Personality Of The Week

“While the national goal should be food for all, serving the small farmer should be our (researchers) priority,” declares N.M. Ramaswamy, chairman, Prof. NMR Foundation for Research and Development, and former Consultant to FAO.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who is a former Professor Emeritus of Indian Council of Agricultural Research and currently Professor Eminence and Director, Biotechnology Centre, Anna University, Coimbatore, has risen from the faculty of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University. The 69-year-old academician, who hails from an agricultural family, had his post-doctoral research study in biotech at the Plant Research Centre and Carleton University, Ottawa, Canda. His field of specialisation is plant biotechnology, genetics and breeding. Winner of several awards, he worked as a Post-doctoral Research Scientist (Biotech), International Development Research Centre, Canada and served as a Scientific Advisor (Crop Sciences), International Foundation for Science, Sweden.

The Foundation he has started focuses on “empowering small farmers to become rural entrepreneurs who can build productive and profitable partnership with private sector.” Mr. Ramaswamy explains to G. Satyamurty his vision, almost akin to the one that the Mahatma envisaged several decades ago, for achieving this objective. Citing the Declaration on Sciences and the use of Scientific Knowledge adopted at the World Conference on Science held in Budapest in 1999, he says: “Bioscience is at the core of new contract between science and society.”

The Foundation’s mission is to encourage, support technically and undertake activities connected with education, research and development in bio-sciences . It has also plans to work in partnership with other organisations. “India is a rich country with poor people. Agriculture should be made a profitable business.” His charter includes small farmers’ participation in jatropha cultivation and biodiesel production, helping their progeny for education and earn while learning.

The major issues confronting agriculture in India are water, labour and marketing. What is badly needed is the participatory approach of the small farmers. It is imperative to ensure yield increase per drop of water. As several of them are unable to get remunerative price, minimum support price for all crops should be fixed. Mr. Ramaswamy asserts “problems and some solutions are known but are wanting in action.” He is certain that farmers can use vacant, waste and marginally used lands for growing jatropha and benefit from the produce which will add to their income – oils used as biodiesel could provide a poverty alleviation option in the rural areas.

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