Raghuraman Column | Mindset Change for Business Model

N. Raghuraman, Management Guru

Remember those timeless pictures of rural India. Children are dancing barefoot on the muddy roads. Splashing in pits filled with water. Getting drenched in the first rain, Shahrukh Khan is making the iconic pose with both arms extended. For urban people, it seems like a warm celebration of the rains. But for those children it is much more than a game.

They know that every drop of rain means life – water for family farms, fodder for cattle, food on the plate and hope for the future. But this time there is a shortage of such scenes in monsoon. Irregular and delayed rains due to El Nino not only spoiled the rhythm of farming but also took away these innocent happiness. The village roads, which usually echo with the laughter of children, remained dusty for a long time. When the monsoon stops, not only the crops, but also the entire rural childhood waits for it.

That is why the entire country should pay attention to an experiment going on in Jalna district of Maharashtra. This district, spread over about 16 lakh acres of agricultural land, is trying to bring about a significant change in the thinking of farming. Instead of thousands of farmers sowing the same crops and bearing the same risks, Jalna District Collector Ashima Mittal has launched a campaign appealing to 970 villages in 778 gram panchayats to set aside at least 20 acres of land in each village for low-water and high-value crops.

These include crops like chia seeds, mulberry, linseed, white musli, asparagus and sericulture. This is an attempt at planned diversification of crops. At a time when climate uncertainty has become the new normal, this could become one of India’s most important grassroots initiatives against the challenge of unpredictable monsoons.

Not only Jalna, Punjab has also been teaching a lesson for decades. Despite the decline in groundwater level, paddy cultivation continues to dominate agriculture there. But today many progressive farmers are planting maize, vegetables and fruit orchards on a part of the land. Sikkim offers the strongest example of different thinking.

Farmers there have gained access to premium markets by adopting organic farming across the state rather than competing on the basis of production volume. This transformation took patience, but today the state has a unique identity that attracts high-paying customers.

The tribal districts of Odisha display a completely different model. Farmers cultivating turmeric, ginger and medicinal plants have significantly improved family income through farmer producer organizations. These organizations collect the produce, improve the quality and negotiate for better prices. Farmers in Gujarat’s Kutch, which faces low rainfall and extreme temperatures, have transformed barren land into profitable plantations of pomegranates, dates and dragon fruits using drip irrigation. What once seemed impossible has today become a thriving horticulture-based economy.

Jalna’s ’20 acre model’ is so effective because it asks farmers to experiment on just a small area of ​​land. A farmer with five acres of land does not need to put his entire farm at stake. Before expanding, he can compare the income, costs and risks of even giving only half an acre of land to the new crop.

There is a common lesson in all these examples. All of them turned their land into a living laboratory of climate adaptation. Success does not always come from farming more land. Often it comes down to how to get wise yields from the land. Below-normal rainfall and a weak monsoon in June this year have already raised concerns that rain-fed farmers may face yield losses again. In such a situation, crop diversity and climate-friendly farming have become more important than ever.

The bottom line is that Today farming also requires the same mindset as financial advisors, who often tell investors not to invest all their money in one share or property. Diversification protects your business and assets when an investment does not perform as expected.

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