Public – Private Consortia Under the National Agriculture Innovation Project

Dr. N.G. Hegde

Background

The National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) has scope to transfer appropriate technologies and develop innovative models for promoting agricultural production, particularly to benefit farmers belonging to weaker sections of the society and located in disadvantaged regions. The project provides innovative technologies, approaches and systems to ensure that the success of various technological advancements and research programmes benefit these sections of the society.

Agriculture in general has been the subject of the State Government and the Department of Agriculture is responsible for providing extension services to farmers for enhancing agricultural production. The Agriculture Department has been receiving technical and research support from national and state level research institutions and agricultural universities. No formal role was assigned to other important players such as financial institutions, private enterprises and voluntary organisations till the mid 70’s.

To facilitate forward and backward linkages, cooperative institutions were promoted. Some of these cooperatives such as dairy cooperatives, sugar cooperatives, and cooperative banks have made significant contribution in several states. However, the success of these cooperatives depended on the local leadership and active involvement of the members. Of late, many of the cooperatives have been dominated by vested interests, which ignore the primary objectives and interest of their members. As a result, the efficiency and utility of the cooperatives in providing expected services in agriculture development have become a matter of serious concern. Subsequently, this role was assumed by many voluntary organisations, growers’ organisations, users’ groups, micro-finance institutions and self help groups.

By and large, the Government did not plan in nurturing private organisations to support agriculture development. Nevertheless, many private enterprises have progressed to take up production in agriculture inputs, processing and marketing of agro-based commodities. Apart from these institutions engaged in the above activities, a large number of traders and middlemen are also engaged in providing various support services, particularly for input supply and procurement of outputs, without any control by the Government and the farmers. Such agencies have often exploited the poor in many ways.

Against this background, it is now time to introduce appropriate technologies and develop suitable infrastructure for providing various support services, particularly to assist the poor farmers.

Focus on Small Farmers

Transfer of technologies for the benefit of small farmers and communities located in disadvantaged regions is also necessary to ensure food security apart from enhancing agricultural production. As over 70% farmers are small holders whose land resources are heavily degraded, they need appropriate technologies and support services to optimise the production. By addressing the problems of these farmers, we can expect a major boost not only to agricultural production but also to promote bio-diversity and eco-system improvement.

Strategy for Developing Consortium

While developing a consortium, we can have two types of approaches. The first approach is the technology based approach and the other is the task based approach.

In the technology based approach, the objective is to transfer or widely replicate a new technology for the benefit of the society. Under this approach, the organisation, which has developed the technology can take the lead or select a suitable partner to implement project in the field. The lead institution can identify the support needed to fulfill the objectives. Some of the partners can be agencies to develop or supply critical inputs, micro-finance institutions to finance the participants, institutions for community mobilisation, training, providing various support services, including processing and marketing of the produce. It has been well recognised that there are specialised agencies to deal with the above functions and involving them can not only ensure success but also induce efficiency.

In the task based approach, particularly in remote and backward areas, the objective is to address the needs and problems of the target location or the community. A development agency, experienced in mobilising the local communities and capabilities, particularly at the grassroot level is more suited for taking up this task. This agency can take the lead in selecting partners, who can provide various technologies, inputs, finance, information, logistics and marketing services. These agencies can jointly assess the needs to fulfill the task and accordingly decide their roles.

Role of the Consortium

The objectives of the consortium could be

  1. Conservation of resources;
  2. Increase in agricultural production and profits;
  3. Reduce the cost of production; improve the efficiency of the inputs used for production or replace with eco-friendly inputs;
  4. Improve sustainability, bio-diversity and reduce environmental pollution;
  5. Empower weaker sections of the society and facilitate better quality of life.

The success of the consortium depends on the active involvement of all the major players involved in the project and a harmonious coordination among the members with greater degree of transparency. It is advantageous to have a consortium of different specialised agencies, irrespective of the regions, socio-economic profile of the beneficiaries and the types of crops grown. The consortium is expected to facilitate an efficient delivery system, which may result in low cost of production and higher returns to farmers. Figure 1 shows the possible linkages of various institutions to support the farmers at the village level.

While promoting the consortium, it should be need based to manage different tasks. Identification of partners for the consortium will depend on the socio-economic background of the target groups, available infrastructural facilities and the problems encountered by them to optimise the production and profitability.

The above problems of the farmers can be classified under the following groups:

Technologies, Resources, Infrastructure and Attitude. Looking to these problems, the following categories of partners may be considered in the consortium.

Partners in the Consortium

Research Institutions for Technology Development: The focus of the R&D institutions will be to identify technologies for conservation and efficient use of natural resources, reduce the cost of production, while enhancing the yield and profit margins. Alternatively, the agencies that have well tested technologies nd have good potential to benefit certain communities or localities, can also be involved in production of critical inputs and training of various stakeholders.

