Agrarian Crisis: A recipe for national disaster

Agriculture is fundamental to the existence and progress of any civilization. Today we seem to have forgotten the well-known and acknowledged thoughts like “The development of India lies in the development of villages”, “Agriculture is the backbone of Indian economy”, “India lives in villages” etc…

We have this agrarian crisis for over 2 decades. One big indicator of it is the farmer’s suicides.  In 1960’s and 1970’s, we had mass peasant struggles, whereas in 1990’s, 2000’s and 2010’s we are having mass peasant suicides.

• Between 1991 and 2011, 1.5 crore farmers dropped out of agriculture, with many becoming landless farm labourers. Lakhs went to other villages and cities in search of jobs that are scars.
• On an average, 2 farmers commit suicides every hour somewhere in this country.
• Seven states account for 87.5% of total farm suicides in India. They are Maharashtra, Telangana, MP, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and TN.

• From 1995 to 2015, there have been more than 3,00,000 farmer suicides, reported officially. The unofficial numbers are believed to be even higher. This number continues to grow at a disturbing rate.

How many of you know that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) had been shut down for few months, beginning from August 2017, when it was merged with the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD)? The obvious answer would be very few. Actually NCRB was quietly reopened 10 months later by Government of India. Even after reopening it, the data of farmer suicides were not allowed to be published.

Farmer’s suicides are not the agrarian crisis. They are the fallout of the agrarian crisis. They are the consequence not its cause. They are the outcome not is origin.

Even suicide of one farmer in a country like India where farming is so important is a symptom of something very very wrong in our policy. Linking farmer’s suicide to monsoon failure alone is fundamentally wrong. The data shows that there were farmer’s suicides when we had good monsoon, ok monsoon as well as bad monsoon. 

There are many factors and processes involved in farmer’s suicide. Those includes government policies on farmer’s bailout packages, MSP(Minimum Support Prices), globalization, crop insurance, rural wages, changing weather pattern, Interstate water disputes, demonetization, etc… There are too many lens to this issue, drought is just one factor which pushes the farmer who is already standing on the edge. Farmers have dealt with drought since the dawn of agriculture, but suicides are more relatively recent.

So, it is of paramount importance to trace the changing trajectories of the agrarian crises in order to understand the various contemporary agrarian unrests.

Problems of Indian Agriculture

Colonial impact on Indian agriculture

The very foundation of Indian agrarian set up was disturbed by British during colonial times. Due to the land revenue policies of British like permanent settlement, ryotwari settlement, etc… the stability of Indian villages was shaken. It led to the growth of landless laborers who were exploited by landlords and money lenders. The negative colonial legacy is still writ large over Indian agriculture.

Small and fragmented land holding

Land fragmentation is generally determined during agricultural census. The number of farm units increased from 71 million in 1970-71 during 1^st agricultural census to 145 million by 2015-16 during last agricultural census. Due to this increase in farm units, the average size of land holding has become less than half. That is, the average land holding size was 2 hectares in 1971 and now it is around 1 hectare. 

With the decrease in the average size of land holding, more farmers will fall under the small and marginal farmer’s category. According to the latest agriculture census, more than 85% of farmers are small and marginal farmers. The problem of small and fragmented landholding is more in densely populated states like Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, and Western UP where average size of landholding is less than 1 hectare.

The main reasons for land fragmentation are growth of population especially in rural India and our inheritance law.

With fragmented landholding; irrigation will becomes difficult, input cost will increase and lot of fertile land will be lost in providing boundaries. Hence, it will affect productivity and the returns of the farmer. 

Indian labour forces are over dependent on agriculture

According to 2011 census, more than 50% of the labour force of India is involved in the agricultural sector. Such a substantial labour forces involved in agriculture contributes only to 14% - 18% of the country’s GDP. Almost 8% - 10% of labour forces involved in agriculture are disguisedly unemployed. The disparity is evident right there.

Such large labour force participation will result in low mechanization. The level of mechanization of agriculture sector in India is 40% whereas in Western Europe and USA, the level of mechanization of agriculture is 95%. Only 2% - 3% of human labour is involved in agriculture there.

Indian agriculture is dependent on the mercy of the monsoon

Only 1/3rd of the cropped area is under perennial irrigation. Only 40% of cultivated area is irrigated as the rest 60% is rain fed. Hence, Indian farmers are susceptible to the erratic nature of monsoon. Why are we so rain dependent even after 70 years of independence?

