The Chamber was privileged to host Smt.Nandini Chakravorty, IAS, Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Department of Feed Processing Industries & Horticulture, Government, of West Bengal, for an interactive session with the Managing Committee Members on 10th August 2018. Smt. Nandini Chakravorty, an IAS from the 1994 batch, who during her long career spanning for over two decades worked in the Industry Department followed by stints in the Department of Information & Culture Affairs, Department of Sundarban Affairs and Department of Biotechnology. She has held the position of the District Magistrate at Howrah and has also been the Managing Director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and Managing Director of West Bengal Trade Promotion Organisation.

Stating that there has been a distinct transformation in the agricultural sector which is now known as agri-business, Smt.Chakraborty mentioned that overall in India we have transited from being a food deficit country to a net exporter of agricultural products. In terms of agricultural and horticulture produce, our country is amongst the top most in the world and presently it holds the second position. However, when it comes to West Bengal, it is a matter of great pride that the State is endowed with abundant natural resources and whatever is grown can be reaped in this State. Walnuts and coffee is being grown in Darjeeling. In fact, the Coffee Board had testified that the coffee flavor grown here isbetter that what is grown in Karnataka. Pineapples are being grown in Purulia. Agriculture in West Bengal uses 3% of the country’s land resources, supports 8% of the country’s population and contributes to the about 9% of the country’s food basket. In terms of vegetables, the State is number one in the country today contributing almost 17.71% of the vegetable basket. We are also number one in terms of rice production and second in potatoes, number one in litchis and some other fruits and also leading in production of honey, which isexported in great amounts.

Agriculture as viewed today, is quite different from traditional farming. It is now a completely demand driven production process. The farmer grows what sells in the market, and they are knowledgeable in this regard. Therefore, considering the financial stakes, the farmers have transited from the traditional rice, potatoes and vegetables to produce which is getting into the overseas market. Number of farmers now are now producing for six specific European countries and their produce range from broccolis, colour capsicums, various salad leaves, parsley and basil, etc. in huge quantities in protective cultivation, following all stringent norms of quality.

The reason behind the State having a very steady agricultural production in the last couple of years is that there has been a diversification. The farmers have diversified into vegetables and fruits much before any Government intervention. They did it on their own by analyzing the market potential. The value of their produce has grown many folds compared to their earlier seasonal produce. Further, farmers have also started quality food processing. They have understood that they now need to produce meeting all stringent quality requirements. Farmers are thus gradually transforming into small agri entrepreneurs. They now have to go through almost all risks that any other entrepreneur faces. They have to borrow money from the market mostly, not having access to institutional credit and have to face the vagaries of nature. In case there is a profit, it is mostly ploughed back into the business and in a loss situation they have to mostly migrate to a city and work as labourers. However, there has been a changing trend not only in West Bengal but in the entire country and that is something that everybody was looking forward to.

Smt.Chakraborty went on to say that recently the World Bank has sanctioned a 3000 crore project for the agri-business sector. West Bengal and Maharashtra are two States who have actually got projects sanctioned against this, which is known as “Accelerated Agri Business”. Under this scheme, the farmers or the entrepreneurs get support all along the entire agricultural value chain. The chain starts from pre-harvesting which includes hi-tech nurseries where they are actually growing the seeds and the plantation materials and the nutrients. Thereafter it goes to protective cultivation aimed at gainful growth of fruits, vegetables etc. The next stage covers post-harvest challenges. Around 25 to 30% of whatever is produced could result in post-harvest losses. It is possible to arrest this loss through effective process controls, efficient handling and transportation of their produce which then goes to the domestic or the overseas markets.

She mentioned that theoverseas markets currently interests the Government for which a blue-print for upgrading our agriculture logistics infrastructure including horticulture has been prepared. The produce gets into multipurpose cold storages. In our State we need to now develop multipurpose demand-driven agricultural infrastructure. 95% of our cold storages are meant for potatoes which we actually do not need. There is need for proper storage of vegetables and fruits. The gap in the warehousing needs for the entire agricultural produce has been calculated and the funds for building them up was also available. This is a government intervention which will be done in a targeted manner.

Smt.Chakravorty also spoke about the requirement of meeting the quarantine checks, an absolute necessity for exports. There is a need to align oneself with the needs of the importing countries. No perishables can be sent to the USA without the stipulated checks and treatments. There is a pressing need to put up infrastructure aligned to the needs of the importing countries to meet all the quarantine checks that are required and towards this end the State needs several additional labs. Presently there are five accredited labs and in the least another five more are required. There is also a requirement of capacity building for the farmers. Actually the need is to create a new level of exporters. She mentioned that the Government had recently conducted a study on mango production and exports from the State. There are about 350 various varieties of mangoes available in the State, each with its own fragrance and taste. About 111 varieties were exhibited to importers from countries like Isreal, Iran and also from the Middle and South East. Immediate orders were received for mangoes specially from Bankura and Purulia – the variety which have no fibre and which alsolook good. Export market demands are very specific requiring the produce just not to taste good but also to look good. This was possible by making changes through protective cultivation.

