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Sundarayya Vignana Kendram
Prof M.S. SwaminathanMember of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
Agrarian Crisis and the Way Out
Hyderabad, 1 July 2008
Sundarayya Vignana Kendram Trust First Koratala Satyanarayana Memorial Lecture
World Commodity Prices, Jan 2000 - June 2008
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Maize Rice Wheat Oil
Food and Fuel :Most Precious Commodities
Multiple Benefits of Food Security based on home grown food
o Livelihood Security of over 60% of our population
o Reliable and affordable food security
o Strengthening of National Sovereignty
o Bridging the urban-rural technological, economicand gender divides
23 November 2007
o To improve the economic viabilityof farming by substantiallyincreasing the net income offarmers and to ensure thatagricultural progress is measuredby advances made in theirincome
o To provide opportunities inadequate measure for non-farmemployment for the farmhouseholds
o To introduce measures which canhelp to attract and retain youth infarming
o To make every scholar anentrepreneur
Goals
Urgent Tasks
o Complete the unfinished agenda in land reform
o Confer the power and economy of scale on smallfarmers
o Insulate farm families from meteorological andmarketing risks
o End the mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies
17th Livestock Census of India
Livestock Population 2003(Unit in ‘000 nos)
Cattle 185181Buffaloes 97922Sheep 61469Goats 124358Total Livestock 485002
Nearly 75 million women and 15 million men are
involved in Dairy Enterprises in India.
Ownership of Livestock is more egalitarian
The real voyage of discovery does not consist of seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
- Marcel Proust
Livestock and Livelihoods
Biogas Plant
Rural Energy Security : Biogas, Biomass, Solar and Wind
Biomass – an under- utilized resource for enhancing
income and work security
Bioparks
Rural Non-Farm Employment Initiative
o Rural India is confronted with declining share ofagricultural GDP, worsening per capita farm and non-farmincome ratio, decline in profitability of agriculture during the1990s and less than 1 % growth in rural employmentbetween 1993-94 and 1999-2000.
o Out of nearly 150 million rural households, 90 million arefarmer households
o Need: Integrated on-farm and non-farm employmentgeneration through a pan-GoI programme to establishRural Business Hubs on the lines of China’s Township &Village Enterprise (TVE) programme
“To a people famishing and idle, the only acceptable form in which God can dare appear is work and
promise of food as wages”
Mahatma Gandhi
What Ails Indian Agriculture
o Growth rate of agriculture sector declined from 3.69percent per annum during 1990-96 to 1.65 percent perannum during 1996 to 2005
o Net sown area, gross cropped area, gross irrigated area,fertilizer use, electricity consumption – all declined
o Growth rate of terms of trade for agriculture declined from0.95 per cent per annum during 1990-96 to (-) 1.63 percentper annum 1996-2005.
o The plight of farmers will be evident from the fact that thePunjab farmers with an average farm size of 3.79 ha,growing wheat and rice are able to earn an income whichis less than the starting salary of a class IV employee(peon in Government)
National Commission for Enterprises in theUnorganised Sector (2007)
o Agriculture is the largest unorganised sector – 57% ofIndia’s total employment and 73% of total ruralemployment come from this sector
o Agriculture is getting feminised – 73% women ascompared to 52% men
o Small and marginal farmer households accounting for84% of all farmer households are mostly under debt
o A social security system for farm families is an urgentneed
Crisis in Indian Agriculture
LandWater (Inland and Marine)Biodiversity and ForestsClimateTransboundary pests
Environment
Economics
Equity
Employment
Energy
Cost-risk-returnFree and Fair trade
Small FarmersWomen Farmers
On-farm and non-farm employment
Fuel versus FoodLand Use Policies
Strengthening the Ecological Foundations for Sustainable Agriculture
o Land: Soil Health Enhancement – Soil Health Cardso Water: Supply augmentation and demand managemento Biodiversity: Creating an economic stake in conservation
– Recognition and Reward, Genetic and Legal Literacyo Climate Change: Computer Simulation Models –
contingency plans and compensatory productionstrategies; training local level climate managers
o Sea Level Rise: Bioshields, Anticipatory Research
“Despite the many accomplishments of mankind, we owe ourexistence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact that it rains”
- Confucius
An Action Plan for theWater Year 2007-08
Aim : Mind set change fromquantity to the efficiency ofuse
Sustainable Rice Intensification (SRI)Land, water and seed saving technology
Inter-row Water Harvesting
Need for Agricultural Machinery
Drip Irrigation in Banana
National Horticulture Mission
o Farm Schools in fields of outstanding farmerso Strengthening Krishi Vigyan Kendras with a post harvest
technology wing (Krishi aur Udyog Vigyan Kendra)o Organise Lab to Land programmes in the areas of catalytic
technologies, agro-processing and value addition to primaryproducts
o Establish Gyan Chaupals, atleast in one village in every block incollaboration with the CSC programme of DIT; digital gatewayfor content development for the Gyan Chaupals
o Establish ‘Fish for All’ Training Centres to impart integratedtraining in all aspects of fish production and consumption
o Establish National and local level Science and TechnologyAlliances (Consortia) for rural livelihood security.
