IFPRI- CSISA organized a one day high level policy roundtable on Sustainable Intensification in India’s Risk-Prone Ecologies: Investment strategies for productivity growth, resource conservation, and climate risk management” on May 19, 2014 in New Delhi. This roundtable, brings together a high-level small group of individuals from the corporate, government, and research sectors to address one of India’s most urgent challenges to food security and economic growth—how to encourage private sector investment in accelerating productivity growth in India’s risk-prone ecologies while simultaneously conserving the environment. There are solutions already in farmers’ fields and rural markets that respond to these challenges, and this Roundtable will highlight recent advances, for example: innovative financial products and information services for small-scale farmers; diagnostic tools for managing water and soil nutrient scarcity; custom-hired resource-conserving machinery for small farms; crop diversification and high-value marketing strategies; and stress-resistant wheat and rice varieties. But the search for solutions is far from complete. This Roundtable is meant to engage participants in a rapid-fire discussion of recent technical solutions in Indian agriculture, the prospects for policy change, and corporate outlooks for the next five years. The purpose is to help public and private sector players to identify common investment strategies, forge partnerships, and chalk out collaborative efforts to effect technological, market, and policy improvements in India’s risk prone ecologies.

1. COLLABORATION
PERSPECTIVES FROM THE
PRIVATE SECTOR
Raman Ahuja
Delhi, 19 May, 2014

2. Setting the Context
2
The
urgency
for
different
players
to come
together.
 The Big picture
 The scale of the problem ~ WE ALL KNOW IT!
 The Small Farmer Ecosystem
 Role of markets
 Opportunity for multi-stakeholder
Collaboration
 CSISA, Private Sector (large, small, startup,
etc), CSO, Donors, Government, et al.
 A suggested road map

3. The Big Picture3

4. Green Revolution Agriculture
 Green Revolution
Technology & the
attendant ecosystem
has delivered Food
Security to a
burgeoning
population of over
1.25 billion people
Financial
• Govt. Minimum support price
• Fertilizer Subsidy
• Free Farm Energy
• No Cost to Water
Hidden Ecological Costs
• Soil Mismanagement
• Ground Water Pollution
• Diseases emanating from rampant
use of Pesticides
• Contaminated Food Chain
4
Situation System Costs
There is room for optimism in this scenario!

5. Small Farmer Ecosystem & His Challenges
5
• Land & Soil Nutrient Profile
• Quality of Water
• Availability & Quality of
Fertilizers & Pesticides
• Labor Availability
• On Time & For Time Finance
• Efficient Market Access
Resource/Factor
• Appropriate Cultivar for his
Soil, Water & Weather.
• Seed Availability & Right
POP
• Un-prescribed Pesticide
usage – lack of knowledge
• Timely Harvesting &
handling
• Output-Labor-Transport
Synchronization
Knowledge
Actors @ Play
It’s a complex environment & a Market of 120 million farmers!

6. Market Based Solutions (MBS)
 Farmer Exposure to realistic
Market Risk
 Transparent & *Repeatable* Price &
Pick-up (P&P)
 Incentives for improved performance
 Build relevant value enhancers
 Seeds, POP, PPU
 On Time & For Time Finance
 Timely Harvesting & handling
 Trust through Certifications
 GAP, fair trade, organic, etc
 Safe Food - from farms
 A combination of
 Soil, Seed, Water, Energy
 Weather
 Appropriate Technology
 Creating a web of
information & service
providers to manage the
unknowns
6
Commercially Viable Ecosystem Ecosystem Capabilities
POP:packageofpractice
PPU:proposedpesticideusage
Building a Trust Based Model
Eliminating the most critical constraint – one by one!

7. Approach to Partnerships7

8. A Conceptual Framework for Partnership
8
An Inviolable logic for Collaboration
Stakeholder
Value
Operating Ethic:
Mutuality &
Transparency
Shared
Trust

9. Private Sector Engagement
9
 Industry facilitation required to
 integrate a perspective on
ecosystem scaling barriers
 Address key scaling barriers for
market-based solutions
 At Company level:
 Develop a perspective of both
internal & ecosystem scaling
barriers
 Engage with industry facilitators,
stakeholders (& sometimes their
competitors)
Creating a Virtuous framework with
Rapid Prototyping Capability & Scale Up
 Build Value chains: “As is” &
“Desired State”
 Evaluate risks & approaches to
risk management to build
private sector strategies
 Develop action agenda with
clearly laid out roles for each
partner
 Agree a resourcing &
deployment timeframe
 ACT & Measure

10. Raman Ahuja, Independent Advisor
Gurgaon (New Delhi), India
Email: ahuja.raman@gmail.com
Thank you10