Climate change and unseasonal rainfall has further compounded the problem.

Traditional methods of irrigation

The existing irrigation system of India is predominantly of traditional type based on flood irrigation methodology which is less effective. On the other hand, in micro irrigation methodology, the consumption of water and electricity is less; wastage of water is also less. But, out of 70 million hectares in India, which has the potential to have micro irrigation, only 10 million hectares have micro irrigation.

Lacuna of Green revolution

Green revolution is neither product neutral nor regional neutral and leaves uneven effect of growth on products, regions and classes of people.

Green revolution created inter crop imbalance. It is only a wheat revolution, to some extent rice revolution. It wrested areas from cereals, pulses and oil seeds.  Major cash crops like cotton, jute, etc… are also untouched.

Green revolution created or increased the regional disparity. Green revolution affected only those areas which were already better from agricultural point of view. The arid and semi-arid areas of western and southern India were untouched. 

Excessive uses of groundwater, chemical fertilizer and pesticides have disastrous impact on agriculture. The ill effects of over irrigation in Punjab, Haryana, etc… can be seen by the fact that there was sharp rise in sub soil water level, leading to waterlogging, soil salinity and alkalinity.

Ironically, Punjab which benefitted most from the green revolution also presents a depressing picture of farm suicides in India, which only further highlights the lacuna of green revolution.

Surge in the input cost

The cost of agriculture has increased three to five fold in a span of a few years. The veteran agricultural journalist, P. Sainath has attributed it to privatisation of farm inputs. Farm credits were increasingly being cornered by “agri-businesses” instead of actual cultivators. He further argues that the agrarian crisis can be defined as the “corporate hijack of Indian agriculture”. Between 2000 and 2007 in Maharashtra, the number of loans of less than 50,000 Rs are slashed by 50%, while the number of loans of over 10 crore to 25 crore doubled or even tripled. This is why we are in a credit crunch situation now.

Lack of access to credit and scarcity of capital

There are two types of credit mechanisms. One is the formal credit, which is received from governmental and institutional sources like scheduled commercial banks and cooperative sections. The other one is informal credit, which is received from private money lenders.

As per various reports and surveys, the majority of small and marginal farmers take their credit from informal sources at exorbitant interest rates. On the other hand majority of medium and large farmers take their credit from formal sources at subsidized rate of interest.

Agricultural credit as per report on medium term financial inclusion by RBI

Size of the land	Cooperative society	Bank	Informal sources
Marginal	10%	27%	63%
Small	15%	48%	37%
Semi Medium	16%	50%	34%
Medium	18%	50%	32%
Large	14%	64%	22%

One of the reasons, why the small and marginal farmers are opting for informal credit is said to be the absence of the collateral.

The irony is that, the one who essentially needs the loans are the small and marginal farmers but the relatively much better off, medium and large farmers are getting loans at very subsidized rate of interest from the formal sources.

India’s urban consumer driven economic policy

Our priorities and thrust areas of development have changed from agriculture to industry to information technology to mining to tourism and urban life. 

The political economy of India is driven more by urban consumers than the rural producers. This is reflected in the urgency to impose price control measures in case of price rise like imposing minimum export price and bringing commodities under essential commodities as per essential commodities act. The government has always kept the cotton price low, in order to subsidize the textile industry. In contrast to this, we have been imposing minimum import price to secure our steel sector. Such differential treatment to primary sector also limits the profit margin and there by hinders farmer’s chance of breaking free from the cycle of indebtedness.

There is a creation of rural urban divide due to poor budgetary allocation to agriculture and rural areas. For over a decade now, state had withdrawn from agriculture. Public investment in agriculture in many years has been negative. National commission for Agriculture headed by Dr M.S. Swaminathan, also pointed out that elimination of the lending facilities of banks during the post reform period has accelerated the crisis in agriculture. 

Impact of Post liberalization policies

We have shifted millions of subsistence farmers from food crops to cash crops in the name of classic World Bank and IMF philosophy of export dollar and hard currency. Earlier farmers were at least growing something they could consume; today they are growing cash crops which have no internal market. Example: Vanilla. The biggest consumer of vanilla in the world is USA. We have less than 1% vanilla consumption but we grow lot of it. The little farmers are under the volatility of global price for agro commodities, which is controlled by half a dozen firms. Coffee is controlled by 4 majors at world level and we grow coffee.

