'We can beat the Malthusian Curse'
In his latest book, agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan notes the
challenges that India faces on the farm front and offers solutions. He
tells BT's N. Madhavan that the government's initial successes made it
complacent and India again faces a crisis. Edited excerpts:
From Green to Evergreen Revolution
By M.S. Swaminathan
Academic Foundation
Pages: 410
Price: Rs 1,195
This is a collection of articles written over the last 20 years. Some of the challenges on the farm front that you have highlighted years ago continue even today…
It is true. We have not addressed the problems adequately. After we started building up our grain reserves, a sense of complacency set in. Policymakers began to feel that the problem of foodgrain production has been solved and the challenge that remained was one of distribution - reaching the foodgrains to the people. This has led to a deceleration in investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services. As a result we have started facing a crisis on the farm front again and farming has become a losing enterprise. Farmer suicides are the extreme manifestation of this crisis. With land prices skyrocketing simultaneously, many farmers have chosen to exit farming altogether. Today, farming in India is the riskiest business in the world.
Large-scale foodgrain shortages prompted the Green Revolution in the 1960s and a foreign exchange crisis triggered the economic reforms. Do you think India needs another big shock to start an Evergreen Revolution?
Shock will come in a different way once the National Food Security Act is in place. It provides for legal entitlement to food for every household and will ensure that greater attention is paid to food production. The Right to Information Act can be implemented with the help of files but the right to food can be ensured only with the help of the farmers. International price volatility being what it is, building a food security system with the help of imports is not feasible. Also, in India, agriculture is not just a food producing machine. The livelihood of over 60 per cent of the population depends on it.
What is preventing an Evergreen Revolution?
Political will to implement. In 2004, the government set up the National Commission for Farmers and I was asked to chair it. The commission submitted five reports dealing comprehensively with all issues involving farmers within the stipulated time of two years. A National Policy for Farmers was tabled in Parliament in 2007. So far, nothing has been implemented. What we need is political will and, more importantly, political action.
How will an Evergreen Revolution differ from the Green Revolution?
In the 1960s, India needed a revolution on the farm front in terms of raising productivity. Until then, increase in foodgrain production came from expanding the area under cultivation. The policies that followed did help us raise farm output but at a cost. Large-scale use of mineral fertilisers and unsustainable farming practices in a bid to squeeze the maximum out of the soil upset the ecological balance. The time has come for us to improve productivity of crops in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. For that, we need to mainstream ecology in technology development. We need to proactively ask every time whether the new technology that is being developed is ecologically sustainable. Farmers are supportive. They want higher yield but not at the cost of their children's future.
Good farmlands are getting converted for industrial use……
In Haryana, an acre of land costs `1 crore. If you put that in a bank, you will get an interest of `8 lakh a year. You do not get that return by farming. This, coupled with the fact that the younger generation is not interested in taking up farming as a profession, is forcing farmers to sell out. Farming needs to become more remunerative, intellectually satisfying for the next generation to take it up and economically more rewarding. Our inability to reap the demographic dividend in agriculture is the biggest challenge to food security.
You have mentioned that corporates can help bring about a change...
Yes. Contract farming, in my view, is a win-win situation where the producer and the purchaser benefit. The corporate sector can help by bringing in technology, seeds and other inputs for improving production with an assured buy-back arrangement.
Do you think India can ever beat the 'Malthusian curse'?
Yes, we can beat the 'Malthusian curse'. India has a large untapped production reserve in eastern India and all the rain-fed areas in the country where we can produce two to three times more than what is grown today. So production will not be a constraint, if one accounts for the future demographic transition in the country. Also, the problem of food security is not one of availability alone but the ability to procure it. The rich-poor divide in the country is very steep and this has caused a very high degree of malnutrition, lack of economic access to balanced diet and clean drinking water.
By M.S. Swaminathan
Academic Foundation
Pages: 410
Price: Rs 1,195
This is a collection of articles written over the last 20 years. Some of the challenges on the farm front that you have highlighted years ago continue even today…
It is true. We have not addressed the problems adequately. After we started building up our grain reserves, a sense of complacency set in. Policymakers began to feel that the problem of foodgrain production has been solved and the challenge that remained was one of distribution - reaching the foodgrains to the people. This has led to a deceleration in investment in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and extension services. As a result we have started facing a crisis on the farm front again and farming has become a losing enterprise. Farmer suicides are the extreme manifestation of this crisis. With land prices skyrocketing simultaneously, many farmers have chosen to exit farming altogether. Today, farming in India is the riskiest business in the world.
Large-scale foodgrain shortages prompted the Green Revolution in the 1960s and a foreign exchange crisis triggered the economic reforms. Do you think India needs another big shock to start an Evergreen Revolution?
What is preventing an Evergreen Revolution?
Political will to implement. In 2004, the government set up the National Commission for Farmers and I was asked to chair it. The commission submitted five reports dealing comprehensively with all issues involving farmers within the stipulated time of two years. A National Policy for Farmers was tabled in Parliament in 2007. So far, nothing has been implemented. What we need is political will and, more importantly, political action.
How will an Evergreen Revolution differ from the Green Revolution?
In the 1960s, India needed a revolution on the farm front in terms of raising productivity. Until then, increase in foodgrain production came from expanding the area under cultivation. The policies that followed did help us raise farm output but at a cost. Large-scale use of mineral fertilisers and unsustainable farming practices in a bid to squeeze the maximum out of the soil upset the ecological balance. The time has come for us to improve productivity of crops in perpetuity without associated ecological harm. For that, we need to mainstream ecology in technology development. We need to proactively ask every time whether the new technology that is being developed is ecologically sustainable. Farmers are supportive. They want higher yield but not at the cost of their children's future.
Good farmlands are getting converted for industrial use……
In Haryana, an acre of land costs `1 crore. If you put that in a bank, you will get an interest of `8 lakh a year. You do not get that return by farming. This, coupled with the fact that the younger generation is not interested in taking up farming as a profession, is forcing farmers to sell out. Farming needs to become more remunerative, intellectually satisfying for the next generation to take it up and economically more rewarding. Our inability to reap the demographic dividend in agriculture is the biggest challenge to food security.
You have mentioned that corporates can help bring about a change...
Yes. Contract farming, in my view, is a win-win situation where the producer and the purchaser benefit. The corporate sector can help by bringing in technology, seeds and other inputs for improving production with an assured buy-back arrangement.
Do you think India can ever beat the 'Malthusian curse'?
Yes, we can beat the 'Malthusian curse'. India has a large untapped production reserve in eastern India and all the rain-fed areas in the country where we can produce two to three times more than what is grown today. So production will not be a constraint, if one accounts for the future demographic transition in the country. Also, the problem of food security is not one of availability alone but the ability to procure it. The rich-poor divide in the country is very steep and this has caused a very high degree of malnutrition, lack of economic access to balanced diet and clean drinking water.
| Excerpts from the book Indian agriculture is at the crossroads. Our population may reach 1,750 million by 2050. Per capita crop land will then be 0.089 hectares and per capita fresh water supply will be 1,190 cubic metres per year. Foodgrain production must be doubled and area under irrigation should go up from the current 60 million hectares to 114 million hectares by 2050… How are we going to achieve a match between human numbers and human capacity to produce adequate food for all? Good farmland is being diverted all the time for non-farm uses. Thus, the challenge before both the public and corporate sectors is the production of more foodgrains and other agricultural commodities under conditions of shrinking arable land and freshwater resources and expanding biotic and abiotic stresses. Nothing short of a biological, social and management revolution can help meet the challenges ahead on the agricultural front. The political will to take the public policy decisions essential for scientific land and water management is still lacking. |
