 Good afternoon. Welcome to the webinar. Good afternoon sir. Thank you. Thank you so much. And Seeds Moon, the true warriors is the today's webinar. We have, we have very important people in this, in this. We have very good people. We are managing directors of the company. We have vice-tanzlers. We have professors. We have insuredees. We have managers, senior managers with rich experience. So we can, we can make advantage of their presence. And we can have, we can have a very good webinar here. So are you ready for a good webinar? Yes sir. Great. So if you are ready, open your chat box in your chat box. Please make a mention of the yes, the yes. Short book, the yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Very good. Let's get going. Let's get going. So what is the main reason for this webinar? Why we conducted, what is the objective of this webinar is, you know, the current situation is not a normal situation. It is an extraordinary situation, unanticipated, unimaginable situation that we are all going through. There's a lot of uncertainty. There's ambiguity. You know, we are all, instead of confusion. So some seed company people have called me and asked me, so can you do a program for our salespeople, for our seeds people to boost up our morale and to take some confidence. So that's why we thought, you know, the true barriers now we are calling, you know, the hospital workers, the health workers, the policemen, the administrators, and many of them we are calling them the barriers. Actually at the frontline seeds people, now all those people working with the farmers going out and because agriculture is so important. So we thought the seeds people are also the actual true barrier. So we thought we will do this webinar is an objective of to help the frontline barriers of seed industry, gain confidence, think positive and be able to move forward, reach out to the farmers and provide them with a quality seed. This is the objective sir. So what is today's agenda? Today's agenda is we have two experts, extraordinary experts, one with lots of academic background, research experience, administrative experience, agricultural education experience. We have one expert. We have another expert who is a seeds person, seeds man, salesman, right from the career beginning and having years and years of experience with many companies. We are two experts. So first we will take this guidance of these two experts. And then we will move on to the other topics called seed the miracle. These are the topics, farmer, the life, nature, the farmer, the seed man, the true barrier, seed man, and finally positive thoughts. Are you ready? Yes. Yes, great. Thank you very much. Very good. Now we have two experts. I was telling you, sir. Expert is two stalwarts we have today with us. One is Professor Dr. SK Rao. Present is the Vice Chancellor of RBS KBV Gwalya. And we also have Srishtrad Despandiji from Hupli with us. So I would like to take the honor and pleasure of introducing Rao sir before requesting him to come and speak to you. I want to introduce Rao sir. I would like to introduce Rao sir. Rao sir was born in a small village in Polukonda village of Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Rao sir did his B.S.C. from Andhra University, Andhra Pradesh. And after that he did his M.S.C. and P.H.E. from JNKV with Javelpur. In the university where he did his M.S.C. and P.H.E.D. he worked in that university for 36 years. He had given 36 years of his dedicated committed services to JNKV Javelpur. In 1980 he started as a senior research assistant. And from that position he rose to the position of Vice Chancellor, additional in charge. After senior research assistant he became a junior scientist, university professor and head. Later he became Dean of the College of Agricultural. Later he became Director of Farms. He is a big farm. He has thousands of acres of farm. JNKV Javelpur has one of the largest seed production farms in Asia. In Asia no other agricultural university has that much seed production. He became Director of Farms and he managed the seed production. He also had a seed processing plant. He became Vice Chancellor, additional in charge. He also became Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture. Presently Dr. Saab since 2017. From last 3 years he has been working as Vice Chancellor at Rajamata Vijay Radha Sindhya. He has been working as Vice Chancellor in Kuala Lumpur. And what was his seed experience? He had taken a lot of training in seed production in different countries. He went to Germany. He studied management of seed production programs in Germany. How they are in Germany. He did that. He studied food and agri-business management in America. He understood the development of business incubator from NBII USA. He worked with Simit Mexico to develop CRP programs and wheat improvement programs. He also has a wide experience of seed management. He also developed diversified seed production programs. Seed production, seed production, certified seed production, commercial seed production and not only that. In India, farmers are used to look at... Listen to me. Listen to me. Now, Sir, in Jabalpur in JNK, A trade mark established in a seed consortium, a biofactor consortium in JNKVV and he did the hand-holding of 50 business people, supported them, giving them the seed, signing licenses, understanding with them and he guided 30 MSCP students and 10 Ph.D. students and Rao Sahab ko kai saare award mile hain, usme Rafi Ahmad Kiddu award, bahut prestigious award hain, Kailashnath Kajju award, ACR outstanding award, achievers award, several institution awards of CJR, ICR, Government of MP, Mahindran Mahindra, so many awards and Dr. Sahab is also a fellow of National Academy of Agriculture Sciences, our Dr. Sahab is also a fellow of Indian Society of Pulses Research and Development and also a fellow of Indian Society of Genetics of Plant Bidding, what an honor, Dr. Rao Sahab ki DNA mein seed hain, today it is a program for the seed company people, but today we have so many people from the university and Rao Sahab said, what is seed, seed is nothing but agriculture, agriculture is nothing but seed, seed is the most important thing for agriculture, something related to seed, we from agriculture we are interested to know, so any question on people to attend this, Rao Sahab has so much of love, Rao Sahab seed ko, ek cheez desa nahi dekthe hain, Rao Sahab seed ko dekthe hain jeev, ek kanth, ek chota bache ke tarab dekthe hain, he loves the seed, he works with the seed, he understands the seed, wo seed bheech se baak karthe hain, wo he understands the seed, and he is with us today, wo humko bheech ke baare mein, wo humko bheech ke baare mein, humko bata hainge. Mahabhi presentation, Rao Sahab ko dirachata hoon. Okay. Welcome new friends, I am Dr. Shiv Prasad and all the rest of the participants of this webinar, just I am introducing the subject of this webinar by giving some of the important events, what was happened is the total system of the seeds in this country, as you are all aware, that the investment accounts of the seed is very high as compared to the agriculture inputs purchased by the farmers. It has been very well realized in this country as well. The farmer invests any amount of money in the seed, and then he is realizing the highest benefit sort of that, by bha-pa. That is why the seed is more important, and accordingly, the seed similar also related to the seeds, how the seeds are used for interpreting seeds, experts of interpreting