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Maharashtra rice farmer in Forbes’ list
Farmer named by Forbes is landless today
Forbes releases list of 7 most powerful rural Indians
Farmer named by Forbes is landless today
MSN NEWS
Landless rice farmer in Forbes’ list
Nanded: A rice farmer from Nanded village in Maharashtra became celebrity as the ‘Forbes’ magazine named him in the Most Powerful Rural Indians list for his innovation in rice production.
Dadaji Khobragade, changed paddy farming by developing a highly successful variety of paddy, named HMT rice, which gives 80 percent more yield than conventional varieties. The HMT rice is sold at around Rs 3,200 per quintal.
Khobragade said he named the rice after his wristwatch”s brand, Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT). Presently, Khobragade is landless because due to sudden financial crisis he sold his three-acre farmland. Khobragade said he is happy that ‘Forbes’ had recognized his efforts.
“I am really happy being named in the magazine and whatever happened with me, I got nothing with this, still. Neither did I ask anybody before, nor would I in future. Whatever I have is fine with me,” said Khobragade.
“Many people are earning good profits and luxuries due to my work. They are travelling in big cars and staying in big buildings, and I am still walking due to lack of money. This is my condition and I have to think about it,” he added.
“It was essential to quote a name to my invention, so nothing clicked in my mind apart from the brand name of my watch, so I named it HMT,” said Khobragade.
Source: ANI
TIMES OF INDIA
Farmer named by Forbes is landless today
Read more: Farmer named by Forbes is landless today – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Farmer-named-by-Forbes-is-landless-today/articleshow/6933299.cms#ixzz16huU0qaW
Dadaji Khobragade has made it to a Forbes’ list. The magazine recently named him as one of the seven most powerful rural Indian entrepreneurs, whose “inventions are changing lives” of people across the country. For good reason too: Khobragade revolutionised paddy farming by developing the highly successful variety of paddy — HMT rice — that gives 80% more yield than conventional varieties and has become a household name.
But Khobragade is hardly your run-of-the-mill Forbes’ millionaire. He is a landless labourer fighting poverty in the remote Nanded (Fakir) village in Nagbhid tehsil. Seventy and struggling, he can barely make ends meet.
The irony couldn’t be more acute: Although the variety invented by him is cultivated over lakhs of hectares across the country, Khobragade doesn’t even have an inch of land in his own name. HMT rice is sold at around Rs 3200 a quintal, but Khobragade had to sell his three-acre land because he didn’t have money to fund his son’s hospitalisation. Khobragade has a rack full of awards but his grandson could not pursue his polytechnic course because the family couldn’t afford the modest fees.
Khobragade is barely literate but was always gifted when it came to farming. Despite no formal education in agriculture – he has studied only until Class III – Khobragade began experimental breeding of a new variety of rice. After years of trial and error, his variety gave him a much higher yield compared to that of conventional one. In 1989, the yield with the newly developed variety was so astounding that, the demand for his variety skyrocketed in no time.
“I began my experiments with the conventional ‘Patel 3’ variety of rice. After five years of continuous study and research, I succeeded in developing the one that is now known as HMT rice,” Khobragade said, evidently recalling the story with mechanical ease.
However, the name of the variety — HMT – happened quite by accident. While people took their bumper paddy harvest from the seeds given by Khobragade for sale in the APMC market yard, the authorities asked for the name of the variety.
One of Khobragade’s companions suggested the name of HMT, the brand of wrist watch he was wearing at the time, and the farmer innocently accepted it. The demand for HMT variety skyrocketed. In 1997, Khobragade alleged that the Panjabrao Krishi Vidyapeeth (PKV) was commercialising his variety and had started selling it with the name of PKV HMT rice. The agriculture university had claimed that it had ‘purified’ Khobragade’s variety.
Nevertheless, Khobragade got several awards, including the Rastrapati award, state government’s Krishi Bhushan award and the award given by National Innovative Foundation for his contribution in the field of agriculture.
However, despite the fame and awards, Khobragade’s financial condition continued to deteriorate. He lives an impoverished life with his wife, son, daughterin-law and three grandsons with his small earnings.