Bridging the Know-how, Do-how Gap
Hybrid Arhar Villages : Pathway to a Pulses Revolution
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Hybrids Control
o Rain water harvestingo Hybrid Seed Production by
SHGso Commercial Cultivation
National Level Hub (MSSRF)Data Managers (both connectivity and content)
Data Generators & Providers
ISRO Uplink/DownlinkSatellite
Web based interactive
portal
Internet
Hub and Spokes Model
Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity (NVA) - 2003
Information Users (Rural families)Village Knowledge Centres (VKC)
Block level hubsVillage Resource Centre
(VRC)
Educational InstitutionsCommunity Radio
Internet Radio -SynergyM
SSRF
Cable Radio
Cell phone
Last mile and last person connectivity in knowledge empowerment
Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy (NVA) Fellows
985 (M:571, F:414) Fellows inducted from 21 States + 25 Fellows inducted from 6 countries
Information on Wave Heights and Fish Shoals
https://www.navo.navy.mil/LIBRARY/Metoc/Indian+Ocean/Bay+of+Bengal/MODELS/SWAPS/Sig+Wav+Ht+and+Dir+Series/index.html
Information Technology and Rural Knowledge Revolution
o Block level: Village Resource Centre(in collaboration with the Indian SpaceResearch Organization)
o Villege level: Village Knowledge Centre(public space and managed by localcommunity)
o Last mile and last person connectivity: Internetand community radio or internet and cell phone
Assured and Remunerative Marketing
o Calculation of Minimum Support Price (MSP) – Cost [C2]+ at least 50%
o Procurement price (MSP + Cost escalation)o Issue of Smart Cards with specific entitlements to farmers
who contribute to nutrition safety net programmes, tocompensate them on the basis of price escalation sinceprocurement (national and international)
o Implementation of MSP for all major cropso Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)o Universal Public Distribution System (PDS) and enlarge
the Food Basket to include maize, jowar, bajra, milletsand other nutritional grains
Green Revolution Symphony (1968)
o Technology
o Services
o Public Policies
o Farmers’ enthusiasm
Indian farmers achieved as much progress in wheat production in four years (1964–68), as during the preceding 4000 years.
Pro-Small Farmer Technology : Bikaneri Narma
Bt Cotton Variety
Simulation Modelling Crop Weather Watch Groups
o Alternative cropping strategies
o Seed reserves to implement contingency plans
o Rural Climate Managers
o Computer-aided knowledge centres
National Rainfed Area Authority
Safeguarding National Food Security and SovereigntySpecial Agricultural Zones
o Identify in every State areas with a high untapped agriculturalpotential and develop them into Special Agricultural Zones (SAZ)
o Introduce with the help of Farmers’ Organizations and GramSabhas an integrated package of technology, services, techno-infrastructure and producer oriented trade
o Introduce Common Service Centres (including Gyan Chaupals)which will improve the economic and ecological efficiency of smallscale farming through the provision of key centralised services tosupport decentralised production, eg, Small Farmers’ HorticultureEstates, Small Farmers’ Cotton Estates
o SAZ should aim to bring about a Small Farm ManagementRevolution, to begin with in the 31 districts affected by the agrariancrisis leading to farmers’ suicides
The Indira Gandhi Canal Area in Rajasthan would be ideal for beingdeveloped into a Special Agricultural Zone. Small farm families needurgently life saving support and incentives, more than richindustrialists do. A predominantly agricultural country like Indiashould become a world leader in the establishment and nurturing ofSpecial Agricultural Zones. This is the pathway to the sustainableenhancement of productivity per units of land, water and labour andto manage inflation
Arid Zone SAZ
If farm ecology and economics
go wrong, nothing else will go right
Producing100 Million t of wheat by 2015
Pathways
o Average yield of 4 t / ha from 25 million ha
o Large untapped yield reservoir in eastern, central and western India
Three pronged strategy
o Defend the gainso Extend the gainso Make new gains
o The ‘fertile crescent’ (Punjab, Haryana, Western UP) is in astate of ecological and economic crisis. This areaconstitutes the main anchor of our PDS and food securitysystem - Launch a Conservation Farming and GreenAgriculture Movement
o Eastern India, particularly Bihar, Eastern UP, Chattisgarh,Orissa, West Bengal and Assam, are well endowed withwater resources. They have a large untapped yieldreservoir. This region can become another fertile crescent,if a synergetic package of technology, services and marketopportunities can be introduced.