towards the development of this country. As you know that a good seed is always used for food consumption, as well as the benefits to the farmers. That is why the seed is more important, that is why we are here, all are here to understand many things about the seed, how to manage the seed and how to reach the purpose of the seed before deploying the concept of the monsoon. And in our country, the seed security means food security. It is true with other countries as well, and we have food in our country, if you look at the roots of the food production in 1950s, where we don't know much about the seed. The seed business started somewhere in 60s, now the seed security means food security. In the agriculture system, what has happened in 1950s, we don't have any established systems in our country. Now our scientists have developed the improved varieties, introduced the varieties from wheat varieties and rice varieties from other countries, and even in the national agriculture system also developed several improved varieties. All these things made a difference due to the improved varieties and the improved seed and improved technology, only these things made a difference in the total food production systems in the country and made the self-reliance in the food production. If you look at the figures, cereals, there has been increase of five times, five times increase in the yield. That is mainly due to the improved seed availability to the farmers along with the technology. If the one seed goes and their technology goes with the seed, you need to have new technology separately to the farmers. If the ones give a seed to the farmers, you will ask, what I have to do with that and what fertilizer I have to apply, how many irrigations and what are the practices I have to add up. Everything, it comes about 150 percent, you will ask and realize the importance of the seed. As for oil seeds are concerned, there has been increase in the six times increase in the production of the oil seeds this century and including pulses. Recently, we had a three years back we had a very huge short pulse of the pulses production. It has gone to 2.75 times increase in the yield in the recent years and similarly, horticultural production has also been covered and what I mean to say is, seed and planting materials can make a difference in increasing the crop efficiency and between the food requirements of all country. And now the problem is coming and there is a stagnation in the yield levels of the crops, especially if you take rice. Globally, a rice crop has been stagnated in terms of the there is no further possibility of much increase in the productivity under those conditions, the rice is the major staple crop that becomes the wheat and rice is the maize. All these three crops put together meet the scientific percentage global food requirements, that is true in our country also. Under those situations, how to meet the food requirement with the stagnate yield levels of this crop is a big challenge for the plant breeders as well as the seed experts. What they are going to do if they can have a good harvest and new technologies for the farmers. And now additional food needs to be generated to meet the requirement of the growing population. At this, what we require is, we are having a very good infrastructure, we have a very good agricultural system covering about the ICR institutions and state agriculture, central agriculture, human universities many more things are there in a very big system. It is one of the biggest system in the world and with huge infrastructure and very good human resources, where in good infrastructure, but the adequate R&D investments are not there, that it is very difficult to come up with any disruptive innovations and very good technologies for the future requirement. Now the governments have to think about the increase in the investments in R&D in agriculture so that we can bring a breakthrough in the productivity of this major crop like rice, wheat and maize. Of course there is some possibility for increasing the maize yields from the primary sector like to have singe and maize and pine year, the pine year is having the world best and maximum the maize and then they are coming up with very good hybrids in the markets and then both are giving the yield levels up to 30 to 40 times more in some states during the R&D season. There is a little possibility of increasing the maize yield levels in this country but there is not much possibility of increasing the yield levels of rice and wheat. Now this country has given the hybrid technologies as you are all aware. One is the cotton, another is the castles. These are the basic crops there where the hybrid technologies have been originated from this country and grown globally. And from Kodram, Bajram and maize has come from US. In this way the hybrid technologies are very much popular in the private sector and in the public sector. Now they have paid the profit of the farms in terms of the economic returns. Now there are several M&C crops in the hybrid technologies also. P&P is one of them and we could not be able to push it and similarly for paddy, there is no much expense in the area of the paddy, hybrid paddy in this country to do one reason and the other. It has not gone like other crops like maize and other crops. The safflower and the mustard and this has to still gain a lot of importance in the farming communities to get this effect out of that. And if you come to the further step, we have published a series of development programs and we had a very big network of the aggregated universities, almost all the universities have been fully equipped with the infrastructure facilities for the seed requirements and production requirements and they are already producing. Siva was asking about why the university people are interested in the seed activities because now a bit scientists in the university are well aware of the importance of the seed and then they are directly or indirectly involved in the seed production program or to the seed house programs or the TVG programs or the research programs of the AISR means every aggregator scientist is associated with the seed program that is why they are registered for this channel also. Now the public sector has given several varieties and habits and by using those varieties and habits the sector has known initially for 2-3 decades. During 20s and 90s, the seed sector has known the use of the public sector varieties for business and as well as the marketing. Now the private sector is also having the R&Ds now and they are having their own professional facilities and their own system of seed supply. Now to liberalize the policies under this new seed policy and the modified new seed policy, they could be able to establish a very big infrastructure for the further strengthening of the seed sector programs and supply programs in this country. Now if you look at the public sector as a whole other than the universities, SSC corporations, seed corporations and the university firms and even the government firms and the former producer organizations and state like mother businesses have a good number of farmers, seed farmers cooperatives and societies and they are the agencies where the seed is being issued to the young farmers in the villages. That is the biggest system in the world I tell you, you don't get any part in the country and as well as the other part of the world is a much stronger system than Lamborghini in France in terms of the seed delivery systems. They take