Dr U S Awasthi, IFFCO MD who has recently bagged the Inamdar Award (Laxmanrao Inamdar is held as Narendra Modi’s political Guru) and has sent New Year massages to his friends and followers. Every year he does so, laying the foundation for a bright future and inspiring his team into vigor. “The journey is as important as the destination”, says Awasthi in his short but meaningful communication.
His words follow
Friends,
As we inch closer to the dawn of 2019, it is the appropriate time to reflect on the successes and learnings of the past while setting goals for the future. But as we go about it we must remember that the journey is more important than the end.
One could navigate the waters of the toughest oceans to reach land but the real success of that journey would be more than just setting foot on land, instead it would be those small triumphs that were achieved while navigating the vast unknown of the ocean.
As in the ocean so in life, one should not be afraid of the unknown but embrace it as an opportunity.
We at IFFCO have always believed in this philosophy and have constantly tried to get the best in the world to the Indian farmer, despite the risks involved. Every year we try to get something new to help the farmers and the year 2018 was no different.
In 2018 we put a special thrust on developing and popularising special plant nutrients, plant growth promoters and water-soluble fertilisers amongst Indian farmers. This is just the beginning for us and in the times to come we aim to add highly efficient nano-fertilisers and many specialised fertilisers to our product portfolio. We believe that these specialists’ fertilisers are the need of the hour and will go a long way in reducing agrarian distress in India and would help Indian farmers double their income and get ‘more crop per drop’.
In the past year we took serious steps in improving the efficiency of our production and marketing verticals. I am happy to share that these efforts have started to yield results and I am confident that it will be instrumental in improving efficiencies of these verticals significantly in the year 2019.
I am also happy to share that in the last year IFFCO became the number one cooperative in the world once again (per capita GDP basis by World Cooperative Monitor, 2018). I would dedicate this to every member of the IFFCO family. It is due to their untiring efforts and dedication that this was made possible.
Recognitions like these go a long way in bolstering our confidence. But it should not make us complacent and in no way over-confident. We should not lose sight of our goal of empowering the Indian farmer and improving Indian Agriculture.
Our recent venture in the food-processing space is a step in this direction. We aim to start a pilot project of this venture in Punjab and aim to replicate this model all across the country. After our venture into e-commerce this effort will further help the farmer in getting the best value for their produce.
These ‘solutions’ are just the beginning. In the future we aim to add many such solutions and many frugal innovations to our ‘innovations repository’. With these innovations, which would be a harmonious blend between technology and tradition, we aim to get the best in Agriculture and technology to the Indian farmer. But doing all that with minimum environmental footprint.
I hope all of you will join our vision in helping IFFCO in achieving a greener, cleaner and healthier tomorrow for India and the world.
With this I would wish you and your family a very happy New Year and would thank you all for your continuous support and cooperation.
U.S. Awasthi