MORINGA: THE MAGIC PLANT AND ENTERPRISE
authored by: Sankar Kumar Acharya & Manobharathi K.
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Moringa oleifera has proven to be a valuable plant for farmers in the southern region of India, providing income and employment for numerous farm families. In addition to its economic benefits, Moringa oleifera offers extensive nutritional and medicinal potential. The leaf powder of the Moringa oleifera plant is now gaining recognition in overseas markets.
The book, Moringa: The Magic Plant and Enterprise, aims to encourage young scholars and entrepreneurs to harness the business opportunities, ecosystem, entrepreneurial communication, and marketing strategies surrounding Moringa in India. The book effectively employs a range of statistical methodologies and models, including ANN, CCA, and PCA, to explore the entrepreneurial trajectories and possibilities outlined in a well-designed empirical study.
Prof. (Dr.) Sankar Kr Acharya, presently, Dean, Post Graduate Studies; former Head, Department of Agril Extension and Director, Extension Education, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, WB, born on 6th October, 1960, started his career as Assistant Professor at BCKV in 1988 and has been in teaching, research and extension over 35 years. An erudite teacher as well as an elegant speaker, is internationally acclaimed for his unique research domain of Social Entropy and Energy Metabolism, Social Ecology and Environmental Sociology, Enterprise Ecology Framework, Farm Stewardships: The Transition from Conservation, Technology Socialization Process, and The Social Ecology of Livelihood, which have got tremendous policy as well as scholastic importance. Research Publication: 247 in National and International Journals. Book Publication: 110 books authored / co-authored. Expert Member, Agriculture Commission; Marketing and Extension Sub Committee, Govt. of West Bengal; Expert member WWF projects in BTR (Buxa Tiger Reserve Project); Expert member; DFID project on Primary Education (DPEP); Rapid Environment Impact Analysis, Visited Italy, France, Germany, China, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Delivered 31 Key note addresses, 13, invited and lead speakers in International Congress, Chaired 19 Sessions in International conferences, and Editors of a score of national and international journals. He has so far been awarded with 15 best paper awards in National and International Conferences Organizing Secretary of two International Conferences, held in the years, 2016 & 2018, Jointly Organized by Department of Agricultural Extension, BCKV, WB and Krishisanskriti, New Delhi. He has also been honoured to be selected as the Convener of Panel (PE-32) entitled The hunger, poverty and silence, of IUAES, University of Manchester, UK, 2013 .Co-PI of ICAR, NAHEP and World Bank funded project on Conservation Agriculture. So, far he has successfully guided 19 Ph D scholars, of which one awarded with DAAD fellowship, Germany and two other placed as visiting scholars at Ohio State University and Cornel University, 2020-21, USA; 83 M Sc students from BCKV CU, KU, Vidyasagar University. He is the fellow of ISEE, IARI, New Delhi, Fellow, BIOVED, He is now acting as editor, reviewer of a good number of national and international journals. Fellow Award, ISEE(ICAR-IARI, New Delhi), 2019 Awards and Distinctions: Distinguish Scholar Award, Krishisanskriti, New Delhi; Certificate of Merit for standing First class first at M Sc(Ag) in Agricultural Extension, 1986; Honorary Appointment to the Research Board of Advisors, The American Biographic Institute (2003); He has been honored to be selected as the Convener of Panel (PE-32) entitled the hunger, poverty and silence, of World Congress, IUAES, University of Manchester, UK, 2013 ;He has been honored to be selected as the Convener of Panel (P-102) entitled, Uncertainties, Unpredictability and Marginalization: The impact and mitigation for survival of agriculture and humanity, of the 19th World Congress, IUAES-WAU, 14-20 October, 2023, New Delhi, India, 2023; Honored to be nominated as Expert Member, Working group on Agricultural Extension and Training, West Bengal State Agriculture Commission (2007); Honored to be nominated by the Hon’ble Vice-Chancellor, BCKV to Act as an Expert Member, DPEP, A DFID, UK, project for planning and revamping primary education through POA of GOVT of India.(1995) Expert Member, Buxa Tiger Reserve Project funded by WWF(World Wide Wild Life Funding), 1998; Distinguished Professor and Academician Award, Research Education Solution (RES), M S Swaminathan School of Agriculture, Centurion University(2022); Diamond Achievers Award, Council for Academic Performance and Appraisal, New Delhi(2022); Honorary Fellowship Award, BIOVED Research Institute of Agriculture and Technology, Prayagraj on Occasion of Agricultural Scientists and Farmers’ Congress. Achievers of German patent (Utility model no. 20202310273): Novel LOT based inventory management system with radio controlled pallet racking for storage solution. He is Fellow of the very prestigious West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology (WAST)
