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Insecticides (India) Ltd (IIL) has deployed more than 600 crop advisors across the country to help farmers choose the right crop protection products based on their requirement.
As part of the Mega Extension Activities Program (MEAP), the advisors will help over 10 lakh farmers during the current financial year to understand every aspect related to crop protection ranging from seed treatment to pest, weed and disease management.
Also read: Fertiliser subsidy, import up in 3 years
This initiative comes close on the heels of an integrated pest management (IPM) research project, rolled out jointly – in parts of Uttar Pradesh – by IIL Foundation, the CSR wing of the company, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) before the pandemic.
Mission statement
“As a part of our extension activities, IIL’s mission is to help farmers to understand the judicious use of agrochemical, good farming practices to minimise the cost of inputs and maximise the outputs with good productivity and protect health of the soil. Our crop advisors are doing just that working in the field to provide the right information for better farming practices through various media such as farmer meetings, demonstrations and field days. We continued this in the pandemic lockdown period as well digitally and helped more than seven lakhs farmers last year,” said Rajesh Aggarwal, Managing Director, IIL, in a statement.
Also read: Agro-chemical industry in for a ‘positive growth’ in Q1
The company has plans to reach out to more than 25 lakh farmers across the country.
Financial performance
IIL shares were trading in the green, marginally higher on the BSE on Thursday at ₹762.55 on the BSE. For the June quarter this fiscal, the company reported a 44 per cent growth in net profit at ₹34.71 crore as compared to ₹24.08 crore in the same period last year. Revenues for the June quarter were up 14 per cent at ₹468.26 crore as against ₹409.60 crore in the same period last year.
“Before the pandemic, experts could travel to the farmers and give them advice when they needed. However, with the pandemic forcing lockdowns, we formulated the idea of crop advisors to reach to farmers through physical and digital meetings, using telecalling and WhatsApp to prevent them committing mistakes that can be detrimental to their and the crop’s health. Our crop advisors created awareness and guided farmers to generate a better output with a minimal waste. We are receiving an overwhelming response from the market as well,” said Sanjay Singh, General Manager, Market Development, IIL.
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