We don’t see much farmer’s suicides in Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal because they are more or less practicing subsistence farming and less commercial crops.

Many times it’s been seen that, when agricultural supply or production is very high in India, the import of same commodity is done because of various constrains like agreements which have been entered by GoI with other countries.

Subsidies of USA and EU like in the area of cotton have devastated the price of Indian farmers, who were reasonably prosperous just a decade ago. Indian farmers are not competitive enough with USA farmers because of the pressure of WTO (World Trade Organization) on minimization and elimination of government subsidies in agricultural sector.

Our government policy to raise minimum support prices of cereals, pulses and coarse grains up to 150% of the cost of production may be dragged to WTO for allegedly breaching its farm subsidy entitlements and distorting the global market. According to WTO, Agreement on agriculture, developing countries are entitled to product specific subsidy only up to 10% value of the product.

Very recently in early 2019, FMCG giant Pepsico had sued some Indian farmers for alleged patent infringement for cultivating a variety of potato called FC5. Pepsico sought more than 10 million rupees from each farmer. The government reportedly held, out of the court settlement talks with company, which eventually announced the withdrawal of cases.

Lack of insurance coverage for agriculture

Only 4% of our agriculture is covered by insurance. According to P. Sainath, only banks and insurance corporations have benefited from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. While the farmer contributes 1.5% - 2% of the risk cover, the state and central governments contribute 8 % each. In Parbhani district of Maharashtra, which saw major crop losses, the pay outs in two major circles were as low as Rs.540, Rs.40 and so on. After an agitation, some farmers got Rs. 20,000.The insurance company made Rs.173 crore as profit from the district, paying out far less than the premium collected from the three parties.

The Comptroller and Auditors General report has come down heavily on the scheme saying that the government has no data base and it is dependent on banks and insurers and private corporations for data. This is unbelievable scope for scam. Secondly, many of the banks are also insurance companies. They also coerce the farmers into taking insurance policy while applying a loan.

Feminization of agriculture and its issues

When most of the men run to cities in search of jobs, women are doing agriculture.

Report by Oxfarm India says that, women are responsible for about 60% - 80% of food production and 90% of dairy production. Agricultural census 2010 - 2011 outlines the fact that, out of estimated 118.7 million cultivators, around 30% were female. In spite of such contribution, the rights of the women farmers have been neglected for long.

Only around 14% of the women have ownership rights over the land on which they cultivate. In the case of husband’s death, the land does not pass on to the hands of women easily. Normally it’s divided between the sons. As most of the formal financial institutions use land as collateral for providing agricultural credit, the scope of women farmers getting formal credit is restricted. With less access to resources and credit, the decision making power in most cases go to men. This could be one reason why women farmers are less visible in farmer’s organisation and protests.

There is an increased work burden on women farmers. Most often, they are engaged in the labour intensive task in agriculture, as most of the existing machines are not women friendly. Yet, the compensation level of women farmers is lesser than that of their male counterparts.

 

Impact of Interstate water dispute

Farmers belonging to states that share a river basins especially the lower ripen states are affected by interstate water disputes. For instance, the delta farmers of Thanjavur district in TN are affected by Cauvery water dispute between TN and Karnataka.

Impact of demonetization

Though disputed by GoI, demonetization has disrupted the supply chain system in the agriculture sector. Most of the trading in our markets still happens in cash. Most trades in the mandis deal in cash. Demonetization happened at a time when the kharif harvest was still in the market.

Inadequate storage facilities

The marketing infrastructure is inadequate, especially for small producers who lack the capacity to store their produce. Post-harvest losses in fruits and vegetables are 40% - 42% because of lack of cold storage facility. India has mere 5,386 stand-alone cold storages, having a total capacity of 23.6 million MT for 200 MT of food grain production. Inability of poor farmer to wait for a long time after harvesting compels them to sell his/her produce at a throw away price.

Inadequate transport

Lack of cheap and efficient means of transportation affects the last mile connectivity from the farm to the market. Most of the roads become useless in rainy seasons, forcing the farmer to sell their produce at the local market for cheap price.

Inadequate storage facility and transport facilities make the farmer to “sell at an unfavourable place, at an unfavourable time and at an unfavourable price”.

