Success Stories of Agribusiness/ Agri-clinics - a Tool of Agri Entrepreneurship

1. Introduction
Agricultural development over years has been the result of continuous agri skill generation and its popularization. The earliest agriculture was animal domestication over thousands of years ahead, man domesticated wild fowl, dog, goat and smaller animals, whom he could overpower easily and subjugate to his sub-ordination. Agriculture thus since beginning has been the results of trails, experiments and experiences over years, learned first though behavioral changes, psychic reoccurrences, memories passed through parents to children and later on through doing and learning and now through sharing experiences and writing them or dotting them as an Entrepreneurship concern.

2. Entrepreneurship concept
The Entrepreneurship adds economic profits and cost-benefit ratios to Agricultural Output. Entrepreneurship is dominated by four factors like:
a. Social systemic changes
b. Support system availability and use
c. Resource base and its utilization
d. Self confidence, exploration work capacity and intellectual potency.
An entrepreneur has to have a thinking of his own, a capacity building interest in acquiring needed technique. An explorative and analytic faculties to judge the way of procuring cheap raw material. He must be equipped with “knowledge” and mindset to use and benefit out of it.
3. Farm Business
A potential entrepreneurship must strive from getting maximum output. Decades back agricultural development and industrial setups was a public sponsored and heavily subsidized but over time “knowledge” explosion in India Agriculture, have brought us on threshold of a system, where wide distances exist between industry and farm business. Where huge subsidies are benefiting Agro-Industrialists. The Farmers who use fertilizers or agro-chemical are crushed under economic pressures. The gaps between technology generated and technology use at farmers door is increasing day after day. The farm technology adoption rates are not more than 20-30% by any higher prospective. The use of information and communication technology (I&CT) for reducing the gaps and increasing productivity is the need of the hour (Wani, 2005). The modern technology and knowledge flow is fast expanding and bringing change. It demands more educated and trained farmers. Our education system has produced more literates but not educationally trained youth to earn their own bread. They after attaining graduation in agriculture and allied sectors, beg for job. The system has to be corrected to make these graduates as employers and not employees. I wrote a treatise as back as 1992, emphasizing a system. Germans are smart to have Farmers school, Farmer business training institutes, practical agri-farmers training centres and like, where way farmer or animal husbandry man is essentially a trained fellow. The banking system is so organized that they are on the door of convocation hall to sell their agri-business and agri-clinics to graduates, without any personal investments. Banks are so smart, that they have surveyed the villages who need vets or agri-graduates or have attained land and all facilitation, so that agricultural or veterinary or even other medico-biological graduates are used as bank investment. This is what is envisaged in India under agriclinic, Agribusiness venture. We have trainings not in the hands of banks but universities.
4. Success of Agribusiness:
A systematic liaison and support system between Govt. banking and University culture has made this otherwise an remunerative and lucerative programmes into a failure inspite of its personal monitoring of PMO. The success of Agri-business and Agri-clinics success rates are shown in table 1. The universities involve and their success stories are shown in table 2. Both these details are distressing inspite of huge moral, financial support from Govt. This is inspite of subsidiary support table 3.
Various ventures are listed in table 4 - 7. Agricultural professionals are getting converted into Agribusiness and agri-clinical experts. More than 14,000 applicants and 615 agriclinics came to existence in Indian 12 states. The agri clinic trained persons in J&K many number in hundreds. Among them 34 have registered agri clinics earning a handsome profit annually.
We visited Bandipora district and unregistered Agriclinics were earning a handsome salary, more than the Rahbar-e-zerat or Agriculture Asstt. A visit documentary is enclosed and shall be shown. It consisted of Agribusiness viz sale of pesticides, cattle feed, poultry feed and agri-extension services. At a small village in Papchan, one agri graduate Mr. Iqbal Shah earns Rs. 10,000/- per month by selling the services and input. At a distance of few kms. In same district one Mr. Khyatlani owns a big poultry farm and earns around Rs. 20,000/- per month. Both these entrepreneurs employ 2-3 persons at present. Similarly, the success shown by one Mr. Shah at Malangam in Agri products and pesticide sale and one Mr. Bhat in Dairy production and milk product sale earn a handsome income besides generating employment for poor.
