The Hindu Business Line : A bitter harvest

HE REPRESENTED the brave new `green' face of Indian enterprise. He was at the forefront when a number of young educated Indians looked at rural India as a means of livelihood, spurning the relative comforts of urban space.

True, he chose niche, high-value farm produce as against low-value items of mass consumption. But the fact remains that he either purchased or leased up to 140 acres on the outskirts of Mumbai and employed local villagers after training them in temperature controlled farming.

The doubting Thomases were put to shame as lettuce and broccoli from his farms began cornering niche markets in cities. Clients started growing in geometric proportions as five-star hotels in Mumbai, fast-food giants such as McDonald's, a number of airline kitchens, and cruise liners joined his client list. Clearly, by 2002, the 25-acre Talegaon farm in Maharashtra was success as it ushered in a revolution, churning out iceberg lettuce, broccoli, asparagus and a few exotic fruits — mulberry, dragon fruit, Thai guava.

The success had a trickle-down effect, in higher wages for his employees. Soon enough, they began earning money that was out of sync with others in the village. Some of his supervisory staff began sporting cell-phones and moving around on two-wheelers.

Why not, reasoned the young entrepreneur: "My men are giving custom to the local stores, there is more wealth being created for the village as my staff get better paid. There is always a spin-off effect. Anyway, revenue was climbing at 30 per cent." He learnt it the hard way, but now understands the error. A revenue of over Rs 3 crore sure attracted a lot of attention in the rural outback. Some time last year, a few local musclemen who enjoyed political patronage, paid a visit.

It was suggested that he replace the existing workforce with their men, a requisition that was promptly turned down. The counterproposal was pretty straightforward — a few thousand rupees a month in the form of a retainership and the business would be unharmed. No business got transacted.

In less than a week, the farm was vandalised. A trip to the local police station yielded two options — either he pay the hafta or start raising a goon army of his own. The farmer from Mumbai shut down his farm after harvesting the crop with protection from a private security house. The flip side: the villagers lost their jobs. Meanwhile, supply commitments had to be honoured. He invested almost Rs 10 lakh in infrastructure and began operating a few farms some distance away.

Over the past six months, he has acquired six such flexible sites — four on lease and two under ownership. The strategy is clear. Shift from one farm to the other as required.He is sure that the farms will continue, at least for a while. Now he spends more time playing the stock market, an activity of a decade ago till he turned to full-time farming.

Vinod Mathew

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