CHANDIGARH: As strange as it may sound, the island nation of Madagascar, located off Africas southeast coast, is drawing farmer-entrepreneurs in large numbers from Indias breadbasket, Punjab and Haryana. No. They arent the rich ones buying up luxury villas in exotic locales. They are the aspiring ones who expect to hit pay dirt as authorities in the former French colony lease out land for 50 or more years at prices as low as $15 (nearly `690) per acre a year for skilled farmers from abroad. Over the past few years, these new migrants from the cradle of Indias first Green Revolution have grown maize, pulses and peanuts, and are looking to try new crop varieties there. While Madagascar, which opened up its economy recently, is hard-selling itself to attract overseas funds and skills across sectors with sops, entrepreneurs such as Gurcharan Singh, 57, from Zirakpur in Punjab see themselves as huge beneficiaries of this give-and-take measure. For me it is like a dream come true, says the former army officer. Two years ago, he leased 500 acres at Diego-Suarez, 300 km from Madagascars capital city, Antananarivo. I will be paying $15 per acre a year for the next 50 years. In India, I could never imagine having so much land for that price, says Singh, who has sown maize and peanuts in his farm. The rent for cultivable land in Punjab ranges between $400 and $1,000 per acre a year. Like Gurcharan Singh, 61-year-old Ajit Singh Mondair from Hoshiarpur also became enamoured of Madagascar on a tour he made a few years ago to survey farm lands. Mondair, who had just retired from the Indian Air Force then, immediately leased 500 acres. I was in Madagascar for 15 days and found the country quite peaceful. Then I purchased land some 300 km away from the capital city. This country has some of the best beaches. I believe the deal was good. I have sown maize here, says Mondair. You could hear similar love-at-first-sight stories, primarily thanks to the lollies doled out by President Andry Rajoelinas government, from farmer-entrepreneurs such as Phool Singh Saini from Derabassi, Harman Singh Dhaliwal from Ludhiana and Surjit Singh from Fatehabad, who are all long-term tenants of large chunks of land in Madagascar. Agriculture accounts for 30% of the GDP and employs about 75% of the work force in Madagascar. History of Farmer Migration Sure, the region comprising Punjab and Haryana isnt new to migration of farmers as well as other skilled and unskilled workers. Punjabs farmers began migrating to greener pastures as early as the 1850s. Later in 1901, a major exodus of farmers took place, mainly from Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar, to barren lands near Lahore, now in Pakistan, where the ruling British government of the time established canal colonies.Says M Rajivlochan, Professor of history, Panjab University: These colonies got large barren lands under canal irrigation. Otherwise, Punjabis were largely traders or warriors, but not farmers. It was in 1901 Punjabi farmers largely realised the agriculture potential lying in faraway lands. And by the 1950s, farmers started migrating to the US and Canada. He, however, says migration among farmers to overseas shores in other states such as Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar started much earlier, in the 16th century, during the time of Mughal emperor Akbar. Interestingly, in this latest phase of migration from the Punjab-Haryana belt, though Madagascar is the hot destination, farmers are trundling to other African countries as well, including Kenya, Ghana, Namibia and Ethiopia, all looking for the right farming skills and modern practices to boost agricultural output to combat abject poverty in parts of the continent. The Great African Market Place Corporates are increasingly looking to make the most in Africa as governments scour for highly skilled talent, especially in the continents vast farm land, to modernise and progress. Several companies, many of them Indian, are eyeing a share of the industry pie and have set up shop in Madagascar and neighbouring countries. Incidentally, even reputed economists such as Nouriel Roubini have suggested that fund managers choose the less-crowded African market where business opportunities and potential are on the rise. As luck would have it, in the past few months alone, as many as 10 Indian firms, including Varun Global Agriculture in agriculture, Essar Group in oil and gas, Jindal Industries in limestone, Bharti Airtel in telecommunications and Varun International in petroleum and gold mining, have established presence in this small country in the Indian Ocean which has 55 airports and 15 seaports. Also, companies such as Parle Agro and Ruchi Infrastructure are in talks with the Madagascar Investment Promotion Board to strike deals. SS Johl, former president of the Indian Society of Agriculture Economics and former vice-chancellor at Punjabi University, Patiala, feels that countries such as Madagascar and others could be effective grain-production pockets for Indian farmers who can lease hundreds of acres at nominal prices. At Home, Shift in Priority Clearly, with farming in Punjab and Haryana steadily becoming expensive due to a series of factors — high land prices, fall in agriculture land holdings, shortage of labourers and high cost for migrant labourers — farmer-entrepreneurs are being forced to tap into newer markets. With the success of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in both states, farmers have to depend on labourers from states such as Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the sowing and harvest seasons. We had to woo them with all sorts of offers, ranging from mobile phones, TVs and liquor. Even their wages have risen manifold, says Lohara Singh, a farmer from Banur in Punjab. More importantly, there is a growing tendency on the part of state governments, especially in Punjab, to focus aggressively on industrialisation. According to a letter sent recently by the state government to the centre, Punjabs water table has gone down by an average of 10m between 1999 and 2009. The ground water level, which stood at 12.80m in 1999, has dipped to 29.14m and in certain cases it has even touched as low as 30m, especially in central Punjab, the letter says. Much to farmers anguish, the ownership holding of agriculture land is on the slide in Punjab. Says Johl: At present the figure is less than 3% (of the total land holding in the state). A reverse trend has started: smaller farmers who no longer find farming lucrative enough are renting out (land) to larger farmers. Worse, agriculture land once converted for industrial use can never be used for farming purposes again, he warns. Roads to Virgin Wilderness Without doubt, Gurcharan Singh is happy being in Madagascar. Already many farmers have started growing pulses and I have started exports from Madagascar. Organic farming can be a good business in the near future here. Besides tourism, animal husbandry can be another major business activity, he says, hopeful of the expanding possibilities in his new turf. Entrepreneurs from other segments in the state are excited, too. The country (Madagascar) has just woken up to globalisation and it will need every sort of supporting infrastructure: right from schools, colleges, organic farming, breweries, cement companies, brick kilns, etc. I am contemplating opening an education venture there, though it is too early to talk on that. But we are quite serious as people there so far either spoke in Madagascar or French, now they have started realising the need for English, says Sharad Kamra, Director of IICE, a Chandigarh-based computer education institute. RP Singh, Director-General, Madagascar Investment Promotion Board, says the country is chasing foreign investment in a lot of sectors other than agriculture. Investment is also open in sectors such as light manufacturing, infrastructure, pharmaceuticals, education, hotels and resorts. Mining is also a popular investment sector as there are huge reserves of oil, gas, petroleum, uranium, gold, diamonds and sapphires here, Singh said. Clearly, there is high hope. And it seems, for the qualified outsider, there is an island of opportunity out there!
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 06:32:25 +0000
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