Dr. Manobharathi K is currently working as Research Associate under ICSSR short term empirical research project in Adhiparasakthi Agricultural College (Affiliated under Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore). He has completed his Ph.D. degree in 2023 from the Department of Agricultural Extension, Faculty of Agriculture, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya, West Bengal under the guidance of an eminent professor in extension science, Prof Sankar Kr Acharya He did his M.Sc. in Agricultural Extension and Communication from Shere- Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir in 2020 and completed his B.Sc. (Agriculture) at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Agricultural College and Research Institute (AC & RI), Kudumiyanmalai, Pudukkottai in 2018. He got Best M.Sc. Scholar award on 4th International Conference on Global Efforts on Agriculture Forestry, Environment and Food Security, Nepal (2022). He also got Innovative article awards for two different popular articles in Agriculture & Food: e-Newsletter in 2021 and 2022. He is qualified for UGC- National Eligibility Test for Assistant Professor by NTA in 2021 in the subject of ‘Adult and Continuing Education/ Non-Formal Education/ Andragogy’. He also cleared and qualified for ASRB-NET in the department of Agricultural Extension in 2021 and 2023. He has published 11 research papers in various reputed international and national journals, 2 book chapters, 4 popular articles in e-magazines. He also completed 4 twenty-one days training programmes and 2 AgMOOCs courses from NAARM, Hyderabad successfully. He has presented 8 research and review articles in various national and International conferences. He has peer-reviewed two research articles as a reviewer so far in two different reputed journals. He has also acted as a training assistant in two different TNAU-MANAGE collaborative training programmes conducted at AC & RI, Kudumiyanmalai in 2018. He is awarded with ICAR National Talent Search (NTS) fellowship for his Post graduation in the time period of 2018- 2020 and Swami Vivekananda Merit-cum-Means Scholarship (SVMCM) for doctoral degree by Government of West Bengal during 2020-2023. His research interests primarily revolve around Enterprise Ecology, Entrepreneurial Behaviour, Communication and Capacity building
1. Introduction
2. Review and Citations
3. Theory and Concept
4. Setting and Ecology
5. Research:Process and Methods
6. Empirical Study and Revelation
7. Conclusion
Indian agriculture is passing through a seminal transformation for the survival and triumph of millions of farmers who want agriculture as a profit making enterprise rather than a tradition to follow without finding any option to switch over. Moringa (Moringa oleifera) has come up as a magic plant to tens and thousands of farmers especially in southern part of India to provide income and wage to hundreds of farm families. Moringa is not just a plant to ensure wage and income; it offers huge nutritive and medicinal prospects. Moringa leaf powder is now exploring overseas markets. From green pods to leaf powder and, from body cream to green tea, moringa has a plethora of usages to make it a diverse business venture for millions. It is no wonder, new business start ups in the forms of organic vegetables, therapeutic creams or moringa tea will keep hovering around. The book, Moringa: the magic plant and enterprise, I hope, shall go a long way in driving young scholars and entrepreneurs to harvest the business opportunity, enterprise ecosystem, entrepreneurial communication and marketing strategy around moringa in India. The book splendidly delineates array of statistical methodologies and models including ANN, CCA, PCA etc. to elicit the entrepreneurial trajectories and possibilities based on beautifully designed empirical study.
India is primarily an agriculture based economy, which implies, agriculture dominates the nation’s economic landscape. In the course of socioeconomic growth, agriculture is crucial. Around 58 per cent of the population in India rely only on agriculture for their livelihood. In India, agriculture acts as an important source of living for about 60 per cent of the population (India Brand Equity Foundation, 2021) and almost 70 per cent of rural households depend on farming. The farming sector in India contributes significantly to the economy, making up about 29 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Balkrishna et al. 2021).
