medicinal
plants, sericulture could be practiced by interested farmers. Training for profitable farming of the
above items are to be imparted to the farmers.

GRAPHICAL PRESENTATION

SOME RESOURCEFUL EXAMPLES THAT COULD BENEFIT OORJAGRAM

 Waycool, founded in 2015 and has revenue of approximately $100 million (Rs 740 crore),
being one of India's fastest growing agriculture and food supply chains. Every day, it buys
about 350 tonnes of fresh produce, commodities like cereals and pulses, spices, and milk
from over 50,000 farmers and sells them to kirana stores, contemporary trade, hotels, and
restaurants in six states, mostly in South India.
For example, Waycool has a partnership with a seed firm that produces a high-yielding
hybrid tomato cultivar. Its agronomists work with farmers throughout the crop cycle to help

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 them save money by using simple techniques like intercropping and herbicide
judiciously. Other steps include staggering cultivation to obtain a certain yield every day.

https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/specials/corporate-file/waycools-soil-to-sale-strategy-
aims-to-increase-farmers-income/article34296091.ece

 FreshoKartz, an agritech firm founded in 2016 by Rajendra Lora, is notable for its data-
driven strategy. The team examines a farmer's previous crop history and soil data before
recommending seeds, herbicides, and fertilisers to boost production. FreshoKartz, aims to
integrate farms, farmers, vendors, traders, and customers on a common platform to
structure the agricultural sector.
The agritech business claims to increase farmers' income by 50% by providing agri inputs
throughout all crop cycles. Freshokartz also supplies excellent seeds, insecticides, and
fertilisers through its network of physical centres, in addition to soil data-based crop and
fertiliser recommendations.

https://yourstory.com/2019/10/tech30-startup-agritech-freshokartz-farmers-income/amp

 Another start up by an IIT Kanpur alumni Vishwajeet Sinha, known as Oxen Farm
Solutions supplies farmers with modern technology and innovation in a cost-effective and
pay-per-use farming-as-a-service (FaaS) model, similar to cab aggregators like Ola and
Uber. Farmers can place their crop cultivation requirements using the start-up’s interface,
which is in the form of a mobile-based application. Once the order is placed, the machine
owner receives the information and rents their service to the farmer at a fair and transparent
fee.
 A pune based start-up called as, Agri10x removes intermediaries from the farming sector,
ensuring that farmers receive a fair price for their goods and that it is delivered on time.
 Krimanshi founded by Nikhil Bohra in 2015, provides dairy farmers with low-cost feed and
fodder by converting food and agricultural waste.
 Founded by Tauseef Khan and Nishant Mahatre Gramophone, an agritech firm that provides
farmers with timely information and inputs to help them increase their productivity. With the
help of this agritech star-up farmers can get access to localised practise, crop advice on which
items to cultivate, and meteorological data. This enables them to not only boost productivity,
but also to enhance their agricultural income in a sustainable manner.

https://yourstory.com/2021/04/agri-value-chain-samunnati-acquires-supply-chain-platform-
kamatan/amp

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES REALTED TO DOUBLING INDIAN FARMERS INCOME

 The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a lofty goal of doubling farmer
earnings by 2022 in 2016. In April 2016, an inter-ministerial group on "Doubling
Farmers' Income" was formed to discuss measures for achieving this goal.

The government had also mentioned, that the committee on doubling farmers' income
recommends seven sources of income growth which were as follows-
a) Improving crop productivity
b) Better livestock productivity
c) Efficient use of resources or saving in the cost of production
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 d) Increase in cropping intensity
e) Diversification towards high value crops
f) Improvement in real prices received by farmers
g) Shift from farm to non-farm occupations

 According to Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar. The
Centre is supporting start-ups in agriculture with the goal of doubling farmers' income
and providing job opportunities for youth. He added “The Agriculture Ministry would
fund start-ups under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana's innovation and agripreneurship
component.”

 The government has approved a rise in the Minimum Support Price (MSPs) for all Kharif
and Rabi crops for the 2018-19 season at a level of at least 150 percent of the cost of
production, providing a significant boost to farmer income.

 Another statement given by Mr Narendra Modi said,” In the past, the emphasis has been
on agricultural output, rather than on farmers' incomes. I've set the objective of doubling
the farmers' income by 2022," the prime minister told the Bloomberg India Economic
Forum here.
He also gave seven strategies for the same which were as follows-

1) Big focus on irrigation with large budgets, with the aim of "per drop, more crop"
2) Provision of quality seeds and nutrients based on soil health of each field
3) Large investments in warehousing and cold chains to prevent post-harvest crop losses
4) Promotion of value addition through food processing
5) Creation of a national farm market, removing distortions and e-platform across 585 stations
6) Introduction of a new crop insurance scheme to mitigate risks at affordable cost
7) Promotion of ancillary activities like poultry, beekeeping and fisheries.

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 CONCLUSION
Farmers' poor income and its year-to-year volatility are a key source of agricultural hardship. This distress is
expanding and becoming more severe over time, affecting nearly half of the country's people who rely on
agriculture for a living. A persistently low level of farmer income can have a major negative impact on the
country's agricultural future. To ensure the future of agriculture and enhance the livelihoods of half of India's
population, sufficient emphasis must be paid to improving farmer welfare and increasing agricultural
revenue. Achieving this aim will help to close the income gap between farmers and non-farmers, alleviate
agricultural distress, promote inclusive growth, and inject dynamism into the agriculture sector. Respectable
farm income will help draw young people to farming and relieve the burden on non-farm occupations, which
are not rising as fast as expected.

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