BON
ideals
There
are some men who never say die and pursue their dreams against all
odds. Bon Nimbkar is one of them
Research
is the true calling of BV Nimbkar, Former President, Nimbkar Agricultural
Research Institute (Nari). And that’s why he chose to return from
the US after working with the Rockefeller Foundation to set up a
research institute at Phalton in interior Maharashtra, in 1968.
Since then this private, non-profit organisation has done pioneering
work in agriculture, renewable energy, animal husbandry and rural
development. Since its inception, the institute has successfully
implemented over 75 projects, worth more than Rs 350 lakh. In a
freewheeling talk with Jaya Mahale, Bon Nimbkar, lashes out at the
government machinery, urges people to stop depending on subsidies
and shows the way for doing research and extension in the country.
Why
did you choose the private, non-profit route to agricultural research?
When
I returned from the US , I found that there was no real relationship
between agricultural universities, the research sector and the farmers.
I observed two problems that still persist: Firstly, that people
in the government have tenures. Whether you work or you don’t you
are employed and paid a salary. That’s why all these big research
institutions have become Rojgar Hami Yojana. Secondly, people were
transferred for no earthly reason. Worldwide, a breeder is someone
who has worked on a crop for at least five years. In India, not
a single breeder works on the same crop for five years. He is just
someone who is designated by the government. So I decided that we
had to do things ourselves and I started my own institute.
Did
you have any problems with this decision?
I
faced difficulties in the beginning. At Rockefeller Foundation,
I was a pioneer in hybrid seeds, so I went to see the Director of
Agriculture. He wasn’t encouraging and he said in India, farmers
could never grow hybrids as it was too technical. Later, after we
started our work in Satara, within four years we had 99 per cent
hybrid jowar. And I found that once we start doing some innovation
the government jumps in with lots of subsidies and help.
Then
I started breeding cotton. I met representatives of the mill industry
in Mumbai and they said, “How can you breed a private variety? Nobody
has done that.” At that time there were only government varieties.
But I did breed a private variety and from 1967 to 1972 we covered
30,000 acres in Maharashtra. Then it started being grown very extensively
with farmers who couldn’t get inputs. Now most of the hybrid
varieties are privately bred in the market. The main thrust is that
we must do things ourselves. All over the world there are active
breeder and shepherd associations. Of course one must have some
political backing.
Given
that you are not for subsidies or government intervention, how do
you manage to finance the projects?
That’s
why I started a seed company. In the beginning, all the profits
were invested in research. We had three different types of research:
one where we developed varieties that could be sold, another where
we developed varieties where there was no commercial potential,
but was a developmental activity, and the third was basic research.
Was
this project entirely funded by the seed company?
No.
I was growing sugar beet and taking trials and one day Yeshwantrao
Chavan, the then Finance Minister, happened to pass by. He inquired
about the crop and whether I was receiving any funding. I replied
in the negative. A week later we got a letter from the Indian Council
for Agricultural Research that we had been appointed as a centre
in the All India Coordinated Sugar beet Scheme. And we got finances
for 10 years.
How
should research in India be funded?
Research
should be funded in three ways. First, it may be funded by the seed
industry because it can bear the cost. Second, the processing industry
could pick up the bill. Third, the farmers should fund the research
themselves. If they want something researched, they should pay for
it, through their associations such as Upasi. The one thing one
must not rely on is subsidy. Why look for subsidies? After all where
do these subsidies come from? From our pockets, but all this money
goes to maintaining the government machinery! Any research project
should be a bankable proposition. Nabard is flush with funds. So
one can just borrow the funds needed for R&D.
If
research is funded by these routes, what about the extension work?
For
the jowar project we had hired some people and we had 200 demonstration
plots who provided the seeds free of cost with the condition that
they follow what we do. Extension must be linked to finance and
this is where banks are failing to meet the requirements. The only
Integrated Rural Development Programme, project with 98 per cent
repayment was our goat project. This was because we were able to
monitor it properly. It is not enough to appraise a project. Banks
must also make sure they are monitored properly or else they won’t
be repaid. Lack of monitoring has lead to huge non-performing assets
for the banking sector. They should either ensure that their extension
machinery works or they should outsource the function to non-governmental
organisations.
Also,
the government, its officials and the bureaucracy should be made
accountable. We should be able to sue them for dereliction of duty.
You
must have an extension agent who is in one area all his life. Here
people are transferred all the time because the government believes
that if they stay for too long they will develop a vested interest.
But that’s what I want. I want them to have vested interests. It
is better to have commitment due to vested interests than no commitment
at all.
Do
you feel that there should be decentralisation in the allocation
of funds?
Certainly,
certain proportion of revenue should be fuelled back to the source.
Does
Nari do its own extension work?
Safflower
was done through farmer training. We don’t do much extension work,
unless there is a problem. The farmers themselves know what should
be done. We can only show them how to do things better. People are
always on the look out for profitable alternatives. Once they hear
of something good, they will travel miles to know more about it.
If your technology is good, well tried and tested, you don’t have
to do much to create awareness and extension. If it is complicated
and doesn’t pay much, the farmers will not accept it.
Could
you tell us something about your latest project?
The
latest wasteland development project is to be an integrated programme
covering health, education, housing among others. First, we are
going to talk to the shepherds and find out what they need. We will
explain that they will not get any subsidies except our intellectual
inputs and help, with testing or monitoring and other basic things.
