2014 Summer Market RoundUp and Trends

Here are a few tid-bits of market info that seem interesting enough to share. Feel free to post your interesting reads below.

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In Delhi, two revolutionary ideas were showcased at an agricultural conclave which attracted attention from World Bank and were duly awarded for the groud breaking innovations. One, called Veg Sav, will substantially reduce post-harvest loss of vegetables by using edible film (coat) while the other, 'FishPaneer', is a value added item that can be processed into various products like the way milk paneer is processed in India.

Veg Sav, developed by young farm scientist V Ponvizhi Ramya of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, is a Bacteriophages-based based technology. The presentation, made before experts of ICAR and UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) during the conclave, explained that Bacteriophages-based bio-control measurements had great potential to enhance micro-biological safety. It could be coated on vegetables using edible film which does not have any harmful side effect.

Onno Ruhl, World Bank's country director for India, awarded the Veg Sav innovator the first prize for the best presentation while scientist Joshykumar Khangembam of Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, who developed FishPaneer, got the second prize.

FishPaneer is a Surimi-based valued added fish product. Surimi is the Japanese term for de-boned and washed fish meat which is a wet concentrate of proteins. According to the presentation on FishPaneer, the value-added item has the nutritional quality of fish and textual characteristics of milk paneer which made it a unique product. It is a ready-to-cook product which can be processed into various products. "The technology is simple and can be easily adopted," the presentation said.

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In Kochi, where malls and shopping centres dot every nook and corner, this new shopping mall is a big deal. The agri mall, proposed by the agriculture department, will serve as a platform for all agricultural products produced in the district. The malls will integrate all agriculture-related activities, products and services under one platform in tune with modern retailing. Citizens will be able to buy fresh and organic vegetable products from these malls where farmers will directly sell their products for fair market price. We have seen similar efforts of direct to customer retailing in Delhi as well.

Fertilisers, plants, seeds, farming and sowing tools, and high-tech farming equipment will also be showcased at these malls. Like regular shopping malls, these malls will have conference halls, multiplexes and food courts. The government plans to attract more people to farming and have brought even farming equipment and services under one umbrella. Besides Maradu and Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam, malls have been planned in Vengeri in Kozhikode and Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad. The proposal will give a big boost to farmers who will benefit from selling goods to end customers without the threat of intermediaries who exploit them. As for consumers, they are assured of fresh and organic products at fair market rates, said Sunil Cyriac, CEO of Ernakulam Farmers Club Association.

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Lastly about agri-logistics, though not new in India it currently has a unique positioning. Suddenly India has realized that agri-logistics is not only about trucking instead it is in a new phase where efficient management is the key to success. India loses Rs 60,000 crore worth of dry agri-goods due to poor and inefficient handling/management. The industry is going through a huge transformation.  An integrated model of agri-logistics envisaging farm-level aggregation management, logistics, preservation and shelf management along with agri-financing is the need of the hour.

India is vastly deficient in warehousing. Warehousing activity alone is at around Rs 52,000 crore. India loses around 10% of its annual produce. There is a huge potential in areas such as agri-financing, warehouse receipt financing market, etc. Like any other greenfield industry, the skills do not only vary but are hugely diverse. We cannot just paste Western practices here considering the fact that the average agricultural land holding in India is at 1.33 hectares, that is it is highly fragmented and far below the world average of 3.7 hectares. Our grading practices at the farm level are virtually non-existent. We still hold 6% of our produce in the farmer's household. Besides understanding of the Indian agricultural domain, sharp analytical skills, a keen sense of best economic practices are required, too.

The industry is suffering from talent deficit but the interesting part is that it has a wide set of requirements where a fresh graduate can fetch about Rs 1.5 lakh per annum. At the entry level, an agri-domain graduate can command Rs 3 to 4 lakh per annum. A junior-level person with reasonable analytical skills can draw Rs 18 lakh whereas senior executives with 12 to 15 years' work experience with wide macroeconomic understanding can command about Rs 24 to Rs 30 lakh. Besides this, depending on the domain understanding and a keen sense of data processing capability from a strategic point of view, one can even attract packages which can be the envy of professionals in any other field.

