As I
mentioned in Part 1 “SAI’s first leg of journey,
started in January, 2014 ended in May, 2014 with a big failure. We were back to
square one from where we had started”.
My second part will focus on how we started turning
adversities into opportunities and made a come-back when future
looked bleak.
There
is a saying that ‘it is easy to quit when going gets tough’ but when we have to quit anyway, why quit now? Why
shouldn’t we continue our struggle little more and see what happens? Who knows? We may get a push –
support may come from nowhere and helps us achieving what had become
un-achievable. This is what happened with SAI-Sustainable Agro ((http://sustainableagroinc.com/) – a target
which initially looked easy, turned out to be impossible one but was finally
achieved – on time and in the manner it was visualized.
After the
big failure, my motivation level was very low. I needed inspiration, and what
could be a better place than Navsari, Gujarat to get this inspiration. Navasari
is a historical place where the Parsi community, while migrating from Persia/Iran
landed first time in India, notable among them was ancestors of Jamshedji
Tata. Navasari is also historical because Dandi is only 30 kms away where Gandhiji
started his Civil Disobedience Movement. I got an opportunity towards
end of May, 2014 to visit this place on an evaluation assignment.
 |
| Saifee Villa at Dandi |
I visited ancestral
home of ‘Tatas’ and tried to feel what they would have felt when they first
landed in India. What opposition they would have faced? How they persisted
when all the odds were against them? When I visited Dandi I went to Saifee
Villa, where Gandhiji stayed night before he was arrested. I re-read his
writings many times “……I want world sympathy in
this battle of right against might” which he wrote on 5th
April, 1930. I also remembered Nelson Mandela’s words “….I
learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it”.
Finally I decided that I will continue to struggle – I won’t quit. My visit to Odisha afterward
from 29th May to 5th June, 2014 was most crucial ones.
I went and asked paper industry officials if they can suggest any field site
where I can pilot SAI’s model. They advised me to explore Kashipur block of
Rayagada, Odisha.
 |
| Ancestral Home of Tata at Navasari, Gujarat |
At
that time the paper industry had a very peculiar issue. In 2013 they had negotiated with a
well known private sector bank to provide loans to farmers in Kashipur for
plantation. Based on bank officials’ assurance they had mobilized farmers. They
also negotiated with fertilizer dealers, tractor providers etc. to provide
inputs to farmers on credit so as not to miss the planting season. The cost of
inputs could be paid once the bank releases loan to farmers.
However, for
some reasons the bank declined loan applications of 28 farmers. As a result,
the farmers as well as paper industry’s officials got in a fix. They had taken
the inputs on credit, and now the dealers were arguing with them to get the payment.
The farmers also needed next installment for the cultural practices like soil
work and fertilizer application.
The paper industry’s
officials asked me if SAI can settle the outstanding loan and support these
farmers. I took some time to discuss with my Director and Advisers.
Meanwhile I wrote a
detailed mail to the agency for incubation support which had turned down SAI’s
application, explaining why the agency is important for us and what value can
be added by the collaboration. I also requested permission to
make a presentation to its jury. They accepted my request and scheduled the
presentation on 7th June, 2014. I worked hard with my advisers to
make a strong pitch, and did my best on the scheduled time and date. I received
a mail on 12th June that SAI has been selected for 2014 incubation
support. The
fortune wheel had started turning in SAI’s favour.
I wrote
to all my contacts and network to help me finding field staff. In one way the climate/weather
supported us. When the
nation was worried about the drought due to delayed monsoon, we were busy - trying
hard to put a team and start field operations as soon as possible.
During my following visit to Odisha from 25th
June, 2014 I met a strange person at Rayagada Railway station at 2.00 O’clock
morning who knew everything about me though I was meeting him for the first
time in my life. He directed me to focus on what I am doing (Jo karne aaya
hai wahi kar). He also mentioned interesting statement directed at a family,
but targeted at me. He said ‘people don’t know what may happen next moment,
but they carry many baggages’. Initially I thought it was for other family
as they were carrying many luggages, but upon deep thinking I realized I was
also doing the same. I had embarked to an unknown journey, but was carrying
many apprehensions which were holding me back. I wrote about this in my
blog ‘Lessons from Life’ at http://www.lflindia.blogspot.in/2014_06_01_archive.html
The rain in Odisha arrived around mid July, after a delay
of one month. By that time we had put a two members’ team in the field. After
the initial orientation, the team immediately went into the action and started mobilizing
prospective farmers for piloting SAI’s crop-plantation model.
Meanwhile I learned that a team from ICRISAT is working in
Rayagada with District Agriculture Department to promote pigeon pea cultivation
(pulses). I immediately contacted them for getting the seeds for field testing.
Similarly, I wrote to Odisha University of Agricultural Technology (OUAT) to
get Groundnut seeds for field trials. They were more than happy to help me out.
My field team was working tirelessly and by early August,
2014 about 18-20 farmers agreed to collaborate with us in our crop-plantation
model. I accordingly placed an order with paper industry and deposited money to
purchase clonal sapling from paper industry and crop-seeds with ICRISAT and
OUAT.
I also started working with those 28 farmers whom loan application was turned down by
the bank as they immediately needed to complete soil work and apply next dose
of fertilizer.
As per SAI’s policy farmers have to put Rs.1000/- per acre
as their contribution, which is added to total cost of production. Whenever we asked the farmers for
their contribution they told us that they had collected the money last year by
selling their goats and mortgaging their land, and they are not in a position
to do it again. They also did not have trust anymore on outsiders like us;
therefore we were not able to extract exact information on what happened and
where the money had gone.
The pieces of puzzles started coming together when I
enquired further from paper industry. I learned that the bank
had insisted that each farmer has to open bank account with minimum deposit of INR2500/-
per farmer. Many of these poor farmers had collected money by selling their
assets. Now, the bank refused to offer them loan and the money was lying in
their account idly.
I was told that each farmer has to visit again to the city branch
at Rayagada to close the account. It costs each farmer at least INR300 and one
full day to travel and complete the process of closure of account. This may
seems small amount for us, but not for these farmers. What’s a pity? We, the outsiders keep cheating these people,
and then say why they don’t believe us.
Currently, my field team is assisting these farmers to
write the application and take them to city to close their bank accounts. It
would give SAI needed amount as farmers’ contribution.
One day I sat down to see how far we have achieved the initially
planned target, and the magic figure of 100 acres emerged out. The 28 farmers
whose loan SAI is taking over has 31 hectares, which is 77.5 acres (31 x 2.5 = 77.5
acres). My field team has now added 25 acres with new farmers which ultimately turn
out to be 102.5 acres. We achieved the
un-achievable in less than 100 days. Recently, seven more
farmers approached us with a request to take over their loan from the bank, and
now we are working with them.
As Nancy Duarte
mentioned in her book Resonate “....it
takes gutsy intuitive skills to move toward an unknown future that involves
unfamiliar risks and rewards. Many times the future cannot be quantified with
statistics, facts, or proofs and leaders have to let their gut lead them into
uncharted territories”.
My third
and final part will be on the lessons learned where I would highlight 11 key
lessons for fighting back from failure.
Jitendra Sinha
CEO,
SAI-Sustainable Agro
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