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About VNR
VNR Seeds, established in 1993 by a humble farmer Krishi Pandit Dr. Narayanbhai Chawda, is one of the leading and most trustworthy seeds company in central India. The company believes in creating a prosperous and knowledgeable farming community by sharing with fellow farmers every new breakthrough in seed technology in the form of the best quality planting material.

Mission

Our mission is to give fellow farmers the best seeds that ensure maximum profit through optimum yield. Kisano ke hith mein (in the interest of farmers) is our mantra.

History of VNR

Good Seeds, Better Yield'. This is the promise VNR makes and keeps tofellow farmers . And VNR's dedication to this vow comes from the history behind the making of this company and from the experiences of its founder, Dr. Narayanbhai Chawda, a farmer himself, who realized the hard way the importance of quality seeds. Before the Beginning Krishi Pandit Narayanbhai Chawda came from a family of farmers. His father had a selfsufficient vegetable farm in Gomchi, currently in Chhattisgarh, where Narayanbhai grew up nurturing his passion for agriculture. In 1964, Narayanbhai graduated with a bachelors degree in agriculture from Allahabad Agriculture Institute, Allahabad. He was the first qualified farmer in the family. That was a time when vegetable farming was done traditionally. There was no use of technology of any kind, be it in sowing, irrigation or storage. Reality Bites Narayanbhai soon discovered the gaping divide between the theories he had been taught and the methods practiced in reality. The first rude shock came when an entire lot of crop suffered because of poor quality seeds unknowingly purchased by his father. He also noticed that the seeds were often of mixed variety and there was no uniformity in the yield. On His Own The young agriculture graduate got to work. He began to work on improving the seed quality by selection and then multiplication of the ones that came from the best yield. In 1967, he began working in earnest on Sem (a variety of bean) seeds. The green swollen variety of Sem is in great demand all year round. However, the variety grows only in winter and Chhattisgarh doesnt have a conducive climate for it. The non-season bound variety is white, flat and bushy. After five years of research and cross-breeding on his own, Narayanbhai succeeded in developing seeds which yielded non-season bound, green, bushy and swollen Sem. No Looking Back
Overwhelmed by the breakthrough and eager as always to share his success with fellow farmers, Narayanbhai wrote about his work and tried to get it published. There were very few takers and lot of convincing needed to get the articles published. Narayanbhai stopped writing and decided to concentrate on research. In 1970, Narayanbhai made his first foreign trip to Japan as a representative of Bharat Krishak Samaj to study paddy cultivation. However, the language problem began to make things difficult for him. Till he came up with an idea - "There must be local trains here", he thought. And local trains always reach out to the suburbs and rural areas, he reasoned. Narayanbhai boarded a train and sure enough landed up in villages where he observed first-hand vegetable and paddy cultivation.

The Seed is Sown However, it was only in 1993 when Narayanbhai's son Vimal joined him after getting his agricultural degree that VNR was formally launched. Spreading Wings Father and son stepped up research on hybridisation. In 1997, they got fantastic results with Karela (Bitter Gourd) and in 1998 they launched it in the market. Word spread about the great quality of the seeds and orders started pouring in. There was no looking back after that. The company retained its focus on research and development continuing with its consistent work and breakthroughs in seed health and developing seeds with increased disease resistance, tolerance and high yield. Be it brinjal, tomato, bitter gourd, green chilly or hot pepper, VNR has been constantly striving towards creating better and sturdier varieties of seeds.

In fact, in the year 2006, the company's dedication towards giving fellow-farmers only the best seeds that save costs and maximize profits received official recognition when the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India granted VNR's in-house research and development unit a DSIR certification.

Seeds of Trust Today VNR is a household name in central India - a name that symbolizes integrity and quality. As a seed company created by a farmer who has been through the travails of losing crop due to bad seeds, VNR understands the significance of good planting material. And it is to keep fellow farmers safe from such harm, that VNR is dedicated to providing good seeds for better yield.