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Credits : Times of India

Market Insights and Nutritional Trends from Nestle's chief

We recently came across a rare interview with a major food marketing and processing firm. It is not often when a well known food brand leader engages the Indian media to share their vision and goals. Parsing between the marketing nuances, we thought Nestle's Worldwide Executive Director Mr Nandanand Kishore, had some interesting observations about food and nutrition trends.

• First, the marketing spiel. Nestle's largest portfolio of brands is in the processed food and snack categories. While such foods are inherently not healthy, Mr Kishore coined an interesting term, 'Responsible Pleasure'. He believes that between the fried snacks, frozen processed foods and such, it may be possible to strike a balance between taste and nutrition. Right there, we knew that he seems like a seasoned marketing professional but what caught our attention was what he felt about Indian nutritional intake later.

• For the first time worldwide, over 50% of the worlds population is living in urban environments. Not surprisingly, India is leading the pack of rural exodus to urban centers. This metric expected to only move one way. Mr Kishore spins consumption of processed food being better as fresh food consumption in India. The point we almost agreed with is that Indian consumers are often not aware of the food source. Chemical fertilizers and harmful pesticides remain constant hazards among fresh produce. Processors like Nestle claims to screen out such tainted produce making their processed products relatively safer.

• By 2050, India's demand for food and nutrition is expected to double. Food production is definitely not at pace with the projected demand. For instance, though India is the world largest dairy producer, it is not because of our production efficiency. Our per animal productivity is 10th in the world for dairy. At the end of the day, food suppliers and distributors will gravitate towards the cost effective source of production and today Indian agriculture practices have become outdated and needs major infusion of funding and technology.

• Nestle is leading the pack of over a dozen major food brands to reduce the salt, sugar and fat content in their products. Allegedly, hundred of million tonnes of transfats have been removed from current snack and processed products. With that said, we still felt the aggressive F&B industry marketing really puts the onus of healthy snack choices on the customer and most Indian customers are not very informed.

• Lastly, Mr Kishore seems to have a noble cause close to heart. Women often receive less nutrition in developing nations like India. Supposedly it may be due to them being late or last in the family eating order. This has long term impact during pregnancy and during the girl child's youth. Babies who suffered malnutrition have been shown to be predisposed to Diabetes and Blood Pressure ailments as adults. Upto 30% of Indians are said to be Diabetic which translates into the largest Diabetic population in the world.

Overall, the interview was worth a watch. Mr Kishore pitches processes food industry as a long stay in our society and ventures a few data points which indicate the safe & smart production with ethical & efficient distributed will prevail in an increasingly competitive industry. The community should take heart that this should translate as opportunities in agri production, packaging, value addition and as always, in marketing. What do you think?

Looking for 'A Few Good Men' for the Savera Farms team!

Those of you who have seen the 1992 military classic 'A Few Good Men' would remember my favorite quote from this movie - You can't handle the truth! The truth of our reality is that we are looking for motivated and qualified team members and it has been hard to find them. This is also part of the reason why we have been absent for the last few months from Blog-sphere. Last few months have been very busy for us with our first Mango season and commercial production finally underway for Moringa leaves. We are looking to grow our small team and would love to hire a few more managers.

 

Our immediate resource needs are : 

Farm Operations Manager : This person will manage parts of our Mango and Moringa plantations and work with existing farm managers. Responsibilities will include overseeing farm activities, harvest processing, managing irrigation tasks, equipment maintenance and overall responsibility of directing daily labor. Ideal candidate should have related experience, preferably under 35 years of age with high energy. Candidates will need to be fluent in English & Tamil.  Competitive pay rate will be offered and will be based on experience and skills. We provide upgraded accommodations and transportation for our staff. Work location would be our farms in Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu.

