Ram Prakash Dangi, is the managing director of RPG Organic farming Private Limited. He was interviewed by Pooman Biswakarma on Krishi Jagran’s FTB platform. His company works with Agri inputs and outputs and providing latest technology to the farmers. They focus on organic farming. They provide the farmers with the tools they require, by hiring these from the companies. Their slogan is to half the investment and increase the production of farmers. These are the goals that their company is working towards. Other important activity for farmers is marketing, as markets are not easily available. Their aim is to take the produce from the farmers to a good market and selling them at a good rate is their priority. They are into fisheries, beekeeping, all types of organic farming crops, bamboo farming, horticulture for all type of fruits like bananas, guava, pomegranate. Jharkhand is not known for fruit cultivation, so they have taken initiative in this field in the state, by introducing the farmers to fruits.
Scope of operations
Poonam asked Ram Prakash about how long his company had been in operation, to which he replied since 2017. She asked him about how far his operations were spread out, to which he replied that most of his planning is for Jharkhand. He works at the panchayati level, block level and district level and has appointed trainers for all of these levels. This has been done so that the trainers can train the farmers everything about farming, latest technologies. Most of the farmers are following the traditional methods. Another issue is that if a farmer successfully grows a product say tomatoes, the rest will follow suit and start growing the same. This leads to lowering the price of the vegetable as its available in huge quantities. Today tomatoes, cucumbers, watermelons are selling at Rs 2 per Kg. Farmers need to be told what they need to farm in a season, so that everyone earns a decent income. They train the farmers in this.
At the moment he is associated with over 1,000 farmers. When asked how many have succeeded, to which he replied that they supply technology to the farmers and help them grow their as many products organic way as they will produce with chemicals.
On being asked about the nature of his business, he replied that this is a family business. His father was a big farmer and he is following into the footsteps of his ancestors. He wants to help the farmers do something good and the purpose of his business is that the farmers get fresh and pure food on their plates.
He said his company's name has the word organic and their purpose is to encourage farmers to farm the organic way. He states that organic farming has few advantages. You will not be dependent on fertilizers, this will lead to healthy crops, clean environment and our water will be pure.
Poonam asked him if his company was associated with any female farmers, to which he replied that he was but there were not many due to social restrictions. Recently they appointed a female trainer and overall he is associated with over 100 females.
Future plans
On his future plans he replied he was focusing on Jharkhand at the moment, as changing the whole world will be difficult. He said that every inch of land in Jharkhand must be put to use. Oxygen providing and fruit laden trees will cover the land.
He said, there are a number of regions here with shortage of water, in such regions crops which don't require much water must be planted like jackfruits, lychee, mangoes, guava, lemons. He said we must farm and grow according to the type of land that is available. He is also working with medicinal plants and mushrooms. He provides training with mushrooms farming. When asked about how he is managing his business during the current Corona crisis, Ram Prakash said those farmers with Android mobiles, he was communicating with them online with Zoom Meeting App. He is not able to go to the field but he makes every effort in helping his trainers and associated farmers as much as he can. If they need any assistance he is always ready to help.
Training for farmers
On being asked the course that is most popular with farmers, he said locally paddy, wheat and tomatoes grow well. Tomatoes grow here very well, in fact most vegetables grow here well. Vegetables from here are exported to Calcutta, Ranchi and even to Bihar and Delhi. He said all this is known locally, so he is focusing on what is not produced here like mushrooms. He provides training for mushrooms farming for oyster mushrooms, button mushrooms, milky mushrooms, king oyster mushrooms, wild mushrooms - these are the 5 types of mushrooms they have expertise in. For fish farming he trains farmers for ponds to biofloc technology. He provides training for beekeeping too.
Poonam asked Ram Prakash about the most popular fruits and veggies in his region. He replied that fruit farming is being introduced in Jharkhand, most of the fruits available in the market come from Bengal, Andhra Pradesh or UP, Maharashtra. Fruits are very expensive here, banana bunches here cost Rs 50-60. That is the reason why he is focusing on training farmers to grow what is not available locally. Some of them have started with these new crops or are being trained for it.
A message for farmers
Ram Prakash said that farmers should stop depending on chemicals and step forward towards organic farming. Those who don't believe in organic can contact him. He requested us to publish his contact details so interested persons can contact him. He is prepared to guide farmers for first time shift from chemicals to organic, free of cost. We must go organic to purify water, purify air and purify our crops. We are all suffering from COVID at the moment, this disease may intensify or other diseases may arise, if the young generations don't make the right decisions. He says go organic, save mother earth, is their motto. His purpose is to make the farmers affluent and he repeats "less investment more income" for farmers. Click here to see the video.