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Agriculture Sector - Some Issues
By Indra
Mar. 29, 2008 |
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Over the
years, the agriculture sector contribution in
GDP has reduced to only 18.6 per cent. However,
as reported, Agriculture employs 60 per cent of
the workforce. The number may be debatable and
doubted. However, many of issues reflected in
data require actions without political
sloganeering.
Over 114 million of India's 127 million farmers
operate small farms. Frankly, they are farmers
by default with almost no serious education of
agricultural science and techniques. Strangely,
agriculture is the only sector that is manned
mostly by the workforce with almost no formal
education about farming. It is all inherited, if
at all. The farmers have hardly the desired
skills in agriculture to enable them to look at
farming scientifically and commercially. They
hardly know when and how to move away from the
production of low value cereals and pulses to
other high value agro-products to make a better
living for the family. The 59th NSSO survey
states that the farmer is mostly dependent on
informal and often unreliable sources of
information: “Only 18 per cent of the farmers
across the country were aware of things like
bio-fertilizers. Only 29 per cent knew about the
minimum support price.”
· Why can’t the imparting of knowledge regarding
farming in simplest possible language be made
compulsory in curricula in rural schools along
with training in at least one useful skill?
· Vernacular newspapers, magazines, radio and TV
channels that reach rural must get at least
somewhat farmers-oriented.
· The universities and colleges of the states
teaching agricultural related subjects in higher
education must establish extension centres in
villages or set up call centers that can answer
the queries of the farmers in their language and
if necessary visit them to demonstrate. The
students and faculty must get them involve with
actual problems of the farmers as much as
possible to make their knowledge useful.
India has all that could make India’s
agriculture a great contributor to its economic
strength, may be better than other countries:
· India has the world’s second largest area of
arable land of 161 million hectares, more than
China and only marginally smaller than that of
the United States (176 million hectares).
· India has the highest area of irrigated land
(55.8 million hectares, compared the China’s
54.5 million and the US’s 22.4 million
hectares).
· India is also one of the world’s largest users
of artificial fertilisers (11 per cent of world
usage, up from 5 per cent in 1980).
· Use of tractors in India is higher than China
or Australia. And it has an innovative tractor
and agricultural equipment and implement
manufacturing industry.
However, India’s agricultural productivity
remains lower than that of China, the US and
many other countries.
· For almost all crops, Indian yields are lower
compared to other major growing countries.
· India’s wheat yield per acre in 2003-05 was
2,688, compared to 6,499 for the top five
countries with the highest yields after
excluding China.
· India has the largest cultivated area under
pulses in the world, but production has
decreased from 14.26 million tonnes in 1990-91
to 13.38 million tonnes in 2004-05. India would
need to import an estimated three-five million
tonnes in the next five years to meet domestic
demand.
· According to the 11th Five Year Plan targets,
by 2012, food grain production should reach 337
million tonnes from 208 million in 2005-06. It
means a greater than 200 per cent increase, in
some cases, of production of the principal
crops, with no increase in net cultivable area.
Pulses production would need to more than
double, to 30 million tonnes. Oilseed production
is envisaged as increasing from 16 million to 58
million tonnes.
· It can happen only with some extraordinary
innovations from the scientists in the field to
improve productivity. New plant varieties with
higher yields would be the answer that can
happen only through better research and
technology. After all, China increased rice
production from 160 to 180 million tonnes in
just three years from 2003 to 2005, through
intensive reforms in agricultural research. As
per the China Agricultural Yearbook 2005, 2,046
new plant varieties were submitted for
registration. Seed quality is tested using
molecular DNA technologies.
· India’s performance in this area has been
miserable in comparison with China. Indian
farmers still predominantly use rice varieties
developed 20 years ago. India’s rate of growth
of rice production is the lowest in Asia, lower
than even Pakistan, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. In
1997, the Indian Council for Agricultural
Research (ICAR) developed 72 new varieties of
field crops that reduced to 35 by 2001.
It is unfortunate, but perhaps the scientists
are neither motivated nor capable enough to take
up the task before them. And that requires
actions to make a breakthrough for the India’s
farming bottlenecks.
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Discussion on this topic is now
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