Marketing Associate : We are also looking for a Marketing Associates for our Chennai operations. Primary responsibility will be managing existing clients. This will include regular order entry, demand planning, QC and managing delivery of produce. Candidate should be familiar and open to learning basic accounting for invoicing and payment collections. Ideal candidate would have experience with developing new clients in Chennai area for fresh fruits and herbal products. Candidates with background in sales and marketing for food products would be preferred but this is not a requirement. Base compensation would be guaranteed with sales bonus as part of performance incentives. Local transporation would be provided. No accommodation will be provided.

We are reaching out to our readers for their trusted referrals. Please keep our opportunities in mind for those looking to similar employment. For more details, always feel free to drop us a note at saverafarms@gmail.com or info@saverafarms.com. These are exciting times at Savera Farms and we want you to be a part of it!

12 Things I Want To Teach My Child

We follow a few bloggers in the agri industry and others for occasional intellectual clarity. Very few of them have the verbal prowess to provide concise meaningful advice - Dharmesh is one of those few. This article from Dharmesh Shah was well written and stuck with us. Hope you enjoy it too!

1. Gather knowledge, but also gather knowledgeable people.
You can't know everything. But you can know enough smart people that together collectively know most of what you need to know. Together, you will be able to do almost anything.

2. The memory of work disappears like the memory of pain – all anyone remembers are results.
Experience is valuable – to you. Experience yields skill and skill helps you do things and get results.
Focus on racking up achievements, not just years of service.

3. Take responsibility for outcomes.
Learn to take responsibility when something doesn’t go well. Then immediately start thinking of ways you will do better next time.

4. Share credit for accomplishments.
Most of your great accomplishments will be the result of both your efforts and those of others. Learn to recognize this -- and share the credit.

5. Celebrate your achievements, then move on.
When you achieve something, it's important to take a moment, reflect — and even celebrate sometimes. Be gracious, be appreciative, be thankful… but always feel you could do even better.

6. Don’t expect life to be fair. Life just is.
You will often think “That’s just not fair…” especially when you didn’t get your way or things didn’t turn out like you hoped. Never expect life to be fair. You may not always receive what you put in, but roughly speaking the more you put in the more you will receive. Which is fair enough.

7. See ‘boring’ as a springboard to success.
What appears to be the boring thing to do is almost always the responsible thing to do. The people who achieve the most do a lot more of the boring stuff. Routine, rigor, attention to detail, chugging away day after day... those are the path to eventual success.

8. Don’t think you’ll always get a trophy.
Everyone doesn’t deserve recognition. Everyone doesn’t deserve praise. If you want a trophy, earn a trophy. You’ll enjoy it a lot more than any of those participation trophies you tossed in your closet.

9. Don’t expect someone else to boost your self esteem.
No one will automatically believe in you. Why should they if you haven’t done anything yet? If you want to feel great about yourself, achieve something great. In the meantime, use any feelings of inadequacy to make you work harder.

10. Understand that amazing overnight success is amazingly rare. And overrated.
Even if you could strike gold in a few months, are you prepared to manage that gold? Early struggles, effort, and desperation forms a valuable foundation for long-term success.Because there will always be adversity.

11. Know when to stand-out and when to fit in.
School was designed to help you figure out who you are. Now, school’s out. No one will help you find yourself. Learn to be part of a team and to fit in when necessary. Once you do, the people around you will be more than happy for your individuality to start shining through.

12. Count yourself lucky to have 3 or 4 great friends.
Social networks are fun, but your real friends are the people who will take your calls at 4 in the morning. And actually listen to you. And actually help you. Work hard to find them. Work harder to keep them.

Credits : Dharmesh Shah 

Future belongs to nations with grains not guns

MS Swaminathan is one of the pioneers of India's Green Revolution. While most of us have only read about the Green Revolution and even fewer have actually experienced the impact, Swaminathan has lived through it. Giving up on a lucrative career in medicine, he pursued Agriculture Research and went on to become an architect of India's paradigm shift from being a grain deficit state to surplus in less than 30 years.

