The Hindu Businessline
Agriculture needs inputs on leadership, management’
Mumbai, May 7, 2008: While the Services sector and Manufacturing sector continue to register robust double-digit growth rates year after year, agriculture has languished at a tepid growth rate of about 2.3 per cent over the last several years, creating disparities in income distribution. Can agriculture learn anything from the other two fast growing sectors?
Yes, says Dr R. Balakrishnan in his book “Supply Chain Management for Indian Agriculture”. The author, an Executive Director of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, with decades of experience in promoting microfinance and strengthening small enterprises, believes what agriculture needs today is leadership and management inputs that have made corporate India compete at the global level. Agribusiness can realise its full potential by adopting the principles of supply chain management (SCM).
Book’s aim
The aim of the book is build a model that would fit into the socio-economic conditions of agriculturists. Supported by data and economic pragmatism, the book argues in favour of managerial approach to the agricultural value chain, mainstreaming agriculture through non-exploitative networks, public private partnerships, supply chain credit, use of technology (biotech and infotech), organic practices and contract farming as the way forward.
Drawing from Indian and international experience, Dr Balakrishnan has advocated a series of reforms for revitalising the farm sector. Logistics would emerge as a valuable service for the country’s farm sector.With newer challenges facing global and Indian agriculture – landconstraints, water shortage, climate change – there is urgent need for a lot more focussed, equitable and relationship-oriented system. The list of recommendations should provide useful inputs to policymakers, bankers and agribusinesses. The book has been published by Indian Merchants’ Chamber as part of its centenary celebrations.
The Financial Express on Sunday June 8, 2008
(http://www.financialexpress.com/news/A-winwin-network/319952/)
A win-win network: Indian Agriculture needs leadership and management inputs
Sanjay Jog
Skewed against the already impoverished farmers, the growth pattern in India needs to be recast. The Indian farmer has always remained at the wrong end of the supply chain for agricultural commodities and consumer goods. This trend needs to be thoroughly reversed. What agriculture needs today is the leadership and management inputs that have made corporate India compete at the global level. Dr R Balakrishnan, Executive Director of National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Debvelopment (Nabard) has penned a researched book which dwells on these issues of supply chain management for Indian agriculture.
The book unlocks the potential of Indian agriculture for bringing about rural prosperity. It is farmer centric and yet not patronising. The author’s concerns on alienating the land from the farmer and the risk of forced entrepreneurship on him are genuine. He advocates introduction of critical management inputs in creating a win-win network with and among farmers. Agriculture has to become agri-business embracing the entire value chain — from farm produce to the diner’s plate and cotton fibre to fashion.
Agri-business can realise its full potential by applying the principles of supply chain management (SCM). The book brings data and economic pragmatism to prove this logic. The arguments in favour of managerial approach to the agriculture value chain, mainstreaming agriculture through non-exploitative networks, public private partnership, supply chain credit, global opportunities as in cotton, use of information and bio-technologies, organic practices, contract farming etc make a powerful appeal. Indian and international experiences have been cited for the reforms advocated.
The book has received powerful endorsements from Professor CK Prahalad, Suresh Kotak and Sivakumar of ITC among others and deserves the attention of policymakers, corporates, bankers, students of management and agriculture, and the general public
Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics: Vol 63 No.4 Oct-Dec 2008Book Reviews
Supply Chain Management for Indian Agriculture: A Blueprint for Agriculture-led Prosperity, R.Balakrishnan, Indian Merchants’ Chamber and IMC Economic Research and Training Foundation, Mumbai 2008. Pp148. Rs.350
There is plethora of literature on agriculture per se but supply chain management for agriculture did not get the desired attention so far of scholars and researchers. R. Balakrishnan deserves compliments for contributing a book not only on a much needed subject but also a subject of contemporary importance. The share of agriculture in gross domestic product (GDP) is declining at a rapid pace but population depending on it is almost stagnant. This has accentuated the disparities of income and asset in the country. The income of population engaged in industrial and service sectors is growing much faster than that of agriculture. This has not only led to urban-rural divide but also triggered off migration of rural population to urban areas with concomitant problems. In this context the importance of innovations in agricultural marketing cannot be over-emphasised. In this backdrop, the book under review is a timely contribution. The book contains nine chapters. While chapter one is devoted to introduction, the second chapter deals with the core subject of supply chain management in agriculture. The author has rightly pointed out that without the proper supply chain management agriculture produce will continue to remain high and dry. Non-value adding middle functionaries need to be eliminated before long. This will benefit both the producers and consumers. Value addition with quality is the need of the hour, wastage needs to be controlled, and producer should produce for the market rather than for the sake of production. The next four chapters have covered important commodities viz., sugar, mango, milk and cotton respectively. These chapters contain very useful information on production trends, important states producing these commodities, present marketing channels, export market, policy initiatives etc.
