Indian agriculture needs agents of change.
Farmers are in distress today in India. Here are some facts :
Over 3,00,000 farmers have committed suicide in the last 20 years; Almost 42% of the farmers want to quit farming;70% of the farmers own less than one hectare of land and supplement their income with non-farm activities like livestock rearing; More than 40% of the farmers avail the MGNREGA ( Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) card. Then there are hardy annuals - floods and droughts.
In spite of many irrigation projects, irrigated land is less than half of arable land.
Even when the farmers produce more, they are in distress as indicated by farmers’ agitation in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh this year. Prices of onions ( from Rs.800 to Rs.450),grapes ( from Rs.50 to Rs.15), soybeans ( from Rs.3500/3600 to Rs.2700/2800), red chilli ( from Rs.12,000 per quintal to Rs.3000 in A.P.) No wonder farmers in many states are on a warpath. Many state governments like Maharashtra, Punjab and UP have come out with loan waivers. This is just a band-aid, not a solution to the endemic problem of agriculture.
There has been a bias against farmers in India’s economic development. There was an effort to curb agricultural prices to contain inflation which affects the urban people, especially workers. “ Unfortunately,” say two agricultural economists, Ashok Gulati and Siraj Hussain, “ our policy is biased in favour of the consumers and that inadvertently makes it anti-farmer.” Mahatma Gandhi was right when he observed that urban people would do everything for the farmer except getting off from his back.
A farmer’s life is not a bed of roses, but of thorns. Indian agriculture is subject to vagaries of weather, input prices, government policies and the market prices. How to protect the farmer from these uncertainties is a challenge not just to the farmer but the country itself.
Independence and after
Our first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru built what he poetically called ‘ temples of India’ - many irrigation projects were launched and many agricultural colleges and universities were established to promote agriculture after Independence. After a while, India had to depend on PL 480 wheat from the USA. It was derided as ‘ ship-to-mouth’ existence. Old generation still remembers Lal Bahadur Shastri asking people to miss a meal every week to help cope with the scarcity of food. Then came the Green Revolution during the regime of Indira Gandhi.
Apart from subsidized inputs like fertilizers and power, distribution of good seeds, the government now provides interest subsidy and minimum support price (MSP). The Green Revolution started with hybrid seeds and extension services and this brought prosperity to Punjab, Haryana, Western UP and some parts of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. However, it failed to reach other parts of the country after India became self-sufficient in foodgrains ( rice & wheat). Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK) which are supposed to be the link between R&D institutions and the farmer failed in their role. KVK are not staffed fully, nor equipped for the task now.
Agriculture after 2000.
In the recent years, two state governments excelled in agriculture, and they are Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. While Gujarat notched about 10 % growth for a decade, Madhya Pradesh scaled more than 10% for over a decade. Gujarat undertook massive conservation activities through watershed development and provision of power for 8/10 hours at subsidized rates. In Madhya Pradesh ‘ bijli-paani-khreed-sadak’ formula did wonders for MPs agriculture’ says agricultural economist, Ashok Gulati. This growth in agriculture ensured success in the elections to both Narendra Modi and Shivraj Singh Chowhan. Too much success also brings too much pain. This year glut in the market crashed the prices of agricultural commodities which was compounded by imports.This highlights the need for fine-tuning the imports with production. All governments are scared of rising prices which leads to agitation by rival political parties. This time it is the farmers who were on a warpath with government.
After 2014, Modi government has taken many initiatives to promote agriculture and doubling farmers’ income - Irrigation ( Krishi Sinchayi Yojana), insurance( Fasal Bima Yojana), e-NAM (National Agricultural Market) linking 585 regulated markets in the country. Neem-coated urea has prevented its diversion. Soil-health card enables the farmers to know what to produce and what fertilizer to use for better yield from his land.
Agents of change
The Green Revolution helped India become self-sufficient in foodgrains in a short period, thanks to KVK - Krishi Vigyan Kendras. Strengthening them is the key. There is enough schemes with the government for the farmers’ prosperity. The timely delivery of the seeds and fertilizers, information on weather conditions, credit from the banks and marketing his produce are of prime needs of a farmer. The majority of the farmers have small farms and they need guidance to make them profitable ventures.
There is a vast man-power waiting to be harnessed to improve agriculture. India has 66 agricultural universities with 265 agricultural colleges affiliated to them. They produce 15,000 graduates, 11,000 post-graduates and 2500 Phds every year. There are about 3,15,000 professionally qualified personnel who can be tapped to serve KVKs. They should be contracted for a period of three to five years to guide small and marginal farmers. If they improve the productivity of the farmers and improve their income, they should be given promotion, incentives and even partnership with the farmers. They can suggest pooling of land in a village or form a co-operative like Amul. They can seek the help of NABARD for finance. Every village farm should be provided with professional help in every possible way.
Small farmers overuse fertilizers, pesticides, and do not know what to sow. They frequently change cropping pattern and this leads to overproduction of onions, potatoes and other crops.Recently 20 farm labourers died after inhaling poisonous pesticides in Yavatmal district in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. Vidarbha is the region where many farmers have committed suicide. It is also rain-shadow region of Maharashtra.
Anna Hazare changed the face of Ralegan Siddhi by harnessing water resources through water-shed development,and many other villages followed suit. One of them is Popatrao Pawar who brought prosperity to Hiware Bazar and he availed many of the schemes of the government to the village. Many villagers have returned to their earlier agricultural profession and some of them have become millionaires.
A leader or a guide for a village or cluster of villages can change the fortunes our villages. This is what the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis intends to do in 1000 villages especially in the drought affected villages. He has enlisted cooperation of corporates, and deployed a team of graduates.
Indian agriculture has a great future.
A few years ago the World Bank study had said India is a global power-house in agriculture. It is the largest producer of milk, pulses, spices, and has the largest cattle herd ( buffaloes), largest area under wheat, rice and cotton. It has the potential to be the largest exporter of farm products if we can increase the yield of our crop to the world level. It will make our farmers prosperous. All that we need is the agents of change.
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