From Green Revolution to Green Commerce

From launching of the brand AAU Select to an in campus ecotourism venture, Vice chancellor of Assam Agricultural University Dr Bidyut Chandan Deka is leaving no stone unturned to take the University from Research and Academics to a sustainable enterprise which will generate Rs 100 crore revenue by 2025-26.

Brimming with ideas, Dr Deka is pushing the envelope to ensure that the University scales up in all spheres to become one among the top five agriculture universities in the country in the next few years. Excerpts from an interview:

Please tell us about your childhood, family and educational background

I was born on September 1, 1964atBar Simoluguri, a remote village of Barama area in Baksa districtthen part of Kamrup district, about 25 kms away from Bhutan border,in a farmer’s family. We were eight siblings and while my three elder sisters were married off at an early age, the rest of us were educated and were absorbed into different jobs, mostly teaching. After primary education in a village schoolthe Bar SimoluguriMojoliaVidyalaya, I took admission in a venture school three kms away from my house. I passed Matriculation from the Venture school in 1981 after a loss of one year due to the six year Assam Agitation. I was the first person from our village to secure a first division from the school. Earlier I had also won a Britti scholarship in class VII, also a first in my village, from among a huge number of students who had applied from the district which was then undivided Kamrup district, There were only seven districts in the state then. I passedpredegree in first division fromBajali College in 1983 first division and then took admission in the College of Agriculture under Assam Agricultural University Jorhat, the classes of which started in 1984. That year the University also hosted the first AASU convention. I completed BSC Agriculture in 1988 and then masters in 1990.

At that time the then VC of AAU had begun a scheme to retain the top two students in the University by giving them posts of teaching assistants or research assistants. I had jointly topped with Pradip Mahanta with a 4 out of 4 CGPA in the Horticulture department, which was about 90 per cent. I was retained in 1990 first as teaching assistant and then as research associate.

I returned to the University in 2000 and managed to procure two projects launched under the National Agricultural Technology Project in competitive mode. For both the projects, we --Ananta Saikia, who was there with me, got about Rs 55 lakh which was a huge amount then. We set up a post-harvest lab which was praised by my IARI guide Dr RK Pal (now retired as Director of Pomegranate Research Institute) as being better than his lab in Delhi. In fact all those who visited the lab praised it as the best post- harvest lab in the country. In the early 2000s the University was going through a financial crisis which became acute in 2005. In 2006 I decided to join Indian Council of Agricultural Research when I saw funds for projects being diverted to pay salary of the teachers and staff and we were not able to buy equipment and other research materials. I joined ICAR Research Complex, Shillong as Principal Scientist in 2007 and was also given charge of Horticulture division, At that time Dr KM Bujarbaruahwas the director of the Complex but he left soon after as DDG, ICAR, Delhi. In 2011 I joined the ICAR Research Complex, Jarnapani near Dimapur Nagaland. After that I came back to Shillong as Director of the Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute where we had to set up, monitor and funding of KVK – mostly extension work. My big achievement was opening 13 new KVKs in the north east, no mean achievement as it is very difficult to build institutes. In 2020 I joined as Vice Chancellor of Assam Agricultural University.

You have announced that the University will be able to generate Rs 100 crore revenue by 2025-26. As VC what are your plans in this regard?

Almost all the 17 plans that I had laid down when I appeared for interview for vice chancellor have gotten off to a start. Research and Extension is our mandate but we also need to produce graduates as per the need of the society.

In this regard we have segregated students as per their interests and those whoshowed an acumen for enterprise are being groomed for the same in our incubation centre every Friday after classes from September. The segregation of students was done based on a psychometric test of 300 students of the College of Agriculture, College of Community Science and College of Sericulture under AAU here. When the students go up from first year to second year that is the time to identify their interests and groom them for what they would be able to do best in future.

Based on the psychometric test sixty students were interviewed out of which forty students were short listed to be coached for entrepreneurship. When they go from second to third year 20 will be eliminated and 10 more will be eliminated in the third year leaving only 10 to be groomed till they graduate. These 10 students will have to take up an enterprise.This will be implemented in all the colleges under the University across the state from next year.

As for mentoring, 50 teachers have been trained at Ahmedabad’s Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, a world renowned facility, and another 25 will go for training on March 22. My vision is that the mentor teachers should collaborate with the students to form start ups and the University will then take equity from them.

In this way the University can earn revenue and the blue print of this project will be implemented in all the nine colleges under the University from next year.

Secondly the University produces a lot of things – tea, oil, fish, dairy products, fruits and vegetables but does not sell anything. We have created and launched a brand called AAU SELECT (Service for Energising and Leveraging for Economically Competitive Takeup). under which we will sell everything including gamosas. AAU itself needs 4300 gamosas across its 43 units spread across the state per year for various functions and the University has set a target to supply at least 5000 gamosas to the market before Bohag Bihu festivities in April when there is a huge demand for it.This initiative would enable economic empowerment of the weavers and economic uplift of the state. Marketing of the gamosa would be done through the newly developed AAU SELECT brand.In fact, the University has alsostarted the process of marketing the products of the University under SELECT brand to compete with the present market scenario. The process for registration of the brand, has been approved by the Board of Management, the highest decision making body of the University and is underway. About 25 to 30 products of the University like Labanya purple rice, tea, eggs, biscuits, cakes have been started to be sold under the SELECT brand. This current financial year Rs 25 crore is estimated to be earned by the University. The University has created a corpus fund of Rs 5 crore and will start marketing from now on. For example we have created a group of young teachers of the Community Science College and given them a revolving fund of Rs 10 lakh. There is a bakery unit in the College which they will use along with their students to create different bakery items and sell them at a kiosk in front of the canteen. In fact this has already got off to a start. Students and teachers will run this kiosk.

