ISAP Newsletter October 2018

Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) is a Not-for-Profit Organization working since 2001 and is registered under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act. ISAP was set up by a group of Agriculture and Management Professionals with the aim to enhance livelihood opportunities for rural communities. ISAP has more than 300 dedicated full-time associates spread across 25 field offices in 18 states of India. Having worked for more than a decade in agriculture extension, ISAP has expanded its domain strengths and partnerships to contribute towards holistic rural development.

During its journey of more than a decade, ISAP has been able to make considerable impact on the lives of rural communities in general and among these BPL families and small farmers in particular. The outreach of ISAP's interventions covers more than one million rural families, 5,000 villages, 100 districts in 18 states of India. ISAP has more than 250,000 members on its facebook page and uses the strength of social media to reach out to the communities on important rural and agrarian issues. While agriculture and agri-entrepreneurship remains at the core of ISAP's program and work, it uses a partner driven approach to implement programs in other sectors viz. Rural Development, Water & Sanitation, Renewable Energy, Health, Low cost Housing through various partners.

STRATEGIZING THEIR BUSINESS EXPANSION – FPOs OF RAJASTHAN

FPOs of Kishanganj and Khandar (Rajasthan) are expanding their seed businesses by employing a bi-pronged strategy. Firstly, they plan to process, package, tag and supply from their own seed processing plants and secondly, source other required varieties from reliable agencies and supply to farmers as per demand.

As an effective marketing strategy, the demand for seed quantities has been collected from other areas and accordingly dispatch of seed bags is underway. The available wheat seed varieties are HD 2967 and Raj 4037. There is ample demand of some other varieties of Wheat and Mustard that are being sourced from KVK and other reliable agencies to supply to the farmers.

The Hindoli FPO has strategically started selling Honey through Canopy Stalls in the morning hours at selected locations where people come for morning walks & jogging. This stall provides information about benefits of Honey and difference between pure organic and supplement fed Honey. This activity has increased the sale of Honey as well as motivated people for including Honey in their diet regularly.
At the same time the FPO has gotten allotment of paid staff in Kota Dusshera Mela organised by Kota Municipal Corporation from 18th Oct to 5th Nov.

MAHILA KISAN DIWAS 2018

Women comprise a major workforce in Indian agriculture. They play a multi-dimensional role in agriculture and allied sectors. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), women participate in 48% of agriculture-related employment in India and around 7.5 crore women are actively involved in livestock management.
With this back drop, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare decided to observe October 15th of every year as “Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas”.
The MAHILA KISAN DIWAS celebration was held in NASC complex, PUSA, New Delhi on 14.10.2018and 15.10.2018, organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. The major highlights of the event were:

Deliberation and presentation of the recommendations on Farming, Animal Husbandry, Co-operation and Entrepreneurship by successful Women farmers, Academia, Entrepreneurs, Researchers, Representatives from Banking sector and Industries, Social workers and Scientists.
Recognition and appreciation of women farmers recommended by state governments for their valuable contribution in Agriculture and Allied sectors.
Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh lauded the contribution of farmer women in the development of agriculture sector in his address on the occasion.

Ms. Deepti Mahajan and Ms. Parul Upreti from ISAP, New Delhi participated in this two-day event in NASC complex, PUSA. Both of them, participated in the robust discussions with the groups of around 100 women across the country. They presented their concrete recommendations in the group discussions. These recommendations may serve as a way forward to overcoming the identified issues and constraints.

WOMEN FARMERS DAY EVENT ORGANISED BY KISAN SINGLE WINDOW CENTRE RUN BY INDIAN SOCIETY OF AGRIBUSINESS PROFESSIONALS, NEW DELHI

On the occasion of Women Farmers Day, Women Farmers Meets were organised in each of the 20 blocks of the Kisan Single Window Centre on 15-10.2018, wherein District Agriculture Officers, distinguished scientists of KVKs, Block Development Officers, Circle Officers, Block Agriculture Officers, Block Animal Husbandry Officers, Block Technology Managers, Block Pramukh & other local women representatives, and women farmers from various blocks participated.

