A business plan to introduce modern farm equipment and agro-processing facilities among rice farmers in Andhra Pradesh is taking a team from the Great Lakes Institute of Management (GLIM) to the finals of the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC).
Gurava Reddy Maruri and four friends at GLIM came up with a plan to provide backward and forward integration in agriculture in the Muppala Mandal of Guntur district.
“Rice farmers in this area hardly use machinery because landholdings are fragmented and there is no initiative among farmers,” he says.
The business plan was presented by the team at regional round of the GSVC held at the Indian School of Business for the Asia and Africa regions.
Of the 24 teams, the GLIM team has been selected along with two others to represent the region in the global finals at Berkeley between April 22 and April 24.
The plan prepared by the team, called AgriSolutions, looks at an initial investment of Rs.1.5 crore in buying equipment, including a harvester combine and setting up vermin-composting plants, godowns and post-harvest processing units.