NDTV recently honored Swaminathan among the 25 greatest living Indians. In this recent interview several interesting points were discussed. We found the interview a grounding experience because it was a good reality check with a peek from the past. It is clear that the current, younger generation is not very interested in pursuing the agri sector and maybe rightly so with volatile agricultural returns and easier wage alternatives. However, in this interview Swaminathan reiterates the struggles faced by our predecessors to attain our current state of self-sufficiency and shares his opinion about what the future may hold.

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.
George Bernard Shaw
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/past.html#YIGPtxpoMX0W7BWf.99

We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, 
but by the responsibility for our future.

                                                                       

                                                                            -  George Bernard Shaw

Agriculture Innovators and Disruptive Technology

Over the past year, we came across several agriculture innovations and related start ups. Most of these services are localized to their area of origin while others are truly ground breaking and still in beta mode. Looking at the world vegetation and water risk charts below, it is not surprising that most of these innovations come from location with water deficit. Along the same lines, it is to be expected that most research is focusing on revitalizing barren landscapes and developing creative irrigation methods. 

Worldwide vegetation cover

 Global water deficient area

Despite varying degree of product maturity, we felt all of these were interesting and full of promise. Below we share a couple of such companies which our community may find interesting or even inspiring. Power to the pioneers!

Just Awesome

International Fertilizer Development Center  (www.ifdc.org)
Fertlizer Deep Placement (FDP) technology is a simple technology spreading very rapidly in Bangladesh and is being up scaled up in other Asian countries for production of rice and other crops. They claim the results to date to be excellent. In Bangladesh about 2.8 million ha involving more than 4 million farmers is under FDP technology. With flood irrigation, farmers are using 35% less urea fertilizer and yet getting 15-18% increase in yield.

Aquanue (www.aquanue.com)
Aquanue’s SICRA system is a proven aquaculture technology that has been developed over the past 40 years. The aquaculture system can grow high-value groupers (and other species) in half the time taken in sea cage systems, with one-tenth the mortality. The business is modular, scalable, organic, and has a low environmental footprint.

Really Cool..

iCow (www.icow.co.ke)
iCow is a mobile phone based agricultural platform aimed to increase small scale farmer productivity at the same time reducing risks. This platform sports the worlds first mobile cow calendar monitoring the gestation cycle of the cow. Farmers claim to increase milk yields by up to 3 liters per animal after using iCow for 7 months. With a name like 'iCow', our bovine friends are feeling the Steve Jobs affect as well..

XA Warehouse Farming (www.verticalfarms.com.au)
This is an automated growing system that is scalable to meet demand with low labor, power and water inputs, and high crop yields. The focus is on urban farming, often in warehouse location, with the intent of designing high yielding systems for rapid ROI.

Love to try it!

Coolplanet (www.coolplanet.com)
Poised to revolutionize the energy and agricultural industries with its clean energy system, Cool Planet has developed a patented process that converts non-food biomass into gasoline. The benefits? Less dependence on importing oil, improvements to agriculture and impacting climate change. The clean, renewable fuel can be distributed and used in today’s vehicles with no change to existing infrastructure.

BioLumic (www.biolumic.com)
Their claim is an innovative new UV lighting technology that provides the ability to control plant size, growth and increase stress tolerance. Though limited to Greenhouse applications and indoor cultivation, their product could be god-send for greenhouse operators in significantly increasing yeild and reducing time-to-market.

On a closing note, some may notice that none of the above are Indian organizations. However, this does not mean that grass-root innovation does not occur all over India - the fact is probably quite the contrary. Unfortunately, access to such information is not always easy. Our readers should feel free to use this forum and can take the initiative to bring those to light for greater collaboration and information sharing with our community.

Credits : Maps of the world

In the news : Supply Shortage for Meat Animals

Savera Farms started their goat operations earlier this year but we have been studying the domestic meat market for close to 2 years now. Despite several non-vegetarians each of us may personally know of, meat consumption in India is among the lowest in the world. Several studies have shown meat consumption in India being traditionally low but despite our historical & cultural preferences, there is a distinct change in tide with rise in per capita consumption. Rise in demand can be largely attributed to changing lifestyles, better product availability and affordability.

