"We need to produce more from the same land with less water"

I am extremely happy to note that this year, India Today State of the States Conclave has decided to keep agriculture at the top of its agenda. The topic, "Second Green Revolution: What the States Need to Do", is extremely appropriate though I would modify it slightly to read "Second Green Revolution: What the Nation Needs to Do".In the context of rising food and nutritional requirements of our growing population, increased economic growth, recent global food crisis and the adverse impacts of climatic variability on agricultural production, the need for a second agricultural revolution is a foregone conclusion.The issue is not whether we do or do not need a second revolution but rather the mechanics of it. The requirement today is to produce more quantities of diversified food in a sustainable manner that mitigates the climatic and commercial risks of the farmers and is adequate to ensure the food security of the nation.Agriculture has always remained India's most important economic sector. Though its contribution to the GDP is only about 17 per cent, it still employs about 60 per cent of our population. For India, agriculture development will always be at the core of any rural development initiative. It is thus important to look at agriculture not only from the point of view of food security, but also as an agent for inclusive economic growth.I have always visualised agricultural growth and in that context the need for a second Green Revolution from three different perspectives-political and social, economic and, food and nutrition.The Government is committed to achieving inclusive growth. The highly skewed nature of our income distribution needs to be addressed to ensure that the aspirations of those living in the rural areas are met. A significant increase in their income to allow them access to the best in education, healthcare and other comforts can only occur if we are able to multiply manifold our achievements in the agricultural sector and also accommodate those living on the margins. Any failure on this account will lead to rising social and political unrest, especially amongst the youth. The simple solution of increasing the prices of farm produce, as propagated by some, has its own limitations. We must remember, that such an increase translates into higher prices for consumers and it is the Government's bounden duty to strike a balance between the two.From an economic perspective, India will continue to grow at 8 to 9 per cent per year; but this growth will be sustained only if the bottom of the pyramid is able to pull itself up to a growth of above 4 per cent. The inter-linkage between higher economic growth leading to enhanced demand for agricultural products and a higher agricultural growth triggering additional demand for goods and services from the industrial, manufacturing and services sector needs to be understood. This will enable us as policymakers to give the much-needed impetus to the agriculture sector. "Punjab has 1.5 per cent of the land of India but it takes care of 40 per cent of rice and more than 40 per cent of wheat requirement of the country. But we are like beggars before the Centre. The Centre decides on its own prices of agricultural produce and the states have no choice but to accept them whereas the cost of inputs like diesel or pesticides, etc is rising. Nobody has realised what sacrifice Punjab has made for the country. Multi-cropping has devastated our land, groundwater levels have gone deep down, our farmers have put everything in agriculture. So in return,we expect a better deal for the sacrifice we have made.Our canal system needs rejuvenation but we have no money" Parkash Singh BadalChief Minister, PunjabOn the nutrition front, it is a matter of deep concern that 45 per cent of our children still suffer from malnutrition. While ensuring availability and access to adequate food, we must also ensure that the nutritional requirement of the citizens, especially of children and women are addressed. Providing adequate amount of pulses, vegetables and dairy products in addition to cereals is imperative if we aim to remove the blot of malnutrition from our nation. Mid-day meals, Integrated Child Development Services schemes, Public Distribution Schemes, etc address this need to a great extent but the failure to produce enough food will greatly impair their utility in the days to come. We must also recognise our constraints in realising these policy imperatives. We will have to produce more per square inch of land and per drop of water to fulfil the growing requirements of our vast population.Given the land and water constraints, and the target of growth, both in quantitative and financial terms, the only option that we have is to shift Indian agriculture from its present level of technology, knowledge and management to a higher level on all three counts. The second Green Revolution, in my view, may not follow the path of the first Green Revolution. While frontier technology will have to play a predominant role, much more attention will also need to be paid to the management of water, sustainability of resources, avoidance of waste, better management of farms and processing of agricultural produce. Similarly, regional disparities in production across various states in the country will need to be addressed. In a country as vast as ours, the dependency on seven or eight states to feed the nation is not prudent. For instance, this year and even last year, we have had record production of wheat and rice and also record procurement of these two grains. Though we are facing a severe drought, our comparative position of the stocks is much better and we are not depending on imports, particularly for wheat and rice. There are hardly three or four states-Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh-which have taken to producing wheat in a major way. Practically about 85-90 per cent procurement of wheat is from these states.And the situation in terms of rice is no different. About 80-85 per cent rice has been produced and procured essentially from Punjab, Haryana and