Agricultural CEO of the Year 2023 (South East Asia) With offices in Kenya, Uganda, Cameroon, Togo, Ghana, Dubai, India, and Singapore, NutriSource Pte Ltd. is a futuristic organisation dedicated to improving the livelihoods of farmers across Africa. To this end, it provides them with the best quality fertilisers and agrochemical products, helpful farm advisory services, and use of an inclusive end to end agritech platform called Farmsanta. Here, we dive deeper into the services the company provides, as well as the expertise of its renowned Founder and CEO, Murari Mohan Rakshit. In agriculture, inputs are defined as products permitted for use in farming, including fertilisers, bio fertilizers and plant protection products. Founded in 2019, NutriSource is a technologydriven, service-oriented farm input and advisory service organisation that engages directly with farmers, providing them with a range of integrated solutions. Through this, it enables farmers to improve their yield and the quality of their produce, ultimately improving their livelihoods while promoting sustainable agriculture. Firstly, NutriSource strives to provide farmers with high-quality fertilisers and agrochemicals that contain the right nutrients for a wide range of crops. To do this, it manufactures, processes, and distributes inputs to farmers across Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, selling them at affordable prices. The company also supports marginal farmers by providing them with access to finance, ensuring they have everything they need to maximise productivity. NutriSource works with some of the largest fertiliser producers in the world to deliver various top quality straight, complex fertilizers and specialty fertilisers suitable to Africa soil and crops. As well as this, the company has collaborated with the Ministry of Agriculture in Togo to set up its own customised NPK blending facility, which produces cropspecific, soil-customised NPK. The plant is the first of its kind in the region, catering to the needs of Togo as well as neighbouring countries like Burkina, Faso, and Ghana. Impressively, the facility would achieve net zero using state-of-the-art technology to minimise carbon emissions. Commercial production at this location would start in June 2023. Furthermore, NutriSource has recently started importing and distributing top quality cropspecific agrochemicals, including a complete range of crop protection chemicals, to support local farmers in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia. By providing them with these products, NutriSource offers incredible support to the farmers of Sub-Saharan Africa to cater their wide crop specific needs. However, the company does not stop there. Its team of agricultural experts have designed an unique, end to end, integrated mobile and web app for farmers, regulatory bodies, and agricultural service providers. The app, named FarmSanta, aims to improve farm efficiency, optimise nutrient management, and increase the income of marginal farmers by bringing market access to their doorsteps and facilitating rural e-commerce. In October 2022, the platform was launched in Cameroon and Kenya, and had attracted over 8000 users by April 2023. Additionally, NutriSource supports farmers through agricultural advisory services, providing them with knowledge, training, and advice for the entire crop lifecycle. Its team of experts, well-equipped with PhDs in Agronomy, Soil Science, Entomology, Pathology and Genetics, provide 24/7 complete advisory services, both on-site and through the FarmSanta app. By sharing knowledge with farmers, NutriSourse strives to increase productivity and promote the sustainable agriculture in Africa. Moving forward, NutriSource is working to set up its second NPK plant in West Africa region, partnering with government nominated partners to cater to the needs of Region’s agriculture. This project is expected to commence production by May,2024. Such an innovative and successful company must be headed by an experienced and skilled leader. Murari Mohan Rakshit, NutriSource’s Founder, Director and CEO, is a passionate leader with a strong belief in enhancing farm productivity and transforming the livelihoods of farmers through inputs, service management, and technology. With a bachelor’s degree in agriculture and a postgraduate degree in business management from IIM, a famous management institution in India, Murari is well-educated in his field. He is also highly experienced in the agricultural input and business industry, having worked with numerous well-known industry professionals throughout his career. Before founding NutriSource, he was Vice President of Olam International Ltd., where he set up the Fertilizer business and played a key role in conceptualising, planning, resourcing, and constructing a large-scale urea factory in Gabon, Africa. Recently Murari has been conferred with Professional Doctorate in Business Management by European International University Paris in recognition to his professional accomplishments and contributions to the fertilizer industry. Over the years, Murari has become renowned for his knowledge of the global fertiliser and input value chain, his advocacy for farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, and his global network of stakeholders. Considering his extensive knowledge and experience, he was in a great position to found NutriSource. Through his business, Murari aims to provide farmers with the best quality inputs and agricultural advisory services in the industry. He is also proud to offer them the new digital ecosystem, FarmSanta, which he played a key role in developing. Furthermore, Murari currently serves as an IFA Ambassador for the Republic of Singapore, a SAT member of the IFA PA and Communication Committee, a member of the IFA Market Intelligence Committee and the Africa Committee, a Task Force Member in the Sustain Africa Initiative, and a Steering Committee Member for Precision Crop Nutrition. Murari is also a prominent speaker in leading global fertiliser conferences arranged by organisations such as the IFA, Argus, CRU, and GPCA. He proudly represented the IFA at the 2019 United Nations conference at its headquarters in New York where he spoke about the responsibility of the agricultural input industry to achieve sustainability. As a result of his unparalleled passion for his business, as well as everything he has achieved as CEO of NutriSource, Murari Mohan Rakshit has been
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