some quantity, one or two contours and then they produce in their villages and then they go for certification of the foundation and certification that they make seed production and they distribute among themselves. That means they are encouraging the local diffusion systems by taking the small quantities in the seed from the every sector organization and then producing the 12 quantities of the certified seed in this way. The seed replacement rates have been increasing tremendously in this country for the last 2-3 decades. If you look at the 30 years back, the seed replacement of the CHICP is about 5 percent and so everything is about 5 percent. Now almost all the crops including crops like wheat, it has gone beyond 30-35 percent of this seed replacement. This is the biggest indication and the contribution of the seed scientists and the seeds of the persons working in the country, this is their contribution where they are able to facilitate the supply of the seeds to the farmers and so that they are able to replace their seeds and take the advantage of the input technologies along with the seeds. And the seed value chain is a very important thing, the seeds sector development. You know many of the companies, many of the companies already they are having the complete value chain but some of the seed companies are having, the Indian companies are also having the total value chain development and some of the companies, some of the players they operate in between the value chain and the output of the 5 stages one may operate for the development of the improved technologies or the improved libraries, it is general project resources and as a breeding centre, private breeding centre, one can establish and develop the varieties and libraries and license it to the different companies in production and marketing. Another thing, one can go for the production level, some of the players can operate at the production level and the third person may operate in the processing level, only the business is processing and then they can give it higher to the companies and then process the seed and custom basis and then some of the persons are involved in the only marketing they just for the ready made produce, target produce and then they take it to the marketing channels and then they compare to the farmers. In this way the supply chain of the seed is very strong and then very big also and those thousands of players are being operated across the country starting from companies to the distributors, dealers, organisers, processors and even the retainers and the champion farmers, farmer production companies, self-help groups, you cannot count them now in India, you don't like anything what I mean to say is everybody is having the space to work somebody wants to do some business in the seed, he has to set the space and then work accordingly to have a deliverable product to the farming community and initially this entire seed sector development is based on the bottom base most of the companies they work, now they are realised after having some of the pitfalls the total management of the programs and the seeds of the existence now to bring the stability in the seed business, the country like ours then nothing is attained, too much of competition, too much of problems and under those situations unless you don't have the diversified products and diversified portfolios for your seeds and all these things it is very difficult to survive in the business sector because you don't know when the monsoon comes if the monsoon is very big and then water seed systems will change if you have planned for the rice, you have to go for bhajra and maize and sorghum like that cropping systems, cropping, planning and everything is going to change depending upon the onset of the monsoon if anybody does a business in this country they can do business in any part of the world in terms of seed business, that is our experience it is a very tough business to get the profits out of the seed business in this country unless they go to the diversified products many of the seed companies they never worked in self quality crops like we nobody has talked about, companies like Shijantara and Pioneer they have all started working now all the major companies are focusing on the good security crops if you are having the control over the good security if the company having the good control over the good security crop seeds they can have control over the good security system in the particular country that is a target but our country is strong enough to have a strong public sector seed system program for the rice and wheat and even the maize also and even so I mean and all the pulses we had a very standard program we are the major producers of pulses pulses and as well as the major consumer also and the major exporter also and major importer also that is the just status in terms of the pulse production and pulse seeds and the government of India has recently established several seed hubs when we had a shortage of pulses in this country for consumption Shijantara rates have gone up to 180 rupees, 200 rupees kilo Shijantara Pidal, now they have been introduced to the seed hubs by the Ministry of Agriculture and all the Shijantara Kedras and the universities have dumped the seeds, certified seeds with the farmers and they were able to produce certain seeds and then distributed the seed witness methods of pulses is very high to the traffic the similar formula they have adopted in case of oil seeds I think it will take 2-3 years more to make the self-sufficient in the oil seeds also in terms of the, the seed is making the difference, in pulses it makes the difference similarly in oil seeds also we can have the sufficient quantity of the seeds for the replacement and then with very good production technologies we may meet our requirement, we may be self-reliance even in the oil seeds as well, in future requirements now many seed companies are focusing on the R&D also they have already focused on having their bidders and all developing the varieties what happens if you go to the Myanmar every time they ask you, if you bring one hybrid today, one variety today he will ask, if it is variety he will use one seed, no problem if it is a hybrid, he will ask the same person, seed man in that particular village no, you can get me a better hybrid than that, whatever you have supplied every time we expect the new things from the seeds sales personnel, that is the biggest thing in this country, farmers now much advanced now every time demand new things and new technologies innovative produce, better harvestable produce and better profitable produce the farmers of the industry and to that reason the bidders have to continue to work for the development of the hybrids and varieties and short period of time of 2-3 years the government of India also reduced the time for the release of the hybrids and varieties also, previously it takes about 10 years now seriously, now the time span is going to be reduced about 4-5 years we can release the varieties and hybrids and make it available to the farmers so that the farmers can get the benefits out of that and another area is the seed production systems in the beginning about 50 years back we had very few sites for the seed production especially hybrids even how it is common the maize and sorghum it is Kallur and then it is Bajra and sorghum Bajra and sorghum and maize it is Bajavari and the statistics of Andhra Pradesh and then rice also, this Nizambadi area and Varangal now the several