The women farmers were given information on the latest techniques of Farming, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Goatry, Bee-keeping, Poultry, and other agriculture related trades. Along with that, detailed information on various departmental schemes and the grants available therein was also given to them. During the meeting, successful women farmers were felicitated and in many blocks the contributions made by successful women farmers in various spheres of agriculture were also discussed. Mixed Farming was also discussed in the meetings.

MAIZE CROP DEMONSTRATION EVENT BY MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LIMITED

Mahindra and Mahindra Limited haddistributed 4 Kg maize seeds of the newly developed maize variety (MM 2033) to the ISAP-promoted Shree Dev Mahila Kisan Producer Company Limited, Bundi District, Rajasthan. In July 2018, Sakari Bai, Member of the FPC sowed this seedin her one bigha land. The FPC, under the aegis of NABARD and ISAP had successfully established market linkage with Mahindra and Mahindra Limited three months ago. Now that the crop has matured, Mahindra and Mahindra Limited organised a Maize Crop Demonstration Event on her field plot on 20th October, 2018.

Mr. Arun Singh (Zonal District Manager), Mr. Manoj Sisodiya (Regional Manager), Mr. Neeraj Sharma (Sales Officer) from Mahindra & Mahindra Limited, Mr. Mahaveer Barmuda (Seed Distributor, Uttam Fertilizer), Mr. Parmeshwar Regar (CEO of Shree Dev Mahila Kisan Producer Company Limited) and all the nearby village farmers participated in this one-day event. During the programme, the farmers were informed about this newly-developed maize variety.

Sakari Bai says that she has observed a significant difference in the normal variety of maize and this high-yielding variety. She says that the grain is thicker and better in quality than the regular variety. In terms of quantity also, the production is higher than earlier. Whereas earlier it was 10-12 quintals in three months, the new variety yielded 12-15 quintals in the same time. She says she will continue using this same variety in the future and also urge her fellow FPC member farmers to try it.The Zonal District Manager, Mahindra and Mahindra Limited asked the farmers to adopt this maize variety and achieve high crop yield in the near future.

From Trainee to Counsellor

Jasminder Singh’s journey began when he enrolled as a trainee in the Animal Health Worker Course with Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP) under the PMKVY Scheme. He joined the ISAP Training Centre to undergo a 60-day training program in order to gain knowledge and hands-on practice on treatment and insemination of animals. He had been practicing as a beginner earlier with lesser knowledge but was not fully confident to treat all types of animals independently.

Constant practice and a determined will made Jasminder learn how to give injections, and how to handle and manage the animals while treating or inseminating the animal. Today he is approached by farmers for getting their animals treated. He performs health checks, diagnoses, and gives treatment to any type of animal.

“I believe that the Trainers and Centre Managers were quite impressed by my progress and performance during the course; so much so that they offered me a Counsellor and Mentor position at the ISAP Skill Centre, which entails getting a salary of INR 14,500 per month. Besides this, I have an additional source of income, which is giving treatment to animals in nearby areas of my village.
“I am proud and lucky to have been a part of the course at the ISAP PMKVY Skill Centre which has put me on my career path by making me a confident professional in the subject.
“I feel my life is moving in the right direction now and I am delighted to express my thanks to Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals and staff for their training, guidance and constant support.”
(Jasminder Singh)

The first step: the right step

20-year-old Randeep belongs to a middle class farmer family of Gagsina village in Haryana. He was an unemployed graduate searching for an opportunity to take him forward. One fine day he came to know about the PMKVY scheme being implemented by the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals. Without losing any time he enrolled himself for the Quality Seed Grower Course. He was eager to gain knowledge on growing the various qualitative crops and increase production.

After the training, Randeep got placed in Oswal Krishi Rasaya Export Pvt. Ltd. as a Field Officer and is earning Rs. 16000/- pm. Today he is a self-dependent man helping his family earn their bread and butter. He is now a certified and working professional, and thanks Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals profusely for helping him take the right first steps in his career path.
(Randeep Singh)