Poor agricultural marketing facility

Over dependency of farmers upon the local traders and middlemen leads to selling their produce at a throw away price. Farmers sell their products to money lenders from whom they usually borrow money. Farmers from low caste and indigenous sector who often lack the market knowledge are the most affected.

No fixed returns and revenues

Indian farmers are exposed to the risk of volatility in the market prices.

In case of poor monsoon, due to low supply, the prices may be higher, but return for the farmer will not increase because the production of farmer itself is affected in the 1st place. In case of good monsoon, there may be good harvest and increased production, but due to excessive supply the farmer can only fetch fewer prices.

Over the years production of food grain has increased, which helped in keeping food inflation in check, but farmers have not benefited. Farmers don’t do well even when agriculture does well. So the entire pressure is transmitted to farmer. UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) in its report says, in 20 years, the output price of agriculture anywhere in the world has remained static, but input prices are soaring.

Farmers have no role in the market. Farmers do not have the kind of lobby the industries and corporates have. The middlemen used to block the benefit of price rise of agricultural commodities to the real producers by resorting to hoarding and storage.

No doubt government announces MSP for various crops but they are too little to do away the farm distress. Due to dominance of large traders in APMC (Agricultural produce market committee), the small and marginal farmers have to sell their product through auctions in regulated markets controlled by cartels of licensed traders, whose licenses give them oligopolistic market power. Thus, the real benefit of MSP is skimmed off by the large traders.

For a long time there was no MSP for pulses. We keep on procuring rice, which is getting rotten away in FCI storehouses while the pulses prices are going down. The largest price increase has been announced in the case of coarse cereals like jowar, bajra and ragi which account for less than 5% of the kharif food grain production.

Distress due to loans

The data shows that 95% of farmers are indebted. NCRB Data of 2015 shows that, 2,474 out of 3,000 farmer’s suicides are victims of unpaid loans.

Mix of all these problems has led to a large unrest in the farming community which has manifested into various farmers protest. New Delhi witnessed a new awakening of the farmer community when they marched demanding a joint session of Parliament to discuss the agrarian crisis.

Impact of agrarian crisis

The agrarian crisis has gone far beyond the agrarian. It’s a social crisis with people leaving agriculture and not getting absorbed anywhere else. It’s a civilizational crisis now, a crisis of humanity.

Farmers are also consumers, if the agrarian crisis continues to persist it will affect the overall growth of an economy. It was said that 4% growth in farming sector is required for the economy to grow well. The big tragedy of agriculture in our country is that, it has never grown by more than 3.2% per annum. East Asia had experienced 6% per annum during the period of 1950 – 1980.

Majority of rural youth migrate to urban areas, where they work mostly as informal worker. If the investment in agriculture decreases, productivity decreases. Investment in agriculture has impact not only on the income of farmers but also on the food security of the nation. There is a direct link between growing agrarian crisis and the deteriorating PDS (Public Distribution System) scheme.

A nation burrowing under hunger, hangs democracy. Internal security problems get compounded with the emergence of a sense of food insecurity. Due to food scarcity in Mizo hills in 1950’s and 60’s Mizo National Famine Front was formed. Over the years it dropped its 1st F and became Mizo National Front which initially demanded a separate state within India and later a separate State outside India. 

The way forward

Shifting our farm policy from loan waiver to structural reform

India’s Farm policy is retrospective and just revolves around the loan waiver. Loan waiver means, the debt repayment liability of farmers will be transferred from the shoulders of farmers to government. In case of write off of a loan, the debt repayment liability of farmer will be struck off from the balance sheet of the bank.

One of the contributing factor for farmers suicides is distress in agriculture sector and more over if government can write off the loans which are taken by big industries, why not, the same principles be applied to agriculture? Are some rational behind loan waivers.

We have to understand that, the long term solution to the agriculture can be provided only by structural reforms of which loan waiver is definitely not part of.

Following are the shortcomings of loan waivers.

1. Domino effect of loan waiver

Our approach of handling farmer’s indebtedness and farmer suicides has been appeasement politics. Most of the times, the loan waiver are used as bargaining chip during election. It’s like give me your vote I will waive off your loan. This doesn’t argue well with the idea of democracy.

2. Moral hazard argument

All the farmers are not covered under loan waiver. The government will waive off only the institutional source of borrowing but most of the small and marginal farmers take loan from informal sources. For instance, 2008 UPA loan waiver (The largest in independent India’s history) dealt with bad debts. But, 90% of the debt owed by farmers is to private lenders. Hence the waiver policy mostly went to well off farmer, rather than reaching the real needy borrowers.  

