Rural Development Through an Integrated Approach

Dr. B K Mukhopadhyay

(The author, a noted management economist and an international commentator on ongoing business and economic affairs, can be contacted at m.bibhas@gmail.com)

The time is ripe to go for a new approach because tinkering with the existing practices can yield at best semi-optimal-output as are being projected. Considering the inherent strength of the rural sector, a quantum jump is possible provided the policies that are taken up are realistic, resource-based and forward-looking.

Days are gone when rural development was associated with only the agriculture sector. With the passage of time, change management has appeared to be the most important factor, especially considering the fast-moving pace of globalization.

Change is for the betterment

Time is changing and this is the age of ‘innovation’ (innovation + invention) in which a static approach is being replaced by the dynamic (fast and consistent) one.

In this age of globalized trade and information, an integrated approach to rural development is the only possible way out, especially for the developing block. Any successful development program must take into account social, cultural, economic, environmental and geographic realities that shape the lives of people globally.

It has been a fact that for years together with a majority of the world’s farmers, particularly those located in tropical regions, depending on their food and income on multi-species agricultural systems (cultivation of a variety of crops on a single plot of land). Those systems, often without synthetic inputs and based on integrated management of local natural resources, and in many cases, on rational management of biodiversity — through theoretically offer numerous ecological advantages, yet call for renewed thinking nowadays as the trend is towards simultaneous bunching and multi-tasking which reduce risk considerably via bifurcating into various components, leading to professional practices.

In today’s business environment, the target is to reap optimal benefits from land-use alternatives – land being a scarce resource where competing crops / allied activities are all targeting a greater share.

For optimally using land, productivity factor coupled with nutrient-rich environmentally allowable productions has emerged as the leading factor.

In fact, the Integrated Rural Development System (IRDS) has revolutionized conventional farming of livestock, aquaculture, horticulture, agro-industry and allied activities in some countries, especially in tropical and sub-tropical regions that are not arid. IRDS possesses inherent strength to remove constraints to a significant extent by not only solve most of the existing economic and even ecological problems, but also provides needed means of production such as fuel, fertilizer, and feed, besides increasing productivity manifold. Inter-sectoral resource flow is thus bolstered.

As a matter of fact, globally speaking, farming is not high performing unless relatively big inputs are added to sustain yields, which very often compromise economic viability and ecological sustainability. It can turn all those existing age-old farming systems, especially in the poorest countries, into economically viable and ecologically balanced ones which could not only alleviate poverty but even eradicate it completely, resulting in much-needed real rural development.

In economies listed in the developing bloc, there has been changing but relatively at a slower pace. Investment flows are jacking up mainly due to larger involvement of banks (public sector inclusive of regional rural banks (RRBs) and cooperatives particularly). Government schemes are gaining ground and the subsidy-centric approach is being slowly replaced by a market-oriented activity-diversification based approach. The activities of development agencies (government and non-government) are accentuating the changing process to a satisfactory extent.

Various activities, hitherto less known or practiced, are being undertaken by the farming community. Those who added fish to the livestock-crop system are in the process of taking big steps forward, not only by increasing the fertilizer from fish wastes, but also enhancing their income from the bigger and quicker yield of fish and their relatively high market prices. Cost-effective quality conscious planning is also on, though to a lesser extent. Horticulture, apiculture, viticulture, pisciculture, duckery, piggery, poultry and use of agricultural machinery are steadily jacking up the drive for modernized farming practices. Processing the produce for preservation with value addition and spoilage minimization is contributing to overall benefits. The food processing sector is getting encouraged by the resource flow. Micro and small entrepreneurship is steadily gaining ground.

Injecting the latest research findings (both in the farm and non-farm sector) could alter the situation to a large extent, and labor absorbing capability could surpass the labor-displacing factors.

Overall, techno-economically and environmentally sound farm and non-farm activities, jointly have the latent strength to turn the backward ‘depressed corridor’ into a developed region — ultimately helping to attain sustainable development. This has assumed utmost importance for the Northeast part of the country since the scope for big industry here remains a far cry. Income and employment generation via this process of integration could reduce the incidence of regional disparity, spatially, temporally, hierarchically and functionally.

Towards a better Rural Mural

The advantages of such integration are not unknown but least practiced throughout the developing world. India’s NE region is also no exception in as much as huge untapped resources remain so due to the interplay of various factors. A ready example can be furnished here from the fisheries sector. The profit from fish culture is often increased by 30-40 percent as a result of integration. As far as fish production is concerned, it serves the major purpose of providing cheap feedstuff and organic manure for fish ponds, thereby reducing the cost and need for providing compounded fish feeds and chemical fertilizers — by reducing the cost of fertilizers and feedstuffs the overall cost of fish production is reduced and profits increased. Secondly, the overall income is increased by adding pig and/or poultry raising, grain and vegetable farming, etc., which supplement the income from fish farming. Thirdly, by producing grain, vegetables, fish and livestock products, the community becomes self-sufficient in regard to food and this contributes to a high degree of self-reliance. Fourthly, the silt from the ponds which is used to fertilize crops increases the yield of crops at a lower cost and the need to buy chemical fertilizer is greatly reduced. It is estimated that about one-third of all the fertilizer required for farming in the country comes from fish ponds. The production of freshwater pearls in fish ponds can provide one more additional source of income.

The United Nation’s ECOSOC rightly observed that ‘the idea of holistic development is not a new one. But the development efforts of the 1970s and 1980s were often hampered by a “one-size-fits-all” mentality, prescribing reforms from a centralized perspective, without regard for the territorially specific needs of a given population or community. In addition, they tended to keep the sectors discrete – agricultural development encompassed a broad range of components, from infrastructure to technology to skills enhancement, but it did not benefit from coordination within, for instance, the health or education sectors. The new model of integrated development recognizes no such barriers’.

In a nutshell, the system is in a jam. Therefore, a revamp needs to be done in stages. The objective should not be to punish the bank employees but to change the overall credit culture. (IANS)