Need for structural reforms in Agriculture

Mahmood Hassan

(The writer is Director, Char Areas Development, Assam. He can be reached at mahmoodhassadn61786@gmail.com)

The entire country is burning with the anti-farm-bill agitation. The neglected agricultural sector shot into prominence with this agitation by the farmers that is now seen as the world's largest agitation. Indian agriculture for ages has been suffering from low productivity, low quality awareness and rising import for a long time now. But these issues have continuously remained unattended and neglected by the government for which a crisis is already brewing in the farm sector. The root of the crisis lies in non-reformation of the farm sector. Most of agricultural scientists are of the opinion that the sector is facing a serious crisis for which structural reforms are crucial at this stage. Farmers committing suicide is a reminder of this crisis as it has become a regular feature. In such a situation the Prime Minister's call for doubling of farmers' income by 2022 poses a big challenge for the country unless corrective measures are adopted.

P.Sainath, the founder-editor of People's Archive of Rural India sees this not only as an agrarian but social crisis as well. Farmers are leaving agriculture and not getting absorbed anywhere else. Between 1991 and 2011 he states more than 1.5 crore farmers left the profession with most becoming landless farm labourers. Lakhs have migrated to the cities in search of jobs whereas the COVID pandemic has made them the worst victims in the country as they are neither categorised as farmers nor as labourers. These are some of the reasons that the new generation is not attracted to the farm sector. Economy has shrunk to minus 24 per cent and so the people have stopped spending on travel, tourism, retail and entertainment due to lockdown.

The Green Revolution in India was followed by severe drought in the 1960s. In Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh most of the farmers sell their goods in the Government procurement centres called the Agricultural Production Market Committees (APMC) or mandis at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) fixed by the Centre. These states supply almost 75% of the wheat and rice to the entire country through the FCI networks. But these Farm Bills were aimed at liberalizing the sector by doing away with the traditional mandis (APMCs) and MSP. The farmers of these states are worried that once the MSP is withdrawn they will be at the mercy of the private companies that will procure their products on their terms. Economist Swaminathan Aiyar is of the opinion that only 6% of the farmers pertaining to Punjab benefit from MSP. In contrast, the procurement prices of rice in Assam are much lower than that of MSPs.

Farmers of Punjab and Haryana are well equipped with free electricity, irrigation facilities, fully mechanized mode of farming. They are facilitated by transportation of the products from the field directly to the mandis and procured price is deposited in farmers' bank accounts without any hassles. They sell their products in the mandis through the arhatiyas or Commission agents. These agents are likely to lose their jobs once the Bills are implemented. The facilitating agents called arhatiyas or the commission agents facilitating procurement and linking the roads connecting the villages to the markets or mandis play an important role on behalf of the farmers are likely to lose their jobs with the new bills. Now the question is: Why are the farmers of Assam not protesting and many are in favour of the Bills? The situation in Assam is somewhat different as we do not have rich and big farmers like those in Punjab or Haryana. In case of Assam or any of the North-eastern states the APMC or the mandis have virtually no role to play as farmers sell their produce directly through the middlemen or by themselves even though a few procurement centres are set up in some places of the state. APMC can hardly procure paddy from the farmers as the farmers do not get a satisfactory price by selling their produce to the FCIs through the APMCs. Further the quantity produced in the state is very low and the moisture content is very high. Hence FCI is reluctant to purchase paddy from the farmers of Assam.

When the new bills focus on the free market economy, reputed economist Prabhat Patnaik states that this will not work in many parts of India like Assam where the sizes of holding are too small due to fragmentation. As far as statistics goes Assam has only 5.4% irrigation facilities in total agricultural land which is lowest in India after, only after Jharkhand (3.7%), whereas Haryana has 90%, Punjab has 99.5% and Tamil Nadu has 50.2% irrigation facilities. The projects of micro irrigation under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana are still non-functional in Assam. Unless these basic issues are addressed our farmers will continue to suffer. There is an urgent need for formation of strong farmer producers' organizations that Assam lacks so far. Cooperative farming is still encouraged for preservation of the land holding. The women Self Help Groups with 68,000 members in Kerala are jointly leasing land, pooling labourers and sharing costs and returns has become a success story for others to replicate in India. Research on heat and water resistant crops has to be undertaken for the benefit of climate-affected farmers in such situations.

Assam is perennially affected by flood and erosion compelling the farmers to leave farming as a profession. In a recent National Sample Survey it was revealed that only 82% of the families in Assam depend upon agriculture but in recent years more people are leaving the activity. Even the figure of 2011 socio-economic census states that unlike previous survey this time wage labour has become the topmost profession of the Indians replacing agriculture as the primary activity. If the farmers continue to abstain from this activity the day is not far when we might witness food crisis in near future. Another feature is that we find that various seeds allocated by the government under various schemes are distributed equitably in all districts when there are specific seeds for the districts need some evaluation. What seed district Dibrugarh need may not be suitable for Dhubri or Cachar. Location-specific policies are required to meet the demands of the farmers.

We are aware that the land under agriculture is shrinking day by day due to population explosion. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization predicts that by 2030 most developing countries will be dependent on food import from developed countries for meeting their requirements. Indian exports have increased by six times in last twenty years for edible oil, pulses, onions, fruits, almonds and cashew. All these products can be cultivated and the country can become self-sufficient if effective steps are taken.

These newly formulated rules will certainly help the well-to-do farmers but hurt the small and marginal farmers in the long run unless reforms are undertaken. In recent times one of the countries that is doing remarkable work in the agricultural sector is Isreal.This dry and barren country has turned their deserts into agricultural land by innovative practices selecting the proper soil and climatic conditions. We have to learn from Israel to improve the sector. Today agriculture sector is tied up with allied sectors like Veterinary & Animal husbandry, Livestock, Fisheries and Agro-Forestry, and it has become a part of the flagship programme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana (RKVY) programme that has to go hand in hand as a part of composite farming. The Assam Agribusiness & Rural Transformation Project (APART) funded by the World Bank and implemented by the ARIAS in collaboration with Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat and relating government departments and agencies should bring about sea change if properly implemented in a coordinated matter to boost agricultural production. Transforming the agricultural and allied sectors through a synergy can boost the farm economy and reinvigorate the rural communities. This will certainly attract the rural youths towards this sector instead of looking for jobs in inhospitable cities.