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Articles: TP Features | | Organic Farming Outsourcing | |
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| Dear Sree Krishna gaaru,
Thanks for your comments and for raising certain problems existing in organic farming as per your perspective. But I don't think the problems raised by you are unsolvable problems. Every problem has a solution. If we are committed to solve the problem, we can hundred percent find the solution.
First, I would like to make it clear that none of the concepts that I'm talking about are just meant for exporting. They are meant both for domestic and foreign markets.
Secondly, no field is free of problems and risks. Every opportunity has certain amount of risk associated with it. If there is one field, which is free of risks, then the whole world would want to get into that field. Unfortunately, life is not so easy.
I have always been saying in every concept I'm writing here that the government should actively
involve in all the ways to encourage these fields because they have the potential to create employment to lakhs of people.
The whole purpose of organic farming is to do it naturally. If machines do the farming, it is not called organic farming.
You said that if a foreign buyer finds the products at cheaper rates, he would opt for that seller. There is no dispute in this. But I'm not a supporter of 'price war'(meaning reducing the
price further and further to attract the buyer).
If you engage in price war, so many things get spoiled and ultimately it results in low-quality products/services and sweat-shop conditions.
Buyers and sellers who are fascinated by price war are only interested in low-quality, low-end
products and services. You can witness this in the present IT and BPO sectors.
I'm a supporter of precision-quality and I believe that we can always win our own market share, if we can demonstrate our uniqueness. Our competitors may copy our price, quality or product but what they can't copy is our 'uniqueness'.
You are not convinced by my contention that organic services can create massive employment. But I have hundreds of ideas on how we can achieve it. So, it is just the difference in perception.
Thanks for your participation once again and hope to see your active participation in future too.
By the way, please read my past articles too.
Regards,
Pragna Maharshi
Posted by: Mr. Maharshi Pragna At: 8, Apr 2006 9:07:10 PM IST
Dear Maharshi,
I read your article and noted the contents. There are many problems in exporting fresh commodities like fruits and vegetables. The cost of exporting is also very high. Once the shipment is rejected on the grounds of quality controls, then the entire consignment is a waste.
Even though a farmer may not use pesticides and chemical fertilizers on the crops directly, but if he uses sprinkler irrigation and if that water contain pesticides, then also that agricultural product may be disqualified as organic food product. Even to get a certificate for organic farming is beyond the capacity of our farmers.
The cost of agricultural lands are very high in India and our cost of production is also high by world standards. Many countries give high subsidies for agriculture. We can not compete effectively in agricultural products in the world, then how can we compete in a better manner in 'organic products'.Even to convert ordinary farm into organic farm takes about 3 years. For those 3 years, the farmer has to suffer some loss. How many of our farmers can withstand it.
This cultivation can only be taken up by big corporations. If they take up cultivation, they use all types of machines which may not create any net increase in employment.
Depending on export markets is very much dangerous. If the foreign trader finds any new supplier for any particular commodity, he drastically offers very less price to our Indian farmers. The price of an agricultural product in a super market may look very attractive, but our farmers will not get the right price. The price may be high may be because of high customs duties.
I never say that there is absolutely no chance for export of organic products. I only say that the market is very limited only. There is no vast scope for exporting 'organic products' if we take our capabilities into consideration.
I am very much disappointed by this article and expect that there may not be more employment generation through this channel.
I really appreciate your fresh outlook and approach for the development of our country. How many people really spare about 10 minutes in day and think about our country. I can understand how much pain you must have taken to create this concept. You must have spent a lot of time and energy to create this concept. The unfortunate thing is that we may spend more time on a new concept, but it may not give good results. I am eagarly awaiting for your next article.
Posted by: Mr. sree krishna koppuravuri At: 8, Apr 2006 12:44:00 PM IST
Comment from Pragna Maharshi:
Satya Kodali gaaru and Vamsee Pratyahari gaaru,
Send me an email at 'pragnamaharshi@yahoo.com' and I will try to help you out on this as much as possible. I appreciate your interest to get into Organic farming. If you enjoy what you are doing, it won't be difficult.
I already heard of one or two couples who moved back from the USA and ventured into organic farming. There are number of highly educated people doing this. In Karnataka, there is one whole village doing organic farming and they train even agriculturists from AP.
Our ancestors have gathered great wisdom on organic farming and they are now available in books.
For people who have the creative zeal, lots of innovative experiments can be made and they can set trends.
I would suggest you to first do a detailed study on how it can go wrong and the negative experiences of people. Then, you can be better prepared.
R. Sreenivasam gaaru,
Thanks for your correction on my wrong assumption that Argentina was smaller than AP state.
Posted by: Mr. Maharshi Pragna At: 7, Apr 2006 4:06:37 PM IST
Mr.Maharshi,
It is a timely article what with organic farming becoming mainstream now. I have been an organic/ biodynamic consumer for quite some time and have been dreaming of an early retirement from the my field ....computer programming... and take up organic farming in India. I am not sure how much of a challaenge it is to begin with, given I am not familiar with agricuture in the first place and secondly how good the market is for organic products if I want to go commercial.
I tried calling you on the number you gave but could not. I am serious about this and would like to get your valued suggestions. Please share your email id with me so I can contact you directly.
Vamsee
Posted by: Mr. seee nu At: 7, Apr 2006 8:15:03 AM IST
Hi Maharshi,
Your article is good and is a thought provoking one.
There is a small mistake in the article which is saying that Argentina is smaller than Andhra pradesh. In fact Argentina is aroung nine times bigger than andhra pradesh.
Sans this article is very nice.
Posted by: Mr. sreenivasam R At: 7, Apr 2006 1:33:14 AM IST
Hi Mr.Maharshi,
That was an interesting and thought provoking article. I am quite impressed by the article. I am a pro organic and looking to setup up a agri farm in near future. I am working on that line.
If you have any details for setting up such farms, please do send to my mail id. I am forwarding your article to my known good friends.
Will expect more such articles from people like you which will make the hi-tech people to think about the future.
my e-mail id : satya_kodali@yahoo.co.in
thanks and regards
satya kodali
Posted by: Mr. satya kodali At: 6, Apr 2006 7:56:53 PM IST
Rajani Kanth gaaru,
Thanks for the information.
You said organic outsourcing is more to do with people involved in agriculture than business. I'm sorry if my article had given that impression but in fact, Organic Services outsourcing requires services of almost majority of the fields.
IT and biotech professionals, food technologists, environmental, civil, electiral and electronic engineers, export and import business experts, statisticians, transport and storage specialists, Supply chain specialists, architects, landscape designers, aesthetic designers, sales and marketing strategists, retailing and packaging specialists, ecology and forestry experts, geologists, eco-friendly farming equipment specialists, health food specialists, gourmet food designers, connoisseurs and many more professionals and their services with niche expertise in organic food products are required.
All these services are independent businesses and hence business people can specialize in whatever niche they are good at.
What I'm writing at telugupeople.com is just a summary of each concept. If I have to write in detail about each outsourcing concept, it would then become a book. That's the reason, I just confined myself to the summary.
Regards,
Pragna Maharshi
Posted by: Mr. Maharshi Pragna At: 6, Apr 2006 11:20:55 AM IST
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