Change is in the air!

I have always felt that Farmers are one of the most intelligent lot. The only problem might be that they have a narrow thinking range. This might be the reason why middlemen are the guys who reap the rewards of the hardwork put in by the farmers.

Very happy to see that some initiatives are taken to change this trend now...

http://www.businessworld.in/content/view/2016/2080

http://ganeshsrinivasansfocusonfoodprocess.blogspot.com/2008/06/sg-ke-toi-farmers-in-dharmapuri-start.html

Infact i was always skeptical about all these retailers like Walmart, Reliance procuring directly from Farmers. Because it's hard to believe that these companies would really share any major profits with the Farmers, atleast their reputation doesn't stand for it though.

On a side note, i remember my brother resonating the same thoughts.

1. Farmers are really very intelligent people. Infact when it comes to pesticides and fertilizers, they not only know the names..they know the chemical composition of the all the pesticides and fertilizers, know how these chemicals impact the farm yields.
2. The major problem is the herd mentality. Everybody harvests the same product and in turn end up flooding the market with that product, thus driving the prices down.
Another interesting problem which he mentioned was fragmentation of farm land. That is, if a farmer with 10 acres of land has 2 sons, then in the next generation it becomes 2 farmers with 5 acres of land. This leads to more owners and less percentage of market share for any individual. This results in lesser profits for individuals.