Non serious farmer who had used the loan money for non-agricultural purpose will wait for the announcement of elections and his loan is generally waived off. Genuine farmer who had repaid the loan may feel betrayed by the situation in the political economy and may start defaulting on his next loan. This will lead to higher NPA from the agricultural sector.  It has been found that, post 2008 loan waiver, on an average; the farmer will be defaulting 12 months prior to the announcement of the election.

3. Implementation concerns

CAG report of 2013 on 2008 loan waiver says that, there were commission and omission errors. Around 13.5% of the accounts looked into by this report were eligible for loan waiver but haven’t receive it. On the other hand 8.5% of the accounts were ineligible for loan waiver, yet had received it.

4. Economic concerns

To pay for the loans which were borrowed by the farmers, the state and central governments usually issue bond to raise money to repay loans to banks.  Example: UP government issued Kisan Rahat bonds. These borrowings increase our fiscal deficit. For instance, for 2008 loan waiver government picked up a bill of Rs. 65,000 crore, equivalent to 1.3% of India’s GDP at that time.

Loan waivers will not allow disguisedly unemployed agricultural labour to shift from agriculture sector to other sectors. It may also lead to inflationary trend in the market.

The loan waiver is a tool, but not transformation. They are mechanism but not a solution. They are relief but not an answer says P. Sainath. World Bank in its 2012 report says that, no doubt loan waiver will reduce the distress on agricultural households but it doesn’t lead to capital formation or investment into agriculture.

Rather than loan waiver we may try out Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). This will push small and marginal farmers to take loan from formal sources.

Shifting the extra labour force from agriculture sector to non-agriculture sector

The transition out of agriculture should not happen out of distress rather it should be because non agriculture employment is growing faster. The extra labour force in agriculture should be properly skilled to take advantage of the opportunities offered by growing non-agricultural job market.

Increasing the returns of the farmers

Our policies should not just focus on farm income; rather it should also focus on farmer’s income. Without bringing down the production cost, there’s no hope. For that, you need to remove corporate control over inputs and adopt agro-ecological methods. Reducing input cost is very critical for increasing the returns. Our PM’s promise to work towards doubling the farmer’s income by 2022 is a welcome sign.

Improving the access to credit

The provision of credit can be made available through micro finance institutions of NABARD through collateral free loans to farmers in general and woman farmers in particular. Informal lending should be regulated. Greater access to credit at low interest rate will certainly bring down the input cost where by increasing the profitability margin.

Crop diversification

Non crop agriculture and livestock agriculture constitute about 30% of agriculture. According to CSO, 4 Lakh 90 thousand crore rupees worth milk was produced in 2014-15, across all states of the country. This for the 1st time the value of milk has exceeded the total value of food grains.

India is a lacto vegetarian country. Animal husbandry has to be promoted because they are more durable and involves less risk, which ensures regular income to farmer. M.S.Swaminathan Committee of agriculture and allied sector indicated the need for diversion of agriculture from crop based activity to non-crop based one. It had pressed for including tree farming, agro forestry, dairy and fisheries. 

Agriculture livestock and marketing (promotion and facilitation) act 2017 which takes marketing reforms a few steps forward is a welcoming sign.

Climate resilient agriculture

We have to prepare for climate resilient agriculture. Why Punjab is growing rice? It’s an arid area; it should not be allowed to grow rice. National action plan on climate change should give greater focus on agriculture sector along with other sectors.

Zero budget natural farming

Zero budget natural farming is a low cost farming method by application of nature’s principles and using locally available material. Dispersal of clay seed balls is a feature of zero budget natural farming. In the recent 2019 union budget, the government has given emphasis towards adoption of zero budget natural farming.

Cooperative farming

Yes, fragmentation of land has taken place. But, it is not such a challenge as countries like Israel, Japan and Korea have farmed very small piece of land very productively. We have not adopted to land fragmentation; we have not developed technologies for smaller land holdings. Tractors are still gigantic mammoths. Either we must adapt to fragmentation or should have a policy to consolidate landholding. Cooperative farming, in which farmers pool their resources and share their profit, could be a solution for fragmentation of land. For instance, Amul Dairy Cooperatives is an outstanding example of the success of cooperative farming. Recent success stories in the Kudumbashree programme in Kerala and The Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty in Andhra are some other examples.

