India’s strengthen has been and continues to be its agricultural base, long after it has earned a global face through its IT industry. A majority of the people are still dependent on agriculture and the fortunes of the economy are still dependent on a good harvest.
That said, it is also an area of huge development, of phenomenal transition where domestic and global markets, home grown and sophisticated technologies as well as local and global concerns are coming together.
When different worlds come together, they need to talk. Mindsets have to change. Learnings need to be shared. Torque works as a bridge between farmers, agri industries, rural opinion makers and the outside agents of change and co-development.
We have engaged farmers to talk to them about favouring corn as more than animal feed in a country not used to consuming corn as staple. In the villages of Karnataka, we have worked with village level health workers to change mindsets about the smoke in their kitchens. Farmers growing organic cotton need more than a pat on a back, they need linkages to market. We have helped create a profile for organic cotton in Indian and abroad. Companies making tractors understand that rural banks and rural bankers have a huge role in influencing the way the farmer looks at his production techniques. We help them reach out and talk about more than a tractor.
From vineyards of Nashik to Cotton fields of Gujarat, from the green fields of Punjab to the villages in Shimoga, Torque has worked at the grassroot level to help engage the change of India.