5. Farmer as Entrepreneur
Indian Farming and farmer has to change if proper WTO recommendation and GATT agreements are to be followed.
The present day poultry scenario has emerging high profile agri-business prospects in India.
The conversion of poultry farmer’s into poultry entrepreneurs shall make the present day 6% contribution of poultry products to 25% share of Global market from India and China. This when translated into action shall increase employment generation by manifolds. The introduction of rural based Vanraja, Gramapriya, Giriraja, Cari Gold and vast other locally grown varieties of poultry have adopted well to our agri-rural base. The market acceptability is higher than exotic poultry concerns. Research to farmers doors in generating free-rang-poultry is like BT cotton hybrid spreading through villages of India and assuring high returns and exports (wani, 2007).
6. Poultry as Agri-business
Dr. Gordon Butland, president of Global poultry strategies presents “Backyard poultry production” as a tool of alleviating poverty and malnutrition. We have tried to distribute “birds” under free-rang system in all our KVK’s our results were excellent and income generation was totally in favour of the Agri-business and agri-clinics as will be shown in case histories and success stories.
A grand show of using poultry, rabbit meat processing introduction at SKUAST-K have innovated white meat usage. Our own preparation could be seen in Figs 1-3.
This all will need the involvement of Agri-Veterinary and food processing technocrats to develop rural-based establishments so as to faster export and fast returns.
7. Holistic Vision for Livestock Enterprise.
Improving income, employment and self-reliance are among educated graduates and un-employed youth especially women needs fostering community development, women empowerment, environmental protection. Rural-based backyard poultry subscribes to all these norms and could be a rich resource for developing agri-entrepreneurship. Govt. of India is liberally financing such agri-business ventures and a proposed infrastructure cost set-up can be seen in table 8. A vast and finance assured schemes are available for agri-graduates for establishing poultry ventures (table 9). An initial allocation of 107 crores for initiating nucleus breeding farms. Further more provision of hatcheries to provide chicks to more than 2 lac farmers and farm women will need many agri-business centres for providing basic germplasm, medicine and above all training.
Some of the success stories in animal husbandry section can be reproduced as follows:
a. Backyard poultry and incubation
Though the Vanraja are the most suitable for back yard poultry, they do not have habit of broodiness. There is a problem among the farmer to get a broody hen in all season. KVK solve this problem of hatching by installing small unit of hatchery. Every month 15-20 farmers are benefited by purchasing chicks for backyard poultry. There 200 back yard poultry units of Vanraja. Each farmer is rearing 10 to 25 in the backyard. There is a good demand and response for the chicks and eggs of Vanraja. KVKs are now planning to expand this unit.
b. Semi-stall-fed Goat Rearing
KVK’s made an intervention to improve this enterprise by conducting short durational training programmes for rural youth. Similarly exposure visit were organized on goat feed, breed and health management. More emphasis was given on O)smanabadi goat and up-gradation in selected non-descript goat breed by osmanabadi pure buck and given the knowledge about semi stallfed goat rearing concept.
c. Broiler Production
KVK has conducted many durational training programmes for 165 trainees. Due to training and demonstrations awareness was increased about contract farming in broiler production with private sector which provide chicks, feed and medicine and after 40 days purchases Rs. 3 to 3.50 per kg on live weight and FCR basis and changed their attitude. They acquired skills through learning by doing at KVK demonstration unit.
The technology has been adopted by 10 percent of youths now in the radius of 20 km there are 27 poultry units having capacity of 5000-10000 poultry birds on contract farming basis. These self employed rural youth earning Rs 10000-15000 per lot.
Recently a seminar-cum-farmer’s meet was arranged at SKUAST-K on 26-27th of Oct.2007. The knowledge –sharing and use for making agricultural graduate and scientists was emphasized by our worthy Chancellor. A vision of poverty alleviation through backyard poultry intervention was the theme of the seminar. Many belts in Gurez, Tangdar, Telail and Zanskar are rearing native livestock species. Who are better suited and need improvement and identification. The cooking methods will need more expansion and scientific intervention for export. More emphasis has to be made on:
• Safe feed and food.
• Organic fodder and food.
• Operational excellence and modern mechanization to improve quality of indigenous enterprises.
• Local family management to farm business management and seller-buyer medol adoption.