The Hindu Business Line : ITC turns focus to farm extension

"The seed self-sufficiency scheme involves offering foundation seed to the soyabean farmer at a cost price along with information on nutrients and other details."

Mumbai , Sept. 26

ITC Ltd, in the process of an expansion of its e-choupal network, is focusing on agricultural extension work to sustain growth.

In that initiative, the company has taken up seed self-sufficiency scheme in Madhya Pradesh, whereby ITC is involved in offering foundation seed for soyabean plantings.

"While procurement activity took off well, delivery of products through the e-choupal network was not fully synchronised,'' said Mr S. Sivakumar, CEO, ITC International Business Division (ITC-IBD).

The seed self-sufficiency scheme involves offering foundation seed to the soyabean farmer at a cost price along with information on nutrients and other details, he said.

Soyabean, according to him, was a perfect choice because it does not have hybrid variety. The soyabean seed is very tender and farmers tend to use their own seeds. However, if there is a failure of germination, farmers are faced with no seeds.

The company is involved in the rolling out of e-choupal network in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. "We are looking at the coffee growing areas of Karnataka now,'' he said.

ITC is planning to hedge its position on the national multi-commodity exchanges beginning this season. The company would look at commodities such as soyabean and wheat. Apart from disseminating information to the farmers, the choupal network has helped in reducing transaction costs to the farmer. This has been possible because farmers are able to approach ITC directly for selling their produce based on the price information given on the Internet network of e-choupals.

Direct procurement of farm produce is becoming a reality across many States, he said. As of now Madhya Pradesh and Haryana have allowed direct procurement while Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan have given ITC conditional licence to carry out direct procurement. He said 17 States are prepared to draft the regulations pertaining to procurement.