Making farms digital
Dr. Goenka believes there is a lot that is going to happen beyond what a tractor does or in terms of equipment. Just to give an example, drones could be used to survey fields.

"The question is how do you put everything together through digital means. So we have a tremendous focus right now on how do you bring digital into agriculture. One small thing that we have started recently is the launch of TRRINGO in Maharashtra," he says.

TRRINGO is a unique first-of-its-kind physical digital model which allows farmers to rent tractors and other mechanised farm equipment for completing their farming work without actually having to buy a tractor.

Indian farmers face a big problem of wastage with regards to the quality of harvesting equipment. So Mahindra is working on new harvesters. "In fact, we have acquired a company in Finland called Sampo Rosenlew to bring in latest harvester technology to India.

"It's going to take some time but it will surely come. Similarly, with our tractors, we are looking at improving the lifting capacities, improving the hydraulics, improving the cutting capacities, improving the levelling of fields and so on. A lot has happened on these fronts outside India and we are looking at bringing these technologies here either through in-house development or through partnerships. As a leader in tractors in India, it is our responsibility to farmers to give them access to the latest technology at an affordable price."  

Changing the agri 'culture'
Does it also mean that there will be a change in the way Mahindra approaches it farmers? "Not really. The reason we are in this business is not just to add value to our share holders but also to create value for farmers.

"The whole Mahindra Rise philosophy is aimed towards that. Its objective is to ensure that the association with Mahindra should help farmers become prosperous. And this prosperity has many elements.

"If you look at the last budget resolve of doubling farmers' income in five years, it has many buckets where we have to work on. There are five big ticket items that would help in achieving that goal. And Mahindra is participating in each one of these either in a small but meaningful way in some cases or in large and significant way in others.

According to Dr. Goenka, the biggest change that will happen in the next five years is custom hiring. Today, 80 percent farmers do not have access to tractors even after so many years of ‘Green Revolution'. "So custom hiring will be very big and we are participating in this with TRRINGO. The objective is to make hiring a tractor as convenient for a farmer as it is for us to hail a cab through Ola or Uber," he shares. 

Secondly, we need to look at aggregation of farms. "One of the problems in India is that farms are very small. Therefore, bringing new technology becomes a little harder on smaller farms. Of course, farm aggregation is a policy related issue. We are not actually aggregating farms but creating a cluster of farmers. For example, we have created a cluster of grape farmers in Nashik, which is already helping them to get better yield and better quality. We are also starting banana cultivation where our objective is to bring farmers together to help them get better crops."

For the complete story, go to the November edition of The Machinist

http://www.themachinist.in/latest_issue/worldwidemedia/2016-Nov