He is the passionate, visionary & energetic Group Chairman of the 40-year- old market leader in agrochemicals and pharma, Dhanuka Agritech Limited, Gurugram, Haryana, and he is revered as an authority in Indian agriculture and the impact of its multi-layered dynamics on the nation’s socio-economic outcomes. He is vigorously working to safeguard & enrichen India’s food & nutrition security, health, wealth, water & environmental protection. As India steps into the historic 75th year of its Independence from British rule, Mr. Agarwal shares his vision and aspirations for the sector & company, listed on BSE and NSE with a turnover of Rs. 1421 Crores in the last fiscal and is set to play a critical role in empowering India’s farmer community and agriculture sector.
1. What does the landmark moment of India’s 75 years of independence mean to you?
The present government has come up with some new and bold reforms in the interest of farmers and is also mulling on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for initiating the gigantic task of bringing about a transformative change in the agriculture sector. We can do our best to support farmers in doubling their income through knowledge transfer, technology support, and by providing the best of new technology green chemistry pesticides for a bumper crop harvest. In this 75th year of our independence, a very ambitious 360-degree nation-wide farmer extension education and awareness campaign will be launched for all the stakeholders engaged in farming to improve their yields, quality & ultimately their income which will help in increasing the export of Agri-produce and especially out of 550 crops grown in our country, they can focus on high- value cash crops and horticulture crops which are in demand internationally.
2. After independence, what has been the trajectory of India’s agricultural growth?
When India became independent, the food production was a meager 50 million tons. Our food security was ship-to-mouth as we were getting low-quality red wheat under PL-480 from the USA. In contrast, now our food production has crossed 300 million tons. Though this may look very promising, the fact is that our current GDP from agriculture is 1/3rd that of China despite India having more land and rainfall. After investigation, we have found that the lack of new technology in agriculture and lack of quality—Agri-inputs & remunerative price by providing a free & competitive market. If we have to grow and compete, then our data projections must be compared with that of the developed world, which should be our benchmark; otherwise, it is of no value. At the time of the launch of the DD Kisan channel, New Delhi, in 2015, our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi called for increasing food-grain
Productivity from an average of 2 tons per hectare to 3 tons per hectare. In highly developed countries, the average crop production is much higher, ranging from 7-11 times, while China’s GDP from agriculture is thrice that of India as per FAO data of 2019. However, India has crop losses to the tune of 10-30 % every year as per the answer given by the Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare in response to various questions asked in the Parliament from August 2007 to now in 2021. With changing times, the needs of the Indian pesticide industry also have to be revisited, and now there is a dire need for better reforms in the rules and regulations to align with the global best standards to give wings to the industry and make it a leading foreign exchange earner for the country.
3. What have been the hurdles preventing technology from reaching farmers?
After India’s independence, the Central and state governments conducted a T&V program, where staff from the agriculture department visited farmers and trained them. But once the food sufficiency was achieved, the program faded out due to a lack of onus and accountability on the people assigned with a task, and this is the reason why India lags in growth and development, unlike China, where officials are expected to face the consequences for not contributing the stipulated produce of agriculture crops from the region assigned to them. The present Union government has initiated a profound change with the help of innovation and technology and aims to digitalize every department, including agriculture, by 2024-25.
4. How does Dhanuka’s journey look like having come this far?
In the past four decades, Dhanuka Agritech Limited has grown and established itself as a reputed research-based- company in the field of agrochemicals in India. The company owns three state-of-art manufacturing facilities in Rajasthan, Gujarat, and J&K, respectively, with well-equipped Quality Testing Facilities and one R&D center located at Gurugram, Haryana. Dhanuka was first established in Gurugram in 1980 by taking over a sick unit, ‘Northern Minerals Pvt Ltd,’ which was established in technical association with ICI, the UK in 1960, and the first pesticide BHC (gammaxene) was introduced in Indian markets by this factory. The first year’s turnover of the company was just Rs 17 lac, and in the last fiscal, we closed at a turnover of more than Rs 1400 crores. We have accepted the new challenges in the agriculture sector and are moving ahead to mitigate them.
You must be logged in to post a comment.