alternative areas have been identified for the national seed processing and the seed process has been prepared now the companies having the option, they need to have different forms of the seed they need to have the seed collected within seed growers they have the production programs, they can have a diversified seed production program in seed crops and even for the vegetables also, now we had many places to produce the seed good quality seed at a reasonable cost so that we can reduce the cost of cost of the seed to the farmers now the one biggest thing missing in this country is the crop planning systems we have no control over the plant, but crop we have to grow farmer has to decide he will take whatever he wants and he will produce and he will create a problem for everyone everyone in the system, that was production, if the plant is not required the plant is produced to use quantities, who is going to consume it, where to take it, where to sell it how to use it and similarly for wheat that we don't have any, if something is shortfall that we are not thinking about, we have to increase the area under that particular crop like oil seed which is in very shortfall and we are importing it the crop planning systems are designing now, the central state is thinking about how to design the crop planning systems, how we can put the restrictions you cannot eliminate the farmers from the farming, but you can have, you can advise him, you grow this crop, we can take this crop at this rate at the time of harvesting as a minimum support price, if we grow this we will not take it if it is not required in the country and similarly certification the crop, whatever we are producing is not competitive all over the produce of 10 commodities which are surplus in this country that they are not competitive in production, the production cost is very high why production cost is very high, because our soil health is very bad situation and our productivity levels are not increasing and the total factory productivity is declining he is better putting the huge amount of fertilizers the farmers could not be able to realize the yield levels the seeds are not responding to the management practices due to the non-availability of the organic carbon in the soil and these are the some of the issues this needs to be addressed along with the seeds and the production technology and the management and now what we require is a digital platform in the country so that private sector, public sector, whichever is the seeds everybody should know where the seed is available and what is that variety, what is that crop and where it can be delivered and who is producing what where they are going to sell and all these things if they can able to streamline the digital platform access to even producer so that it will be easy to go for marketing and even for the seed supply and the availability of the seed to the farmers and definitely the seed replacement rates are much less than the developed countries like Europe and other countries they are about 90% in wheat 95% in wheat and mines also 100% in maize and here in our country the seed replacement rates comparatively has gone better as compared to the many other countries till there is a scope there is nothing wrong in having the seed replacement rates of 80% 90% in paddy the farmer realizes the benefits out of that that if I change the satisfaction of going one year if we can realize the benefit of 15% seed levels there is nothing wrong in replacing the seed and purchasing the seed every year just like 90% seed at a reasonable cost and this is going to happen in future also it is happening in case of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh the seed replacement of paddy is more than 70% like this in many countries has happened now it is coming up in week the dispose of entire produce they go for purchasing the certified seeds every year now the major challenges that we are going to face in this country is that there are three major players Doctor sir, sorry to interrupt you doctor sir and how much more time you may require sir? 42 minutes Okay, so thank you sir we have share it there are three major players now this agrochemical companies like this Dew Point, Pioneer and Senyatta they are already having the collaborations and they are going to having the coverage of 70% of the agrochemical markets and 60% of the trade and the rest of the all the players who are operating the agrochemicals and seed have to play within that 40% and 30% of the market shares and now the basic problem is that I don't know how much the small companies can able to survive number one because the farmer able to get a seed at a reasonable cost the jain companies are going to sell they are having this market share of 60% how the 40% share of the business can be operated with the lower price supply of the seed to the farmers so for this the government of India have to develop the strategies and have to support a public sector seed system so that we can able to manage the things now this is the period of the COVID-19 and the agrochemicals and the fields now the seed to the farmers has to work hard to survive the seeds with the farmers thank you very much thank you very much thank you thank you sir, thank you very much thank you sir I want everybody to give a big round of applause Waham, chat box me let us let us salute and let us appreciate thank you sir, thank you very much you are an embodiment of knowledge and you know it's just you have instilled all that knowledge and you distillate and you give the sense of it the importance of seed production system, the challenges and sir is going to be with us so please if you have some questions to ask kindly keep them with you, note them down in your notebook and you can ask the questions to ducks sir and at the end of the discussion presentations we'll have a discussion thank you sir, thank you very much once again salute you sir, thank you so much you want to give you help for that this time and differently maybe at the end if some more time is there you can kindly take the time sir now we will move on to the presentation by Sherad Deshpande sir Sherad Deshpande sir I am would you like to present would you like to present the BPD from your side or would you like to present it from your side can you make it I am making you the presenter you can share your screen also now you go to the top there is a share button and from the share button you can share your screen and let me before you do that just one second sir let me share let me introduce you to the team so ladies and gentlemen let us welcome our next presenter Sherad Deshpande Sherad Deshpande is having more than 35 years of experience he is basically a seed technologist then seed industry experience of more than 35 years he played a very important role in technology volume and value and growth and development of seed industry he is one of the seasoned seedsmen experts and pioneers in seed industry he is the one he is among those few people initially who popularized the hybrid seeds concept that ultimately led to higher farm productivity in the country he worked in a wide range of crops field crops, fruit crops, vegetable and flower crops worked across the geographies he served as a general manager in Cauvery Seeds before that he was worked with multinational companies and he successfully initiated the corn seed business for Singenta in India he also led the seeds vertical for Mahindra and Mahindra and presently he is helping the seed business companies you