“I had to sell my land for the treatment of my son. The small and only help came from the father-in-law of my son, who bought 1.5 acres of land in the name of his daughter. At present, I carry out my research work in this small piece of land owned by my daughter-in-law,” Khobragade said.
Khobragade had asked 10 acres of land on lease from the district administration and had forwarded application in 2008, but he says nothing has come of it so far.
He said he had come to know about the Forbes’ list only through scribes.”I’m happy that my efforts have been recognised,” he said. Tehsil agriculture officer, Nagbhid, DV Wahane said,”His request for 10 acres of land on lease has been approved. But the allotment is withheld due some procedural reasons. I would soon take up the issue with the tehsildar” said Wahane.
Khobragade hopes that this promise isn’t hollow. But he has every reason to be skeptical of the government’s intentions: the gold medal he had received as part of the Krishi Bhushan award had turned out to be made of silver.
Readers’ opinions (13)
17 Nov, 2010 09:01 AM
as i specified above plz provide me his contact no. and bank a/c no. and also address if possible….
16 Nov, 2010 07:40 PM
Dear Friends … what a shame !!!!!! The brain behind HMT rice is living in pathetic conditions. Its been 27 years that he developed this variety . This man of 72 today, is cheated time and again by system of the country … formal and informal both. what would have been his contribution to indian agricuklture had he been provided with minimum research facilities some 27 years back !!!!! what a waste ? There are many such unsung heroes like Dadaji. Friends , if you know some agencies who would like to donate for such cause then lets come forward and help Dadaji. My group would contribute 10000. my contact no is 09881474243. Mail me: pashyapt@gmail.com. My idea is to generate institutional support for him. Lets rope in responsible agencies for such work (as there are many Govt as well as Pvt. NGO s or research organisations) so that support to dadaji can be made sustainable.
Read more: Farmer named by Forbes is landless today – The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Farmer-named-by-Forbes-is-landless-today/articleshow/6933299.cms#ixzz16huMimgh
ECONOMIC TIMES
Forbes releases list of 7 most powerful rural Indians
“India’s villages have become a hot bed of innovation, as its rural poor develop inventions out of necessity. Several of the people on this list have no more than an elementary school education,” Gupta says.
Jagani developed a motorcycle-based tractor for India’s poor farmers, which is both cost effective – costing roughly USD 318, and fuel efficient (it can plow an acre of land in 30 minutes with two liters of fuel).
A farmer, Patel invented a cotton stripping machine that has significantly cut the cost of cotton farming and revolutionised India’s cotton industry.
Prajapati, a potter, invented a clay non-stick pan that costs Rs 100 and a clay refrigerator that runs without electricity for those who cannot afford a fridge or their electricity and maintenance costs, Gupta said.
Next on the list is Future Group Chairman Kishore Biyani . Called the “Sam Walton of India ,” Biyani’s company operates about three million square feet of retail space in 25 Indian cities.
Coming in next is social entrepreneur Anshu Gupta who founded GOONJ, a system that transfers used clothing and household goods from India’s rich to its poorest communities.
Gupta collects 30 tonnes of cloth every month and distributes it across 20 states. “He has an amazing reach, a simple network and excellent supply chain management,” Gupta said, adding Troikka Pharmaceuticals MD Ketan Patel is “India’s pain-killer.”
Patel’s business focuses on developing painless solutions for medical procedures. He developed the world’s first painless iclofenac injection, which helps alleviate acute pain and inflammation.
Also on Gupta’s list is Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade, who invented the HMT rice, a highly successful rice variety which yielded 80 per cent more rice than the conventional variety. HMT is now grown all over India, on some 100,000 acres in five states.
Madanlal Kumawat, a grassroots innovator with no more than a fourth-grade education, developed a fuel-efficient, multi-crop thresher that yields cleaner grains, which can be bagged directly and eliminates the cost of cleaning.
Gupta said his last pick Chintakindi Mallesham, inventor of the Laxmi Asu Machine, “ignited a revolution in India’s weaving community.”
Mallesham’s machine can make six saris worth of material in one day, and “no human effort is required beyond placing thread on the machine and removing the material after the process is complete.” PTI
Dadaji Khobragade Foundation 