She mentioned that the State had two consecutive years of good litchis and mango production contrary to the general belief that these crops grew better in alternative years. It was found that this was not the case. If the plants are provided the right nutrients and care, it was possible to have bumper production each year. This year the State’s mango production was about 9.7 lakh M.Ts. An orchard in Paschim Medinipur has been located where the State is looking for development of horticulture in a very big way.

As far as rice was concerned, Smt.Chakravorty stated that now that China has removed the barrier on non-Basmati rice, the Government was looking at a buyers-sellers meet where the Chinese buyers can come here and taste our various varieties of rice. There are over 450 varieties of rice in Bengal itself. Out of these fifty are aromatic varieties. These would be showcased here as well as in the international markets.

To find a solution to over-production of potatoes every year, the Government had contacted Russia who are huge importers of potatoes in the world. Russia came back to report that potatoes here had black surface spots which were not harmful but needed to be taken care of. Eradication of this problem through necessary processes would take about two to three years. In the meantime other countries were contacted like Mauritius, Singapore, Middle East who have agreed to import potatoes with the black spots.

The other issue was price realization where government intervention was required. Dubai imported mangoes this year at a cost of Rs.300/- per kg. There are intermediaries like any other sectors but actually the farmers got only Rs.80 to Rs.90 a kg which was a good realization for them. This way if we get the price realization for the farmers through exports and pass on the realization statistics to them then the trend of our agri export is going to grow exponentially and this State could then compete with the other States like Karnataka and Maharashtra.

Smt.Chakravorty also mentioned that it had been found that West Bengal was extremely suitable for seed manufacturing. Seed is a huge business and Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh which had been the traditional States for seeds are now exhausted and now they are looking at Bengal. Bankura District has the right moisture levels for seed production. Bankura is also the right locationto grow grapes. The possibilities have been explored and it has been found that there is scope to develop a wine industry in Bengal. Once this comes in, this will also change the way that people live in this area. The wine industry had changed the social conditions in Nasik and in the same way a big change can be brought about in Bengal.

It was the complete agri-business chain at which the Government was looking from pre-harvest to export. Production would be for the world market. Another aspect is that we have all become very conscious now on dietary habits and how food is packaged, and the content, values etc. are being looked atin detail. All these demands and challenges have to be met.

Smt.Chakravorty stated that the agri business is looked at as an industry and there exists a huge requirement of private investment here. One resource is production of seeds in the pre-harvest structure. Post-harvest structure in terms of cultivation what needs to be looked into is hydroponics and acroponics, which is the way forward especially in areas which are water-stressed. Specially in China in huge water-stressed land huge cultivation is done through hydroponics. Acroponics is to do with fisheries and with agriculture too.

There is also a great need for capacity building. The Government was looking at setting up of agri-business schools and this is where the Government needed a lot of capacity building inputs from farm inputs, bio inputs to fertilizers. There was also a need to set up machinery hubs. In Bengal, land holdings are very fragmented and very small; 96% of farmers are small and marginal with less than one hectare of land, the average being 0.77 hectare. Therefore, mechanical farming is not possible in such small lands. Cluster hiring centres have come up where machinery is available on nominal hire charges. The Government has set us over 900 such hiring centers across the State.

The other huge area on which the Government requires support is setting up of labs. Quality control is something that both the Government of India and State governments are stressing at. Return of consignments of fish and other produce on issues of quality has become an issue. The State has been exporting beetle leafs to the Europe, the Middle East and other countries and the producers had to be trained on maintaining the quality expectations through improved process. As a result of this, the last couple of years has seen not a single consignment being returned. The producers now know that if they do not have the controls and checks, they would have to suffer huge losses.

The other area for investment by the industry was setting up machinery hubs and imparting training. Actually the entire agri value chain is something which can be very quickly developed. Subsequent, Smt.Chakravorty felt, it would be necessary to also move to organic farming to which there was no alternative. Once the farmers’ resources increases, they would put in more resources into learning and getting the right inputs at their farms with lesser use of chemicals and more use of bio-fertilizers. The way climate is changing, more varieties of climate resistant rice and other crops needs to be developed so that the farmers do not face problems. Overall this isgoing to be good for the entire rural workforce. More than 75% of the people who live in the rural areas are directly or indirectly linked with agriculture. NitiAayog have recently published that the non-farm workforce wa actually 2.6 times of those who are directly involved in agriculture. Thus, there exists a huge scope for generation of employment by way of development of the agri business and this is the sector to be looked forward to at least in the next ten years or so.