New agri business models key to economic growth: expert

Chennai:

India should adopt new business models in almost all levels of agriculture business landscape to meet the demands projected in 2020 and also to counter spiraling inflation and burgeoning imports, according to an expert.

Delivering a special address during the inaugural session of Confederation of Indian Industry’s conference on Agricultural Innovation in a Changing Farming Dynamics, S Chandramohan, president and chief financial officer of TAFE stressed the need for several agriculture parks through public private partnership which would focus on investment and storage infrastructure and forward marketing linkages.

He also said that without reforming the laws governing the agricultural produce marketing committees, which run the mandis, the direct procurement by big retails chains following the foreign direct investment would be difficult.

He said even now the commission agents have a crucial relationship with small and marginal farmers. “They provide food, inputs and even cash to meet off season needs and are ATMs for small and marginal farmers. The inability to make these and other agents redundant leaves the supply chain long and these issues need to be addressed to organize the retail to succeed in the country,” he said.

Tamil Nadu governor K Rosaiah in his inaugural address stressed the need to adopt improved agricultural technologies through greater public private partnership and closer linkages with various domestic and international knowledge and technology sources to bring about a robust growth in agriculture.

He said the production to consumption system output will have to be extended for better integration of income and poverty alleviation objectives in a market context.

Conference chairman and vice-president technology and head EIEC Eaton Corporation Dr Arun Jaura and chairman of CII Chennai zoen and director operations Saint Gobain Glass India Ltd S N Eisenhower also spoke on the occasion.