19% of the diesel consumption is in the agriculture sector in India....! Just read the Petroleum Minister's speech in Sep 2008

Just read the speech and look the challenges and statistics.

Diesel is the backbone fuel of our economy. Nearly 19% of the diesel consumption is in the agriculture sector upon which depends the country’s food security. In addition, it is used by transport sector as well as for industrial use. The Government on its part has kept the prices of diesel below market price so that the agriculture and transport sectors are insulated from the unprecedented rise of crude oil prices in the international market. Consequently, the Government bears approximately Rs. One lakh crore of the under-recovery on Diesel. This, however, is creating some problems as, due to massive power shortages, usage of Diesel in power generation is increasing.

www.petroleum.nic.in/speeches/30-09-08.doc,
Speech by Minister (P&NG), Oil Industry meeting, September 2008

But there are basic challenges and the challenges we are working to address on the ground. Farmers in India as agriculture entrepreneurs

a.Want a ROI from investments in fragmented land holdings, capital, time and labor in agriculture

b.Optimize and safeguard their investments from diverse environmental conditions ~ Soil, Water & Crop

c. Lack the access to working capital for agriculture for their cropcycles and thus in constant debt

d.Lack the Direct Access to markets for their products (seeds) due to multiple levels of Intermediation

e. Access to energy for agriculture – Irrigation (Pumps), land and cropcycle preparation (Tractors) & Agri transportation (Tractors & MUVs/SUVs/etc), which are largely Diesel based and drive costs up, impacting their yields and productivity of investments.

Through what model? http://fellows.rdvp.org/gerard-rego/aggregation-of-fragmented-supply-chains-as-a-community2b-intermediation-business-model-i and look at the image.

Potential long term impact? 2% of India's 100m+ farming & rural communities, 2% of India's energy use for diesel from SVO (non-edible,Straight Vegetable Oil). Macro-impact on micro-communities.

We are in it for the long haul. Micro is the next Macro!