Macro Level Interventions For Macro Level Interventions For RURAL PROSPERITY (Part -1)RURAL PROSPERITY (Part -1)

Mukesh VatsMukesh Vats

TOPIC COVEREDTOPIC COVERED• Overview of Agriculture Sector.

• Data related to Agriculture in India

• Turning points in Indian Agriculture

• Present Concerns

OVERVIEW OVERVIEW • Agriculture is main source of income/

employment generation in rural areas.

• There is no alternative to the food, and

nutrition security.

• Remunerative and high productive agriculture can alone bring rural prosperity in India.

Contd…..Contd…..

• India can not afford to import food grains for the population of 110 crores.

• Our food security is linked to the political freedom.

• We have to convert the huge population from weakness to strength.

• Agriculture supports our three basic needs of food, shelter and clothing.

ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS THIS ??ARE WE HEADING TOWARDS THIS ??

Contd…Contd…• It has created a huge domestic market

and insulated us from global recession to some extent.

• There is huge potential for increasing total yield and income from agricultural operations.

• The sector can save and earn huge amount of foreign currency.

• 4% growth of the sector is essential for overall 8% growth of GDP.

INDIAN AGRICULTURE – SOME FACTSINDIAN AGRICULTURE – SOME FACTS

• Gross geographical area 328.73 mha• Forests 69.00 mha• Non agriculture 22.9 mha• Barron land 17.5 mha• Pasture land 10.8 mha• Miscl. use 3.4 mha• Productive waste land 13.12 mha• Total cropped 192.8 mha • Area sown more than once 50.9 mha• Gross irrigated area 82.63 mha

Contd….Contd….• 46,000 species of plants are found in

India• 86,000 species of animals are there.• About 2/3 population is still living in

rural / semi urban areas.• Agriculture is providing livelihood to

approx. 65% population.• Food grain production is stagnating at

around 210 million tons , we will require approx. 270 million tons of food grains by 2020.

Contd…Contd…• We have highest irrigated area in the

world.• Highest milk production and cattle

population also.

• Still agricultural imports are increasing at fast rate of 25% per year.

• Land under degradation threat 50% of the total area

• 60% area is rain fall dependent.• Share of agriculture declined to 18% in

GDP.

Present concerns Present concerns • After green revolution and other

interventions like increasing credit to double or triple level, the production is stagnating, growth is declining and imports are increasing.

• The population is increasing at same rate, climate changes and global warming is coming as potential threat to food security.

• The main areas of concerns will be discussed one by one.

Turning Points in Indian AgricultureTurning Points in Indian Agriculture

• Green Revolution– Mainly focused on three crops i.e. wheat,

paddy and maize.– Inputs used : H Y V of seeds, chemical

fertilizers, pesticides.• Coverage : already irrigated areas in some

parts of India.• Goal achieved was - increased yield due to

fertilizers, short straw and early maturity.• The farm income in covered areas was

doubled, non farm activities increased and food security achieved .

Contd….Contd….• High production saved forest land being

diverted to agriculture.• Technology was introduced to farmers - first

time.• Activities allied to agriculture were

introduced such as poultry, dairy and fisheries.

• However, the farmers were not trained to understand the ill effects of over use of the new ingredients to farming.

• This resulted in new set of problems in long term.

Contd…Contd…• Excess fertilizers polluted water,

pesticides poisoned the farmers and labour, friendly pests and wild animals were killed.

• Poor irrigation practices resulted in fall of water table, salt formation in soils and loss of bio-diversity.

• Soil fertility deteriorated in• long run. Details will be• discussed separately.

White revolutionWhite revolution

• NDDB pioneered it with the help of EEC, World Bank and GOI.

• Main thrust was to establish cooperatives for collection and processing of milk.

• Infrastructure like veterinary health centers, feed production plants and artificial insemination services were promoted.

• Women were encouraged to take part in the process of production and marketing.

Dr. Kurian - man behind White Dr. Kurian - man behind White RevolutionRevolution

Contd…Contd…• Cross breeding of the animal was

promoted.• Increased milk production, supplementry

income and fair prices to consumers and producers were main targets.

