The seething anger in farmers all around the country needs State-specific measures and a collaborative attitude, especially towards the small and marginal farmers
While the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare has been tom-tomming about the country having witnessed record food grain production of 273 million tonnes during 2016-17, farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other States have come out with a massive revolt against the system. The mayhem in Mandsaur resulted in the death of six farmers in police firing. This is a wake -up call for political leaders and policy-makers of this country.
The depth of seething anger against Government apathy to the cause of farmers has led mischief-mongers to indulge in loot and arson. Distressed farmers have taken the law into their hands. The system in India is so designed that unless riots take place, the system ignores the problems. The country, as a whole, and the Madhya Pradesh Government in particular, must brood analyse what has gone wrong.
More so because Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself is a kisan. Under his leadership, the State progressed in food grain production at an annual rate of 9.7 per cent from 2005-06 to 2014-15 when the national average growth was 3.6 per cent. Not only food grains, the growth of fruits and vegetables production too has been commendable during the last few years.
However, policy-makers must recognise that increase in production of food items and welfare of farmers are two different things. Farmers are unhappy; they are seething in anger and have become easy prey in the hands of trouble-makers, including politicians, because increased production has not been profitable and has led them into a debt trap.
The problems of farming are deep-rooted and systemic in nature. Over the years, policies of agriculture and allied sectors lack incisive vision and are cut off from ground reality. Thus policies fall flat due to the peculiar nature of our farming culture, inheritance laws and environment — both physical and socio-political, that controls the bio-productive systems.
Government authorities know the problems but solutions are just marginal. There have been improvements in the existing system but with poor execution and corruption. As for productivity, from the same net sown area of 141 million hectare, compared to India’s highest of 273 million tonne in 2016, China produced 500 million tonnes in 2011.
The biggest problem is fragmentation of land holdings as more than 80 per cent of the farmers are small and marginal with 70 per cent farmers owning an average of 0.15 hectare of land in 2011. As per a Niti Aayog report, 53 per cent of farmers live below the poverty line. Farmers, who have more than 10 hectare of land, are few and may not be more than one to two per cent. On account of the split in land holding with succeeding generations, farming, due to multiple factors, like climactic vagaries and unreliable monsoon, is becoming unviable. About 4.69 crore farmers have taken Rs 12.60 lakh crore of loans. The scarcity of capital at hand for most of the farmers results in bad loans and the consequent debt trap is leading to 12,500 farmer suicides annually.
The mechanisation of farming is essential for cost-cutting but is not possible due to fragmentation and poor capital. The next problem is the deterioration in soil quality due to the overuse of land as well as fertilisers and pesticides. The best fertiliser, the cow dung, is mostly used by farmers for fuel. Then there is an absence of timely supply of quality seeds and other inputs. Agriculture in India is heavily dependent on monsoon rains and less than 60 million ha of land have irrigation facilities and rest 85 million ha is rain-fed. Poor storage and post-harvesting technology backup is poor. The problem is compounded by poor transport facilities.
According to an estimate, 67 million tonnes of food grain are wasted due to lack of infrastructure. Corruption at the lower level of bureaucracy and lackadaisical attitude of superior bureaucracy have compounded the problem. last but not least, is the problem of marketing the produce at prices that will make farming a profitable venture. Archaic policies and lack of innovation is resulting in farmers falling into debt trap even if they produce more.
Recent upheavals in Madhya Pradesh and other States were led by poor sale price of onion due to bumper production. Farmers were getting only two rupees for a kilogram of onion, which is far below the production cost. A few months ago, in Madhya Pradesh yet again, bumper production of tomatoes led the farmers to destroy the crop. This distress among the farmers of Madhya Pradesh has come at a time when the agriculture sector had registered a growth of 9.7 per cent between 2005-06 and 2014-15 compared with the national average of 3.6 per cent. The area under fruits and vegetables has increased by 78 per cent since 2010-11 in the State.
The farmers in Madhya Pradesh are suffering a net loss of 15 per cent in paddy and getting a mere two per cent profit from wheat. A boom in agriculture in Madhya Pradesh had adversely affected the farmers’ income, consumers and middlemen.
India has plenty of sunshine and rainfall. So our farmers should not suffer the agony of feeding the million at their cost. Before the situation gets out of hand, it must be treated as an important political agenda at the national level by overhauling the system gradually. The Government must have a two-pronged strategy. One, for the 50 per cent of small farmers who own three per cent of the agricultural land. Second, for the other 10 per cent of the farmers who own 50 per cent of agricultural land.
The first thing that needs to be done is to introduce farmers’ cultivation planning and budgeting at the village level by the agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and other departments in which each farmer is given a cultivation card which will have planning for the growing of desired crop-based on his soil type, market and preference. The card will also have budget details for the inputs and will replace the soil cards issued to the farmer. The departments will prepare a consolidated plan for the village and make arrangements like consolidation of farming/ cooperative farming/sharing of machines etc.
The scheme for mechanisation should be revisited and site-specific proposals must be developed so that small and marginal farmers may not get into a debt trap. Farmers must release the cow dung for fields and free/subsidised gas connection may be given to all farmers. Village-level plans must be consolidated at the block and district level. A true picture must emerge for each season on the type of crop to be produced and its marketing linkages.
One of the key elements of a village plan should be crop diversification, conservation of agricultural bio-diversity and staggered planting of vegetable seeds so that the final products mature for harvesting in staggered fashion and the glut-like situation of fall in prices can be avoided. If agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and horticulture departments guide the farmers, farming will become profitable. The other key element of the village plan should be integration of cattle farming and breed improvement of indigenous cows with the core agriculture planning for better returns.
The Government should evolve an institutional mechanism for this, which should be run in partnership with local farmers. The Madhya Pradesh Government had in the past successfully handled the problems of Tendu patta collectors. After ensuring planned production of crops the next reform and strategy should be to provide inputs and marketing facilities.
Government agencies must involve the private sector in creating sufficient storage and transport facilities so that crops are safely stored and provide backup marketing linkages. The norms of fund sanction should be State-specific and flexible to cater to local needs. There should be proper assessment and supply of high-yielding varieties with special focus of preservation of fast vanishing agri-biodiversity, particularly of paddy and wheat.
The Government must also review its export and import policy and tune it in favour of the farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of doubling the income of farmers can be ensured, provided these suggestions are accepted and the existing focus on production is shifted to making farmingprofitable for farmers.
(The writer is former Principal Secretary, Government of Tripura, and chairman of Foundation for Integrated Resources Management)