Odisha has been importing major food items such as fish, banana, egg, chicken, potato, onion and vegetables from Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Jharkhand to meet the everyday consumption need. The dependency has to be mitigated by increasing production of these items within the State.
The per capita consumption of vegetables, milk, egg, fish and meat in Odisha is less than the national average. Similarly, production is also very less in comparison to the neighbouring States. This is a major factor which has been influencing the price in market with burden on poor consumers appearing very high. The yielding rate of food grains in Odisha is below the yielding rate in some of the major States. For the year 2012-2013, the yielding rate of food grains at all India level was 2,125 kg per hectare (ha) and highest 3,698 kg per ha was reported in Haryana. But in Odisha, yield per ha was just 1,696 kg.
There has been a decline in the net sown area. Though cropping intensity has increased and it is higher than national average, but it is far behind Sikkim, Punjab, Haryana and West Bengal.
Fish, meat, milk and vegetables are produced by the small and marginal farmers and landless labourers, Adivasies, Dalits and minorities in rural areas. A majority of them are not supported with basic infrastructure such as land, water, power and credit. The Government institutions like OMFED, OPOlFED and FISHFED have not reached to the small farmers from marginalized social groups. Many of the prospective producers are in need of support to engage in production which can also potentially contribute to generate employment and income for the rural poor families. This can also contribute to a condition in achieving price control with food security and added nutrition value with decreasing dependency on the neighbouring States.
Take the example of fish. During the year 2012-2013 about 21,217 MT of fresh water fish was imported through private trade channels from the
neighbouring Andhra Pradesh because Odisha has not enough fresh water fish even to meet the domestic market though during the same period Odisha exported about 111.85TMT fish to other States and foreign countries and about 60 per cent of export constituted marine products, frozen shrimp, ribbon fish etc. These were mostly exported to Japan, China, USA, UK, UAE, Indonesia, Canada, Germany, France, Nederland and Hong Kong etc. The export of marine products to foreign countries has been increasing every year. In last ten years, it has increased about three times. The value of the marine products was about worth `1,700 crore for the year 2013-2014. China is the highest fish producing country of the world which is contributing 34 per cent of the total world fish production. In India AndhraPradesh tops the list among fish producing States followed by West Bengal and Gujarat. Fish Farmers Development Agency, a centrally sponsored scheme, functions in every district and provides financial assistance for pisciculture development. The Revenue Department of Odisha provides lease of brackish water areas in the coastal districts in the State to BPl families, woman self help groups, cooperatives ,educated unemployed persons, fishermen and land less persons having income not more than Rs 40,000 per annum. A lessee can use land as collateral security in any bank for availing necessary finance. But many of the State efforts are not reaching to the socially marginalized groups.
The National Horticulture Mission was launched in 2005 to promote horticultural crops, including fruits, flowers and vegetables in the State and the crops selected under the scheme include banana, litchi, mango, and citrus. In spite of the Central grant, there has not been enough cultivation of banana to cater to the need of the State.
Similarly, farmers are being supported with quality seed materials of potato, spices, onion and vegetables mini kits in subsidized rate for cultivation, but the effort has not been able to meet the demand of the State. In spite of huge potentiality in tribal areas of the State, the horticulture has not improved at desired level. The livestock population such as cattle, buffaloes, pigs, sheep, goats, poultry and duck etc in the State has not been increasing like in the States of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal .It is reported that about 85 per cent of the livestock is owned by landless marginal and small land holding households. The production of milk, egg and meat in the State has marginally increased during last ten years. The per capita availability in the State is far behind the all India and world average.
Why Odisha has not invested in the livestock sector which can directly give benefit to the poorer section as well as increase the production of milk, egg and meatIJ The Central Government has been supporting the livestock development schemes in a number of ways, but the State has not effectively implemented them. The livestock insurance scheme with 50 per cent subsidy has been implemented in all 30 districts and the entire cost of subsidy is being paid by the Central Government, but the scheme has not covered all the livestock population. There are eight poultry farms and duck breeding farms functioning under Central assistance but Odisha is not able to produce half of the demand for eggs in the State. The national project on cattle and buffalo breeding, a programme of Centre and implemented by Odisha livestock Resource Development Society, besides the Kalyani project with BAIF foundation, Pune, too, have limited coverage.
The capital subsidy provided to SCs and STs in dairy entrepreneurship has not attracted enough beneficiaries among the marginalize groups. Therefore, it is suggested that the production relation in rural agrarian sector needs a structural change with basic input support to boost production. As the small farmers have a major share in production, they need to be strengthened with basic inputs such as land and credit to increase the production. There has been also a need for expansion of the net sown area under cultivation and increase in cropping intensity through land creation by developing waste land and encouraging small farmers with all kinds of facilities to go for multi cropping in the available land. It is being observed that due to lack of irrigation and power mostly the farmers go for paddy cultivation for about six months and the next six month from January to June the farmers and agricultural workers have virtually no work in the field. The rural families engaged in production can be supported through framers cooperatives , women SHGs with land on lease and credit facility under priority sector lending by the Regional Rural Banks to encourage production of vegetables, fish ,meat ,milk and egg to meet the domestic consumption need of the people.
(The writer is a researcher and rights activist, who can be mailed at manasbbsr15@gmail.com. Mob -9437060797)