Financial Institutions: The role of financial institutions is to assess the financial needs and develop efficient methods for disbursement and recovery of funds either directly or through local People’s Organisations. Apart from providing finance, these institutions can also develop suitable instruments for providing insurance against crop failures, calamities, personal accidents and health care.

Private Enterprises: The present role of private entrepreneurs is input production and distribution, processing of agricultural commodities and marketing, which will have to continue with greater efficiency and transparency. Indeed many of these production and trade activities can be efficiently managed by the private enterprises, as compared to the Government Organisations or NGOs. A formal linkage with a selected entrepreneur can help the farmers to establish a long term relationship without being exploited.

State Development Departments: Although the Agricultural Department has the primary responsibility to promote agricultural production, there are other departments such as Major and Minor Irrigation Departments, Drinking Water and Sanitation Department, Women and Child Welfare Department and Cooperative Department who are also engaged in supportingagriculture indirectly. However, there has been a lack of coordination among these departments. As many of these departments have substantial budgets under different schemes, it is necessary to bring these departments at one counter at the local level. This would ensure adequate financial resources required for transfer of technologies and establishing a value chain, through forward and backward linkages. As transfer of technologies and promotion of innovative agriculture development require huge financial resources, involving various development departments in the consortium will be beneficial for wider coverage of the programme.

Voluntary Organisations: There are many voluntary organisations engaged in natural resources management at the grassroot level. These organisations are primarily involved in motivation of farmers, creating awareness, establishing linkages with information centres and marketing outlets. Some of these agencies are also involved in providing micro-finance, promoting micro-enterprises and establishing linkages with various Government schemes. Therefore efficient voluntary organisations having experience of working at the grassroot level, directly with the farmers and Peoples’ Organisations (POs) can be the facilitators for transfer of technology and linkage with various members of the consortium.

Voluntary organisations can also be entrusted with the responsibility of organising the weaker sections of the society to form their Self Help Groups, Federations and various other user groups to make best use of the technologies and resources available from various partners of the consortium.

People’s Organisations and Farmers Cooperatives can also play an effective role in agricultural development. Therefore the strategy should be to use POs not only for motivation, extension and transfer of technologies but also to organise forward and backward linkages. With appropriate training and motivation, the POs will be able to monitor the progress of the members of the consortium, particularly the private enterprises who have often been exploiting the farmers. The POs can also ensure sustainability of agricultural production and rural prosperity beyond the project period.

Figure 2 describes the involvement of various members of the consortium for implementing the project.

Cluster based Development Approach

While launching the project in the target area, particularly the economically weaker sections of the society, it is very difficult to make a significant impact on their economy, through introduction of any single intervention. This is because most of the farmers are small holders who have limited access to other resources as well. Therefore it is very difficult for them to come out of poverty through a single intervention. Hence, it is necessary to help these families to adopt multiple interventions such as improved agricultural production, agro-processing, livestock development, micro-enterprises, etc. so that the income sources are diversified through different activities. This will also provide them a safety net against failures. This calls for close interaction among different groups of scientists from different sectors to focus on common target groups, particularly while aiming for sustainable livelihood in disadvantaged regions. The consortium members need to have closer interaction with the community to prepare a strategy for development. Based on this strategy, suitable technologies and systems can be identified and incorporated in the plan of action.

Criteria for Selection of Members for the Consortium

1. Voluntary Agencies:

The NGOs can play an important role in the following areas:

Responsibilities

  1. Community mobilisation, formation of POs / SHGs
  2. Project implementation on behalf of the community
  3. Training, capacity building, technical guidance
  4. Input production, procurement and distribution
  5. Micro-finance
  6. Agro services
  7. Post production, processing and marketing

Criteria for selection

  1. Good track record. Not blacklisted by any donor
  2. Submitted Audited Statements of Accounts to the Statutory Authorities for the last 3 years
  3. Has been working / worked with the target communities in the recent past
  4. Has necessary managerial skills and staff to manager the activities
  5. Acceptable to local participating communities

2. Private Entrepreneurs

Private entrepreneurs can play an important role in the following areas:

  1. Production, procurement and distribution of necessary inputs
  2. Providing various services
  3. Post harvest collection, processing and marketing

Criteria for Selection

  1. Good track record
  2. Sound financial status and well established facilities
  3. Competitive offer
  4. Local establishment/ long presence in the area
  5. Willingness to maintain transparency in the dealings and to share benefits
  6. Following statutory and environmental guidelines

Organisational Structure of the Consortium

Figure 3 describes the organisational structure and its linkage with the community.