Safeguarding the Heartland of the Green Revolution and Arousing the Sleeping Giant
Proactive Advice on Land and Water Use
o Organise National and State Land Use AdvisoryServices based on integration of data frommeteorological, ecological and marketing factors
o Just as grain reserves are essential for food security,seed reserves are essential for crop security
o Technical advice to prevent losses from failed tube wells– use of Remote Sensing Data
o Priority attention to the crops covered under the NationalHorticulture Mission and Bio-fuel programme,particularly with reference to good quality seeds andplanting material
Targets for additional production (2007-11)
o 10 million tonnes of rice
o 8 million tonnes of wheat
o 2 million tonnes of pulses
Bridging the Yield Gap
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana :
Rs.25,000 crores
The gap between potential and actual yields is as high as
300% in many dryland crops and tubers
Mainstream the nutritional dimension in National Horticulture Mission
o Promote an integrated rural energy security systemo Harness renewable energy such as biogas, wind,
solar and biomasso Increase the technology component in the Jatropa
programme, including the choice of high oil contentgenetic stains
o Promote decentralised energy generation throughpyrolysis and biomass gasification
Energy Security
o H5N1 Strain of Avian Flu – wake up callo UG 99 stem rust of wheato Strengthen biosecurity infrastructure and capacityo National Agricultural Biosecurity System with three
mutually reinforcing components:• National Agricultural Biosecurity Council• National Centre for Agricultural Biosecurity• National Agricultural Biosecurity Network
o Strengthen sanitary and phytosanitary measures andset up an off-shore quarantine station, both to preventthe introduction of invasive alien species, and toidentify resistance genes in native livestock / poultry
Agricultural Biosecurity
Establish an Indian Trade Organisation (ITO)
o Establish ITO as National Counterpart of WTO.o Introduce our own boxes for domestic agricultural support
on the model of WTO’s Blue, Green and Amber boxeso Our agricultural exports account for only 6.2 percent of
total agricultural productiono Need to segregate the support we extend to our farmers
into lives and livelihood saving support and support forcommodities which can be considered trade distorting inthe global market
o ITO should be a professionally managed VirtualOrganisation
Credit and Insurance
o Need for a Credit Policy for small farm agricultureo NABARD – time to review its mandate, role and business
model; NABARD of the 21st Century with focus on farmerso Need to improve outreach of the banking system and make
credit hassle free, timely, adequate and flexibleo Credit cooperatives – Revitalise and implement Vaidyanathan
Committee Reporto Expand scope of Agriculture Insurance Policies – should
cover health insurance also (Parivar Bima Policy); SeedCompanies to provide Insurance for GM crops
o Credit and Insurance Literacyo Agriculture Risk Fund to insulate farmers from risks and
crops failure due to aberrant weather conditions.
