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The Legacy of Mahyco Serving the Indian farmer... Since 4 decades.
Mahyco was founded on the foresight of a man who dared to venture beyond visible possibilities and showed immense confidence in his vision. Post independence, when India was still in the process of fortifying her weak economic strength, Badrinarayan Ramulal Barwale sowed the first seeds of economic development. Breaking free from the stronghold of Nizam conservatism in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra where his family owned land, he chose to take risks and develop the immense potential that lay latent in hybrid seeds at a time when the seed industry was small. His major breakthrough came from the Pusa Saoni bhendi (lady's finger), a hybrid resistant to a widely prevalent virus developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). Dr. Barwale began producing and marketing this variety, which set an example of how technology can help fulfill the promise of a bigger harvest at a lesser cost.
In 1963, Rockefeller Foundation in association with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) chose him to help create a private-sector seed industry in India. Dr. Barwale produced the first hybrid corn (maize) in 1963-64 with the seed supplied by the Rockefeller Foundation. After that, there was no turning back.
The Maharashtra Hybrid Corporation (Mahyco) was founded in 1964 with Jalna as its headquarters and encouraged cultivators to grow seeds. Just two years later (1966), the company's first R&D centre was set up. In 1985 the first cotton hybrid MECH1 was released. In 1989, Mahyco became the first agro-based company to win the National Award for Research and Development from the Government of India. Various recognitions and awards on national and international levels followed. Recently, Mahyco Research Foundation set aside a Rs. 3 Crore grant to the ICAR over three years to fund the latter's research program in rice.
Today, more than 10,00,000 cultivators grow seeds for Mahyco. There are 15 production centres, 23 sales offices and about 2,500 dealers located across India. The company is actively involved in the research, development, production, processing and marketing of 115 products in 30 crop species, including cereals, oilseeds, fibre crops and vegetables. It has to its credit 21 notified research varieties. The company technology is referred to as a global benchmark and is respected worldwide as a pioneer of high quality hybrid/open-pollinated seeds and for its strict adherence to quality.
Over the years, Mahyco has entered into collaborations with academia and industry to keep pace with new developments across the agri-business spectrum. Its association with Monsanto for using the Bt technology for cotton in1998 is one such excellent example.
But all this is beside the point. The centre of this growing company still remains the same: the ability to dream big and the courage to follow those dreams. It's not surprising though. With a visionary like Badrinarayan Ramulal Barwale to emulate, it cannot be anything else. |
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