Bayer is venturing deeper into sustainable farming, says D Narain

It’s a little before one in the afternoon as I enter Indian Accent at The Lodhi, a central location in New Delhi and a 10-minute drive from the Taj on Mansingh Road where Mumbai-based Duraiswami Narain, senior Bayer representative for South Asia, is staying.

The area is a reflection of Delhi’s history as well as its architecture through various periods. In the vicinity is the tomb of Mohammad Shah, a Sayyid dynasty ruler of the Delhi Sultanate, built in the 15th century by his son, Alauddin Alam Shah, though it is more famous for its Lodi Gardens. The Lodhi hotel, however, stands like any other structure in the city. The location was earlier occupied by a government-owned hotel, which was privatised in 2002 as part of the Vajpayee government’s privatisation programme. After some name and ownership changes, the only slice of history left in it now is its name.

At the Indian Accent, I take a corner table, facing a window aisle that has pots with small yellow chrysanthemums brightening up the space. To my left is Amrit Pasricha’s black-and-white photograph of the Lodi Gardens occupying a place of pride on a wall.

Dressed in a deep blue band collar shirt and dark cotton pants, Narain walks in with a warm smile. His company, Bayer, completed 125 years in India this April. Synonymous with agro-chemicals, Bayer, which took over Monsanto in 2018, forayed into the consumer health space in June 2021. This, along with its joint venture with Cadila, is helping it focus on health and wellness, things people are most concerned about in Covid times.

We are, however, meeting at a time when the withdrawal of the three farm laws, a victory for the agitating farmers, has left many wondering whether the presence of large companies will always be viewed with suspicion in the country and if there is a middle path between farmer welfare and profitability of companies.

We are served complementary bite-sized Danish blue cheese naans along with cauliflower and saffron shorba in traditional ceramic shot glasses. The shorba, sprinkled with Indian spices, is warm and nice for a winter afternoon, the cauliflower notwithstanding.

I ask Narain his views on the withdrawal of the farm laws even though many states have similar laws. He sidesteps any political discussion but thoughtfully replies, “This whole focus on collectivisation of farms and driving through the FPOs (farmer producer organisations) is here to stay because the ability to get clusters together is the only way you can reach more farmers and drive change. The effort should be to help FPOs scale up and have good people running it.”

Narain, 58, might be a chartered accountant by qualification but farm business is where his heart lies. He was part of ITC's launch team for its agri business and the famous Sundrop brand of edible oil. In 1998, he joined Monsanto as its chief financial officer for the India region, and when Bayer bought Monsanto, he took over as the company’s South Asia head.

Isn’t it a tightrope walk for companies like his, which are both into chemicals and genetically modified seeds at a time when there is a global move towards sustainable farming? Narain says it is important to have affordable and safe food while alongside making farming profitable. “We are seeing space for all kinds of farming. It is not possible to feed the world with organic food alone,” he says.

Then he turns to ask if there are salads on the menu. The Manish Mehrotra curated restaurant, however, is known more for its innovative menu that combines north Indian dishes with western ingredients, like cheese and berries, which may not appeal to an orthodox palate. I ask Narain whether he likes fusion food. “Earlier, I used to ask my wife to pack stuffed parathas for me whenever I went abroad, but over the years I have started to try out different kinds of food,” he concedes.

We decide to order a three-course set meal after going through the menu to keep it simple. The first course includes a dal pakwan, a traditional Rajasthani dish, which has been modified to have a gooey filling topped with a few grains of channa dal namkeen and mint chutney. Along with it, there is herb cheese vada pao and quinoa dahi bhalla with chutney aloo. Narain seems to like the pakwan, though I prefer the dahi bhalla. The dishes keep coming and we learn that it is a total of 10 items that we will be served. “The problem is they don’t tell you that with the three courses there are sub-courses as well,” Narain says, laughing out loud.

We get back to discussing what Bayer is doing in this Covid-scarred world where many do not want to go to cities for work. “In the last two years, the transformation has been stark with the stakeholders coming together and saying we have to resolve this. It is not about selling products and walking away but knowing whether the farmers are making money and are they doing sustainable agriculture,” he says.

Bayer is in a multi-stakeholder global coalition with International Finance Corporation and Netafim, for the Better Life Farming alliance that focuses on the agri-value chain. In India, the alliance works with local partners, including Yara Fertilisers for soil and nutrient management, DeHaat, AgriBazaar, and BigBasket as off-takers, Tata Trusts for improving rural livelihoods, and with Axis Bank for financing.

Our enthusiastic server is back and brings spiced corn muthia and burrata over a small methi roti. “I would request you to use your hands to roll it and eat,” he instructs.

Narain is clearly enjoying the roll, which is neither spicy nor has oil sticking to it. He gets back to telling me how the digital piece is important both for creating awareness and for monitoring. The company keeps a tab on the chemical and water use to see if the sustainable matrix is getting better. One of the systems being tested is the rice model where water efficiency, soil health and environmental emissions have been integrated. Pilots are going on with 1,000-1,500 farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. “The moment you are able to do this, you are trying to drive from intensive to much more sustainable farming,” he says.

Anar churan kulfi shorbet arrives in small model pressure cookers, leaving Narain intrigued whether this is a dessert. But it turns out this is to neutralise our palates before we are served lotus root shammi, roast potato and nihari. We are hardly left with an appetite for the main course of black dairy dal, caramelised walnut raita and three varieties of small-size kulcha portions. I finish the raita but Narain is focusing more on the dal and kulcha.

He tells me that going with multiple partners has helped Bayer to improve its credibility with farmers because “you are no longer seeing them a few times in the year; you are there across the whole value chain”.

Since people are looking at the outcome of farmers, he strongly feels you have to make agriculture a business. “Farmers respect farmers who are successful, so there could be a multiplier effect,” he says emphatically.

The last course of blue berry and red currant-topped soft baked chocolate with milk crisps and basundi spread leaves us satiated beyond our expectation. Narain quickly pulls out his phone and clicks a picture. “My daughter is a foodie. I should send this to her.”

Though we decide to wash off the elaborate meal with green tea, I am hardly able to sip even half a cup. Narain has another meeting in the lobby, so we exchange goodbyes in the hope that India’s villages will be much more sustainable, both in terms of income as well as environment.