know as a consultant providing strategy consultancy and also helping them on acquisitions and measures and also presently his distributor for several leading seed brands he is operating from Hubli and he is also running his own retail chain for multi-brand certified organic products and he has got phenomenal content with him and he is a hardcore seedsman he is with us we are so honored and sir thank you very much we are so honored and blessed that you are here so I am now passing on the screen to I am stopping my screen sir and kindly start sharing your screen and make your presentation sir sir go ahead sir thank you doctor am I audible you are audible not audible you are audible we can hear you yes we can see you what I will do is I will state the problem solving session ok because doctor Ra has already been in detail about the seeds and the seeds everything about it fantastic ok what I will do is if the time permits and the members are interested then we can certainly go for those slides ok we will directly go to the problem of corona virus how we are going to cope up with that kind of situation ok friends let us look at the demand pattern after this impact of corona how it is going to impact our business let us have a look at it demand pattern looks to me like this one is there is a lower demand for maize and cotton the reasons are quite obvious and it is being discussed across so many webinars so many newspaper items etc but the thing is maize and cotton both are under pressure millets and oil seeds could be same as previous years vegetables it is a big question mark because we have to discuss so many crops and understand the equations of various aspects of it I will be coming to that in detail later on next is oil seeds as doctor Rao said the same demand everything would be same as previous years and the key challenges are am I audible doctor Shiva you are audible sir you are audible your skin is clear go ahead ok thank you and the key challenges are the unstable and unpredictable commercial prices all of us we know about the commercial prices in fact the dropping pattern let us take the example of maize it had gone up to 2200 rupees now it has come down to 1200 and 1300 rupees the farmers are upset because of the poultry industry going down the drain and because the textile industry also on a lock up situation there is no demand for starch as well as the poultry field that is why the commercial price for maize has come down this is going to impact our business higher input cost this is another critical issue the cost of seeds, the cost of fertilizers the cost of other agree inputs everything is going up next is the labor availability itself we get a lot about the migrant laborers laborers moving from one state to another state and unfortunately fortunately getting crushed under the rail on the rail track all these issues are going to affect us next is the logistics the transportation what is the logistics to clear the normal vision now supply chain if you look at the supply chain I will be discussing about crop by crop but the thing is this is the overall situation of the industry the actual numbers, actual percentages, actual situation may differ from one company to another depending on the efficiency of the supply chain system the destruction are low for our industry compared to any other industry seed industry has suffered the loss to a lesser extent than other industries that's why say the disruptions are low first is after 20th April because of the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines our plants have started working markets are opening up some markets are opening from 6 to 10 o'clock in the morning for example in Karnataka the permission is to open from 6 o'clock to 10 o'clock in the morning some markets in Marathar open up to 2 o'clock in the afternoon so that is the kind of situation which is differing from state to state and district to district rather logistics issues are mitigated to a great extent the trucks are moving, small trucks are also moving big trucks are moving, railways has come to our support a lot of seed industry has recently heard that a lot of potency was shifted from etc. to Karnataka but the efficiency of the industry is 50 to 70% of the production is into plants how it is 50 to 50% it is 50% below the normal plants are operational but the operational efficiency is around 50% other issues let us discuss the bottom line is the rules of the games have changed because of the ending situation and we can then only when we change our strategy plant operations if you look at the plant operations the initial you know the biggest problem is about the labour availability and plants have to only recruit 30% of their total requirement and keep the social distancing availability of skilled labour that is one challenge another is the transportation of the goods as well as the manpower and maintaining the social distancing next is the hygiene factor is also affecting the operations at the plant look here one plant one patient is detected as corona positive COVID-19 is positive the entire plant would be sealed for 14 days or 28 days depending on the situation there so once the plant operations have to be very very careful and at most hygiene has to be maintained the wages are on the rise this is going to affect us a lot the logistics as I said in the beginning availability of different sizes of trucks is okay now it has improved but the lead time also is reduced because of the less traffic on the highway next is the machinery and maintenance it is also a big challenge because most of the technical operators operating the machines they have gone to their native places and they are not available at the plant number two is many of the spare parts and the consumables are not readily available packing material is another big issue because the packing material manufacturers have shut down or they are facing the problems of raw material so these are the things which are affecting the plant operations let's look at the next thing under these circumstances I would like to suggest our salesman to follow these four steps one is accuracy so that exactly has to be taken from the plant because the availability constraints are there because every KG that is accounted for the plant to the market cost to the company so whatever we are able to sell that much quantity and also the logic planning has to be done in such a way that the entire record is lifted and distributed in different places it is very difficult to send the material in small trucks be sensitive to plant problems your plant operator, the plant manager may tell you many reasons for not making the dispatches in time and reaching to the market so you please have patience and listen to him be sensitive to his problems and more in your monitoring please that this plant is not operating that plant there is no problem there is no availability, the power problem and all that if you really know the problem then you discuss about it and absolutely there is no necessity to discuss all these issues in the market so let us not discuss these are the internal issues and keep it to yourself if there is any problem please discuss with your leadership or the management next is let us look at the situation crop wise the first one is the maize maize or corn all stocks are in whatever was produced in the field seed production that has already reached the plant the packing is in good progress it is at 60% speed not the 100% speed and supply is already coming many trucks have already