• It resulted in increasing production from 30 million tons in 1980 to 90 million tons in 2005

• Middlemen were eliminated from the marketing.

• Import of the milk products was stopped.• However, the revolution failed to address

certain issues

MILK PROCESSING PLANTMILK PROCESSING PLANT

Women As Partners Of White RevolutionWomen As Partners Of White Revolution

Contd…Contd…• No substitute nutrition to rural people

specially children was planned as the entire produce was marketed to big cities.

• Rampant misuse of HARMONES for milk production resulting in poor animal health.

• Vanishing of indigenous breeds of cattle.

White revolution ensured milk supply to citiesWhite revolution ensured milk supply to cities

Yellow revolutionYellow revolution• Started in 1986 in the form of a mission.• Resulted in increased production of oil

seeds from 11 million tons to 25 million tons in 1996-97.

• Productivity increased to 931 kg/ha.• Strategy was to provide improved seeds,

expand cultivated areas and extend price support.

• Soybean, sunflower, groundnut and mustard crops were focused for increasing production.

OIL SEEDSOIL SEEDS

Oil seeds for ProsperityOil seeds for Prosperity

Low - ProductivityLow - Productivity• Though the total production has increased,

the productivity of our farms is much lower than the developed nations.

• The main reasons are wrong agronomic practices, poor and untreated seeds and poor heath of the soil.

• The out break of disease, mono cultures and low farm mechanization are other reasons.

• Dependence on monsoon in large parts of the country is also contributing to the problem.

PRODUCTIVITY CHARTPRODUCTIVITY CHART

Falling water levelsFalling water levels• Surface irrigation is limited to some parts of

the country.• Ground water boom with pump irrigation

brought revolution in primarily State controlled subjects.

• Over exploitation of ground water resulted in drastic fall in water levels all over the nation.

• Quality of ground water is also causing concern.

• Situation has reached to alarming levels in Punjab, Haryana, Western UP, AP, TN and Maharastra.

water table

Remote Remote

SensingSensing

datadata

WAITING FOR CLOUDSWAITING FOR CLOUDS

Small HoldingsSmall Holdings

• The average size of the land holdings is decreasing day by day.

• The small holdings are not productive due to high fixed cost.

• The fragmentations are also resulting in loss of land by making dividers.

• The co-operative or joint farming is not popular in India.

• Often resulting in social tensions.

SMALL HOLDINGS REDUCE SMALL HOLDINGS REDUCE PRODUCTIVITYPRODUCTIVITY

PATTERN OF LAND HOLDINGSPATTERN OF LAND HOLDINGS

Weeds, Pests and DiseasesWeeds, Pests and Diseases• High growth of weeds is converting fertile

land to waste lands in some parts of the country.

• Cropping with few varieties of grains, intensive cultivation and water logging are favorable for pest growth and spread of disease.

• Over use of pesticides and insecticides is killing useful insects and poisoning the food, ground water and farmers.

• The produce with high content of pesticide residue has been rejected by importers.

Common pestsCommon pests

Storage lossStorage loss• Storage, transportation and distribution

losses are high as compared to world average.

• The vegetables and fruits worth hundreds of crores are lost due to poor storage facilities.

• Grains are rotting in overflowing godowns and thousands of tons of grains become unfit for human consumption due to poor storage conditions.

• Approx. 10% grains procured from farmers by government agencies are lost due to poor storage, transport, moisture, rats and other problems.

Grading of agriculture produce Grading of agriculture produce for value additionfor value addition

POOR STORAGE AFTER POOR STORAGE AFTER PURCHASEPURCHASE

POOR STORAGE IS NATIONAL LOSSPOOR STORAGE IS NATIONAL LOSS

WASTE OR...??WASTE OR...??

Land DegradationLand Degradation• Land is primary resource for

agriculture.• About 50% of the cultivable land is

prone to degradation due to natural and man made phenomenon.

• The man made problems include over irrigation, chemical fertilizers, loss of vegetation, water logging, pollution and rapid changes in land use patterns etc.

• The natural agents are wind and water .

