By Ibu Sanjeeb Garg
Beating the Rhetoric
In recent times agrarian distress and farmer suicides have caught the interest and imagination of policy makers and the general populace alike. Each year brings discomforting news of farmer suicides in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Punjab among other states. It is indeed noteworthy that most of these states had prospered during the Green Revolution era and are generally termed better off compared to other Indian states. The traditional base of thinking had been that farmer commits suicides due to pressure from high interest rates imposed by moneylenders. Yet if the data from NCRB is monitored for 2015 then it showed that 2,474 out of 3000 farmers who committed suicide had loans from local banks. Less than 10% of them had loans from moneylenders.
Thus conventional thinking towards approaching farmer security has to be jettisoned for a new form of agricultural policy. This policy has to be inclusive in nature while looking at integrated pest management, fertiliser management, and rationalisation of input costs, plugging supply side infrastructure constraints and most of all fiscal education and planning for the farmers. Such a comprehensive all inclusive policy might perhaps act as a bulwark against farmer suicides.
The first step in this regard has to be an integrated pest and fertiliser management policy. As Green Revolution has shown us unbridled use of pesticides and insecticides has caused rapid degradation of land. In parts of Punjab desertification of soil can be attributed to unrestricted use of insecticides and pesticides in the past few decades. It is important for India to put in place the best practises of pest management from around the world. Integrated Pest Management is an important component in this battle. Farmers have to be educated about different pests which can attack crops, the timeline at which they attack crops and the quantity in which it must be sprayed to ensure minimum damage to nutrient component of soil. Such policies must be backed by research that keeps revisiting its results on a continuous basis. Newer challenges in the form of climate change have to be addressed. Rising global temperatures will result in newer resistance of pests which would require further new forms of pest management technology. A similar approach has to be adopted towards fertiliser management wherein fertilisers must be dissipated according to the needs of the soil component. Once again such steps must be backed by comprehensive research and results that are revisited from time to time.
The second step has to be the tap on input costs. With regard to input costs agriculture faces the twin dilemma. On one hand input costs have risen tremendously in terms of water, electricity, crops and farm technology. On the other hand rising population in urban area has put a stress on land and for farmers. Instead of opting for higher input costs selling the land becomes a more viable option. Often such benefits are grossly oversold to the farmers because the compensation they receive for the land does not meet their expectations. New forms of irrigation which uses minimum water while ensuring maximum coverage like sprinkler irrigation must be popularised among farmers. For the purpose of electricity farmers can form cooperative societies and develop small sub stations which run on renewable energy. These small substations can deliver electricity to farmers at much reduced cost. Schemes like Make in India can also be linked with companies who would produce farm equipments in cost effective manner. Investment in the same can also be encouraged in the form of CSR for companies. Custom Hiring Centres (CHC) must be revitalising in order to support entrepreneurs who wish to work in farm technology. Skill development of such a workforce is a must and it is towards this that the ambitious Skill India program can play a predominant role. Such steps while rationalising input costs would significantly address the issues of subsidies in farm sector which often do not produce the intended results. While urbanisation gets a larger footing the stress on agricultural land will increase. Yet steps must be ensured that while the transfer process is smooth, the farmers get compensated for their land in an adequate and sustainable manner. Such compensation must not be in terms of one time financial bonus alone rather it must be holistic and offer a long term viable solution.
The third step is addressing the supply side gaps. A lot of farmers produce rot on the way to the markets or while they lie in the local godowns thus rendering a large part of their hard work meaningless. In this regard adequate steps have to be taken especially towards improving storage. In the last few years schemes have been launched which incentivise cold storage warehousing for example. Steps must be taken to further popularise the programme and meet the storage needs for farm products. Transportation is another major component of supply side impediments. Rural roads however have shown remarkable progress in the past few years. If the pace is sustained complete rural connectivity will not remain a distant dream anymore.
The most important component in agriculture is however the farmer himself/herself. The farmer must not only be accorded a status befitting his/her contribution in the economy yet steps must be taken to upgrade their skills from time to time. With the advent of programs like Digitial India, Community Centres can become hubs of farmer training. Agricultural institutes researching around the country can directly dissipate the knowledge to the farmers in the village level. Tamil Nadu has already taken massive strides in this regard. Farmers equipped with handheld PDA provide information to agricultural scientists. However such flow of information must be two ways and must be revisited from time to time. Banks have been lending loans to agricultural sector under Priority Sector Lending Scheme for quite some time now. Yet efforts must be made to further strengthen the fiscal understanding of farmers as well augmenting their financial strength. Innovative steps like longer repayment schedule must be looked at on a decentralised basis. A well thought out fiscal plan would indeed give a massive boost to the farmers. The humble farmer is after all the bulwark of the Indian economy, the provider of the state. It is the responsibility of all to take care of the humble farmer.
( Views expressed by the author are entirely personal)