Addressing adverse impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, innovative technologies for human and environmental well-being, creating leadership among women, focus on non-farming communities and carbon positive development, are the strategic directions, stated Mr. Bharat Kakade, President and Managing Trustee at the 55th Foundation Day of BAIF which is serving 40 lakh families from one lakh villages in 12 states of India. The target is to reach 1.0 crore families in the next five years. The inherent capacity is the 6000 plus employees and dedicated field team. “Anna, Akshar, Arogya and Aacharan”- practiced by Shri. Arvindbhai Mafatlal, former Chairman, have been adopted with Gandhian engineering. Integration of human nutrition with conventional programmes, enriching the core programme with new age science and technology, agro-biodiversity and farm mechanisations are some of the immediate goals and Gandhian values, sustainability, institution building, being rooted to the ground and support from participant families, Central and State Governments, scientific institutions and corporate partners, are the guiding forces, he concluded.

The BAIF Annual Report, Research Highlights, Agroecology Approach to Sustainable Farming, Kaleidoscope – Resource Guide, Indigenous Crop Diversity – A Catalogue of Landraces, Establishment and Management of Community Seed Banks, Madhuca indica (Mahua): A Candidate Tree Catalogue and Approaches and Guidelines for Agro-biodiversity Conservation and Revival were released.

Best Cattle Development Centre In-charge – Mr. Rajkumar Maurya, UP, Best Multi-Activity Centre In-charge – Mr. Thippani Suresh, Telangana, Differently-abled AI technician – Mr. Sakhigopal Sahu, Odisha, Best Agricultural Farmer – Ms. Yashoda Yadav, MP, Best Dairy Farmer – Ms. Prema G.S., Karnataka and Best Wadi Farmer -Mr. Shamlal Vaishnav, Rajasthan. Dr. Manibhai Desai Gaurav Puraskar – Jamuna SHG, Betul, Second Best SHG – Urja Group, Urulikanchan and the Best SHG in Maharashtra – Mahalaxmi Matoshree Group.

The Guests of Honour were Mr. Vinod Kulkarni, CSR Head, The Tata Motors Ltd. and Mr. Santanu Ghoshal, Vice President, HR, Schaeffler India. Mr. Kulkarni appreciated the partnership with BAIF and the innovative hub programme for sustainable livelihood. Mr. Ghoshal expressed his appreciation of the work of BAIF and the impact of social investment.

Mr. Kishor Chaukar, Trustee, BAIF acknowledged the contribution of the messengers of BAIF in the growth of BAIF. Mr. Sunil Lalbhai, Chairperson, Finance Committee and HR Committee of BAIF Trustees appealed to BAIF to work on Five Minds of the Future for excellence.

Dr. Ashok Pande, Mr. Shrinivas Kulkarni, Mr. Sujit Gijare and Mr. Vijay Deshpande spoke on the occasion. The virtual event was attended by Mr. Girish Sohani, Principal Adviser and Trustee, BAIF and the BAIF staff.

​On August 24, 1967, the Foundation Stone of BAIF was laid at Urulikanchan, near Pune, by the-then President of India, Dr. Zakir Hussain. It took 20 years for Dr. Manibhai Desai, who came to Urulikanchan in 1946 with Mahatma Gandhi, to develop a suitable income generation programme to address rural poverty. With the support of farmer leaders of Maharashtra, Manibhai established a Charitable Trust – “Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation” (BAIF) to ensure remunerative employment for rural households at par with Industries and which was later renamed as “BAIF Development Research Foundation” to reiterate its focus on research and development for transferring modern, appropriate technologies to small farmers. The Founder Trustees included Shri. Yashwantrao Chavan, the-then Defence Minister of India as the Chairman, Shri. Vasantrao Naik, Chief Minister of Maharashtra as the Vice Chairman and Shri. Annasaheb Shinde, Union Minister of State for Agriculture, as Trustee. Later, Shri. Arvind Mafatlal joined the Trust as Chairman.

BAIF has contributed innovative and replicable models of development across the country. The climate-resilient multidisciplinary development programmes, professionally managed by more than 6000 employees, are benefitting 40 lakh families from 80,000 villages of 328 districts in 12 states. Over the years, various dignitaries have visited Urulikanchan including Prime Minister of India, Shri. Morarji Desai in 1977 and President of India, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2002. Prime Minister of India. Shri. Narendra Modi addressed BAIF through video conference on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee in 2017.

On the occasion of its 55th Foundation Day on August 24, 2021, BAIF acknowledges the valuable guidance of its Trustees and support of its donors, well-wishers and participant families.