Community owned mechanizations

Farmers could be allowed to rent expensive machines held commonly rather than individuals owning tractors and expensive machines. Tractor bankruptcy is one of the fastest ways to farmer’s bankruptcy. Punjab is referred as the grave yard of all mechanization. The statistics of 2012-13 indicates that there is one tractor for every 8.71 hectare of net cultivated land in Punjab as compared to national average of one tractor for every 62 hectare.

Bio and organic fertilizers

Fertilizer subsidy has been the bane of Indian agriculture. We have to make changes in fertilizer subsidy policy and decentralize it. Apart from bulk of chemical fertilizers, there are several options where farmers themselves should be subsidized for producing bio fertilizers for themselves and for their community. We have to make it possible for communes, groups, cooperatives, individual farmers to avail of subsidy to produce range a fertilizers fulfilling different local soil needs.

Soil health cards are very important because in this country fertilizer has been over subsidized.

Do we want a chemical soaked, corporate driven agriculture, or a community controlled ecological agriculture? It is up to us to decide what we want.

Efficient use of scarce resources

The problems of rain fed agriculture will not be solved just by interlinking of rivers. It has to be done through rain water conservation by augmenting the whole older system of tanks and ponds. Drip irrigation and sprinklers should be encouraged through increasing subsidies.

A centrally sponsored scheme called Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana is a progressive step in right direction. The objectives of this scheme are

• To expand the cultivable area under assured irrigation (Har Khet ko pani).
• To improve on farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water.
• To enhance the adoption of precision irrigation and other water saving technologies (More crop per drop)
• To ensure recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal based water for peri-urban agriculture.

Crop Insurance

Though crop insurance schemes like PMFBY (Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana) covers crop failures, there is a need for broad coverage of natural calamities as farmers are frequently affected by drought, flood, cyclones, storms, hails, etc…

Training and skill development

SHG’s and cooperative societies are imparting skills to farmers. FPO (Farmer producer organizations) can further help in this regard. CSR (Corporate social responsibility), particularly in capacity building and skill development could be helpful.  Krishi Vigyan Kendras in every district can educate and train farmers about innovative technology because it provides grass root approach. Example: Precision farming techniques like SRI (Systematic Rice Intensification)

The government flagship programs like Rashtriya Krishi vikas yojana had to include women centric strategies and dedicated expenditure for improving the skill of woman farmers. We need to have gender friendly tools and machines for various farm operations. Incentives must be provided to manufactures to produce gender friendly tools.

Research and development

In the long run, productivity enhancement requires research towards the discovery of robust seed varieties and other inputs, appropriate crops and input usage for soil type and effective extension practice.

Better post-harvest management

Public Private Partnership (PPP) in creating market yards and storages should be fast tracked.

It is important to free agricultural market from the clusters oligopoly of large traders. E-NAM or National Agricultural Market, an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India is an important step in this direction.

APMC (Agricultural produce market committee) Act 2003, which introduced all round marketing reform, should be implemented effectively and genuinely.  FPO (Farmer producer organizations) could be empowered as a parallel to APMC (Agricultural produce market committee). A tough warning should be sent to hoarders of strict action under Essential Commodities Act and the prevention of Black Marketing & Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act. Dismantling intermediaries is very important to ensure food security and better returns for farmers.

Efficient agricultural export policy, policy of integrated pest management and implementation of M.S. Swaminathan committee recommendations are other ways through which the objective of doubling the farmer’s income by 2022 can be achieved.

India has been a big want to be nation. A want to be nation must build on its own strength, which in our case is agriculture. We have climatic diversity; we are a country that can grow 2 to 3 crops in a year, unlike USA or Europe which can grow only 1 crop a year. USA and EU which are the largest industrial economies are also the largest agricultural producers. So we can’t have one at the cost of another. We have to focus on 2nd green revolution or evergreen revolution which covers more crops in a wide area with organic manure, irrigation all over India and inclusive of small and marginal farmers as well, in a sustained manner.

Agrarian crisis is not a measure of how much production we have lost, rather it’s a measure of how much humanity we have lost. Let’s make sure that the nurturers of the nation, the farmers are nurtured properly. There are no magic bullets to address the concerns of the farmers but greater empathy is a start.