Despite the low(er) nationwide demand, meat consumption is no longer only for the upper echelons of society. The prices remain high in parts of the country depending on the type of meat. It may be easy to assume that prices are purely driven by demand & supply but as seen even in developed countries, meat production is among the most expensive across all types of food production. There are a few retail players in the Indian market who have successfully tapped the latent demand and created self sustaining brands. We feel there is a lot of room for growth with significant market size for raw, processed and value added meat products.

The crux of many issues in the Indian food chain remains around lacking infrastructure - for production, processing and distribution needs. However, niche players who have been able to develop specific competencies have been successful in mitigating known issues. Over the last few years, monsoons in Tamil Nadu have been intermittent. Bountiful in select areas, the monsoon were meager in most of the state causing drought like situation in many districts. In instances of smaller herd operations, their source of feed is either pasture grazing or rain fed fodder production. With compromised food supply, meat animal (cattle, goat, pig) availability in parts of the state has suffered. Since the last census, in 2007, net availability of meat animals has decreased by close to 36%. In case of meat goats, the herd count impact was more severe with reduction of 225,000, a net reduction of almost 44% !

Interested herd owners may contact the Animal Husbandry Department which is trying to implement several State government schemes such as Accelerated Fodder Development Programme, Drought Mitigation Scheme, Scheme for Poultry Development, and supplying hybrid animal varieties to farmers. At Savera Farms, we will start animal acquisitions from other producers in early 2014. While we continue to rapidly grow our herd, we also recognize that our supply will have intermittent gaps. As our repeat customer base grows and sales channels develop, we see the importance of partnering with other herd owners to service the market demand. Do not hesitate to contact us if you would like to work with Savera Farms as a supply partner for meat goats.

Credits : The Hindu , Collapse of Industrial Civilization

At ~4% of all entrepreneurs, Indians are at #2!!

It was a little moment of pride when my alma-mater, Duke University, published a profile on the current breed of entrepreneurs. Savvy technocrats in Silicon Valley have long established their mark in the US. That profile is now changing with Indian origin professionals being recognized for innovative offerings in Medical, Logistics, Telecom and Retail industries. As a nation (and being a perennial optimist), I feel we have many attributes in our favor - Education, Youth, Ambition. We now have to take the constraints, which are just as many, into stride and strive to overcome.

This info-graphic limits the scope to US start-ups and we are the largest non-native demographic of entrepreneurs. I can only try to imagine our collective impact and influence in nations like UK, South Africa, Germany, Australia. Based on the survey taken for this poll, it was not as urprising that people became entrepreneurs for building wealth (who doesn't!) but that just as many people found their motivation in not wanting to work for someone and have a strong desire to own a company. It is clear that this polling debunked some of the common myths that many of us unjustly burden ourselves with. Over 36% of the people came from lower middle class so limited start-up budget is not the biggest barrier to entry. Vast majority of the people were married and most of them had at least 1 child, so while family responsibilities are important, that is definitely not the reason to stall your idea.

We all need a way to shake away the self-doubts and find our way to the greater potential that we can be. Carpe diem friends! Toasting to everyone's success..

Felicitations at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai

Some of you may recall that earlier in the year Savera Farms was presented in a Dina-Malar new paper feature. Among others, this article also caught the attention of Dr Kamaraj, Head of Electrical Engineering Dept at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai. Soon after, the department extended me an invitation as Chief Guest during their Electrical Engineering Association Day celebrations with over 300 students.

It was an honor to share my experiences, about how we started Savera Farms, my adjustments from the western way of life and the journey since then. Students were sharp and presented well articulated questions around our venture, current operations, and challenges faced in the current market environment. In many ways, it was a welcome break to engage with inquisitive minds. More importantly, it was heartening to see that the young minds realized the pivotal role of agriculture in our economy.

