Since we were talking about plants, I just thought of sending in this piece which I wrote some time back. FN -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Frederick Noronha 784 Near Convent, Sonarbhat, SALIGAO, GOA India Freelance Journalist TEL: +91-832-2409490 MOBILE: 9822122436 http://fn.swiki.net http://www.livejournal.com/users/goalinks fred at bytesforall.org http://www.bytesforall.org
E-LINKS TO THE FIELD, SIMPLE COMMUNICATION CAN YIELD RICH CROP By Frederick Noronha Sometimes, what's badly needed is just the chance to link up, talk and share notes. One initiative to bring together agricultural professionals from across India is already beginning to show its results. Called the ISAP (Indian Society of Agricultural Professionals), this network has a carefully-charted map of what it plans to do and how. If its ambitious plans work out, it could squeeze out a rich harvest by garnering the potential of IT to benefit the field. This e-network (also with brick-and-motar plans) aims to reach out to "at leats 100,000" agribusiiness professionals, whom it aniticipats to involve as associated within five years. The firm has been set up as a Section 25 not-for-profit company, under a provision which allows companies to be set up by Indian law without a profit-making motive. "The idea is to make it viable and sustainable in five years time," says ISAP executive director Sunil Khairnar, a B.Tech in Agriculture and post-graduate studies at the prestigious Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. So far, using the humble tool of e-mail and electronic mailing-lists, the ISAP has already been able to start the flow of a vital information exchange. ISAPindia mailing list can be joined by sending a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Varied types of information is put out on this list. Shripad Kanekar in Banda (coastal Maharashtra) is part of a group of farmers wanting to sell upto 20 metric tons of seedless dried Garcinia Indica from the Konkan belt. He's seeking advise for market linkages. N.N. Bhuiya of the Assam Plants and Machineries at Guwahati needs to buy cashnut grafting (planting material) for distribution in his home-state on a large scale. Someone in coastal Goa has a tip of whom to contact. Farmer-journalist and founder of recently launched water forum 'Jalakoota', Shree Padre recently came out with his sixth book on rainwater harvesting. Says Padre: "The book titled Rain Water Harvesting has been released at a time when people are struggling hard for water." Padre explains -- via this mailing list -- that out of the eight chapters in the book, the first one describes the causes for the decline of the water table. Chapter two to seven deal with different aspects of rainwater harvesting. The last chapter gives examples of those who have successfully implemented rain-water harvesting techniques in their livelihood. Incidentally, Shree Padre is working persistently in the field of soil and water conservation since several years in Karnataka and Kerala. Over the past six years, Padre is vigorously collecting and documenting information on rainwater harvesting from world over. Besides writing articles for several leading newspapers in Karnataka on the theme, Padre has also authored five books on the topic, in the Kannada language. "Rain is free, catch it freely," is his punch-line. Ashish Kotamkar in Pune draws attention to a website meant to help Indian farmers bargain better (agmarknet.nic.in). Meanwhile other information coming in points out that the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest computer software exporter, announced a pact with a Netherlands-based firm to develop Web applications for the flower and plant industry. If you're on the list, you might also be lucky to learn of one of India's leading industry lobby group's announcement to organise a biotech mission to the U.S. and Canada next week to promote cooperation among the companies in the field. Meanwhile, a Karnataka-based organisation, the Krishi Prayog Parivar is working in the filed of organic, self-reliant agriculture. Due to their efforts, many farmers have switched over to non-chemical, low-input farming, they announce and associated farmers now have a stock of organically-grown paddy, announces Anand from Shimoga. NON-PROFIT, NON-POLICITAL ------------------------- The ISAP -- or Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals -- calls itself a "non-profit, non-politicial, non-government and public-interest organisation dedicated to participants in the agriculture sector". Its goal is to "enhance rural incomes" in India. This it hopes to do by boosting access to 'appropriate agricultural technologies and market intelligence' to the millions living in the hinterlands of India. One of its goals is to create a national -- and even international -- network of food and agribusiness professionals involved "in all business aspects of the agricultural sector". It also hopes to build and boost 'agribusiness clinics' to reach out with the products and services needed by Indian farmers. Indian agriculture, points out its promoters, contributes some 25% of the country's economy and 65% of the entire employment. "Therefore, an increase in farm incomes, however modest, will elad to betterment in the lives of 650 million people," it argues. ISAP has a number of long-term goals. This includes creating a forum of experts who would provide technical and market information services to farmers and others, identifying motivated agricultural graduates and offer training to run agribusiness clinics, and enable professionals with information to "add value to their enterprise". Besides, it wants to hunt for relevant information on technology and markets, and make sure this reaches out to farmers through 'agribusiness clinics'. It also aims to 'build new linkages' for marketing of agri products by helping the 'disintermediation of trade channels' to benefit the farmers. ONLINE, OFFLINE CHANNELS ------------------------ One more goal is to develop online (Internet-based) and offline info-dissemination channels. "We aim to conduct studies and research projects on post-harvest technologies and marketing of agricultural products," says Khairnar. This way, it hopes to meet a number of goals. First, a national (and international) network of food and agribusinesses professionals would be created. This would lead to a few model agribusiness clinics being set up. This would also possibly lead to a system that identifies 'motivated agricultural graduates' and offers them training and project services to help create, in turn, a larger number of sustainable agribusiness clinics. But is this a scalable project, or just one more of those many showpieces that works in on a micro-level but can't really make a difference to the lives of many? For India's size, argues Khairnar, we need something like 50,000 agribusiness clinics. This project aims at building the mechanism that would create agri-clinics on a "self-sustainable basis". ISAP says its own focus will be to set up the knowledge network, identify interested agri-graduates, and train them besides providing the 'information production and services' to keep their agri-clinics working suitably. "Thus the concept of agribusiness clinics becomes scalable and could expand till it reaches ever major village in the country," argues ISAP. This concept is based on the idea of creating a knowledge network. Together with its knowledge delivery mechanism, it could -- if effectively worked out -- reach out to a large number of agri-experts, and rural entrepreneurs who will run the agri-clinics, besides farmers. To recover costs, farmers using the agribusiness clinics would be charged "modest fees" for using the information and expert services, in an aim to also make it commercially viable. SERVICES PLANNED ---------------- Services planned include a city-wise or center-wise network of functional experts. These would be classified according to their domain of specialisation -- horticulture, vermiculture, pathology, entomology and the like. "We estimate the population of experts to be of the order of 5,000 and we target to have at least 25% on our panel within two years," says ISAP. Some 100,000 agribusiness professionals will be enrolled as associates in five years time. These could be unemployed graduates, progressive farmers, manufacturers, service providers, buyers and customers of agri products or services, and the like. Once this it done, it would help to launch and run agribusiness clinics. This would need training, course-content, know-how and managerial inputs. Initial finance for the launch would also be needed. Currently, ISAP is seeking the to build up associates in a number of categories. These include as an agri-expert ('pracharak'), disseminator of agri-knowledge ('prasarak'), agri-knowledge volunteer ('krishi-sevak'), as partner non-governmental organisations ('prepak'), as farmers intending to use agri-knowledge ('krishak'), partner research organisations ('sanshodhak') or even as agri journalists writing extensively on agricultural issues ('lekhak'). ENDS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--W-E-B--S-I-T-E--=-=-=-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from Saligaonet | http://www.goacom.com/saligao_tinto/ ============================================================================ * Send e=mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] (NOT [EMAIL PROTECTED]) * Leave SUBJECT blank <--- Commom Mistake !! * On first line of the BODY of your message, type: subscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL OR unsubscribe saligaonet YOUR.EMAIL Questions/Problems? Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED]