Organization Profile : Jain Irrigation

Vendor Profile :
When we started out in 2011, we decided to drip irrigate our entire farm due to the enormous savings in water, power and labour. We invited multiple drip irrigation solution providers and eventually decided to settle with Jain Irrigation. Savera Farms may be their larger non-institutional client in Sivangagai and immediate districts. Having worked with them for over 3 years, we now have a fairly good sense of their strengths and weaknesses.

Good  Stuff :
Jain Irrigation has a fairly good presence in this area owing to Shakti Sugars. However, they have recently closed their office in Pilloor on Sivagangai-Madurai road. Jain Irrigation recruits quite a few young energetic diploma holders for their site installation projects, however deeper domain knowledge is required. They have been fairly successful in penetrating government funded subsidy programs. They are well penetrated in the local district agriculture or horticulture department so there is a good chance the agri officer will recommend Jain products. Upper management has been accessible based in Udumalpet, Tamil Nadu. There have been instances when we have escalated to their VP and they have assisted with expediting various resolutions and installation delays.

Not Excited About :
Over the years our satisfaction levels have started to dip significantly. Their local area depot closed down in Sivagangai due to weakening sales. The local dealership has essentially become a shell with most items not in stock. The local office stocks minimal inventory and sometimes have to source materials from as far as Jalgaon Maharashtra. There has been a lot attrition/re-assignment of on-site staff lately and we have had to work with a new / different coordinator every 3-4 months. Company organization and middle management has seen significant re-assignment as well. Amusingly, we once had an agronomist doing collection of outstanding balances.
Although they claim to be the cheapest in the market, one should be careful to take their designs on face value. Cheapest/minimal amount of pipes may not be best option for every farm. For instance, their initial design was to irrigate our Mango and intercrop fodder with the same submain pipes. The benefit is that you can service two crops with one submain pipe, but the downside is you cannot control the irrigation/fertigation etc. So while a two submain pipe is more costly, you can control the irrigation based on need of the crop. After all, we are doing precision irrigation, aren’t we ? You have to make the entire system user friendly, even though that may cost you a couple more master valves to control a certain segment of the farm. I did not see these ideas coming from them since they had a single point agenda – reduction of cost!

Overall, Jain Irrigation has been a long term partner with Savera Farms. They have made valuable contributions but doing business with them has not always been smooth. We have had to spearhead several issues and escalate to the upper management. Since most of their business is subsidy based, prompt installation has not been a priority. We have been called a demanding customer, not sure it that is a compliment or if we are stretching them a little too much!

**Disclaimer**
The above views are based solely on Savera Farm experiences with this vendor.
Readers may take our feedback into account but must make their independent assessments.
The vendor has not sponsored or directly attempted to influence this commentary.
Reviewed vendors may contact us directly for corrections or concerns if needed.

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!