Aid to small farmers vital

Corporate tax could be reduced but subsidies to poor farmers cannot be given! Moreover, the logic of subsidising the urban middle class at the cost of the rural poor has been an accepted theory in many developing countries

Several programmes have been launched by the Modi government, and some aggressively, but it has to be admitted that the farm sector remains neglected. The crisis of our farming community is an accepted fact today for which the previous UPA government is no less responsible.

Farmers ending lives

According to latest reports, over 1,000 farmers have already committed suicides this year due to crop loss and non-repayment of dues. Besides, between 1997 and 2013, an astonishing figure of over 3,00,000 farmers, have taken their lives, as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). While blaming the UPA for lack of irrigation, the Agriculture Ministry has directed States to help farmers affected by rains and hailstorms. They lost 93.81 lakh hectares of land across 14 States when the weather took turn for the worst from February-end till the first week of April.

The crisis has affected mainly the small and marginal farmers i.e., those owning less than one hectare of land. Although such small holders make up over 80 per cent of cultivator households, their average monthly income-expenditure shows that they are all in the red. This is despite the fact that such cultivators supplement their incomes with others like animal husbandry, wage labour in others’ fields and other non-farm activities.

NDA govt apathy

To add to the crisis, the government has so far raised the minimum support price of wheat by only Rs 50 per quintal and that of sugar cane by Rs 10. This compares very unfavourably with that of the previous government, which had raised wheat MSP from Rs 640 to Rs 1,400 per quintal and that of sugar cane from Rs 73 to Rs 220. Undeniably, the UPA had raised the MSP for grains, lentils, a variety of oilseeds and commercial crops such as copra, raw jute and de-husked coconut almost every season to give incentives to farmers to increase crop production.

Clamour for subsidy cuts

Obviously, the desire to trim the subsidy bill and control food inflation has been factors towards this end. Corporate tax could be reduced but subsidies to poor farmers cannot be given! Moreover, the logic of subsidising the urban middle class at the cost of the rural poor has been an accepted theory in many developing countries and this has been explained by the well-known economist Prof Michael Lipton in his famous book ‘Why Poor People Stay Poor?’

Reasons for distress

The main reason for the present state of affairs has been the fragmented land holdings, non-availability of cheap capital, inadequate storage facilities and poor agricultural marketing. The average size of land holdings has been reduced to just 0.6 hectares, according to latest NSSO survey.

Another crucial problem that emerged in recent years and accentuated the crisis is lack of adequate water availability due to delayed or inadequate monsoon, declining groundwater table, climate change and other attendant factors. In the country, of the net sown area of 141 million hectares, just 65 million hectares is the net irrigated area. This constitutes the biggest source of vulnerability for small farmers. Either they pay to get water from tube wells or wait for the rains. Then there is of course, the rising cost of agricultural inputs which the small farmers are unable to cope with.

The present scenario can definitely be changed with government intervention at the lowest tier of the administrative process. First, Panchayats should set up tube wells, especially in regions where water tables have not declined, and this should be a part of the NREGA. Farmers should get water at a very nominal cost. Additionally, more storage facilities should be set up at the block level. Secondly, there must be a mechanism whereby nationalised banks give loans to these farmers so they don’t go to unscrupulous moneylenders, who charge exorbitant interest rates.

However, there is critical need for State intervention on forming cooperatives so that productivity increases. The NGOs or private agencies should be roped in to help form and manage these for two years or so – with say 8 to 14 farmers, all being part of the cooperative board and involved in cultivation. When land holdings of cooperatives are over 10 or 12 hectares, the induction of maiden technology and mechanized operations would ensure higher yields. There shouldn’t be a problem in getting 2 or 3 crops per annum.

Public investment meagre

While investment in various sectors is improving, increase in public investment in agriculture is the key to sustainable livelihood to the farming community. Sadly, the concern for the farm sector is neither a priority with this government nor with the previous UPA. The urban-centric policy of our planners, economists and media make us believe that industrialisation – which is now totally mechanized – will solve all our problems, i.e. under and unemployment, food production, rehabilitation of farming community etc.

Such theoretical and indeed absurd suggestions, thinking that India’s growth should emulate Western models – and even Singapore – has led to such a deplorable situation of the farming sector. With land and labour abundantly available, a strategy needs to be adapted to make the country a food bowl of the world. Apart from cereals, there should be dissemination of knowledge from the laboratories of ICAR and agricultural universities to cultivate value added crops, whereby the farmers would be able to make reasonable profits.

Integrated farming

The resent launch of the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA), no doubt, is a step in the right direction coming at a time when constraints of decreasing farm sizes and increasing cost of inputs have become major problems. Significantly, the Mission talks of integrated farming, which means that a farmer with a small farm plot should take up diversified farming along with staple cultivation. This may entail setting up fruit and vegetable patches, beetle leaf and fish cultivation in ponds.

NMSA can also look into soil salinity and water contamination problems, both of which impact production. The practice of drip and sprinkler irrigation, practiced in many countries, would also reduce water consumption by 30 to 50 per cent for different crops. It significantly reduces fertilizer and pesticide wastage as the required dose can be mixed with water and delivered right at the root. It would lead to reduction in weed problems and tackling erosion substantially.

23 lakh acres undistributed

Recently, a political leader of the ruling party has claimed that around 23 lakh acres of land acquired during Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement is yet to be distributed among the landless farmers. Modi has been urged to take cognizance of the matter and expedite the process of land distribution. It remains to be seen how serious is the government’s concern over landless farmers and the cry to good and efficient governance ensures that land along with right technology is passed on to these hapless people to start cultivation of the right type of crops.

The crisis is indeed challenging and this has been further compounded by its first stage report of the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), predicting a 68 per cent probability that rainfall will be below normal. This is bad news for agriculture as adequate rainfall and its even distribution in all parts of the country is necessary for good yields. It is now for the Government to take proper steps to revive the farm sector and with it lakhs of poor farmers. Is it listening?

By Dhurjati Mukherjee