| Q: VNR has come a long way since its inception. What have been some of major achievements till date and what is the company currently working on? |
A: Thanks to our fellow farmers, VNR has indeed been growing. The fact that they use our products and keep coming back for more is a sign of their appreciation of our efforts to give them the best in planting material. We at VNR boast of a strong research and development (R&D) team that is constantly working on improving our product range. Over the last few years,we have been researching on varieties of Egg Plant, Tomato and Hot Pepper.
Three years ago we introduced the bacterial wilt resistant H62 variety of Tomato seeds in the market, which became a huge hit. Two years ago we came up with the bacterial wilt resistant VNR 305 variety in Hot Pepper which is doing very well in bacterial prone places like Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh. VNR 60, a bacterial wilt resistant variety in Egg Plant seeds, was recently tested successfully in the Bastar region and launched in the market this year.
Such disease resistant varieties of seeds have helped farmers save on cost and improve their profits.
Our researchers had found that powdery mildew is a major threat to farmers growing Hot Pepper in climates with fluctuating temperatures. Our breeding team got cracking on the problem five years ago and has now developed VNR32, a variety that is not only powdery mildew resistant but also bacterial wilt tolerant with a yield that is highly pungent, dark green in colour, thin and good for long-distance marketing. We will be launching this variety next year.
A survey in Jagdalpur revealed that farmers spray fungicide on the Hot Pepper crop every three days, spending Rs. 400 to 500 per acre. The new variety will save this cost, the energy and also reduce the pesticide load in the atmosphere.
We also learnt from farmers' feedback in high rain areas that Bottle Gourd saplings get infected by Fusarium, a soil-borne fungus, destroying the crop in an early stage. Our R&D team took on the challenge and discovered a fusarium-resistant gene in the plant, developed it and came up with Divya five years ago. It is a variety that is suitable for hot and humid climates and also wilt resistant. |
| Q: Where does VNR stand logistically in terms of land, seed varieties and presence? |
A: VNR is present all across the country except Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The company has nearly 2,000 acres of land for seed production and it has so far developed 120 seed varieties and 3,000 breeding lines.
The company boasts of four research and development stations two each at Gomchi and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) and two at Hyderabad - more than 90 acres of R&D land |
| Q: What would you say are the strengths of your R&D team? |
| A: Our research and development team led by Mr K.C. Upadhyaya and Mr. M.S. Tomar thrives on intense dedication, excellent breeding skills and strong decision-making abilities. Both Mr Upadhaya and Mr Tomar, who breed paddy and vegetables respectively, have a rich work experience of 11 years. Both of them have Masters degrees in agriculture. Our Founder, Krishi Pandit Narayanbhai Chawda, has been awarded Doctorate (D.Sc.) by Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur for his dedicated contribution to agriculture research & innovation. Narayanbhai himself acts as the research breeder, coordinator and supervising authority. |
| Q: What kind of work is being done by the R&D team currently? |
| A: Currently, our research team is dealing with quality paddy seeds. Work began on this almost eight years ago and is now almost complete. We hope to test market some of our hybrid paddy in 2007 monsoon. Simultaneously, work is also on with maize and pearl millet, tomato, capsicum and chilly. |
| Q: Has the company collaborated with agricultural institutes for research or training? |
A: As a matter of fact, we have. VNR has adopted research technologies from institutes like the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and even the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC) and International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).
VNR is also constantly in contact with different agriculture universities all over India which help them in conducting trials for breeding. The company also receives germplasm from these institutes.
Besides, VNR submits its seeds to AICRPVC (All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops) for multi-location trials all over India thus overcoming the constraint of limited research stations. This also helps VNR to seek recognition of its new seed varieties from AVRDC
VNR also facilitates R&D staff training at IIVR and IIHR. The senior scientists in the team have been sent abroad for conventions organized by the Asia Pacific Seed Association of which VNR is a member. |
| Q: What kind of marketing network does VNR have? |
A: Four years ago, our marketing team covered only Chattisgarh. Now, our network has expanded to all states except certain southern states and few northern states like Himachal Pradesh and J&K.
We are hopeful that Himachal Pradesh market is likely to be covered next year, also our marketing team is materializing plans to penetrate southern markets.
Interestingly, during my visits abroad organizations have shown deep interest in partnering with us for exploring overseas business opportunities. I personally am working along with our strategic advisors to actualize VNR's overseas business intrests. |
| Q: What kind of quality checks does VNR do? Are its processes certified? |
A: At VNR the greatest care is taken to maintain production standards for best hybridisation levels and to avoid contamination.
A thoroughly trained production team ensures the most stringent quality control measures. In May 2006, our R&D unit was certified by the department of scientific and industrial research. |
| Q: As a company that prides itself as for the farmers by a farmer, what kind of involvement in social welfare does VNR have? |
A: As part of its commitment to giving only the best to fellow-farmers, the management of VNR ensures that its commitment goes beyond just its products and adds value to the life of fellow-farmers. The company, however, refrains from propagating business by using the VNR banner in any of these activities.
Along with experts in my staff, I hold meetings every Tuesday with farmers from surrounding areas at the company farm in Gomchi where we discuss various aspects of their work. We try to answer their queries and resolve their problems and also give them tips to improve their methods and enhance their yield. These meetings also serve as a good opportunity to update them about the latest technologies in farming. VNR also donates seed samples to them and various NGOs working for farmers.
In 2001, we formed the Sabji Utpadak Sangh - a forum to bring together all vegetable farmers to minimize the middlemen problem and adopt steps to maximize profits. Through the association, all member farmers are sent the daily rates of vegetables by fax so that the market can be regulated by supplying surplus to other states.
Apart from all this, we recognize the need to encourage education in order to empower young blood in agriculture and create a more informed breed of farmer-businessmen. In a step towards this purpose, we provide scholarships to children of farmers in Gomchi village for academic excellence. |
| Q: What is VNR looking forward to in terms of growth in the future? |
A: We have phase-wise plans for the future to take the company ahead and give it an even more competitive edge. Among them are plans to expand and stabilize operations across India. Our overseas business intrests are shaping up very well. On an immediate note, we are making a foray into the Bangladesh market.
As far as our products are concerned, we have at least 20 new varieties of seeds in vegetables and crops like paddy, cucurbits, chillies and egg plant in the wings. We also intend to automate our various business processes.
Furthermore, in future we will work on identifying locations or area specific problems for various crops and develop resistance breeding so that we can offer products which can save farmers time and money and give them good quality harvest and great profits. |
| Q: What role you visualize for VNR in terms of Farm-to-Retail scenerio? |
| A: We are looking forward to play an important role in value chain where the new-age corporate farmers are doing the backward integration and redefining supply chain dynamics so as to implement farm-to-retail strategy. We aim to partner as agri-input and know-how providers to these strong corporate retailers wherein we provide the best quality seeds to their contract farmers who in turn supply the high yielding quality products to forthcoming green retail outlets all across the nation and extend the price advantage benefit to end consumer. Most of our varities have been researched to enhance the keeping quality of our products, this eventually will increase transportability of products giving flexibility in managing cold chain as back-end to forthcoming retail outlets. |
