Biotechnology for Agriculture

In our efforts to find suitable answers for solving the problems of fertility management, pest management and some other soil and water related issues, we had identified the need to understand the natural process better. This enabled us to look at natural science applications in the over all Biotechnology domain. This made us to set up a modest biotech lab of our own, in which we carried out the basic research work, but once again field testing was always done at the farmer's field only.

The most significant breakthrough by way of VERMI CULTURE, the basic process, the enrichment of vermi culture, the PROBIOTIC approach for pest management based on plant extracts and SCIENTIFIC WASTE MANGEMENT has all been the result of this initiative.

Subsequently this lab was upgraded and bifurcated in to two sections. One section continued with the original agenda, but another section was created and dedicated to QUALITY MANGEMENT of organic food items. Every product offered by Morarka passes through one of the most rigorous quality control procedures carried out by this lab.

Both the labs have sufficient qualified and trained HR. In addition to many full time staff members, at any point of time we also have over 20 Students Trainee from Biotechnology Courses being run by leading educational institutions in Jaipur.

Storage, Processing & Value Addition

Appropriate technologies confirming to the organic standards for storage, processing and value addition has been the biggest challenge, in the journey so far. First due to non availability of any ready made solutions, second because of lack of investments by public sector agencies in India in this field. For every small activity that needs to be taken up in this field has almost been developed by Morarka through its own R & D efforts.

Non use of chemical fumigants during storage was the first issue addressed by Morarka. First a simple air tight container manufacturing method was developed. Both metal bins as well as masonry based wall units to store 3 to 30 quintal grains was introduced for storage at farm level. This technology has now been in use since last over 10 years by over 10,000 farmers in Shekhawati area alone.

Subsequently for large scale storage of food products Co2 fumigation technology has also been developed by Morarka, also completely through in house efforts and Morarka is the third company in the world to have mastered this technology.

Similarly for every processing activity for almost every crop Morarka has been necessitated to find suitable solutions by way of equipments and processes, either through modifications of existing and or developing some thing completely new. Dehydration of food products using solar vapor squeeze technology has also been one such achievement.

In a short period of last three years alone more then 30 different processes and equipments have already been developed by us so far and for more then 20 currently the work is under progress.

Information Technology Applications

Agriculture being life sustaining activity for very large number of farmers, it has all the complexities associated with the management of this large volume, both in terms of their numbers, that too spread over very large areas as well as in terms of the number of activities being carried out by them. In the first place when we were focused on organic cultivation technology development, we were required to maintain data for performance evaluation of field testing and trials. This was possible due to extensive use of modern information technology (IT) tools, but all through readymade soft ware applications. But subsequently when we wanted them to be enrolled for organic certification, it became a nightmare to maintain such a vast data through normal software applications.

After looking around the world for finding suitable tools, we realized that the right solutions will have to be developed through in house efforts only.
With the result a full fledged team of IT professionals was put in place. In just one year this team developed a software solution for maintaining the farm records of thousands of farmers, that too as per the acceptable norms of international certification agencies. This also enabled introduction of group certification norms for organic farmers. This also became another first any where in the world, with the highest levels of credibility and security in organic agriculture certification process.

Over the years this IT tool has been up graded, facilitating the quality management & procurement operations. Today this IT tool is being used by many other organizations at a very nominal fee.

The conversion of farm records in to data was done by Data entry operators in Cities, but since last one year a novel initiative has been launched to train village women to perform this job.

Today with IT tools being used by Morarka even the complete traceability records are also available for the products handled by us.

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Procurement, Storage, Processing & Value Addition

From the time we have started to procure directly from the organic farmers, we have been continuously building capacities for efficient management of these operations. Since we have been following the philosophy of entrepreneurial involvement, almost 90 percent of our present infrastructure in this domain is owned and managed by them.

In all the project areas, the facilities for aggregation of procured materials from very small farmers are run by local entrepreneurs. The field staff trains and assist them to set up the facilities like space, weighing measures, packing, batch number labeling etc on cost reimbursement basis. Even the local transport from farm fields to central godown is handled by them.

For the present scale of operations, we have Storage facilities in Jaipur to maintain an over all stock of about 2000 MT, once again outsourced to entrepreneurs. Majority of the material is kept in cold storage. Some materials are kept in regular godowns as well. With the expansion of business operations, facilities are being created in many project areas also.

Processing & Value Addition operations have been broadly divided in to two categories. For many products such as cereals like Wheat & Rice, pulses like de shelling, we have reached sizable scale of operations this has enabled us to establish tie ups with the out source service providers. Many products require very specialized equipments such as frozen foods, Ready to Eat, tin Packs for Dals& Beans etc, since our size is still not enough, we have established tie ups with others. For a very large majority of items dealt by us and for all the items dealt by us, the final quality control and packaging is done by us in our own in house facilities. Beginning with about 5000 Square Feet, in just one year this has expanded to 35,000 Square Feet.

Marketing, Distribution & Retail Infrastructure

Morarka currently sale in bulk as well as in retail packs. All bulk pack deliveries are done directly from Jaipur. For retail sales, it is currently being done through Jaipur, Mumbai & Delhi. From these depots, the stocks are transferred for distribution to our own stores, modern retail as well as to the dealers.

With increasing business in home delivery as well as in modern retail segments, few more locations are being identified to set up new depot operations.

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