Self-reliance in Agriculture

Context

The 3^rd tranche of Atma Nirbhar Bharat package included a host of measures ranging from improving agriculture infrastructure to governance reforms.

Background

In the backdrop of making India self-reliant (atma nirbhar), the task of achieving self-reliance and self-sustainability in agriculture depends not only on infrastructure and governance reforms but on decreasing our agri-imports bill and finally increasing farmers’ income.

Measures for Improving Agri-infrastructure

• Rs 1 lakh crore for Agri Infrastructure Fund
• Rs 10,000 crores scheme for Formalisation of Micro Food Enterprises
• Rs 20,000 crores for Fishermen through Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY)
• National Animal Disease Control Programme
• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund of Rs 15,000 crore will be set up
• Promotion of Herbal Cultivation with an allocation of Rs. 4000 crore
• Beekeeping initiatives –Rs 500 crores
• Operation Greens

Measures for Administrative and Governance Reforms

Amendments to Essential Commodities Act : ECA was enacted in 1955 in the days of scarcity. In the present scenario, ECA affects both producers and consumers. The main flaw is that it discourages private sector investment in storage. The ECA has put stock limitations on trader, processor and exporter. As a result the country lacks adequate storage facilities.

The new amendment will remove stock limits applicable to traders except in case of national calamity or famine or an extraordinary surge in price. These stock limits would not apply to processors and exporters.

It will also remove impediments in the investment and ensure better realisation for farmers by attracting investments and making the agriculture sector more competitive. The move is also expected to ensure price stability and reduces wastage of agri produce.

Central law will be formulated to provide adequate choices to the farmer to sell their produce : Currently it is mandatory for farmers to sell their agricultural produce only to Licensees in APMCs. Such restrictions are not applicable to any of industrial products or commodities. These norms are emerging as major roadblock to seamless flow of agricultural produce.

The Government is mulling over formulating a law to permit barrier-free inter-State trade of farm commodities and e-trading. This will allow farmers to sell produce at attractive prices beyond the current mandi system.

Agriculture Produce Price and Quality Assurance : The Government is committed to devise a legal framework to make it easy for farmers to engage with processors, aggregators, large retailers, exporters etc in a fair and transparent manner. Once legislated, it will mitigate risk for farmers, provide assured returns and ensure quality standardisation of farm produce.

PERSISTENT PROBLEMS IN INDIAN AGRICULTURE

Subsistence farming : The cultivators and farmers grow crops mainly for the family consumption. It is only in the limited irrigated parts of the country like Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and Kaveri delta where agriculture has become an agri-business or is market oriented.

Predominance of food grains : In both the Kharif (summer) and the rabi (winter) seasons, grain crops occupy the greater propor-tion of the cropped area.

Fragmented landholdings : More than 70 per cent of the holdings are either small or marginal, i.e. less than one hectare. The small size of holdings is mainly due to the law of inheritance and other sociocultural and economic factors. The small size of holdings and fragmented fields are unsuitable for the modern methods of agriculture.

Primitive Technology : Many farmers still use draught animals for ploughing and other agricultural operations. This often retards the timely operations of sowing, weeding, and harvesting.

Government Policy : The agriculture sector has been ignored, while there has been more emphasis on industrialisation and urbanisation. The farmers are not getting remunerative prices, most of them are under debts and in several parts of the country, farmers are committing suicides.

Import of Oilseeds and Pulses : India will import approximately 3 million tonnes (mt) of pulses in the year 2020-21, a move that could lower the prices of homegrown pulses and increase losses of farmers across the country. On the agri-imports front, the biggest item is edible oils — worth about $10 billion (more than 15 mt).

Absence of marketing and inadequate storage facilities : Inadequate marketing and storage facilities are depriving the farmers of their remunerative prices. Farmers in major parts of the country are exploited by brokers and commission agents. Moreover, absence of a proper pricing policy prevented farmers from getting fair prices for their produce. Further, while not precisely known, India wastes some 20% of its perishable fruits and vegetables due to inadequate storage facility.

