While most organisations are looking to lay off workers, agri-value-chain major Lawrencedale Agro Processing India (LEAF) is on a hiring binge.

Its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Palat Vijayaraghavan, told BusinessLine that the company is looking to expand its scope of operations by taking a hybrid approach to solve the problems of marginal farmers.

“We intend to set up farmer service centres across villages, build teams comprising agronomists, agriculture extension officers, digital extension officers, harvest marketing, financial services and related roles to extend support to marginal farmers in the entire life cycle of the crop.”

Hiring process under way

Asked the reason for such an approach, Vijayaraghavan said “youngsters are only looking at blue-collar jobs. They are not interested in taking up farming. There is, therefore, a huge need to create an ecosystem to prove that profitable farming at scale is possible. We, at LEAF, have shown that it can be done. We are now embarking on this expansion to further the scale. We plan to hire more than a hundred professionals in the near future.”

“We are looking at a mix of fresh and experienced agriculture professionals with an entrepreneurial mindset. The process of hiring has been initiated,” he said, in reply to a query

As part of this aggressive expansion plan, the company would be working with Centre and State Agriculture Departments and also closely with Farmer Producer Organisations. “We already have close working relationships with Centre and States over the past few years and with this approach we will be deepening our relationships horizontally and vertically,” Vijayaraghavan added

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