Sunday 9 September 2012

Agriculture Strategy in India: Some Thoughts


‘Green Revolution’ in the 1960s has been the only major breakthrough in the agriculture sector in India. This was the result of pioneering work by agricultural scientists and the efforts of farmers. High agricultural production and productivity achieved in subsequent years has been the main reason behind attaining food self-sufficiency to a large extent. However, the country has not witnessed any big technological breakthrough in agriculture since then. The food safety net for a population of over 1.2 billion requires enhanced agricultural production and productivity in the form of a Second Green Revolution. Further, there is an urgent need to focus on ways to achieve higher production and productivity levels in pulses, oilseeds, fruits, and vegetables, which was out of the ambit of the First Green Revolution, but are, nevertheless, essential for nutritional security. Moreover, achieving high level of production in the allied sectors of dairy, poultry, meat and fisheries is also essential, not only to widen livelihood opportunities and enhance rural income, but also to add to the supply basket of nutritious food . The relatively weak supply responses to price hikes in agricultural commodities, especially food articles, in the recent past, has raised the issue of efficient supply chain management and need for sustained levels of growth in agriculture and allied sectors. Investment in rural infrastructure, in the form of irrigation, roads, bridges, market yard/ market complex/ rural mall (e.g. ITC’s Choupal Sagar), warehousing, cold chain, and power transmission infrastructure, could lead to a rapid and sustainable growth in agricultural production and productivity.  Most important, the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act needs to be amended by all States, to enable farmers to sell their produce at the right price at the market of their choice. Thus, the choice before the nation is to invest more in agriculture and allied sectors with the right strategies, policies, and interventions. This is also a ‘necessary’ condition for ‘inclusive growth’ and for ensuring that the benefits of growth reach a larger number of people.

Over the past few years, several discerning changes have been observed in rural India, which will go a long way in redefining agriculture and would also have a significant impact on the investment credit requirements for primary production, areas of diversified activities, trends in value addition and supply chains. While the face of traditional on-farm activities has altered significantly since the onset of the Green Revolution, some of the basic features of this remarkable change relate to (a) an increasing number of small and marginal farmers with progressive decline in average size of holding; (b) increased usage of high yielding varieties of seeds, quality inputs and modern equipment necessitating higher investment credit; (c) deceleration in rate of growth in production of food crops particularly in agriculturally advanced states like Punjab; (d) limited progress in technology adoption especially in rain-fed areas. The diversified and new farm activities observed are: (a) an increased trend towards commercial and horticulture crops but with almost imperfect markets for these crops; (b) greater importance to food cash crops like sugarcane, oilseeds, spices and condiments, fruits and vegetables, etc.; (c) emergence of hi-tech agriculture and organic farming; (d) a shift towards market-led demand-led agricultural production; (e) a significant increase in the share of output of allied sectors viz., dairy, poultry and fisheries and horticulture crops in the agricultural GDP.  Concomitantly, there has been an emergence of new post-harvest activities, viz. (a) food processing; (b) storages, godowns, market yards and activities related to grading and certification; (c) increasing importance of services sector in rural areas. Reform in agricultural marketing is long overdue as APMC Act restricts the sale of produce outside market yards. Such restrictive provisions need to be removed.

In the changing agricultural environment, Research and Development (R&D) in agriculture needs to be demand driven, with involvement of farmers in technology development. While the public sector could play a catalytic role, the entire R&D process could be made more pluralistic by involving public, private farmers’ organizations, and the voluntary sector. In this context, the corporate sector can play a prominent role in funding R&D and transfer technology from ‘lab to land’, as part of an integrated contract farming model. There is a need to refocus R&D agenda from crop centric research in irrigated areas to location specific cropping systems in dry lands, hills and tribal areas. Greater attention needs to be directed towards horticulture crops which are land and water saving. Efforts may also be made for harnessing remote sensing technologies to optimize application of inputs and exploring areas in emerging capital-intensive biotechnology. There is a need to upscale water saving agronomic and management practices like System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and energy saving irrigation methods (drip and sprinkler) to increase agriculture productivity.  Major, medium and minor irrigation projects sanctioned should also have a component of R&D. NABARD and banks need to collaborate with agriculture universities, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, etc. to help farmers improve and diversify farm produce. NABARD has also been advocating the need for banks to focus on financing Area Development Projects in agriculture and allied activities for intensified area development, leading to rapid capital formation.

Noted agricultural scientist Professor M. S. Swaminathan mooted the idea of an ‘Evergreen Revolution’. This implies not just increase in crop yield but also productivity without social or ecological damage. Professor Swaminathan had demonstrated that there was a need for agricultural renewal which would address the aspects of soil health, irrigation and water supply, technology transfer from ‘lab to land’ in post harvest phases, and market advice to farmers. In this context, there is a need for doubling food production in the country, with a special focus on increasing the output of fruits and vegetables.

Rainfed areas are particularly prone to year-to-year fluctuations of production and degradation of environmental resources. Concerted efforts are needed to rejuvenate their natural resource base as also to stabilise and augment the income sources of farm households. The experience of NABARD in participatory investments with community based watershed development projects in dry land areas under the Watershed Development Fund has shown that watershed projects, when designed, implemented and maintained through community participation and voluntary community labour, are better executed in terms of technical parameters and lead to substantial downstream benefits for all participants. Similarly, Watershed Development Projects implemented by NABARD under Indo-German Watershed Development Programme in water scarce districts of Maharashtra can be replicated in other states having similar environment.  Significantly, the Integrated Watershed Development initiative of ITC has helped create freshwater potential covering over 64,000 hectares in water-stressed areas.  Based on a participatory approach, the programme facilitates building, reviving and maintaining water harvesting structures as well as management of water resources to reverse land degradation, provide critical irrigation and increase agricultural productivity.  HUL is another company which is implementing a Water Conservation and Harvesting project with two major objectives, viz. (a) to reduce water consumption in its own operations and regenerate sub-soil water tables at its own sites through the principles of 5Rs viz. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover and Renew; and (b) help adjacent villages to implement appropriate models of watershed development. Similarly, Reliance Rural Development Trust (RRDT) promoted by RIL has been constructing check-dams for conserving water and to raise water tables of the surrounding areas. These initiatives by the corporate sector could be synergized by dovetailing them with programmes promoted/ implemented by government departments/agencies and NABARD.