From red flags to the red carpet – the changing business landscape in Kerala – RAJESH NAIR
The role of the entrepreneur in agriculture is to create linkages, which are critical in bringing the producer, processor, and consumer together. The supply chain linkages are at a nascent stage in Kerala.
Increase in agripreneurs can encourage
- Transparency and information exchange— Schemes must ensure the growth of trust within the farmer group by providing complete information on the clauses prevailing in the agreement, along with knowledge of the prevailing prices for the farm produce.
- Farmer support mechanism— to secure the quality and quantity of product obtained under contract, companies would need to provide farmers with assistance in terms of key inputs, such as seeds and information on farm practices. Also, since farming in Kerala is a credit deficient, financial institutions would have to evaluate a mechanism to provide adequate credit line facilities to the farmer/producer.
- Profit sharing– schemes need to innovate and come up with a sourcing model that incorporates some means of sharing profits with the producer. This could be through either individual payment to farmers for their produce or community investments in the sourcing regions/villages.
It is the high time we entrepreneurs promote agriculture as a career avenue for the bright and young.An important step by the government is to declare agriculture as an industry.
Imagine all the dishes on an Onam feast that are arranged in an order that makes the palate look like a painting. Several islands of colours spread on the leaves. They say when God looks down on the world, he sees a similar profusion of colour and each Onam Ela (leaf) is a colourful microcosm of the world. And soon, I pray and dream that the leaf will have every ingredient grown and nurtured in the fields and farms of Kerala – Made in Kerala. For the pessimists and ‘nay sayers’ in Kerala, this is the story that Kerala is becoming and is capable of. The day has arrived!
RAJESH NAIR
Director, Ernst & Young LLP Rajesh is also
the president of the Kerala Chapter of TiE Global
Photo Courtesy : Google/ images may be subject to copyright
