Agri-food situation getting increasingly unstable globally-Are we really serious?

Dr B K Mukhopadhyay

(The author is a Professor of Management and Economics, formerly at IIBM (RBI) Guwahati. He can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

Current UN projections indicate that world population could increase by 2.25 billion people from today's levels, reaching 9.15 billion by 2050. Where is the journey towards feeding the world population at a reasonable price? Food prices are going up on a continuous basis – demonstrations as well as social unrests have badly affected a number of cities.

Time is ripe for dealing firmly with the agricultural disarray.

In fact, the overall situation of food front has been- in the recent past especially – far from being satisfactory with food prices ruling high all over the globe. Underinvestment in areas related to food, nutrition/agriculture [research/infrastructure/rural institution] invite spill over effect/global impacts, among others. It is high time that sincere collaborative programmes are resumed among the countries in order to adequately address opportunities and challenges.

Clearly if the current trends are of any indication, the food and agricultural policy system itself is in disarray globally. The symptoms of such a disarray are not difficult to locate – incoherent/ inadequate response to exploding food prices; slow down in agricultural productivity growth.; water problems ; a disorderly response to continuously disturbing energy prices; rapid concentration in multinational agri-business cope rations without adequate institutional innovation aiming at properly guiding them; lack of progress in addressing scarcity; widespread nutritional problems [hunger/ obesity/ chronic diseases] plus agriculture related health hazards [a vain influenza, etc] and adverse impact on climatic fluctuations.

The ongoing situation calls for giving a big push to farm investment especially keeping in view the plight of the entire developing nations. Though 60 per cent of South Asian countries are still dependent on this sector, yet the growth rate of this sector in particular leaves much to be desired. In the entire developing block this is the reality emanating mainly from inadequate investment, rural infrastructure, research and development and inadequate diversification to high value crops.

Side by side: non-availability of quality and cost-effective inputs, low efficiency of inputs use and fast deteriorating soil health and water resources remain as the critical concerns. Agriculture requires a big push and so as to realize the much-coveted high growth rate vis-à-vis food security.

Neglecting agriculture results in heavy immediate and future loss. The huge upcoming population in the workable category, in turn, is one of the rare assets that could give rich dividends exactly by the same route as China gained in the previous years. Our population figure is all set to create world record!

The real challenge that come in the way of making agriculture an instrument of development lays outside agriculture – managing the political risks (political economy of agricultural policies and simultaneously strengthening governance for implementation of these policies. The crucial need is there to share the ideas, experiences and expertise, setting up of a common seed bank, joint research centre, surveillances and early warning system between the nations. Investment and regional cooperation in research and development must be at the top of regional meets be it north or south. Building up partnership with the scientists and research bodies have now become more essential than ever before. And then go for rapid technological innovation.

The reality should not be denied as well. So far fast emerging economies like India are concerned, the fact remains that the ongoing trend is steadily moving in terms of registering quicker growth in agricultural productivity. Good going - growth and modern farm practices and inclusive technologies are being implemented in order to foster the rural growth process. It is also a fact that cellular technologies, wireless communication networks as well as GIS based agro – software technologies are reaching rural India to disseminate vital information and updates on weather, farming technologies, fertilisers, livestock, commodity prices as well as stock markets.

Still, a huge number of villages do not have access to advanced farming technologies and interactive communication networks, not to speck of the pace of rural electrification and clean drinking water availability

Is it not the appropriate time to broaden the sight and look at vital aspects – re-identifying policy dimensions and initiative; capacity building through PPP, individual initiatives and joint ventures; boosting agri-business and agri-marketing; GIS mapping and harvesting trends; mitigating climatic change hazards; precision farming – optimum utilization of resources; lending heavily on most modern agri-practices; micro-finance and micro credit and attaching top importance to food security? Needless to say, the responsibilities are to be shouldered not only by banks [who have been duly responding to the government's call for bolstering the credit flow to this sector], but also government departments, NGOs, Commodity Exchanges; agri-marketing and State Marketing Board and of course the Extension Departments of various states. Time is ripe for a more well-knitted coordinated actions so as to initiate inter-sectoral-linkages; progressive decision making, information sharing and performance improvement; capacity building; creating more opportunities for partnership building, development reorganization and capacity enhancement for the rural stakeholders.

It is not to be forgotten that the under-privileged section is bearing the burnt of climate impact as they are neither equipped enough to prefigure meteorological changes nor do they have the capacity to mitigate the impact caused by climatic hazards and no specific early warning system to forecast natural disasters [earthquake in China, floods in Rajasthan, etc.]

As the matter stands at this juncture it is thus clear that in the first half of this century, when the world's population would grow to around 9.47 billion, global demand for food, feed and fibre would nearly double, while increasingly, crops may also be used for bio-energy and other industrial purposes. New and traditional demand for agricultural produce will go on putting increasing pressure on already scarce agricultural resources. And while agriculture will be forced to compete for land and water with sprawling urban settlements, it will also be required to serve on other major fronts: adapting to and contributing to the mitigation of climate change, helping preserve natural habitats, protecting endangered species and maintaining a high level of biodiversity.

It is also clear that in most regions fewer people will be living in rural areas and even fewer will be farmers, who, in turn, will need new techniques to grow more from available land. We require urgent actions to boost investment in the farm sector coupled with technology transfer. Reducing food loss and waste plus limiting excess protein/calorie intake are no less important.

Resources are very much there – can we explore them in a time-bound manner?