Agriculture Development in India: The Maharashtra Public

Agriculture Development in India:
The Maharashtra Public-Private
Partnership
Supported by the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative
Background
In India, agriculture represents 18 percent of output and
employs 47 percent of the workforce. Improving the
productivity of smallholder farmers is therefore essential to
not only meet food demands of a growing population with
rising incomes, but also to help reduce rural poverty.
Food security in India is a national priority, with significant
resources channeled into the Food Security Act and other
mechanisms developed to strengthen the agricultural
sector. The State of Maharashtra – which has potential for
increased productivity and efficiency in agricultural value
chains – has taken a leading role to invite private sector
investment and engagement in this area.
For example, the Maharashtra Public-Private Partnership
for Integrated Agriculture Development (PPP-IAD) –
initiated in November 2011 by Dr. Sudhir Kumar Goel,
Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture of the
Government of Maharashtra at a New Vision for Agriculture
meeting hosted by the World Economic Forum – aims to
develop integrated value chains for specific crops.
In 2014-15, the PPP-IAD is focused on improving value
chains for 15 crops: maize, soybean, pulses, cotton, onion,
rice, tomato, potato, vegetables, banana, pomegranate,
grape, orange, cashew nut, and sugarcane. To this end,
the Government of Maharashtra is co-financing 30 valuechain projects. This cost is shared between public sector
government schemes, private sector actors and farmers’
contributions.
Each year, the government solicits project proposals from
global and local businesses which seek to invest in value
chain activities for a particular crop. Once approved, these
projects are launched, implemented and assessed by
project leaders from the private sector in coordination with
project coordinators from the Government of Maharashtra.
Project activities include capacity building with farmers
through technology and training, developing farmer
associations, and mechanization.
The PPP-IAD is facilitated through regular multistakeholder partnership meetings. The partnership is
guided by a CEO-level Steering Committee committed to
the partnership’s success in Maharashtra, and in exploring
the model’s broader potential elsewhere in India.
Approach
The PPP-IAD leverages a national government
scheme called Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)
designed to facilitate large-scale integrated projects in
the agricultural sector. The scheme provides coinvestment for projects led by private sector players to
aggregate farmers and integrate the agricultural supply
chain. The Government of Maharashtra is the first to
implement this scheme through co-investment with
private sector players who seek to drive agriculture
sector growth within the State.
Accomplishments
The Maharashtra PPP-IAD partnership is now in its third
year of implementation. In its first cycle, 10 projects
reached over 140,000 farmers on almost 150,000
hectares. In its current third cycle for 2014-15, the
partnership now covers 30 value chain projects,
representing more than $50 million in total value. The
2014-15 projects target nearly 500,000 farmers, covering
over 300,000 hectares, and is on target to meet its goal of
impacting one million farmers by 2015.
Project accomplishments included increased crop yield
and quality and improved income among farmers. Beyond
the impact achieved within value chain activities, the
Maharashtra PPP-IAD program has also been
appreciated as a best practice model of public-private
collaboration for other Indian States to replicate.
Selected projects’ progress to date includes:
•
•
•
Pulses: Farmers surveyed have reported a
productivity increase of 30-65 percent. The
project has also helped activate farmer groups
in the intervention areas.
White Onion: Onion yield has improved in project
areas from 7 MT/acre to 10 MT/acre. Usage of
drip irrigation saved 40-50 percent of water used
in onion irrigation, 30 percent on fertilizers and
20-30 percent on labour cost.
Cotton: Significant efforts have been made on
agri-extension. Due to training in high density
planting system through the PPP-IAD project,
cotton yields went up by more than 50 percent.
Partnering Organizations
Maharashtra PPP-IAD CEO Steering Committee:
-Government of Maharashtra (Co-Chair)
-UPL Limited (Co-Chair)
-ADM India
-Jain Irrigation
-Rabobank India
-Rallis India
-Technoserve
-Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI)
Other Partners and Stakeholders:
-Confederation of Indian Industries (CII)
-Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
For more information, please contact :
-Dr. Sudhir Kumar Goel, Additional Chief Secretary of
Agriculture, Government of Maharashtra, at
[email protected]
-Prasun Sarkar, Secretariat Manager, Maharashtra Public-Private
Partnership for Integrated Agriculture Development, at
[email protected]
-Saswati Bora, Senior Project Manager, New Vision for Agriculture,
World Economic Forum, at [email protected]
Looking Ahead
Within Maharashtra, the PPP-IAD program seeks to
improve productivity and efficiency within the ongoing
projects and has set a target for reaching one million
farmers by 2015. Stakeholders are also discussing the
potential for larger-scale collaboration through joint
investment.
Beyond Maharashtra, other Indian states have noted this
programme as a model for implementation of the national
PPP-IAD scheme. Partnership leaders, the World
Economic Forum and the Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) are working together to
document and share lessons learned from the partnership
so that successes can be replicated in other parts of India.
Companies Engaged in 2014-15 Value Chain Projects:
-Acceso Enterprises/Technoserve (Cashew nut project – leader)
-ADM (Soybean project – leader)
-Bayer (Vegetables project – co-leader)
-B.G. Ghatage Milk Processing (Banana project – leader)
-COTAAP Research Foundation (Cotton project – co-leader)
-Daulat Agro (Vegetables project-leader)
-Deepak Fertilizers (Pomegranate and Grapes 2 projects – leader)
-Desai Fruits and Vegetables (Banana project – leader)
-DuPont/Pioneer (Maize project – co-leader)
-Gomtesh Agro (Rice project – leader)
-Hindustan Unilever (Tomato project – leader)
-Jain Irrigation (White Onion and Cotton 2 projects – leader)
-Kaveri Seeds (Maize project – co-leader and Cotton project – leader)
-KayBee Exports (Vegetables project – leader)
-KVK Baramati (Grapes project – leader)
-MAHYCO Seeds (Cotton and Rice 2 projects – co-leader)
-Metahelix Life Sciences (Maize project – co-leader)
-Metro Cash & Carry (Vegetables project – co-leader)
-Monsanto (Maize project – co-leader)
-MRDBS (Grapes project – leader)
-Multiplex Biotech (Maize project – co-leader)
-Natural Sugar Industries (Potato and Onion project – leader)
-Nuziveedu Seeds (Cotton project – leader)
-Olam Agro India (Sugarcane project – leader)
-Rabobank (Partnership convening support)
-Rallis India (Pulses, Grapes, Pomegranate, Orange 4 projects – leader)
-Sanjeevani Agro Co-Op Society (Banana project – leader)
-Saguna Baug (Paddy project – co-leader)
-Siddhivinayak Agri Processing (Potato seed production project – leader)
-Swiss-Re (Crop insurance project – leader)
-TAFE (Maize project – co-leader)
-UPL Limited (Maize project – co-leader)
-VST Tiller Tractors (Rice project – leader)
-Western Agro Seeds (Paddy project – co-leader)
For more information about the New Vision for Agriculture Initiative, please visit: www.weforum.org/agriculture

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