At Thiagarajar College of Engineering, most students are from nearby locales and many have agricultural land holdings. There were several queries around the dire need for procedural transparency and a predictable revenue model in agri-operations towards which I was able to share some of our risk mitigation strategies and managing barriers to entry.

 During my interactions with industry professionals across IT, Banking, Retail or Sales, I consistently see a desire among people to step away from the 'pressure cooker' state of existence many see in their future.  The alternative of managing their ancestral lands or exploring agriculture is very tempting but few venture due to lack of attractive returns. The corporate environment can be a wonderful source of learning since similar principles should be applied in the agriculture line of work as well : Feasibility studies, Market research, Team management, Long term planning, Financial cadence, Risk / issue mitigation, etc. Like every new venture, in the beginning there is a learning curve, buckets of patience and access to experienced mentors can be invaluable. Hopefully, I have helped ignite a few minds to think out of the box, be bold and try to pursue their passions instead!

Savera Farms @ Dina-Malar

It was a lazy Sunday morning when the phone started ringing as early as 6 am. It took me a few minutes to realize that Savera Farms had just been featured on Dina-Malar, a popular Tamil news paper. The publication had caught me off-guard given several weeks had passed since the afternoon I had spent with the Dina-Malar journalist. During my interview we chatted about my decision to come back to India and particularly about my motivation around agriculture. It was a pleasant experience and I had provided my perspective on what it takes to be a serious agri-preneur.

Over the course of the day, July 14th, the response to the article was even more interesting. There were folks reaching out expressing interest in our activities. Others wished me well and offered to help with assorted goods & services. There was even someone, based overseas, who wanted to invest in Savera Farms! :) With over 120 calls and text messages, needless to say the day was a little overwhelming.

However, the irony of the situation is that my less-than-perfect Tamil has prevented me from reading the article. If anyone would take a few moments to para-phrase the article, I would certainly appreciate it! Until then, I will try to respond to as many inquires as possible and extend my appreciation to Dina-Malar for their interest in Savera Farms.

Article Links : ePaper /  PDF

Savera Farms featured on Melia Dubia

Many of our readers subscribe to AgricultureInformation.com, which hosts a popular forum on Indian agriculture industry. The site also publishes a monthly journal which highlights current topics, concerns and provides insights from industry practitioners. Savera Farm was featured during their coverage of Melia Dubia. Hopefully, some of you got to read it and found it helpful. It was a blast responding to the interview. Till date, we have not had a chance to meet a lot of other progressive agri practitioners. If a meeting is organized in Chennai or Madurai, we look forward to meeting our peers and exchanging notes.

Click to open PDF

Click to access magazine (Browse over to Page 22)

Above, I have also included a link to access the magazine. Savera Farms was featured in the January 2013 issue. Additional posts on earlier media coverage can be accessed under the label 'In the News'.

In the News : Savera Farm

Last year Savera Farms was featured on a popular Indian agriculture related forum. Please find their feature article on us via this link.

http://www.agricultureinformation.com/mag/2012/01/savera-farms

It was just now we realized it has been a year since this article was published but we did not get a chance to share it. Since this article was published we have completed Phase 1 work of about 50 acres and today we are on trajectory to wrap up Phase 2 development of approx 40 acres by summer 2013.

Hopefully some of you will find the article interesting and feel free to share your feedback and agri related experiences with this community.. It would be great to hear publicly from our readers who have recently started their own agri-operations.

Cheers!

Farmers' visit at Savera Farms

Earlier this summer, the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) Kundrakudi center at Sivaganga expressed an interest in visiting Savera Farms. We were delighted when the KVK staff brought along 16 local farmers from the Sivaganga district. Each district in the country has a KVK and they strive to help farmers with exposure visits to farms embracing precision farming, latest agricultural practices etc, training rural youth, facilitating extension programs and knowledge transfer.

With the KVK staff and local farmers

The focus of their visit to Savera Farms was primarily on our Mango UHD and Moringa plantations. Most of the farmers who visited were traditional farmers but showed interest in embracing precision farming and modern methods of cultivation. Some of them were astonished on seeing the close spacing of Mango plots. A lot of questions were asked on the pruning method of mango which indicated they were interested in knowing more about this innovative method of cultivation.

