OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2012. Rallis India, a Tata enterprise and a leading player in the Indian crop protection industry, inaugurated the first Tata Rallis Agri Input Training Scheme (TRAITS) in Odisha, in partnership with the directorate of agriculture, government of Odisha. This event was organised at the Institute of Management of Agricultural Extension, Bhubaneswar. The programme was inaugurated by RS Gopalan, director of agriculture, Odisha, in presence of other dignitaries like Nandini Dalai, DDA and PP. Twenty five TRAITS trainees who have been selected for the scheme participated in the inaugural function with their guardians.

Talking at the inauguration of the programme, V Shankar, managing director, Rallis India, said, “After conducting three successful TRAITS pilot programmes in Baramati in Maharashtra, Birbhum in West Bengal and Dharwad in Karnataka, we are excited about bringing this initiative to Odisha. With TRAITS, we intend to provide support to those interested in a career in agriculture and guide them with a planned training programme. We hope our effort will help these youngsters improve their performance, get fair remuneration and a better quality of life.”

TRAITS is a unique initiative by Rallis India designed with the Tata group’s values and its corporate social responsibility principles in mind. Under this initiative, the employability of non-graduate rural youths from farming background is enhanced by training them in agri-marketing and crop advising, and enable them to take up a career in these specialisations. It is an earn-while-you-learn training programme for acquiring skills required to work in the agri-inputs industry. TRAITS provides the rural youths an industry and government recognised certificate with employment support for a minimum of two years after successful completion of training.

Minimum SSC pass and non-graduate rural youths with a farming background are selected for this programme and trained in-house as well as on the job in collaboration with government run Krishi Vigyan Kendras, with help from the existing front line sales force.

After successful completion of a one-year training programme, these candidates are given employment support for a minimum of two years at Rallis India.