Page:Sharad Joshi - Leading Farmers to the Centre Stage.pdf/74

 future life Joshi never lived ostentatiously but he always valued economic wellbeing and never glorified poverty in a manner many social workers tended to do. The second realization was the basic importance of rich agriculture. No doubt there were many reasons for Swiss economy being so strong but rich agriculture was certainly one of them. Surplus of agriculture led to small units processing farm output, thereby giving rise to small factories in rural areas which led to higher income level of the masses, which in turn provided market for large industries. He discovered that in a nation of barely eight million people, less than half the population of a city like Mumbai, there were 26,000 cooperative milk societies and all were doing well. Average yield of milk per cow was between 30 and 40 liters a day, more than ten times the yield in India. This milk was processed, leading to abundance of butter, cheese, yoghurt, milk powder and many other dairy items. A company like Nestle could dominate the global food industry. Government did encourage large industries but never allowed agriculture to fail by giving it adequate subsidies whereby a farmer could always sell his produce with a decent margin. The third point was the importance of technology in improving lives of people. Joshi used to be fascinated by technology. Tony had mentioned that, ‘Whenever any new gadget came in our office he was eager to use it. In those days, use of computers was limited but Joshi was quick to learn and master it. Even after reaching home in the evening his hobby was to assemble different parts to make an electronic train. For that game he had bought some expensive equipment. In 1972-73 Joshi did a course in Lausanne called Diploma in Data Processing, Computer Programming and Systems Analysis. Every Saturday-Sunday he used to go to Lausanne for his classes. After doing this course he was appointed as Head, Data Processing Centre; the designation he had when he left the job.’ Years in Switzerland

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