moved out and the markets have issued about 20-30% of the requirement I4C shortage of single crops this is what I gather the information that we saw single-cross production, single-cross hybrid production has hit, there were some technical issues in that and we anticipate about 25% less production this year and that should be able to match because I said in the beginning that there is a 20% less demand for this and this 20-25% less production should match unattractive commercial price and less demand has reduced to 10-15% so both the things should match if you look at the millets, Bajra for example Bajra supply is only 50% has reached the plant still 50% is still lying at the production in the production field so we can foresee 55% shortage of Bajra supplies and miller and standard supplies there will not be 20-year supplies of Bajra this is what I hear from the industry and cotton, there is plenty of availability the position is very comfortable the packing is already on time there is absolutely no problem with cotton supplies but whereas the demand for cotton is bingling that we have to watch out next is hybrid rice please check, I have got a different information please check with your, this is a very important crop for the India, check with your company I hear is that I foresee a lot of delay in supplies and seed yield is reduced to 25-30% and only 60% of the material has reached the plant so these are the things which we have to keep in our mind before placing the order, the indent with our plant and if you look at vegetables vegetables has really in problem the domestic production, the seed supply is very comfortable whatever seed is produced in India that supply is very comfortable it has reached the plant, the processing, the packing everything is going on but the logistic problem of supplying the seed to corn here and small transport is an issue with vegetable seeds the imports, whatever was to be imported by sea route, the bulk like coriander seeds etc they have reached in time and the arrival is ok whatever was to be airlifted that is under pressure and the next is our exports are badly hit that is not the issue which need to be discussed in this forum now because we are the frontline citizens who are selling it in India let the management be rid of the exports part of it in fact the floriculture is again the one area which is terribly in problem there is no demand for flowers because all the functions are banned the marriages are banned the social processes are banned so there is no demand for seeds and seedlings there is no demand for seeds and seedlings to flower crops the bottom line is the popular hybrids please understand this we can get the orders on the phone because most of us we are working on the phone so for popular hybrids there is absolutely no problem in getting the orders on the phone really marketing those work for new hybrids it is a big question mark and if there was no field work done no earlier demand generation was done then absolutely there will not be any demand for such products we have to be careful about it next is I would like to suggest in case of vegetables and flower seeds please ask whatever you can sell don't take more than what you are able to sell then please plan for zero sales return and help the companies help your organization whatever stuff vegetables please sell them on cash because I will tell you later on why the cash component is very much required where cash generation is important I will come to that point later on see what is happening in the market market is working as per the permissions as I said there are different timings in different states 6 to 11, 6 to 2 o'clock and all that so they are working on permissions and these permissions may change if there is a lock down, seal down anything may happen anytime now those markets will be sealed those markets will be inaccessible our stock will be sealed in those markets in those Godons so we have to be careful about all these aspects next is we have to fast-track the sales wherever there is a sale please go and start selling the sales as much as possible as much as possible we don't want the market to be closed seal in speed next is monitor the sales and stock whatever sales is happening whatever the stocks are like in the market those are to be monitored on a regular basis on a daily basis rather so that there will not be any left over stock which is not sold in a particular market and which was very much in demand in another market so monitoring of the stocks is very important cropping pattern not clear so in that case we have to clearly watch out keep discussing with our farmers on phone on data information through the department of agriculture what kind of cropping pattern is there and accordingly you would re-adjust your supplies and availability next is this is the usual problem of all the seedsmen that is going to be there already the forecast is that in the month of June and July we are going to have very scanty range next bottom line is the survival of the strategist it is not the fittest you have to make the right strategy then only we can survive in the market next is let us look at the financial conditions what is happening we have been taking of savings for the last 2 months fitting at home how the management would be with all these financial pressures working capital if you look at the working capital the credit space has hit us credit space and followed by the cash crunch there is no cash availability in the market as well as with the companies and the expenses are mounting the costs are shooting up there is escalation of costs all these things are affecting the working capital next is the sales and wages paid for last 2 months many of the companies have paid their salaries everything so interest and DMIs are the regular things which the company has to bear next is the insurance the medical and the accident curve these are becoming very very important nowadays everyone has to be covered under some medical insurance then the stocks everything minimum maintenance costs even if the plan is not operation even if the office is not operational even the vehicles are not running there is a minimum cost involved in maintaining all these machineries and the inventory holding cost and the insurance also the inventory is already paid up the vendors are upfront they want the money so most of the stocks are paid up whatever has moved into them our warehouses that inventory holding cost is very high so that is the thing which as a part of the organization we should look at and we should be sensitive as Dr. Rao was mentioning that the small and medium operators would be hit badly I agree with him they are under really under pressure so my strategy what I would like to suggest here is that reduce the cost wherever possible as you may be a sales executive you may be a regional manager you may be the manager you may be the manager you may be the manager you may be the manager that is the big issue 2. Expert-Credit Collections get the money from the market see if you look at these aspects working capital problems associated with the operations of the company we can help by collecting expediting the collections right credit control is very important this particular aspect I will touch in later slides what we can do how we can do the right credit control is very much necessary and better the parties these aspects I will discuss in a later slide and the last thing in case of city cash discount whenever you see that there is a cash available