2.1. Concept of review of literature Research is a continuous process. For any scientific investigation, previous f indings provide basis to the research. It also helps to know the previous research work done in that area and acts as a torch for the new researchers. The review of literature is one of the important aspects in the research process. It helps the researcher to keep his work going in right and appropriate direction. To point out prior research in the area of interest and how our findings connect to past studies, a review of the literature is conducted. The proposed study is new in its subject treatment. However, an attempt is made here to put together some of the closely related research findings in the area.
3.1. Entrepreneurship and its allied concepts 3.1.1. Concept of entrepreneur The word “entrepreneur” has its roots in the french verb “entreprendre,” which means “to undertake.” It means “to start a business” in a business environment. Entrepreneurs are self-employed individuals who not only create jobs for themselves but also generate jobs for many others. An entrepreneur is someone who can identify and seize opportunities to transform inventions or technologies into new products. They can also see an invention’s commercial potential and put together the funds, talent, and other resources needed to transform an idea into a product that can be distributed.
Introduction Research setting is basically a functional social ecology along with research objectives and condition wherein all possible socio-economic and communication processes are generated, and again gets regenerated. The researcher seeks to throw a spotlight on the implications and behavioral patterns of people who reside in the subject region and who are usual of the greater community. In this chapter, an in-depth review of the socio-demographic background of the local population in a rural setting has been provided. 4.1. Area of the study The present research study was taken up in two states, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
5.1. Research methodology Research methodology is a thorough investigation plan and the manual for conducting the research. This chapter’s examination of methodology aims to help readers comprehend the ideas, strategies, and tactics used to plan a study, gather data, analyse it, and interpret it in order to reveal reality and develop theories. This chapter has been classified under various sub headings for clear understanding: (i) Locale of research. (ii) Pilot study. (iii) Methods of sampling. (iv) Variables and their empirical measurement. (v) Preparation of the interview schedule. (vi) Tools and techniques of data collection. (vii) Statistical analysis and interpretation of data.
This chapter analytically represents the results of the empirical research study with the appropriate discussion on the basis of analysis. 6.1. Results of data collected from moringa growers of Tamil Nadu 6.1.1. Visualisation of descriptive statistics This Table-6.1 presents 18 independent variables (x1-x18 ) and 5 dependent variables (y1-y5 ) in terms of their descriptive statistics viz. Minimum, Maximum, Range, Mean, Standard Deviation (S.D.), Variance and Co-efficient of Variation (C.V.). of moringa growers, the maximum years of experience is 44 years and the minimum years of experience is 3 years. The Range of this variable x1 was found to be 41. The mean value of experience was found to be 16.033 years, with the Standard Deviation of 8.324 and Variance of 69.289 for the total distribution taken for the study.
India is primarily an agriculture based economy, which implies, agriculture dominates the nation’s economic landscape. In the course of socioeconomic growth, agriculture is crucial. Around 58 per cent of the population in India relies only on agriculture for their livelihood. India is enriched with various agricultural and horticultural crops with diversified agro-climatic conditions and different soil types. India is one of the leading producing countries of cereals, pulses, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables etc. India is also have a prominent scope in allied sectors of agriculture includes livestock, poultry, forestry, sericulture etc. Among such crops, Moringa is the selected crop for this research study. Moringa (Moringa oleifera), which is popularly known as ‘Drumstick’ belongs to the family Moringaceae. Moringa is basically a native crop of India. This crop has its own therapeutic properties with greater nutritional content. Especially in South Indian cuisine, moringa pod is a highly regarded vegetable because of its distinctive flavour and fragrance.
Abuye, C., Urga, K., Knapp, H., Selmar, K., Omwega, A. M., Imungi, J. K. and Winterhalter,P. (2003). A compositional study of Moringa stenopetala leaves. East Afr. Med. J.,80(5):247-52. Aday, S. and Aday, M. S. (2020). Impact of COVID-19 on the food supply chain. Food Qual. Saf., 4(4):167-180. Agarwal, R. (1997). Innovations in entrepreneurship: Major issues in new era of globalisation. Abhigyan, 15:65-71. Agriculture policy note. (2022). Government of Tamil Nadu. (2022). https://cms.tn.gov.in/sites/ default/files/documents/agri_e_pn_2022_23.pdf. Accessed on 7th December 2022. Agro-climatic zones. (2021). Department of Horticulture and Plantation Crops, Government of Tamil Nadu. https://www.tnhorticulture.tn.gov.in/. Accessed on 20th March 2023.
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