Dr Sangita Ladha has been spearheading operations with leading organisations in Irrigation and Water Management and is currently associated with Rivulis Irrigation India as a Business Director. She has completed her MTech, Agricultural Engineering, from IIT-Kharagpur and has earned a Doctorate in Agricultural Development. Her domain expertise is Precision Farming, Automated Irrigation and Water Management, Protected cultivation – Green-house Technology, Agri-Value Chain Management and Digital informatics based agro advisory services. She has nearly 30 years of experience in the area of Design, Marketing and Business Development of Micro Irrigation Systems and in Development and Management of Practical and Innovative Indo-Dutch Training Centres for horticulture and in particular for promotion of Green-house Technology in the country. In an interaction with AgroSpectrum Dr Sangita shared her views on women agripreneurship in India. Edited excerpts;
How can the percentage of women’s contribution in agribusiness be increased in India?
Incidentally, I was heading the Indo- German collaboration centre for horticulture. This kind of centre provides handholding support to farmers for the total agri value chain. It imparts training to farmers for upscaling their skills. In India, the percentage of women farmers is 80 per cent but only 20 per cent have land holding. In such a scenario, we need institutes across the country which can provide complete information about finance schemes by the government, project report making process, input and output resources and most importantly handholding support to women entrepreneurs if anything goes wrong. It will motivate women farmers to transform them into agripreneur.
Under the scheme ‘Raftar’ for agritech startups, the government provides funding up to Rs 25 lakh. Information of such kinds of schemes needs to be widely circulated and published through agriculture colleges and universities at grass root level. Government has started many incubation centres especially for budding entrepreneurs in the agri industry. As 50 per cent of the students in agriculture colleges are girls, the information of government schemes for women entrepreneurs and incubation centres needs to be circulated which is lacking in the current scenario. Incubation centres will play a vital role in increasing the contribution of women in agribusiness.
Which agri sector should women entrepreneurs focus on?
Today, almost all women are well-versed with the utility of smartphones. Women can explore more technology-based supply chain management or logistic management. By using the tools of AI and IoT women farmers can manage their business with limited investment from the backyard of their farm.
Women entrepreneurs work efficiently in e-commerce, logistics and can play an important role in the agriculture value chain. Remote sensing, block chain technology, and AI are some of the important areas where agriculture students can explore more.
Agri-food processing is traditionally taken up by women in rural areas but it is not scaled up as per the expectations, especially quality packaging, knowledge about Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) norms for food processing, and marketing skills. Women entrepreneurs can explore more in bringing new technologies in agri-food processing and business models which will help in growth of women entrepreneurs and women farmers as well.
How can FPOs contribute to the growth of women entrepreneurs?
The government is trying to promote the Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to double farmer’s income. Institutions like Maharashtra State Development Corporation are developing 100 FPOs since they have aggregation of produce. All these FPOs have growers who are holding lands, so startups can connect with FPOs to drive their innovations at ground level. Every FPO is an entrepreneur. They just need knowledge about quality inputs, best farming practices, market linkages and technical knowledge about agribusiness. If women farmers come together under the roof of FPO then it will be a win-win situation for both farmers and entrepreneurs as information about necessary aspects of agribusiness will be available at the same platform.
What could be the state of women agripreneurship in the coming years?
I think the next decade will be the decade of women in the agri industry in India. Women are exploring and driving their innovation through agritech startups. If you look at agriculture university students, out of 100 per cent 50 per cent students are women. This shows that women are more enthusiastic and keen to learn new technologies in agriculture. The daughters of farmers who are students of agriculture universities have become ready to move out solo for marketing and drive their innovations using the latest technologies. Even women from other faculties are exploring something different in agritech than going for regular jobs.
With the right flow of information, grass root level study of agribusiness and accurate use of latest technology, women entrepreneurs will definitely achieve success in every sector of the agri industry in the next five years.
What needs to be done to improve the growth of women entrepreneurs?
Finding out the gaps between women entrepreneurs and government schemes is the first step that needs to be taken for the growth of women entrepreneurs. For any budding woman entrepreneur, finding out the necessary information about government schemes, updated information about the agritech sector, financial support, and connecting with the right department of government for approvals are the major hurdles. The missing links between entrepreneurs and government can be connected through incubation centres. The guidance about converting an idea into a prototype and connecting with proper channels for further development is very important for every entrepreneur.
Private sector is also actively contributing to the growth of women entrepreneurs. Private sector is on board with good ideas from entrepreneurs by providing them handholding support and upscaling their ideas into prototypes. It is also supporting women entrepreneurs for conducting pilot projects and including their technology in the company services as an addition in their services or products.
What inspired you to enter agribusiness?
Choosing agribusiness as a career was not planned. I completed my M Tech in Agricultural Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and in the 90’s, the irrigation industry was kind of a low hanging fruit and had a lot of opportunities, especially in the agriculture sector. Since I did not wish to go for a traditional desk job I selected the irrigation industry which was emerging as a growing sector of the agri industry. I preferred to move around the field, connecting with people from different sectors for marketing and just went with the flow.
How is Rivulis Irrigation contributing to the growth of the agriculture irrigation industry in India?
Rivulis Irrigation India is the subsidiary of Rivulis Israel. Rivulis India has its registered office in Pune and factory at Vadodara, Gujarat. Currently Rivulis India operates in 15 states with an employee base of over 400 and a distribution and services network of more than 1200 growth partners. In the last three years Rivulis India has doubled its production capacity and tripled the sales revenue.
In the last 5 years Rivulis has brought drip irrigation technology in the fields of more than 2 lakh growers. Company runs audio-visual van campaigns for creating door to door awareness about drip irrigation in rural India. To create awareness about water management, periodic technical training programs are being conducted for government officials as well as channel partners.
With innovation as its core values for growth, Rivulis has brought precision irrigation technology through its subsidiary Manna Irrigation in India. By merging remote sensing, data science and agronomy, we enable growers to deliver the right amount of water at the right time to all yield-producing land. Growers everywhere will be able to improve crop outcomes and reduce water usage, supporting sustainable farming. The company is putting in efforts to help farmers in adopting smart irrigation techniques by making satellite technology accessible at farmer’s doorstep across India.
Dipti Barve
dipti.barve@mmactiv.com