Credit and Insurance
o 4% interest
o 4-5 year Credit Cycle in drought prone areas
o Financial Inclusion – antyodaya principle (a beginningis being made in Wardha District)
o Credit and insurance literacy (hardly 4% of farmersare participating in insurance programmes)
o Set up a Rural Insurance Development Fund
o Ministry / Departments of Agriculture both in the Centreand the States may be restructured to become Ministry /Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
o Induct active farm men and women in senior positions inGovernments for specific periods and specific tasks
o Set up State Farmers’ Commission with an eminent farmeras Chairperson
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare
o According to NSS data (2003), average total income offarmer households with upto 2 ha land, was less than 80%of their consumption expenditure
o Methods of increasing Farmers’ Income:• Cooperative Farming and Service Cooperatives• Group Farming by SHGs• Small Holders’ Estates• Contract Farming – Monitoring Committee at the State
Level to prevent unequal trade bargain• Farmers’ Companies• State Farms for seed production by Mahila Kisans
o Farming Systems – diversification and value additionbased on market demand
Farmers of the 21st Century : Conferring the economy and power of scale on small producers
Support Services for Women in Agriculture
o In 2004-05, women accounted for 34% principal and 89%of subsidiary workers in agriculture
o Women suffer from a multiple burden on their timeo The NREGP should enlarge the concept of work in the
case of women by including activities like running crechesand child care centres, preparing noon meals in schools,undertaking immunisation of children and providing familyplanning services
o A Gram Panchayat Mahila Fund should be established tomeet gender-specific needs
o Credit including the issue of Kisan Credit Card, insurance,technology delivery and marketing should be engendered
o Strengthen the role of women in the National HorticultureMission
Climate Change Factors Affecting Agriculture
o Increase in temperature
o Changes in precipitation
o Widespread run off (leaching of soil nutrients)
o Reduction in fresh-water availability
o Adverse impact on coastal agriculture due to sea-water intrusion
o Outbreak of pests and diseases
Effect of rise in Temperature & Co2 Concentration
Impact of 1 - 20 C increase in mean air temp
o Rice yield decreases by about 0.75 ton/ha in efficient zones & 0.06 ton/ha in coastal regions
Impact of 0.50 C increase in winter temp
o Wheat crop duration reduced by 7 days and yield decreases by about 0.45 ton/ha
Reference : Deforestation, Climate Change and SustainableNutrition Security : A Case Study of India.By S K Sinha & M S Swaminathan, Climate Change, 19: 201-209:1991
Neglected Crops: Enlarging the Food Basket
o Time-Tested production and incomestability under marginal and high-riskfarming
o Contribution to local and regional foodand income security
o Many crops are nutritionally rich toredress ‘hidden hunger’
o Neglect leading to loss of geneticdiversity and associated traditionalknowledge
o Opportunity to enhance sustainableincome, food and nutritional security
Genetic Shield against Sea Level Rise
Mangrove Forests : Anticipatory Research
Number of Farmers in USA (farming, fishing and forestry)In 2005 : 929636 (0.7% of the civilian employed population)Nature of Supporto Conservation Farmingo Attracting new farmerso Market Supporto Fairness of International Tradeo Restructuring the Food Stamp Programmeo Financial Credit Policies for new as well as socially disadvantaged
producerso Rural Health Care and Educationo Wood to Energy Programme and Renewable Energy Productiono Risk Management through Effective Insuranceo Support to Farmers for Speciality Crop Cultivation (eg, bio-energy)Total Financial Support for 2008-2017 – 618 Billion Dollars
Support to Farmers by the Federal Government of the United States : Farm Bill 2007
An era of Mass Famines(Paul and William Paddock – 1966)
40 years later :Revival of this scenario by Lester
Brown
Growing Demand-Supply Gap
o Genome Savior Award for primary conservers
o National Sovereignty Savior Awards for outstandingfarm women and men
o Breed Savior Award for those who save our farmanimal heritage
o Mind-set Change : Consider farmers as benefactorsand not beneficiaries
According Social Prestige and Recognition to 700 million of our population
Green Revolution : Commodity-centred increase in productivity
Change In plant architecture,and harvest indexChange in the physiologicalrhythm-insensitive tophotoperiodismLodging resistance
Evergreen Revolution : increasingproductivity in perpetuity withoutassociated ecological harm
Organic Agriculture : cultivationwithout any use of chemical inputs likemineral fertilizers and chemicalpesticides. GMOs not permittedGreen Agriculture : conservationfarming with the help of integratedpest management, integrated nutrientsupply and integrated natural resourcemanagement systems. GMO varietiespermitted
Green Revolution and Evergreen Revolution : Pathways
Gene Bank Seed Bank Water BankGrain Bank
Conservation - Cultivation – Consumption - Commerce
Community Food Security System
Pathway to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goal of Eradicating hunger
and poverty
Equator Initiative Award was given to Orissa Group at Johannesburg in September 2002
Komala Pujari – Leader of the Community Food Security Movement
Poverty of the primary conservers in
contrast to the prosperity of Nature
Bhumia
Bonda
Kutia Kandha Paroja
Soura
Holders of Traditional Knowledge Some Tribes of Jeypore Tract of Orissa
Biohappiness results from the conservation, sustainable and equitable use of bioresources and the blending of traditional
knowledge with frontier technology