Nurturing a Passion

"We are a family of farmers. My father Monji Chawda, a Gandhian by principle, had a rice mill. In 1948, however, my father decided to venture in to vegetable cultivation instead. We got a three-and-a-half acre plot of land on lease and started farming. Soon we expanded to 10 acres and were growing enough to lead a simple honest life. In pursuit of my interest in farming, I graduated from the Allahabad Agricultural Institute, Uttar Pradesh. And in 1964, I joined my father on the fields. Back then, vegetable farming was done traditionally. There was no use of technology of any kind, be it in sowing, irrigation or storage. I was fresh out of college armed with a lot of knowledge - a degree-walla farmer - but soon discovered the huge gap between the theory I had learnt about farming techniques and the methods practiced in reality. We used to purchase seeds for cultivation and several times our crops suffered because of the poor quality. Besides, I observed that the seeds were often of mixed variety and there was no uniformity in the yield. So, I initiated a process to improve the quality by selection and then multiplication of the best seeds By 1967, I had gained enough confidence from my hands-on experience and I started working on Sem (a variety of bean) seeds. The green swollen variety of Sem is in great demand all year round. However, the variety grows only in winter and Chhattisgarh doesn't have a conducive climate for it. The non-season bound variety is white, flat and bushy. After five years of research and cross-breeding on my own, I succeeded in developing seeds which yielded non-season bound, green, bushy and swollen Sem. However, it was only when Vimal joined me after getting his agricultural degree in the 90's that we began to commercialise our findings. We formally launched VNR Seeds and stepped up research on hybridisation. In 1997, we got fantastic results with karela (bitter gourd) and in 1998 we did the market launch. Word spread about the great quality of the seeds and demands started pouring in. There was no looking back after that.

Every member in my family has been involved in this passion. My daughter-in-law Rinku is an expert in drip irrigation. When we started off with our venture, my wife used to stitch the net houses herself. During the course of developing the company, both Vimal and I made several trips abroad to countries like Japan, Israel and South Korea for extensive research activities and acquainted ourselves with the latest in advanced seed technology there. In foreign countries, vegetables are an indispensable part of meals. People abroad eat vegetable salads of various kinds for a vitamin and mineral rich diet. Here in India, a salad means onions and cucumber! The awareness about the role of vegetables for a healthy living has to grow. Even so, the future is bright. And VNR believes in involving its farmer friends in this brilliant future. Hence we stress on knowledge dissemination. Whatever we discover and achieve we want to share with our kisan bhai. I am no different from the farmers who buy my seeds so our mantra will always be Kisano ke hith mein (in the interest of farmers)." - Krishi Pandit Dr. Narayanbhai Chawda

CMD's Interview

Mr. Vimal Chawda

Chairman and Managing Director Vimal Chawda is the brain behind VNRs steadily soaring success. The dynamic agri-entrepreneur answers questions about the company, its current status, growth prospects and the future plans.

Q: Where does VNR stand logistically in terms of land, seed varieties and presence? A: VNR is present all across the country except Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. The company has nearly 2,000 acres of land for seed production and it has so far developed 120 seed varieties and 3,000 breeding lines. The company boasts of four research and development stations two each at Gomchi and Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) and two at Hyderabad - more than 90 acres of R&D land Q: What would you say are the strengths of your R&D team? A: Our research and development team led by Mr K.C. Upadhyaya and Mr. M.S. Tomar thrives on intense dedication, excellent breeding skills and strong decision-making abilities. Both Mr Upadhaya and Mr Tomar, who breed paddy and vegetables respectively, have a

rich work experience of 11 years. Both of them have Masters degrees in agriculture. Our Founder, Krishi Pandit Narayanbhai Chawda, has been awarded Doctorate (D.Sc.) by Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur for his dedicated contribution to agriculture research & innovation. Narayanbhai himself acts as the research breeder, coordinator and supervising authority. Q: What kind of work is being done by the R&D team currently? A: Currently, our research team is dealing with quality paddy seeds. Work began on this almost eight years ago and is now almost complete. We hope to test market some of our hybrid paddy in 2007 monsoon. Simultaneously, work is also on with maize and pearl millet, tomato, capsicum and chilly. Q: Has the company collaborated with agricultural institutes for research or training? A: As a matter of fact, we have. VNR has adopted research technologies from institutes like the Indian Institute of Vegetable Research (IIVR), Indian Institute of Horticulture Research (IIHR), Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) and even the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Centre (AVRDC) and International Crop Research Institute for Semi Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). VNR is also constantly in contact with different agriculture universities all over India which help them in conducting trials for breeding. The company also receives germplasm from these institutes. Besides, VNR submits its seeds to AICRPVC (All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Vegetable Crops) for multi-location trials all over India thus overcoming the constraint of limited research stations. This also helps VNR to seek recognition of its new seed varieties from AVRDC VNR also facilitates R&D staff training at IIVR and IIHR. The senior scientists in the team have been sent abroad for conventions organized by the Asia Pacific Seed Association of which VNR is a member. Q: What kind of marketing network does VNR have? A: Four years ago, our marketing team covered only Chattisgarh. Now, our network has expanded to all states except certain southern states and few northern states like Himachal Pradesh and J&K. We are hopeful that Himachal Pradesh market is likely to be covered next year, also our marketing team is materializing plans to penetrate southern markets. Interestingly, during my visits abroad organizations have shown deep interest in partnering with us for exploring overseas business opportunities. I personally am working along with our strategic advisors to actualize VNR's overseas business intrests. Q: What kind of quality checks does VNR do? Are its processes certified? A: At VNR the greatest care is taken to maintain production standards for best hybridisation levels and to avoid contamination. A thoroughly trained production team ensures the most stringent quality control measures. In May 2006, our R&D unit was certified by the department of scientific and industrial research. Q: As a company that prides itself as for the farmers by a farmer, what kind of involvement in social welfare does VNR have? A: As part of its commitment to giving only the best to fellow-farmers, the management of VNR ensures that its commitment goes beyond just its products and adds value to the life of fellow-farmers. The company, however, refrains from propagating business by using the

