Fertile ideas
The Week — April 8, 2001

Tata Kisan Kendras guide farmers to prosperity

Hariom Varshney, 55, wasn't delighted when his son announced his intention to enrol for an engineering course. The small trader of agricultural inputs at Babrala in western Uttar Pradesh knew it was beyond his means to see the boy through the course.

It was then that representatives from Tata Fertiliser Ltd and Rallis India (a Tata company) paid him a visit. Why not work as a franchisee and set up a Tata Kisan Kendra (TKK), they suggested. Hesitantly, Varshney accepted the offer.

Six years on, he is all smiles. His fertiliser sales have risen from 50 tonnes annually to 1,000 tonnes, and profits have registered a tenfold increase. Farmers also throng his shop for agro products, news about the latest in agricultural technology and advice on how to maximise yield.

His success in business has raised his social standing. "Within 20 kilometres, ask anybody my name and they will lead you to my shop," says Varshney proudly. And his son is well on his way to becoming an engineer.

Lajjawati, a farmer woman of Jajpura in Bhimnagar, UP, went to TKK after suffering frequent crop failures. Within a year her crop yield went up; twice it won the top prize in competitions. "Had I not gone to TKK and taken their advice, I would have been reduced to a labourer today," says Lajjawati, who has invested part of her profits in a furniture shop.

Ram Prakash, 50, of Nagla village in Bhimnagar had borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh and bought land two years ago. When heavy rain and hailstorm destroyed his wheat crop a TKK advised him to grow chilli. He harvested a bumper crop. Having sold Rs 1 lakh worth of chillies so far, he is confident of clearing his debt before December.

TKKs are one-stop shops which provide agricultural products, services, training and information. They lease out farm equipment, provide high-yielding seed, advise farmers on crop selection, rotation and disease prevention methods and offer post-harvest services and soil testing facilities. All at very reasonable rates. "I can get my soil testing done at a TKK for Rs 18," says Lakhan, a farmer of Mankapur village.

The first TKK was established at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore in Ujhani, Bhimnagar, in 1998. Today TKKs cover 48,000 villages across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. In UP alone, 7 mother TKKs and 181 franchised TKKs service 34,000 villages.

A mother TKK has an in-charge, a lab analyst and two other technicians. It periodically screens films related to farming and holds training programmes. The farmers, thus benefit from the Tata surveys and market studies, satellite imagery and soil mapping. Besides, a mother kendra has a small library of farm journals, and it holds crop competitions and entertainment programmes. "The aim is to develop a genuine partnership with the farmer," says B.B. Singh, senior superintendent, marketing, of Tata Chemicals Limited, Babrala.

The backbone of the kendras is Tata's 1,630-acre fertiliser complex at Babrala. Commissioned in 1994, it produced 9.70 lakh tonnes of urea in 1999-2000. To be a TKK franchisee, a farmer must have the potential of selling 1,000 tonnes of urea annually. Franchisees deposit Rs 25,000 as security money, which earns them a 12 per cent interest.

In 1999 TKKs introduced the Tata Kisan Parivar. Its membership (annual fee Rs 200) entitled farmers preferential treatment at the franchises. "For instance, if urea is in short supply a member will get it earlier than a non-member," says K.V. Sundaravadanan, marketing manager of Tata Chemicals.

Parivar offers its blue membership card to matriculate farmers above the age of 40 who own at least five acres of land and have no crime record. They are often opinion-makers in their village and they can spread ideas among the illiterate and young farmers, says B.B. Singh. Parivar in UP has around 5,000 members.

If the going has been good for TKKs, it could get even better in the future. A crop insurance scheme has been planned: a buyback scheme for wheat and paddy is expected to start in April, following a deal with Hindustan Lever and Cargill. Farmers will bring their produce to the mother TKK, thus eliminating middlemen and bureaucratic hassles.

Tata Chemicals is also planning to provide credit for farmers at 8 per cent interest in association with ICICI and the US-based Rabbo Bank.