To imagine or “the ability to see what is not there and to bring it into being” is what Felipe Fernández-Armesto claims to be the startling ability that has fuelled human history for centuries in his book “Out of Our Minds: What We Think and How We Came to Think It.” As a species, he argues, we stand alone in our remarkable capacity to refashion the world after the image in our minds. Yet how does imagination work? What are the cognitive processes that enable us to see beyond our senses? Fernández-Armesto addresses such questions by drawing upon insights from cognitive scientists and evolutionary biologists who tell us that evolution has bequeathed us abundant “powers of anticipation” and relatively “feeble memories” and that imagination arises from “collusion of these two faculties”.
Probably Mr. Abbas Ali Bohra from a non descriptive town called Khargone in Madhya Pradesh had similar thinking ability as Fernández-Armesto described. In 1975, when the entire country was turning to fertilisers, pesticides which the farming community even today calls as “dava” (medicine), he took a baby step in a different direction—toward responsible farming and started Ezzy Group. Serving over two lakh farmers by giving them quality solutions for farming was not as easy as the company gets pronounced—Ezzy. Eventually, the company, with its constant dedication made all of them happy in every part of their crop rotation.
It’s no secret that despite the changing dynamics and advancement in technology, the rural population still engaged in farming its allied sectors as their occupation as food industry is eventually is going to be the top most industry of the world. In all probabilities it may change its shape and processes but food production and its consumption can never stop.
The greed amidst some however led to overuse of chemical fertilisers and pesticides, the overall crop and soil quality started going down. The overuse of toxic and hazardous chemicals has led to numerous health issues after years of consumption of these crops. A frightening example is about a train that is called as “cancer express” that runs between Punjab and Bikaner in Rajasthan. That is because every passenger in that train is from farming community and suffers from the dreaded disease called cancer.
The current generation has notice of it. While it was far easy for Mr Bohra’s son Dr. Idris Ali Bohra to steer the company towards responsible farming from 2006, since a strong 31 years of foundation was laid already. Since the younger Bohra was already involved in that noble thought it was not difficult for him to start a manufacturing unit in Khargone with a vision of a toxic-free solution to the farmers by developing a new range of organic and toxic-free products.
More About The Leader
Dr. Idris Ali Bohra completed M. A. Economics from Khargone College. Soon, he joined his father to serve the farming community. Dr. Idris had support from his father to serve the farming community with low cost and quality productions. He achieved a huge milestone in 2004, where he introduced a new variety of fertilisers which are said to be 100% water-soluble fertilisers. He was the first person in the entire Madhya Pradesh to do so and get a license from the agriculture department. This good-will work was recognised not only within the state but even by the American Royal University. For his innovative contribution to the nation’s development and to the services of humanity, they awarded him ‘Honorary Doctorate of Philosophy’ on him.
Serving the Farming Community
After working with his father, Dr. Idris eventually started to realise the adverse effect of excessive use of chemicals whose after effects was not seen in the soil quality but also visible in the form of cancer in human body. That bothered him immensely. So, he decided to work on some new range of pesticides. He ensured that these new products will show better results in crop production while preserving the environment and health of not only common men but also of farmers who are exposed to the toxic chemicals that emirate poison from their fields.
In 2012, Dr. Idris established an R & D centre where highly qualified professionals were selected. These professionals would work towards developing a new range of novel enzymes and vitamin-based crop solution. Eventually, Dr. Idris and his team started working on plant extract from a botanical range of pesticides. After 2 years of hard work, Ezzy’s R & D developed a new extraction process which needed to be done in 5 different stages. The result turned out to be outstanding. The team was successful in the extraction of all the beneficial ingredients from plants. Later on, Ezzy R & D team developed some fungicide, virucide, miticide, larvicide and bio-stimulant from neem seeds, karanj seeds, turmeric, garlic, aloe vera, moringa leaf, dhatura and many other plants with 5G Extraction Technology. These are the most innovation where these extracts without any chemicals, pesticides or fertilisers to control fungus, virus, larva, and red-mites as effectively as pesticides with chemical does.