Again the Agricultural Engineering department had a rice mill and an oil mill lying defunct. We gave them Rs 10 lakh to revive the machinery and now they are selling oil, rice and turmeric powder made in these mills. These are some of the revenue earning models. Out of the profit 60 per cent will go to the University exchequer, 40 per cent will be ploughed back into the business andfrom the fourth year onwards they will pay back the capital at the rate of 20 per cent or Rs 2 lakh per year. When the business runs properly then probably incentives can be given to the teachers.

We have also started an online exam centre of 150 capacity on top of our central libraryand we can hold any exam and earn revenue by holding online exams outsourced to us.

Another project is an eco tourism, one for which ICAR has funded Rs 2,5 crore. In this project we will develop the waterway and a few water bodies inside the university. A walking zone of Rs 2.5 kms will be created, there will be an angling facility and in one part near the tea garden there will be a boating facility. In another pond fishes will be kept in cages so that they do not go out with the flow of the water. Along the walkway different plants will be planted. Anybody can come in for some recreation. We have also renovated one of the two bungalows inside the tea garden and will open up both as tea resorts. It will be a complete package from which we hope to earn a lot of revenue.

As regards earning from technology we have sold six technologies this year four of Khanapara Veterinary Science College andLabanyapurple rice and xaaz of Jorhat. We got a licence fee of Rs 25 to 30 lakh and 2.5 per cent as royalty from the companies

Another Biofertiliser and biopesticide facility is being set up at Biswanath college. The contract has been given to a person who will do the five years marketing and pay 40 per cent from the revenue to the University.

What is the University doing for farmers and in the field of research?

We have started an ambitious Integrated Farming System for farmers across Assam with small land holdings, so that they can increase their income manifold. Moreover, the state has a target of10000 farmer producers’ company and the University has formed 100 with each having about 200 to 500 farmers. These companies have been formed with the aim to transform the rural economy and are under our patronage.

To promote research of the highest order we are now going for research which will solve farmers’ problems. We are promoting young researchers and have made the field highly competitive. Those who were given the projects would get about Rs 25-30 lakh for three years.

It is said that the agriculture growth story is poor. What is your opinion about this?

If we talk about only the raw material growth then it is pegged at about 3,5 per cent. But we have to look at it in totality that is both the food processing industries based on agri materials and the exports.

Out of the 400 billion dollar exports last year agriculture accounted for 50 billion dollars -- that is 12.5 per cent comes from agriculture. This year it is going to be about 60 billion dollar Agriculture growth should be seen in these terms. In 1947 we had 140 million hectare cultivable land and produced 50 million tonnes foodgrains. Now it is 330 million, six times increase but the population has not grown six times. I would say that agriculture growth has been unparalleled.

What other new ventures is the University planning?

The University is planning to earn money through Carbon finance. We have signed a MoU with Teri and recently formed a committee to carry the Carbon credit movement forward. Those who have plants to absorb CO2 produced by polluting industries can earn Rs 400 for one unit tonne of carbon. Those who have lots of plants they can make money without investing anything.

What awards have you received and what would you say are your major personal achievements?

As Joint Director of ICAR Research Complex at Dimapur from 2011 to 2016 was my most fruitful period in terms of recognition. In 2014 I got the DN Barthakur (founder director of ICAR) Award, a regional award and in 2015 the Dr Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award for farming system research in tribal areas.

While I was working in the University also I had got two awards KU Patel Memorial award in 2002 and the JS Puthi Memorial award. Both these awards were given by the All India Food Processors Association. The Association takes out a journal and two of my papers were selected as BestPapers in 2002 and 2006 respectively. Again in AAU I had guided an MSc student on low cost storage structure which was semi underground and a paper published with me as co-author along with two others got the Best Paper award in the Journal of Food Science and Technology in 2008.

I was the first qualified PhD holder in post harvesting technology in the University and after returning had worked in the field of packaging of fresh fruits. A pineapple packaging method in 2005 or 2006, was bought by NERAMAC andwas probably the first technology to be sold by AAU. In 2013 I was made a Fellow of Indian Academy of Horticultural Sciences and I was the first from North East to get this recognitionfor my research achievements upto 2013. Since 2013 I have been in management positions.

In 2019 I was made a Fellow of Indian Association of Hill Agriculture and last month I was awarded the Horticulture Leadership Award by the National Horticulture and Research Development Foundation,

I also have more than 150 research publications, authored six books, more than 25 popular articles and more than 30 chapters in books.