Haunted by controversies back home Norway based fertilizer cooperative Yara International vows to change lives of Indian farmers. A press release issued by the Company reads “With over 50 percent of the Indian population making a living from agriculture, the farmer is integral to India’s socio-economic framework. But Indian agriculture needs a boost.”
The Yara was last time in news in the Indian media when it was accused of bribing an Indian bureaucrat in its bid to set up a fertiliser plant in the country in collaboration with KRIBHCO. The early probe raised doubts on the cooperative leaders of Kribhco who were hard-pressed to deny any role in the deal. Later, however, it turned out that one of the babus of the fertilizer ministry had received the kick-back.
Now the same Yara is active in Maharashtra and promises to lend both quality and quantity to the farm produce. It says the agriculture’s share in the Indian economy has declined to a mere 13.7 percent, and GDP growth could benefit from a the better performance and increased profitability at the farm level.
“In a highly subsidized fertilizer market like India, to sell, it is important to establish the effectiveness of Yara Crop Nutrition by clearly demonstrating, recording and highlighting the difference we are making,” Yara India Country Manager Sanjiv Kanwar explains.
“But three years back, we found knowledge gaps in Maharashtra. Farmers followed imbalanced plant nutrition practices, even in progressive crop segments like grapes and pomegranate. The potential to increase marketable yields, the quality of produce and profitability to the growers was big,” Sanjiv says.
Interestingly, a local website of Norway spills the bean as it says the chairman of the Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara is stepping down just months after police in Norway charged four former executives with corruption and the company agreed to pay Norway’s biggest ever corporate fine.
Bernt Reitan had come under intense criticism from shareholders for his handling of a three-year case over bribes paid to officials in Libya, India and Russia.
However the local team at the Yara India is very confident of capturing the Indian farm market. In the press release it claims it gives them great satisfaction that they are not just doing a job but are actually impacting the lives of thousands of farmers who look to us for advice and quality products. Wherever we make a difference, sales follow automatically.
Are we a banana republic that any company can come and do business without keeping the interest of people at the centre. We should trust only such domestic cooperatives which have proved reliable in the past.