VNR banner in any of these activities. Along with experts in my staff, I hold meetings every Tuesday with farmers from surrounding areas at the company farm in Gomchi where we discuss various aspects of their work. We try to answer their queries and resolve their problems and also give them tips to improve their methods and enhance their yield. These meetings also serve as a good opportunity to update them about the latest technologies in farming. VNR also donates seed samples to them and various NGOs working for farmers. In 2001, we formed the Sabji Utpadak Sangh - a forum to bring together all vegetable farmers to minimize the middlemen problem and adopt steps to maximize profits. Through the association, all member farmers are sent the daily rates of vegetables by fax so that the market can be regulated by supplying surplus to other states. Apart from all this, we recognize the need to encourage education in order to empower young blood in agriculture and create a more informed breed of farmer-businessmen. In a step towards this purpose, we provide scholarships to children of farmers in Gomchi village for academic excellence. Q: What is VNR looking forward to in terms of growth in the future? A: We have phase-wise plans for the future to take the company ahead and give it an even more competitive edge. Among them are plans to expand and stabilize operations across India. Our overseas business intrests are shaping up very well. On an immediate note, we are making a foray into the Bangladesh market. As far as our products are concerned, we have at least 20 new varieties of seeds in vegetables and crops like paddy, cucurbits, chillies and egg plant in the wings. We also intend to automate our various business processes. Furthermore, in future we will work on identifying locations or area specific problems for various crops and develop resistance breeding so that we can offer products which can save farmers time and money and give them good quality harvest and great profits. Q: What role you visualize for VNR in terms of Farm-to-Retail scenerio? A: We are looking forward to play an important role in value chain where the new-age corporate farmers are doing the backward integration and redefining supply chain dynamics so as to implement farm-to-retail strategy. We aim to partner as agri-input and know-how providers to these strong corporate retailers wherein we provide the best quality seeds to their contract farmers who in turn supply the high yielding quality products to forthcoming green retail outlets all across the nation and extend the price advantage benefit to end consumer. Most of our varities have been researched to enhance the keeping quality of our products, this eventually will increase transportability of products giving flexibility in managing cold chain as back-end to forthcoming retail outlets.

Social Responsibility

As part of its commitment to giving only the best to fellow-farmers, the management of VNR Seeds ensures that it translates its concern into action. The company, however, refrains from propagating business by using the VNR banner in any of these activities. From One Farmer to Another

CMD Vimal Chawda and other VNR experts hold meetings every Tuesday with farmers from surrounding areas at the company farms in Gomchi. At these interactive sessions, farmers discuss various aspects of their work with the VNR officials. They are given tips to improve their methods and enhance their yield and are also updated by the experts on the latest technologies in farming. Various topics like irrigation, plant protection and agronomic practices of different vegetable crops are discussed. The VNR management also guides small-scale/marginal vegetable growers around the VNR farm who approach them for advice to deal their respective problem areas. Besides, the company donates seed samples to them and various NGOs working for farmers. In 1974, founder Shri Narayan Chawda formed the Navin Beej Utpadak Sahakari Samiti. The society is dedicated to the welfare of fellow farmers. Its aim is to multiply production of acclimatized seeds for rice, potato and vegetables in Chhattisgarh and supply quality seeds and fertilizers and pesticides at reasonable rates to local farmers. Nurturing The Future The VNR management recognizes the need to encourage education in order to empower young blood in agriculture and create a more informed breed of farmerbusinessmen. In a step towards this purpose, VNR provides scholarships to children of farmers in Gomchi village for academic excellence.