The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : FARM WORRIES

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Sep 23, 2004

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

FARM WORRIES

THERE IS NO need for alarm over the reports of a 10.5 per cent decline in kharif grain output this year. Year after year, the initial estimates are revised upwards by as much as two million to three million tonnes by the time the crop arrives in the market. Moreover, there is expectation that the rabi crop, which is to follow, will more than make up for the shortfall in kharif output, given the pick up in rainfall in the delayed monsoon season. In any case, economists had expected that agriculture production might not match last year's output because 2003 was an unusual year of plentiful rain. After the traumatic years of ship-to-mouth existence in the mid-1960s, declines in agricultural output have tended to create apprehensions of food scarcity, especially in drought-hit areas. But the country has come a long way from those PL 480 days when food aid was needed to avoid mass starvation. The drought of 1987-88 and those of 2000 and 2002, though of varying intensity, were successfully tackled by the government of the day without large-scale starvation deaths. Today, the situation is even better with more-than-adequate foreign exchange reserves to facilitate import of food if required.

But the problem lies elsewhere. The past few years have witnessed the recurrent phenomenon of starvation deaths bringing much grief and shame to a country that has been exporting agricultural produce from overflowing granaries to world markets. The National Democratic Alliance Government, in particular, took pride in this export achievement even as it failed to reach the food to the needy who did not have the means to buy even the subsidised grain. This major livelihood issue has cost the country many a precious life and governments of different political hue their position in power. The United Progressive Alliance Government has come to office on the promise of urgently mitigating the plight of the rural poor. More than 100 days of the new Government have passed, but so far it has decided only on the financial allocation for the food-for-work programme it intends to launch in 150 districts of the country. The other major promise of a meaningful employment guarantee at minimum wages for at least 100 days in a year to millions of the rural poor is yet to be honoured. Both these schemes are intended to address mass hunger and livelihood concerns and early implementation is both an economic and political imperative.

The larger question, however, remains — that of neglect of agriculture in the last decade and more, leading to mass scale impoverishment of the agrarian population, particularly those working on small and marginal farms. Since the launch of economic reforms, successive governments have not invested enough in agriculture and this failure has resulted in this crucial segment of the economy remaining increasingly dependent on the monsoon. What is required is a bold and holistic look at the agriculture sector covering all the components — technological improvements, credit needs, marketing support, storage facilities, and so on. In other words, there is need for a second Green Revolution with necessary policy support, institutional link-ups, and increased investment. Growth and development of agriculture are important not only to feed the one billion-plus population. Agriculture needs to grow so that the overall Indian economy can grow and overcome mass deprivations.

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