THOFA plans to promote 100 start-ups in agri business: Dr C K Ashok Kumar

• THOFA is hosting Agri Startups Conclave on Dec 31 (Cuddalore) and Jan 8, 9 (Thiruvannamalai)

Chennai, Dec 27: Emphasising the need to promote organic farming at all levels of agricultural practices, Dr C K Ashok Kumar, Founder, First World Community, has given a call for an integrated approach to help create an entrepreneurial economy for the good of all stakeholders in the realm of agriculture.

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Speaking at the pre-launch of Thondai Mandala Organic Farmers Association (THOFA-2022) here on Monday, he said the three verticals of farming involved agriculture, healthcare and proper education to make use of the modern technology in all possible manner.

Agriculture is the largest employer in India and is also a pre-dominant sector of the nation's economy with an annual output of $ 390 billion. Farmers,however, need the latest technologies, global best practices, market connect, value chain in farming and industry partnerships to take agriculture to the next level, he noted.

Here comes the need for THOFA that works to provide farmers the best of  successful agribusiness models, fostering partnerships and connecting them with policies, government schemes, technologies and markets. He said the people in the IT sector can also enter the field of agriculture and become agripreneurs as THOFA has plans to promote 100 start-ups in agri business with the help of academic bodies like the VIT, IIT and TNAU.

In recent years, a large number of startups have been launched in India, and they are looking for new ideas, inspirations and support to scale to newer heights. In this context, THOFA is hosting Agri Startups Conclave, as part of Tiruvannamalai 2022, with the aim to bring all the startups in food and agri space on a single platform for sharing of success stories and exploring business linkages, synergies, connects and partnership opportunities.

Dr C K Ashok Kumar, Founder, First World Community

Stating that the first known culture in the world is agriculture, Dr Ashok Kumar said the modern farm techniques have the support system of the digital revolution that is sweeping across the country of late. He mooted the idea of collective and collaborative farming and franchisee retail model followed in the marketing of agri products.

He said that Thondaimandalam comprised 12 districts, including Cuddalore, Vellore, Dharmapuri and Tiruvallur. He also raised the question whether organic farming can meet the demands of the growing population of the country in the wake of chemical farming practised everywhere.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Ismail, Indian Soil Biologist and Ecologist

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Ismail, an Indian soil biologist and ecologist, who unveiled the logo of THOFA, said agriculture awaits the evergreen revolution instead of just green revolution for the sake of it. Calling to adopt natural farming, he said it can usher in a healthy society with the food habits based on vegetables and cereals, mostly millets. Dr Sultan believes in vermitech technology which is used to recycle organic garbage into valuable fertilizer using local variety of earthworms and is also applied in soil bioremediation.

C K Kumaravel, CEO, Naturals Salon & Spa

C K Kumaravel, CEO, Naturals Salon & Spa, said that India has now become a food and milk surplus country thanks to the green and white revolution started by Dr M S Swaminathan, world famous agricultural scientist and Dr Verghese Kurien, founder of Amul and the promoter of Anand pattern in Gujarat, respectively. He wanted to follow the best marketing strategy to sell the agri products with a strong focus on helping the farmers to get the money for their hard work in the field.

Many speakers with their long experience in the field of agriculture shared their views on the way forward for farmers with a pointed reference to build a strong rural economy, all with a support system from THOFA.

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