with the particular party and is interested in a particular product please immediately pick up your phone talk to your boss and say that I collect so much money and what is the cash price I can offer to this party cash generation is very critical Sherritsa your voice is sometimes breaking sir is it sometimes clear but on and off it is breaking see something maybe your phone your other devices could be you know could be switch it off okay sir please is it okay now is it okay I will come to the microphone is it okay now better better okay discuss about the financial problems okay I hope everybody appreciates these things so I was discussing about offering the cash discount to the market and if there is a demand for a product please talk to your boss work out a cash discount plan and sell the product and collect the money and help the organization next is channel market channel management any problem Dr. Shiva can I go ahead go ahead sir go ahead so we should have a perfect rapport with these channel partners okay with the trusted parties we have been working in the market you know there are A-class parties there are B-class parties there are C-class parties this time focus only on A-class parties build rapport with them with the trusted parties okay then next is categorize your parties whatever whatever you know if there is an internal policy how your company decides it okay next is provide investment opportunities there is a cash available if some party sitting on cash is willing to invest then look for investment provide investment opportunities like cash discounts additional discounts and all those things that is our advanced booking schemes everything next is the prices of your product should be reasonable I am not giving any any suggestion over here because it is the internal and integral part of the the management to take a call on this but thing is better that we go to the market with reasonable MRPs and reasonable pricing this is very important and next is control supplies and credit to each party avoid overstocking don't supply more than what the particular party is supposed to sell looking at various aspects the analytics of the market you decide how much material can be sold through that particular distributor okay then only to that extent you supply the stocks then from the distributor to the retailer also see that there is no dumping there is no overstocking please see that every packet everything is tracked so that we ensure 100% liquidation of the stocks and collect the money in time next avoid credit sales retailers there are retailers who are habituated to giving credit long term credit to the farmers so you identify such retailers and have a word with them tell them that this year the situation is totally different we cannot wait for you know 4 months 5 months 8 months time to collect the money from the party because the party says that I have given the credit to the farmers that is not acceptable this year if at all the party is not able to listen to you then please cut off that party and don't make any supplies no problem this year you you should forgive him next is now it is not cash and carry it is cash and rapport too because I would like to speak a few minutes about this why I am insisting on rapport is that we always be salesmen most of the time we feel that the moment they ask money from a party the party will be a little angry it will be sad this time they have kept the money with them that is the key factor next is relationships gets business so let us not spoil our relationship with anybody have a good relationship but at the same time see that he sells the product and gives the money in time or my chakra sector what is my role if you ask me this then first of all let us understand that my organization is in trouble for various reasons which we have discussed already ensure that our company survives from this situation out of this we come out winner out of this situation that is also my responsibility really I am at any level in the company let me assume the responsibility that my company should come out as a winner they should survive this situation this crisis give yourself the best see that whatever you can do you see that the company is benefited from your efforts don't expect incentives and increments please friends don't expect any incentives and increments this year doesn't matter you adjust with whatever sales you are getting adjust your budget home budget according to the you take your family into confidence and see that there is no incentives that this is an exceptional year if we come out winner certainly we will have double benefit double incentives next year next is salary cuts across the industries I hear about many industries which have cut which have already announced 30% 40% cut in the salaries I don't know many seed companies have full salaries but this situation may arise if we do something wrong in the market because we get the money for the company company doesn't get money from anywhere else then the front line salesman gets the money for the company it is a farmer who pays us our salaries next is the product portfolio if your company has a multi crop product portfolio then you are in a safe zone you have got many products many options to sell if the company is specialized in only one or two crops that is the case in case of many multinational companies they deal with only one or two crops in big volumes but if there is any failure on the cropping pattern or the demand for a particular crop seeds then we are in trouble so multi crop portfolio would be ideal a product of such a transcend full and you see that whatever field work we have done in the field and whatever demand we have generated in the field based on that make an estimation that how much seed can be sold how much the seed of that particular hybrid can be sold in the market the strategy is work out business contingency plan the management has to work out a business contingency plan and we have to set up BCPs that is business contingency teams which they discuss make strategies though such teams can be there at different levels right at the management middle management and the lower officers level also so everybody is associated with the management in making the things very easy and see that all of us together create a win-win situation for all of us communication is very important for communication if you want to write a report that is the worst thing one can you know think of but thing is in today's history internal communication is very important please be in touch with your boss as well as your report is lower communication as well as communication to the higher ups is very critical please see that you do it next day update and discuss the market dynamics openly discussion with your boss and get the solution get the strategy give the solution and give the strategies it is an open because the situation is totally unique nobody knows how to behave in such situation everybody can contribute in decision making process and to accept those suggestions also ok next is see the liquidation process how much has really the seed has gone into the soil how much has really shown and what is the stock lying at each particular point this monitoring is very very critical and cash flow and we have discussed about the cash flow and the need for it please see that you generate the cash and communicate to your bosses not too many excel sheets my request to the bosses the regional manager and the above category don't bother these salesmen with too