Magasool (meaning ‘Yield’ in Tamil) is a not for profit Initiative of AID INDIA to improve the lives of small and marginal farmers in Tamil Nadu. Magasool mainly focuses on providing agricultural technological services to small and marginal farmers that would either improve their agricultural yield or decrease their input cost. The services offered are first tested in an experimental farm and then taken to a few farmers as a pilot. Once there is significant impact demonstrated over conventional methods, the services are taken to a large number of small and marginal farmers. Our vision is to deliver quality agricultural services to more than 5000 farmers over a period of 5 years and achieve atleast 20% increase in their net income.
The first such service that has been field tested in the experiment farms and taken as a service to farmers is the system of rice intensification through paddy transplanter. This method of sowing increases the net income of farmer by atleast Rs 2500 per acre per season (20% increased income).Our vision is to reach 100 farmers over next 6 months and 3000 farmers over the next 3 years through SRI.
Experiments such as Direct Paddy sowing using drum seeder,chiseling for vegetable crops using chiseler and laser leveler would be first tried out in our Experiment Farms before taking to a huge number of farmers. We follow a one step approach where one successful experiment is taken out to a large number of farmers before adding another service.

Problem

More than 60 % of the Indian population depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Small and marginal farmers work hard on their field everyday but still find it extremely hard to earn enough to take care of their basic necessities. Today’s farmers face a wide range of problems from decreasing productivity levels, ever increasing input costs to poor price realization of their produce. While on one side there has been plenty of schemes introduced by government to increase productivity, lack of proper support and extension systems to take such schemes to the farmers is making agriculture highly unviable for farmers and is putting a heavy pressure on them to sell off their lands and shift into other livelihoods. The extension systems within the government has failed to play the role of a service provider that it was expected to. There has also been plenty of innovation both by farmers, universities and other organizations over the last few decades to improve productivity levels and decrease input cost. However, most of them have not reached the farmers as the government departments and universities have stopped with just one time training of farmers and have failed to work and engage continuously with farmers on a longer time scale. There are also not enough private small scale players who offer quality agricultural services in the villages. Hence there is a critical need to come up with service delivery models that take agricultural techniques to a large number of farmers

Solution

Techniques that improve productivity and decrease input cost needs to be taken on a service delivery mode. Transfer of a technique requires continuous engagement with farmers in terms of training, follow ups and clarification on various issues that arise out of it. A onetime engagement such as the current one by the government through its extension system leaves the bulk of small and marginal farmers out of its schemes. Magasool deals with delivering technological services to small and marginal farmers that directly improves their yield or decrease their input cost. Techniques that have been successfully used elsewhere by farmers and organizations are field tested in our experiment farms and pilot tested with a few farmers before taking to a large number of farmers. This is primarily done for two reasons. 1) While various techniques are claimed to be successful, it is important for us to test inhouse if there will be a significant difference in income for the farmer because of the adoption of the technique over the conventional approach. 2) Whether the technique is simple enough to be taken in the form of a service to a large number of small and marginal farmers. It has also been our learning that any technique taken will be successful over a longer period of time only if the knowledge is built within the community. We hope to build capacity of community people who will serve as local service providers as well as earn a reasonable livelihood out of such services.

Example

System of Rice Intensification through paddy transplanter is a technique identified to improve the net income of small and marginal farmers significantly. Based on results from our Experiment Farm, this technique has a potential of improving the net income by atleast Rs 2500 per farmer per acre. Normally, conventional paddy is grown in a nursery for 30 days and is transplanted into the main field and is sown closely at a distance of 10 cm apart. In System of Rice intensification, the seedlings are transplanted around the 15th day itself and are sown at a distance of 25 to 30 cms apart. While conventional method involves transplanting seedlings in bunches, SRI involves only 1 to 3 seedlings in a bunch. The advantages of such methods are 1. Because of the distance between seedlings and the number of seedlings in a bunch, the amount of seeds required in SRI decreases 4 to 5 times compared to the conventional. 2. Nursery and sowing costs anywhere between Rs 3000 to 4000 in conventional method whereas these services can be provided using paddy transplanter 60 to 70% of the cost. 3. Much more importantly, since the seedlings are sown at a distance, the seedling gets more sunlight and its roots can access much more resources compared to conventional in terms of air, water and fertilizers. Hence the seedling is very healthy and the number of shoots/ tillers out of each plant is 3 to 5 times greater than the conventional resulting in an increased yield of 10 to 20%. While SRI is being promoted by various states the uptake by farmers have been limited due to issues in service delivery. Here since it is taken as a service at a cost lesser than what it currently costs for farmers, the uptake is immediate. The service is currently provided at Rs 2000 per acre for nursery and sowing which includes the running cost and a significant part of the initial cost of the transplanter. The pilot is carried out with a few farmers in Tiruvannamalai and Trichy districts of Tamil Nadu. While this is almost close to financial sustainability level, the private players present in a few places across the state are offering the same service at close to Rs 5000 per acre. Very little competition and heavy demand for such services from farmers have made the few private players to make a kill and earn huge profit by offering such services. We hope our work would not only improve farmer’s earnings but also create more awareness for entrepreneurs and government agencies to offer such services at cheaper cost.

Marketplace

In the shorter run, there would be very little competition as the demand for such services is very high in rural reqion. There is enough room for a large number of players to enter as we are catering to a small percentage of the demand. However in the longer run, the farmers can form themselves into groups offer such services among themselves which could turn out cheaper than what it is right now. We do not view it as a competition but rather view that as the longer term solution for solving the issues of farmers and hence needs to be encouraged. At that point of time, our expertise would be used to offer other services as well as build capacity of villagers rather than trying to outcompete.