“If agriculture has to grow, industry must grow first”: Ram Bhogale calls for Marathwada’s second liberation struggle

Marathwada must now fight a second liberation struggle, this one economic, senior industrialist Ram Bhogale said here on Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din, delivering the chief guest's address at the special edition of the UDYAM — Viksit Marathwada mission organised by CASMB (Chamber for Advancement of Small and Medium Businesses) at MIT, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

“As a young man I believed agriculture deserved priority and industry deserved less. Annasaheb Shinde demolished that belief,” Bhogale said. “Had fertilisers, seeds, pesticides and processing industries not grown, it would have been impossible to fill the plates of a rising population. If you want agriculture to grow, industry must grow first.”

Bhogale was sharply critical of how government schemes work on the ground. “Budget allocations are large. But where does that money go, and does the benefit reach the genuinely needy? To pocket the subsidy and never build the enterprise — that is this society's great regret,” he said. He pointed to the large, still-unused scope for low-investment processing units in Marathwada, and outlined his current work on compressed biogas (CBG) projects generating power from maize and biomass for farmers and villages.

Announcing the mission's core commitment, CASMB Secretary General Dr. Umesh Kamble said the chamber will hold such programmes every two months, without a break, for five years. “Nobody will come from outside to start your business; you will have to build it yourself,” he said.

MIT Director General Munish Sharma said India leads the world in cotton production but lags neighbouring countries in yield per hectare, and called for fresh research, trials beyond black soil and improved soil quality, as organic fibres displace synthetic fabrics. B. S. Khose, President of the UDCT Alumni Association, Marathwada Chapter, said processing and marketing matter more than production alone: “If an activity does not earn money and does not save money, that activity has no meaning.” Mahesh Dongare of Seva Bharati, Devgiri Prant, urged students to build livelihoods within Marathwada rather than migrate to Pune and Mumbai, pointing to funding of Rs 10 crore to Rs 20 crore per project available under schemes such as Govardhan Yojana. In a video message, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan of MSSRF stressed women farmers, nutrition-led agriculture and value addition, welcoming MSSRF's partnership with CASMB to create rural entrepreneurs.

Five sessions through the day covered women farmers and MSME empowerment, climate change, water and industrial development, AI in agriculture, carbon markets, the turmeric and mango value chains, agri-tourism, fodder clusters, food policy and regulation, and export openings — from hesperidin out of dropped sweet lime fruit to plant protein from soybean and tur, with APEDA cautioning that compliance with rules such as the European Union's Deforestation Act is now non-negotiable. Rajesh Urkude of the Maharashtra Silk Association flagged that Marathwada produces 60 per cent of the state's cocoons but sends them to Karnataka for processing. District Superintending Agriculture Officer Deepak Gawali, felicitated for the district's first rank in the state under PMFME, reported nearly Rs 1,100 crore spent on women and farmers in the district and division. Regional entrepreneurs and startup founders were felicitated at the valedictory.

The edition was held in association with the UDCT Alumni Association (Marathwada Chapter), Seva Bharati Devgiri, AFSTI Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Chapter, MIT CSN, Saptahik Krushi Vivek, MSSRF and Jalasamvad. APEDA and India Post were Local to Global Partners, PMFME an associate, and ‘Moola Chaalo’ the skill and entrepreneurship partner.