Chhattisgarh. Fortunately, in rice production West Bengal is improving and so is Orissa. Ultimately, these six or seven states produce enough wheat and rice that cater to the needs of the entire country. I think we have to give a serious thought about this and we have to see how we can improve on this. States not providing enough in terms of agricultural output need to introspect and come forward to willingly shoulder their responsibilities for ensuring a buoyant agricultural sector in the country. This would mean an investment in technology, improving the management of water and power for agriculture, convergence of resources at the farmer's end and creating sufficient infrastructure for marketing, warehousing and processing. Several initiatives of the Government of India like Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, National Food Security Mission, Macro Management of Agriculture, National Horticulture Mission, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, etc give an excellent opportunity to the states to leverage the funds available under these schemes to promote agricultural growth. What is important is innovation and convergence at the delivery point.Resorting to frontier technologies is perhaps the only way to overcome the constraints of land and water for increasing production in the country. There are people who will question the efficacy of some of these technologies. In my opinion, closing our eyes to the latest developments in the world will be counter-productive given the size and aspirations of India's population. "The state of Rajasthan occupies the top slot in rapeseed and mustard production.These crops require little rainfall and are ideally suited for a dry and arid state like Rajasthan. But unfortunately, in the last so many years, our production of mustard is very low in comparison to other countries because no new variety of mustard has been developed.Why have our scientists failed? Why are our 'model farms', which should have pioneered new varieties of crops, not able to produce these? Had this been achieved, our farmers could have produced a better yield." Bharat SinghMinister of Panchayati Raj, Rajasthan India, unlike many other countries, invests heavily in publicfunded research. I have asked the Indian Council of Agricultural Research to leapfrog to frontier areas of research. This would give us the necessary technology interventions to enable us to ensure sustainable growth in agriculture. I also envisage a great role for the private sector in this field. Private investment in high technology areas in agriculture going hand-inhand with public-funded research and public and state-funded seed production programmes will go a long way in taking agriculture to the next level in India.Another area of concern is warehousing and marketing. To check the massive waste due to unscientific storage of foodgrain, we need to put in place an efficient supply chain for all our agriculture produce. I do realise that it is not possible for the Central and the state governments to fully address this issue in a short span of time, and therefore, here too, I see a great potential of involving the private sector in this process. Private investment in building the value chains through warehouses, cold-chains and terminal markets will enable us to handle our agricultural produce in an efficient and hygienic manner. For this, many of the regulations on the agricultural marketing front would need a thorough overhaul and I am sure that most states would like to provide a better deal to farmers by removing the irritants and constraints in the regulatory framework governing marketing of agricultural produce. In fact, freeing the agricultural market would give the farmer an informed choice to produce what is best suited for his farm and also what will fetch the best value in the market for his agricultural output.Also, on this occasion, I would like to place on record the seminal contribution of one of the greatest agricultural scientists of our times-Norman Borlaug. His sad demise leaves a huge void in the scientific community and is a personal loss to me, having known him for nearly four decades. Borlaug is the only man to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for contribution to agriculture and his pioneering research gave us our first high yield value (HYV) seeds for wheat, the very basis of our Green Revolution in the 1960s.Last but not the least, I would say that time has come for us to recognise that agriculture is a knowledge industry. We need to produce more from the same land and probably with less water to meet the growing and diverse needs of our population. The second Green Revolution, therefore, has to be an innovative and a sustainable one. This can succeed only if we ensure delivery of appropriate inputs and services at the right time to all the farmers. This remains the biggest challenge for the Central and state governments.I would seek your valuable suggestions on how to take this forward in the next five years. "India has no good mechanism for marketing agricultural products. Foreign fruits and vegetables reach our cities easily whereas our own farmers living in remote villages are unable to market their products. I suggest we devise a mechanism between the Centre and the states so that our country makes a name for itself and our farmers also benefit. In terms of fertilisers, I feel we should also think about eco-friendly manure so that we can start producing organic foods. We are planning to make Sikkim the first organic state by 2015, along with helping it occupy the top spot in floriculture." Pawan ChamlingChief Minister, SikkimPublished By: AtMigration Published On: Sep 17, 2009 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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"We need to produce more from the same land with less water"

The agriculture minister the requirement today is to produce more quantities of diversified food in a sustainable manner that mitigates the climatic and commercial risks of the farmers and is adequate to ensure the food security of the nation.

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