Modernizing Indian Agriculture – its time has come or what?

Out of sight is out of mind! While 70% of India lives in villages, the national airtime is devoted primarily to the goings on in the cities particularly the metros where most of the economy is concentrated. Once in a while there is talk of modernizing the agriculture sector but there is some confusion about what needs to be done. Here are some of my thoughts on that:

1 Size matters

This is the number one issue. The farms are too small, rather tiny and scattered. It is very hard to modernize these farms. Bigger farms can use economies of scale, access to crop rotation and crops marketing knowhow etc. but small farms just provide sustenance level produce to the families dependent on them. Unless they are amalgamated either naturally through market forces or through cooperatives, there is no way to modernize a tiny plot of land. In countries like the UK some fencing laws and industrial revolution led to amalgamation of farms and large scale urbanization. In China, the state runs huge miles long farms in provinces like Helionjiang. Farms amalgamation is quite critical to their modernization.  

2.   Water use Efficiency

Nearly 80% of groundwater goes into agriculture. Currently the practice is to put a hose and let water run freely. The crops are not suited to the local weather conditions. Farms that get fed by canals also tend to overuse water such that farms down the stream rarely get to see any.  Now there is so much ballyhoo around drip irrigation but it is actually a difficult system to implement since pipes have to be laid underground and also maintained. It is not that easy or simple. But for best water and land use productivity, the right methods, crops and rotation have to be used which again needs some investment and expertise sharing which again is very difficult to implement on such tiny farms. 

3.   Debt

Most farmers are debt ridden. They have to invest in seeds, fertilizers etc. and then wait for the harvest to really earn from the farm. Given that harvests are only about twice a year, that is the only time this poor peasant has any money. Rest of the time he exists on food produced in the farm and  small paltry sums borrowed at huge interests from here and there. The local debt system is oppressive and many of the farmer suicides are on account of inability to pay debt. In Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus started an excellent micro credit scheme in the country side through his Gramin bank (It is unfortunate that he was removed from the Bank by the Bangladesh government – a politically inspired injustice which seems like no one protested about ). We have tried to copy the same model but without the same level of passion and personal commitment that he provided and thus have not succeeded much.  Again some sort of cooperative farming might allow easier credit facilitation. 

4.   Vagaries of the Weather and other factors

Now with borrowed money and painstaking labor, the farmers grow some crops and then early or late monsoon destroys their harvest. That must be devastating to them. Further pest control is an issue and so also inappropriate use of fertilizers. Then in some years they under-produce a crop say tomatoes and it fetches a huge price. Next season, they all grow tomatoes resulting in a glut which gets them a meager price. So any kind of marketing know-how based on right demand prediction and better cropping patterns is missing. 

5.      GDP vs Agriculture

Now here is the thing. Even if we modernize agriculture, it is not going to contribute hugely to the GDP. Worldwide agriculture comprises a mere 4% of the world GDP. In the post industrial age, only value added goods and services command a premium. Basic commodities will always fetch a basic price. That is why even in the developed countries, farming sector is subsidized. Further in countries like the US and EU which together are the largest food producers (China surpasses either individually I think) agriculture still contributed about 2% to the GDP and has only 2 – 4 % of the populace employed in it. Due to the low remunerative potential of agriculture, large tracts of population can’t be in farming.  In rural India, the income growth has been on account of non farming activities. 

So agriculture and farming sector is important because of the value of food to the nation as well as the welfare of the farmers and not because of its GDP potential.

6.   Development 

India’s huge population explosion is at the bottom especially in the rural areas. Further economic opportunities are limited to few metros and large towns. So people throng to these in search of jobs. Yet this whole GDP and sensex driven approach to development is wrong. The focus needs to be on widespread development which reaches to small towns and villages. This development should be focused on two angles

Enhancing the quality of life for the common man – now this should go beyond mere cash in the pocket like was done under the NREGA kind of scheme. Such free distribution of money is not sustainable and it has been studied, that it excluded the most needy, especially the lowest caste strata. Instead investment should be made into infrastructure development which automatically provides employment opportunities. Further roads, continuous and systematic water and power supply will help spread development as well as enhance quality of life for the poor common man. 

Ecosystem Development

Now there are some anti environment agencies like the dubious Intelligence Bureau of India which think anything that comes in the way of GDP pursuit is an anti national strategy and so they oppose environment protection.  Their strange mindset and modus operandi is obvious only to them. But we need to focus on environment very much. Instead of creating concrete  jungles everywhere, the development should focus on ecosystem development. Water scarcity is a core issue and monsoon water run off is something we can not afford. There need to be large lakes around which small townships should be built. Instead of giving sops to industry they should be made incharge of managing the waste produced in that ecosystem such that none of it flows into the lake and is taken away somewhere and treated and reused. The reuse could be in horticulture with forests surrounding all such ecosystems. We hardly have any forested area anymore. So this new ecosystem should have a lake in the center, planned green development all round and surrounded by forests. That is the idea.

Modernization and development should not come at the expense of environment and shady agencies which seem to think otherwise and in general lack any sort of integrity and foresight need to be disbanded. GDP driven formula also doesn’t care who benefits. It is critical to start thinking of the vast poor and backward countryside where majority of the population resides.  Modernizing agriculture, infrastructure development, job opportunities creation and Ecosystem model may be a good way forward for as yet unspoilt rural India.