Challenging Journey After Joining his Family Business
Dr. Idris started personally visiting farmers on the ground regularly and started discussing their crop-related problems. He tried to identify the root cause of each disease and started giving solutions accordingly. The suggestions came from the ground made him think about the future. Needless to say that these conversation led to innovations by making new range of products that better crop production.
When Ezzy Bio Sciences launched its first product in 2004, a 100% water-soluble fertiliser, the M.P agriculture department seldom issued any licenses to such companies. The company had to struggle a lot to make the respective authorities understand the issue of and provide it with necessary permission, which became the first of its kind then. Despite all this major obstacle, Ezzy Bio Sciences could come with a much lower cost solution which was open-heartedly welcomed by most of the farmers.
Ezzy Backbone is its R & D
Ezzy has its own in-house R & D and Laboratory where well-qualified M.Sc and PhD agriculture professionals constantly work to develop a new product range. Its aim is to produce 100% toxin-free and better result-oriented products. Dr. Idris says, “We produce 100% quality products where each and every batch of products has been tested in our in-house laboratory before being dispatched. “We are the first company worldwide who introduced Azadirachtin 0.1% in SL form and we are the first company in India who has got CIB registration for the export,” says Dr Idris. “Apart from this we also developed a range of plants extract bio-stimulant as per the rough draft plan of agriculture ministry of India which matches the requirement of European bio-stimulant category,” he adds proudly. What makes Ezzy Bio Science different is that its products like organic pesticides and bio-stimulant are in accordance with the EUS. All its products are 100% toxin-free and high in quality.
Applaudable Achievements
Ezzy under the leadership of Dr. Idris have excelled in delivering outstanding products to its customers. The company’s hard work got recognised by various prestigious platforms. Here are a few noteworthy awards :
- International Quality Excellence award, Delhi – 2006
- Best Bio-Fertilisers manufacture award by Agriculture department of Government Madhya Pradesh in 2016
- The 50 Most Influential rural marketing professional of India, Mumbai – 2019
- Best Entrepreneur of the year 2019, Bangalore – 2019
Giving Back to The Society
Ezzy is already uplifting the society by providing low cost and eco-friendly products to the farmers. Furthermore, through its regular visits to the farmers, the company ensures that their future needs are met by the team Ezzy. The company has been spreading awareness of the adverse effects of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. It also educates the farmers on how to use fertilisers, pesticides to increase their soil fertility. Analysis of weather report is being taught to these farmers through the technical support team of Ezzy. Apart from this, there is a need for taking care of the environment. Ezzy is working on making the environment toxin-free through the exclusive use of Bio-pesticides.
Dr.Idris says, “Due to chemical fertilisers, our food has become more poisonous which is destroying our health. We are working seriously to stop the use of chemical pesticides and fertilisers by replacing them with non-toxic products for increasing the quality of foods. Since the past few years, there has been an increasing rate of awareness. We have set a goal to spread a message to the farmers for adopting organic farming worldwide with the help of the respective Governments. Each and every country has identified the effect of chemical pesticides and fertilisers and they are promoting organic farming,” adds Dr Idris.
Overseas Presence
Currently, Ezzy is working with more than 40 countries where its products have been accepted to a great extent by these country’s authorities as well as the farmers. The mission is to educate farmers to move towards organic farming, to make them realise its long term benefits and profit gained by producing better quality crops. Dr. Idris believes that farmers have a very high position in building a nation. He says that every person should somehow serve them. Ezzy is already on this mission by providing 100% result- oriented quality products which will help to reduce their investment cost while increasing the crop production.
Future Planning
Ezzy is planning to launch a Mobile-based App where farmer can get on-time solutions, where-in the farmer seeking help can send the pictures of his crop and a dedicated team upon receiving the picture will decode the current status of the crop and the scientist attached to the call centre would immediately answer the farmer so that instant actions can be taken to arrest any spread of disease. The App-based solution will not only be extended to predict weather conditions for the next two weeks in advance but will also seek satellite assistance to get exact weather and expected crop growth. The future plan to make farmer far more tech-man while producing grains for human consumption.
