Telangana agriculture sector needs big push

Telangana state is predominantly rural with 61per cent of the population living in rural areas and mostly dependent on agriculture. But agricultural sectorcontributes only 13 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), although 50 per cent population is involved in the farm sector. The crop sector and livestock contribution accounts for 6 per cent of GSDP each.

Govt role critical

• Agricultural growth is uneven across the districts
• Small and marginal farmers comprise 86% of total farmers
• Yet, their participation in some schemes is only 20%
• Supply of seeds through PSUs can counter pvt sector monopoly
• Drought conditions call for adequate crop insurance
• Supporting livestock, horticulture can raise farmers' incomes
• Micro irrigation, water conservation can enhance productivities
• Need to encourage diversification towards high-value crops

Within crop sector, horticulture contributes about 40 per cent. In the state,the share of small and marginal farmers is 86 per cent in total cultivators, their incomes are meager from crop sector, and hence there was a proletarianisation of small farmers in the last decade in addition to feminisation of agriculture due to migration of men to urban areas in search of casual employment.

Horticulture and livestock
Most of the small and marginal farmers are engaged in multiple activities to support their agricultural incomes by working as casual labourer in either rural or urban areas during seasonal migration. But still their incomes are too low to maintain reasonable livelihoods. This results in distress and indebtedness of agricultural holders.

The area under high-yielding varieties reached saturation in crops like maize, paddy and cotton; hence,there is little scope for increasing incomes from these crops. There was an increase in area under fruits, vegetables and soybean in the recent past but with huge uncertainty in prices received for harvest.

Encouragement for crop diversification towards high value crops like fruits, vegetables, palm oil, red chillies and other spices to increase the value of production to maximise profitability per hectare is necessary, but needs support in terms of price stabilisation from government.

Overall, there was a good scope for increasing farm incomes through expanding area under horticulture. Although horticulture contributes only 13 per cent of cropped area, its share in crop income is 40 per cent. Keeping the potential of horticultural sector in most of the districts, it is important to incentivise horticultural crops through polyhouses, drip irrigation etc.

Another important avenue for small farmers to increase incomes is rearing small ruminants like sheep and goat, which is already promoted by the state government in a big way through distribution of sheep to farmers. About 5 lakh yadava and kurma communities will get benefit under sheep rearing scheme of Telangana.

The momentum acquired by the state with respect to the livestock growth needs to be continued. Farmers need to be provided with adequate credit facilities and technological back-up to start new livestock enterprisesand also food processing industries.

Backward districts

Even though most of the rural districts are poor, poverty is still more in some of districts. Agricultural growth is uneven across the districts. The districts like Adilabad, Nirmal, Rajanna, Vikarabadetcneed special attention to improve infrastructure including irrigation and development of input and output markets.

In these districts, there is a need to strengthen agricultural allied activities like agricultural research and extension to take advantage of suitable soil and plenty of rainwater and climatic conditions. In Mahbubnagar, frequent droughts are a major problem in increasing agricultural incomes. In this district, livestock-based agriculture like sheep and goat rearing needs to be encouraged.

Pulses and oilseeds have the potential to increase farmers’ income under rainfed areas in the drought-prone districts. There is a need for wider adoption of micro-irrigation and effective implementation Mission Kakatiya to rejuvenate traditional tanks and early completion of ongoing irrigation projects for increasing area under irrigation to increase productivity.

Many rural districts are lagging in the adoption of inputs like recommended dose of fertilizers and seed. Hence special emphasis is required and incentives must be provided to increase modern input use to enhance crop yields.

Conservation of natural resources
Conservation of natural resources is critical for growth of agriculture. Moisture availability is the most critical factor in Telangana. Therefore, every effort should be taken to promote water conservation. Renovation of tanks under Kakatiya Mission is showing results on the ground in terms of ground water recharge.

However, even now indiscriminate deepening of borewells is continuing, which is capital-intensive and most of the small farmers are indebted due to failed bore wells. This is leading to issues of inequality in accessing irrigation water.

Strengthening public support to agriculture

New initiatives such as formation of farmers’ societies, sheep distribution scheme, crop zones based on water availability and suitability are good initiates for increasing farmers’ incomes. There is a need for popularising some old schemes like National Horticultural Mission and National Mission on Micro-Irrigation to use irrigation water more efficiently and increase farmers’ incomes.

Supply of seeds through public sector to counter the monopoly of private sector is critical in ensuring agricultural growth in the state. Awareness and utilisation of funds under Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayi Yojana(PMKSY) and Prime Minister Fasal Bhima Yojana(PMFBY) and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana(RKVY) need to be given top priority. In the context of climate variability, often resulting in drought conditions, farmers need to be provided with adequate crop insurance.

The experience suggests that only large farmers are able to take advantage of many of the government programmes. The small and marginal farmers’ participation in some of the schemes is only 20%, even though their share in total farmers is 86 per cent. Therefore, the existing schemes need to be examined for inclusiveness of small and marginal farmers and backward areas. Agricultural programmes need to be revamped to suite to the local conditions of the farmers for wider adoption.

Need for urgency

Rural economy of Telangana is backward compared to many other states. There is a danger of increasing rural-urban disparities and increased social unrest, if we don’t address the problem of widespread distress in rural Telangana. (Writer is Director, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Hyderabad)

By A Amarender Reddy