 Farmers inspecting Mango saplings

Phase 1 UHD Mango plots at Savera Farms

Drip system was another area with a lot of queries. The drip design was explained and why we chose to do things the way we did, relative to the tank (minimizing risk in case one of the bores goes dry in future) and four control valves (controlling water in each direction for ease of operation)

 Discussing drip irrigation techniques

At the drip system, explaining the different filters

Group inspecting Morgina plantation

It was humbling to share our knowledge with these 3rd/4th generation farmers and we really hope this visit can catalyze a change in the way they view and perform agriculture. Sivaganga is not known for flourishing agriculture due to various reasons like climate, lack of agri-promotion, migrant population etc. However, I think the biggest compliment we have come across yet was by the KVK convener, who told the farmers that Savera Farms was an example of 'Israel' right here in Sivaganga. The climate can be merciless, soil is not exactly the most fertile, water availability is about average and yet we were able to transform this landscape (with about 5 palm trees at the time of purchase of land) into a patch of greenery. Come September, we will be able to extend the green-cover into our second phase.

 If any of our readers have encouraged their local community in this manner, please share your experiences and learnings. We would be happy to include your site links in the 'Blog' section on the right.

Article on Savera Farms

Last month, we were approached by SeedMe - an online portal that highlights new entrepreneurial ventures across industries. The editor contacted me via linkedin and wanted to gather more information about our current activities and our future plans. Some of you have already visited our farm at Sivagangai and seen the developments here but for the interest of others who have not been able to visit or contact us, following is a good articulation of where we are and where we are heading.
I hope you enjoy reading and as always, do give us your feedback, ideas and suggestions!

How this idea to start your business flourished?

While I was in the US, I was intrigued by the growing awareness about ‘Green Energy’. I shared my vision with my brother and we started exploring opportunities in biomass renewable energy. We soon realized that along with biomass, commercial agriculture would be a viable option for the Indian market. Agriculture in India still provides an attractive opportunity if coupled with clarity of purpose goal, scientific execution and penetrating marketing. Currently government power purchase agreements are not very favorable for the Independent Power Producers (IPP) hence our focus changed to production and marketing Melia Dubia for timber/plywood industries. Based on our experiences so far and market feedback, we are very optimistic about our plantations and are enjoying unparalleled job satisfaction.

Your initial investment in starting this business?

Total capital outlay is spread over a few key tasks. As expected the initial land acquisition is the largest single investment but there were several other tasks with significant capital requirements as we developed our plantations. Aspiring agri-prenuers with limited exposure to agriculture should be aware and not underestimate the costs related to Land Improvement, Farm Infrastructure and Annual Interest Burden. Those purchasing uncultivated or fallow land should be especially careful and include sufficient cost contingency in their purchase decision.

Tell us about educational background & experience.

My formative years were spent at The Doon School in Dehradun, Uttranchal. Living in a pristine environment, I became accustomed to a clean environment, developed principles in conservation of resources and appreciated the proximity to nature. I participated in several environmentally conscious activities at school like leading our Paper Recycling Unit and conducting aforestation programs on the hillsides of the Shivalik and Lower Himalayan ranges. My higher education took place in the United States at Georgia Tech and Duke University from where I received my Bachelors in Electrical Engineering & Masters in Engineering Management respectively. After working for several years in the Semi-conductor industry, I realized I was not connecting with my interests and my passions lay elsewhere. Subsequently, I started discussing the potential of alternative / renewable energy with my brother which finally brought me back home to India. Credit goes to my father, an Air Force officer and his network. They undertook the humongous task of visiting over 110 farm lands before deciding on our current location at  Sivaganga. By far the most important decision an aspiring agri-prenuer will need to make will be the land selection. Finally, we started Savera Farms and agricultural activities in 2010. It has been a great journey so far.

To read more, click here..