The innovations in supply chain like contract farming e-choupal, use of infotech etc. have been discussed in chapter seven. However discussions on other innovations particularly in horticulture sector such as Safar Auction Market, Safal National Exchange, terminal market, e-trading etc. would have further enhanced the usefulness of the book. The measures to make agriculture competitive have been discussed in chapter eight. The last chapter deals with roadmap.
The author has suggested a blueprint for agriculture-led prosperity with a win-win situation for all the producers, corporate, banks and Government through supply chain management. The entry of corporate sector in supply chain will bring about the latest technology; standardize world class processes which Indian agriculture needs very badly. Needless to add, the success of supply chain system will largely depend on the pace of agricultural marketing reforms. Though Central Government circulated the model Act in 2003, yet a number of State Governments have not amended their repressive Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts to accommodate the suggested reforms in toto. Of the states that have amended APMC Act, a large number of them have not made any provision for contract farming, dispute settlement mechanism, setting up of private markets, direct marketing, single point registration for trade and transaction in more than one trading market areas, single point levy of the market fee, e-trading and promotion of public-private partnership (PPP) in management of agricultural markets. Without these provisions supply china system will not get –off the ground. In order to accelerate the pace of agricultural marketing reforms, it is imperative that this subject should be brought to the central list by making amendments to the Constitution. Since corporates are also covered by the Companies Act of the Central Government bringing Agricultural Marketing Act under the purview of the Central Government will ensure better synergy of operations.
Contributed by a development banker, the book epitomizes sober economic analysis with remarkable clarity and stylish presentation. This thought provoking book, is very useful for policy makers, as well as students of agricultural marketing in general and corporate in particular. The Indian Merchants’ Chamber also deserves special compliments for publishing this book which will not only benefit corporate sector but also agriculture at large
Mumbai 400097 CL Dadhich
Loksatta (Translated from Marathi)
Informative Book on Indian Farming
In comparison with farmers world over, Indian farmer is relatively weak; so is agricultural production in India. There is a dire need of some ‘booster’ for Indian agriculture and farmer as well whose issues are absolutely intricate. We can sustain in the world market only if the farming and the farmer are progressing with an appropriate speed. Therefore, there is a need to restructure agriculture. Supply Chain Management for Indian Agriculture – a new book by Dr. R. Balakrishnan vividly illustrates the roadmap of such restructured agriculture, which can lead to progress and prosperity. Indian farmer, who can act as supplier also, is always found at a ‘wide of the mark’ place or in a loss-making situation. The relationship as producer-supplier is not strengthened and always a remote possibility. It is therefore absolutely necessary to have a direct and strong relationship between the customer and the producer. For that matter, the present situation needs to be reversed completely. Today, in the era of global competition, what is required is leadership and management technique, which will lead India to a unified and strong position. The book – Supply Chain Management for Indian Agriculture – motivates you to brood over these points.
Agriculture holds tremendous potential for rural India’s prosperity. The book reflects this vehemently and with deep understanding. Nowhere the writer has pretended to be a patron; yet the center-point of the book is Indian Farmer only. The book also focuses the pangs of the farmers due to their separation from their own land on account of pressures on them for parting away land for business. The author is straightforward in his views on this issue and strongly propagates that if you want to prosper the farmer, he should be given the ‘Tantra’ (technique) of management of marketing and commodities. The author pragmatically advocates that right from cotton-thread upto new fashions and from the farm product upto various items in your Thali a supply chain management should be included in the agri-business. This assertion is supported by few statistics. The book also strongly appeals on various important issues as also reforms such as agri-pricing from a management perspective, public private partnership, credit system / arrangements in supply chain, opportunities in world market in respect of cotton crop, uptodate information and use of biotechnology, experiments of organic farming, contract farming. For consideration of various reforms, the author shares few national and international experiences also.
The success of the book can be acknowledged from the feedback / reflections of few esteemed personalities like Prof. C K Prahalad, Suresh Kotak and Sivkumar of ITC. The book is no doubt extra-ordinary and useful for the Planners, Entrepreneurs, Bankers, MBA students, particularly that of rural faculty and of course for Common Man too.
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