Waste lands can be transformedWaste lands can be transformed

Poor Infrastructure Poor Infrastructure • Infrastructure is primary requirement for

development and growth of the sector.• Earlier there was no well planned approach

for providing rural infrastructure.• Entire north-east and eastern parts of India

are backward due to lack of proper infrastructure despite rich in natural resources.

• The roads, telecommunication, power, water, markets, input supply, processing facilities etc. are parts of infrastructure.

• The poor infrastructure keeps the entrepreneurs away from rural areas.

Farm MechanizationFarm Mechanization

• The farm mechanization was introduced in India in form of Tractors.

• The high powered tractors are not economical for small and medium land holdings.

• The farm mechanization was concentrated in small part of the country.

• High investment in high power tractors is making farmers poor and reducing viability of the investment, resulting in wasting energy.

• Low powered farm equipments are still not popular.

FARM MECHANIZATION IS FARM MECHANIZATION IS BOON FOR BIG FARMSBOON FOR BIG FARMS

Traditional and small farm equipmentsTraditional and small farm equipments

Technology Technology

• Lack of Technological advancement is the weakest link in Indian Agriculture.

• Most of the technology being used was developed in Western countries.

• The transfer of technology from Lab to field is very slow.

• The educated youth, who are important link in the transfer of technology to farm are leaving rural areas for jobs in cities.

Contd…Contd…• Lack of infrastructure is the main

stumbling block in transfer of technology.• Availability of electrical power is a must

for using IT services, telecom services and application of any value added technology in rural areas.

• No major technological intervention has been initiated after green revolution.

• Most of the research carried out has no application at farm levels.

KRISHI MELA FOR KRISHI MELA FOR TECHNOLOGY TRANSFERTECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Demonstration promotes technologyDemonstration promotes technology

Solar energy can bring IT to villagesSolar energy can bring IT to villages

Marketing Marketing • The farmers or their groups have no control over

market.• The market of agriculture produce is full of

intermediaries who do not provide any value addition.

• The farmers are cheated by intermediaries at every stage from weighing to final cash payment.

• Rural population looses thousands of crores to wrong weighment of produce.

• There is huge gap in the farm gate price and the market price of goods.

• Every good harvest results in glut situation and throw away price for the produce.

Traditional Rural HaatsTraditional Rural Haats

Unorganized markets lead to exploitationUnorganized markets lead to exploitation

Organized Organized marketsmarkets

Credit Credit • Availability of credit was considered to

be remedy of all problems related to rural areas.

• Money was pumped into the rural economy without ensuring its proper handling.

• Credit absorption capacity of the rural masses is still on lower side.

• The successive loan waivers distorted the rural credit scenario.

Rural people now have access to Rural people now have access to creditcredit

CONTD…CONTD…• The target oriented approach further

deteriorated the situation, in some cases the scale of finance was higher than the actual amount realized from produce.

• Non scientific use of credit made the farmers poorer.

• Credit without technology backing will neither increase productivity nor bring prosperity.

Risk Management Risk Management • Agriculture is full of risks at every

stage i.e. from sowing to harvesting and selling.

• The climate change and global warming are new threats to the agriculture.

• Risk management on farm and off farm are equally important.

• Present insurance practices are not beneficial to the farmers as every field is different from others.

• Innovative and subsidized products are needed to increase the coverage.

Growth of Rural InsuranceGrowth of Rural Insurance

Private InvestmentPrivate Investment• The present policies are not favorable

to the private investment in agriculture and rural development.

• Government alone can not provide infrastructure and other investment required for rural prosperity.

• Corporate, private and public sector investment is essential for direct linking of farmers to industries without intermediaries.

SUM UP SUM UP

• THE POINTS DISCUSSED HERE ARE ONLY ILLUSTRATIVE, THERE ARE OTHER PROBLEMS ALSO, WHICH WILL BE DISCUSSED IN OTHER SESSIONS.

• WE WILL DISCUSS ABOUT THE POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEMS INDICATED WITH THE INTERVENTION OF TECHNOLOGY AND CREDIT IN OTHER SESSION.