Inadequate Agricultural Research and Education, Training, and Extension : Our agriculture systems lack coordination between the farm and research laboratories. Government is paying less attention to educating and training farmers for adopting new innovations and cutting edge technologies in agriculture.

What needs to be done to become Self-reliant in Agriculture ?

Branding of local farm products : Promoting the brand of local farm products is of paramount importance as it helps to overcome price spirals and makes the farmer more conscious about quality of products. Only branded quality products have strong potential to increase export share beyond 2%.

Indigenous Technology Knowledge : Swadeshi Mission 2.0 also needs to emphasize on propagating the Indigenous Technology Knowledge (ITK) in agriculture in which techniques are dependent on local resources in dealing with nutrition, disease and pests.

Promote innovation in rural areas : There is an urgency to bring rural innovations at local level. Such innovations need to be registered at a national level registry which, in turn, can help in the filing of patents and get micro-venture capital support for enterprises.

Priority Sector Lending to FPOs : Farm Producer Organisations (FPOs) are currently out of ambit of interest subvention that is available to individual farmers. FPOs must be brought within the purview of Priority Sector Lending to bring them on the same page with SHGs.

Agri Business Bank : It is essential to set up an exclusive agri-business bank, along the lines of those in China, the Philippines and other countries. Such a dedicated banking institution can solve the problem of funds upto some extent.

Cut down export of water-intensive crops : Rice and sugar cultivation are subsidised through free power and highly subsidised fertilisers, especially urea. These crops are leading to the virtual export of water as one kg. of rice requires 3,500-5,000 litres of water for irrigation, and one kg. of sugar consumes about 2,000 litres of water. So, the two crops are leading to a faster depletion of groundwater in states such as Punjab, Haryana (due to rice) and Maharashtra (due to sugar) signalling an ecological and social disaster.

Correcting Cropping-patterns : Incentives need to be extended for correcting cropping-patterns as per Agro-ecological Zones.

Exporting the Agri-products of “comparative advantage” and Reducing the Agri-import bill : Exports of high-value agri-produce like fruits and vegetables, spices, tea and coffee should be promoted. Policy makers need to keep in mind the principle of “comparative advantage” i.e. growing and exporting crops of minimum costs (including environmental costs). The current agri-export basket of 2019-20 gives a sense of “revealed comparative advantage”. Marine products with $6.7 billion exports top the list, followed by rice at $6.4 billion (basmati at $4.6 billion and common rice at $2.0 billion), spices at $3.6 billion, buffalo meat at $3.2 billion, sugar at $2.0 billion, tea and coffee at $1.5 billion, fresh fruits and vegetables at $1.4 billion, and cotton at $1 billion.

Likewise, oilseeds and pulses are the crops where there is a need to create “self-reliance”, not by levying high import duties, but by creating a competitive advantage through augmenting productivity and increasing the recovery ratio of oil from oilseeds and in case of palm oil, from fresh fruit bunches. While mustard, sunflower, groundnuts, and cottonseed have a potential to increase oil output to some extent, the maximum potential lies in oil palm. This is the only plant that can give about four tonnes of oil on a per hectare basis. India has about 2 million hectares that are suitable for oil palm cultivation — this can yield 8 mt of palm oil. But it needs a long term vision and strategy.

Conclusion

With population explosion and consequent increase in food demand in India, it is desired that India should chalk out a strategy to revamp agriculture policies to make India a food surplus and net exporter in the world. India has the potential to seize the moment and turn this post Covid crisis into an opportunity.

Connecting the dots

Question for Prelims

Consider the following statements :

1. India is the largest producer of pulses in the world.
2. India is the largest importer of pulses in the world.
3. India is the largest consumer of pulses in the world.

Which of the statements given above is/ are correct ?

(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Question for Mains

‘The over-reliance in paddy and wheat will never let the story of ‘self-reliance in agriculture’ be complete economically and ecologically.’ Discuss.