THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Members of the National Commission for Farmers, led by R. B. Singh, arrived here on Monday for discussions with Ministers, officials and others on the draft national policy for farmers.

The commission members will hold discussions with Minister for Agriculture Mullakara Ratnakaran, Agriculture Production Commissioner Mathew C. Kunnumkal, and other officials. They will also hold discussions with people's and farmers' representatives, non-governmental organisations, agriculture experts and representatives of fishermen, among others.

A top State Government official said the Government's views were not in conformity with the draft proposals, especially because of the conditions that exist in the State as compared to other States. However, it will draw up a full response to the proposals only after Tuesday's discussions.

Policy perspective

The draft policy proposes measures for sustainable development of agriculture, optimisation of contribution of farming and inland fisheries sectors to the economy, and improving the incomes and standards of farmers and fishermen.

Though the policy identifies absence of assured and remunerative prices for farm produce as the core issue, it does not address issues such as import of agriculture produce directly. Instead it proposes crop insurance and price stabilisation fund as remedies. Most of its proposals are for the medium and long term.

Questions have arisen whether the solutions proposed in the policy will help farmers of States like Kerala that faced simultaneous decline in prices of most of its crops, resulting in large dips in farm incomes. Critics say that several of the proposals in the draft have turned out to be contradictory, while accommodating a wide spectrum of views on what should be done in agriculture.

Promotion of corporatisation

The policy seeks to promote corporatisation of agriculture and private investment. Doubts are being raised by some quarters whether the agenda behind the policy is reduction of public investment in agriculture and withdrawal of the Government from playing major roles in agriculture extension, research and other areas. This is apparently prompted by poor performance of research institutions in agriculture and extension services run by the Government.

The policy envisages agriculture in future to be knowledge intensive and technology intensive. It will also be encompassed in a legal and institutional framework with several components. It is pointed out that this will call for collectivisation or cooperativisation of agriculture, if not corporatisation. Group farming by self-help groups and centres for their capacity building and mentoring is one of the proposals in this area.

The policy also recommends contract farming and preparation of code of conduct for contract farming covering major commodities.

Other proposals include Living Heritage Gene Banks, formation of Livestock Feed and Fodder Corporations, Genome Clubs, National Agricultural Biosafety System, National Federation of Organic Farmers' Association, Market Risk Stabilisation Fund, Agriculture Risk Fund and formation of Indian Trade Organisation.

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