New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: Dainik Jagran’s new series #NayaBharat emphasises on the challenges faced by different industries amid this coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. Like everyday, in today’s episode of #Naya Bharat series, Jagran HiTech’s editor Siddhartha Sharma associated with Debarshi Dutta (Executive Vice President and Global Head Market Place) BPC Technologies, and talked about range of issues including the rural economy, the condition of the agriculture sector during coronavirus pandemic.
Siddhartha Sharma- How has Covid-19 affected the agriculture sector?
Debarshi Dutta - Covid-19 has significantly affected the businesses from every sector. Its clear impact can also be seen on the agriculture based economy. The supply chain has been badly affected due to Covid-19. Due to this, the agriculture sector is suffering big losses. When the lockdown comes into force in March this year, initially the supply chain was be completely closed. But in a short time, there was an improvement in the supply chain in urban areas. But in the rest of rural India, where a large population of India resides, there has been a supply chain block. Inter state travel restrictions, lack of office, shipment problems added to the woes. But with government’s right step at the right time, there has been little improvement in the supply chain since then.
Siddhartha Sharma - How will the supply chain of agriculture be improved? How will the needs of the farmer and consumer be met? With this, what changes will be seen in the business model?
Debarshi Dutta - There will be a lot of changes in the model. Farmers are still getting quite digitized. Crop sales in the mandis have decreased. Apart from this, the government has also allowed crop trading besides mandis. The digital ecosystem has grown rapidly. Apart from businessmen, common people have now started taking digital payments. UPI, KCC are rapidly digitizing the farmers. We can see that about 20 types of digital payments are being made.
Siddhartha Sharma- What steps have been taken for the expansion of digital literacy?
Debarshi Dutta - There are many challenges regarding digital literacy. Initially, we were also facing some problems. We feel that people still write on paper, then take a photo of it and WhatsApp, they do not write directly on WhatsApp. In such a situation, all these problems arise. But despite this, many initiatives have been started on our behalf, in which we interact at the village level. The government had been running agriculture clinics for the last 8 to 9 years. With the help of FPO and VLE, farmers are being educated financially. The kharif season will start now and the farmers will need seeds. In such a situation, digital work is being done. In the village too, people are now using Zoom.
Siddhartha Sharma- How much impact does Covid-19 have on the agrotech industry? And what is the industry doing in lockdown?
Debarshi Dutta - The scopes that were there now have increased. Privatization of mandis is being taken forward by the government. The government is making several amendments to the law for the market. Apart from mandis, crop procurement is also being encouraged. Many changes are taking place in this situation. People in rural areas are now beginning to understand the importance of insurance. In such a situation, the business model is changing. New fintechs are coming and they are also seeing that privatization is happening. In such a situation, more new models can come.
Siddhartha Sharma- What changes are the villagers seeing at the ground level in the lockdown? Are they hopeful about the future?
Debarshi Dutta - Till now the farmer used to deal directly with the merchant and deal with his crop and sell his entire crop simultaneously. Of this, 20 percent was of different quality crops, while the remaining 20 percent was different. Meaning to some extent the trader compromised the quality. But in lockdown, traders and farmers no longer physically meet each other. In such a situation, there is a slight reduction in the quality, then the consignment is rejected and a heavy penalty is imposed on it. Nobody used to take any risk in this situation. In such a situation, people are paying a lot of attention to quality in today's time. In such a situation, farmers are using the right quality seeds.
Siddhartha Sharma - The government has announced a relief package for small and medium class businesses. Along with this, many other types of relief packages have been introduced. So what do you have to say about this?
Debarshi Dutta - Farmer Producer organisation is very important for small business and medium business. In such a situation, all the FPOs in today's time do not have financial support. Because of this they do not have the power of bargaining. We are now receiving several proposals in this regard, and giving them to banks. The agricultural sector comes under MSME and SME. In such a situation, the FPO should be brought under the purview of MSME and SME, so that the FPO can benefit from the government relief package. This will directly benefit agriculture and farmers. MSME and SME sell certified seeds at low prices. Whereas branded manufacturers sell the same seeds at a higher price. In such a situation, the government should bring all the seed manufacturers under MSME and SME.
Siddhartha Sharma - What message would you like to give for the Farmers of new India?
Debarshi Dutta - Everything can be stopped except farming. If it stopped, everything would stop. The government is currently helping farming in many ways. However, now the farmers need many more types of help. Also, digital literacy should be promoted. The emphasis is on bringing the industry closer to the farmers and strengthening the FPO. Knowledge, advisory will also be needed by the farmers.
Posted By: Talib Khan