many excel sheets and lot of information get the information on phone verbal communication is very important get the information start acting on it and now about the external communication develop new skills to fix customers on phone and social media because the one to one communication making personal visit looks difficult at this point of time so we have to so that we are able to fix our customers be in contact with the customers on phone telemarketing or through social media I've seen many companies are sending the e-posters about their product everything they're putting it on whatsapp really good job being done but see that it is efficiently used and the customer gets the right message next is all sales operations remotely because this is the situation is very difficult we cannot go everywhere and do everything so develop the system internally so that you get all the information sitting at home or operating remotely with a phone or with laptop or everything so information is very important so you will have to have good rapport with the market and the farmers and your customers slip out because you are not able to visit the customer greatly with the distributor, retailer or the PD or the farmers everybody associated with our business because since you are not able to make a person it doesn't mean that they slip out of your control see that you use all the means to be in touch with them and get the right information so such a strategy my suggestion is ask only what you can sell this is I am repeating because the liquidation, the stock management is very important zero sales return please aim at no sales return zero means it can be about 5-7% 3% is fine minimize credit limit relook at your credit limits it can be in terms of money or it can be period if it is 120 days bring it to 90 days if it is 90 days as a standard internally bring it to 70 days cut it short velocity of money into the company is very important and don't try new products at this stage because don't experiment with the farmers if you are not confident about a new product please keep it to cool don't bring it to the market hang on to it for one season let the things become normal then you can start trying out the products then traveling you must have received all the from your HR about traveling I would like to add a few things here with your common sense but I am repeating these things take care of yourself 100% because your family is waiting for you your company is waiting for you you are very important for all of us strictly follow health protocol carry them always wear the mask carry a sanitizer etc these are very important things carry food and water from home enough quantity of water and food from your home the restaurants are closed and even if there is some parcel service at some restaurants it may not be hygienic don't take the risk carry food and water from home next is avoid night hot because all the hotels are closed if you cannot plan for it come back home and plan it in such a way that you travel and reach home by night next is if you have enough fuel in your vehicle if there is any lockdown and petrol pumps are closed then you will have trouble every morning you check whether the vehicle which you are going to travel has enough fuel in it and carry all documents because there are lot of verification checks on the way carry your company ID Aadhar card then vehicle documents and driving license lockdown passes from appropriate authority the state department and the district administration they are issuing the passes or display on your vehicle as you know you can hang it around your neck carry all the passes and to get the car anywhere in the city and cooperate with the law enforcing and health care agencies don't get any argument with them because they are allowed to do their duty salute them they are doing their duty and we are also doing a similar duty to help the nation bottom line is plan your travel make it 100% purposeful and I have few suggestions here ask yourself before you kick start your backpack or car I can do it on phone whether I can do it using social media then I can reduce the cost of traveling also going out and taking the risk of traveling if I can deliver the goods on phone, on social media on talking to the customer then please see that you need not go out that doesn't mean that I am not discouraging you not to go out the thing is ask yourself whether it is absolutely 100% necessary to go into the market personally and let us talk about the end user end user is the farmer himself and he is in a very delicate situation now and since he is in a delicate situation he needs very delicate handling we have to be very sensitive about him about situation don't sell anything that you are not confident if your product if there is any doubt about the performance of the product please don't sell it to the farmer you can become a leader you can also suggest the third party product if necessary if you don't have the right product do some demarketing also this situation is different please help the farmer to come out of this situation don't experiment with the farmer this is not the time as I said if you don't have the right product and start experimenting with the performance of that product and with the farmer don't do that at least for this season no talk claims about the product whatever is the fact that only you disclose don't make any talk claims about the product help him to get the market intelligence how much money is being sold what is the rate how much money is being sold in this situation you will be getting because you have more access to the internet and market information and you are also discussing with many friends and competitors if whatever little information is there and whatever he is growing that crop please pass on the practical information to the farmer so that it helps him in getting more realization helps him to minimize the cost of cultivation also because the more he sees there will be more because he is already under tremendous pressure he is more under pressure than the company sees the company itself and finally I would like to say that the farmer is in ICU being in the home, being in the field also he is conditioning like a patient in the ICU if we are not able to take him out of the ICU and help him it would be our turn to be in ICU next so we have to be careful we have to be very honest with the farmer we have to be very sincere about our products also with the farmers please take care of the farmer so that after the corona problem and everything he is there to take care of all of us so there are corona virus what we say always say that these are the doctors, nurses and the policemen and everything there are other corona warriors also like the farm lady and the farmer the policemen and also the body as Dr. Shiva is already telling us but the thing is after saying so much I am sorry that is not the reason he is ahead of the fear and he is dead so we have to be in the field we have to be with the farmers and at the end we have to come out winners out of this corona problems thank you so much that I would be allowed to take it out at the end of the session Dr. Shiva, I am through thank you sir, thank you very much fantastic there is an excellent presentation ladies and gentlemen let's give a big round of applause to Sheren Saab so please write in the chat box let us see the claps claps for Sheren Saab for the great presentation very very good, thank you very much thank you very much Sheren Saab excellent presentation beautiful