Review Of Agriculture

Present policies and programmes neither protect a sizeable section of the agricultural population from natural and market-induced uncertainities nor enable them to contribute meaningfully to overall growth of the economy. It is possible, however, to turn the tide by enhancing investment to strengthen the resource base of agriculture, devising suitable instruments to compensate small and marginal producers for losses from natural calamities, designing organisational interventions to impart strength to their economy, lightening the interest burden from non-formal sources of credit, and encouraging rural financial institutions to take over the debts of the farmers from usurious sources. A positive feature in our situation is that we have some examples of success in all these areas. There is a need to extend and scale up these efforts.

As the May 2004 national and state elections showed, farmer distress has now become a volcanic force capable of sweeping away political parties and policy regimes unfriendly to farmers. Karnataka and Andhra, two high profile IT states, have witnessed the ruthlessness with which this force works. This paper presents clues from Karnataka indicating that farmer distress is an outcome not of the lack of agricultural growth but, paradoxically, of the enterprising qualities of farmers who pursue growth and even achieve it in good measure. The indications are that farmers in Karnataka respond quite well to changing markets and are receptive to new technologies. But the drought-prone environment, combined with a non-caring policy regime, turns into victims the very producers who bring about growth.

Agricultural production in Punjab has been characterised by a sharp decline in diversity in the cropping pattern and the emergence of wheat-rice specialisation over the past few decades. This declining diversity has serious repercussions in terms of overuse of natural resources, ecological problems and growing income risk. As diversity in the production pattern declines, variability in the gross value of production also increases.

Biofertilisers have multiple beneficial impacts on the soil and can be relatively cheap and convenient for use. The government is seeking to encourage their use in agriculture and also promote private initiative and commercial viability of production. This paper analyses data from industry and finds only limited success till date. There has been no accelerated growth in distribution and there has been inadequate spatial diffusion. Despite the entry of small private units into the industry, there is no clear indication of success. The paper argues that the government has ample grounds to intervene to set up an effective market for biofertilisers, while encouraging private players. But the policy and instruments of intervention need to be designed with care.

North Gujarat is naturally endowed with one of the richest alluvial aquifers of India but its uncontrolled exploitation for irrigation has resulted in many undesirable consequences. A major hydrological opportunity for rejuvenation of the aquifer system is provided by the availability of unutilised flows from Narmada basin. It is proposed to divert this water to north Gujarat through the Narmada main canal, and use the existing canal networks and village ponds and tanks in the region to activate a decentralised recharge process. This paper examines its physical and economic feasibility. An evaluation of two recharge scenarios in north Gujarat shows that using pumped water for recharging outside the designated command area may prove to be an uneconomical proposition, unless there is substantial increase in the productivity of water. Recharge within the command would be much more economical.