NEW DELHI: Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) M.S. Swaminathan on Thursday said the Government, instead of being "protectionist," should support farmers.

Addressing a press conference on the fifth and final report of the National Commission on Farmers that was presented to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar here on Wednesday, Prof. Swaminathan said even developed countries extended "support" to the farming community. "If the Government were not to support farmers what would happen to the poor?"

Recommending that the Government adopt a national policy for farmers as against a policy for agriculture, the Commission, in its report called, "Serving Farmers and Saving Farming - Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth of Farmers' Welfare," said suicides by farmers pointed to a larger agrarian crisis that could be corrected through policy interventions.

The Commission opposed the policy of building the country's food security with imported foodgrains. The policy should be based on "home-grown" foodgrains, barring few exceptions in case of natural calamity.

It said that even if import of wheat, pulses, sugar and oilseeds was necessary in the current year, it would not secure food security in the long run.

On relaxation of quality norms for imported wheat, Prof. Swaminathan said as a scientist he was "very very concerned" that the relaxations conformed to standards on health safety and environment security.

The NCF had recommended an autonomous and statutory status for the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) to fix the `remunerative price' of at least 25 crops, including wheat, rice, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses. While computing the cost of input the farmer should be considered a skilled labour and the depreciation of machinery and farm tools also be taken into account.

The procurement of foodgrains should be at market prices. The minimum support price (MSP) should be at least 50 per cent more than the weighted average cost of production.

The Food Security Reserve should be in the hands of the Government and procurement should be expanded to include new crops and new regions, particularly rainfed crops such as millets and pulses.

Credit for farmers

He said the credit for farmers should be at four per cent interest and the Government should provide the needed subvention to banks.

There should be an exclusive policy for `water for agriculture', which makes rainwater harvesting mandatory and ensures involvement of farmers in the management of irrigation systems.

"Better rural infrastructure, trained manpower and a cluster approach could help in the growth of rural non-farm sector and creation of more job opportunities," the report said.

To attract youth to agriculture, the NCF had recommended that farming be made intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding by conferring the economy of scale to small and marginal farmers in production and post-harvest phases.

Conserve farmland

The NCF had said that India's Food Security System can be secured through conserving farmland in Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh and through harnessing the vast untapped production reservoirs available in Bihar and eastern India, including Assam and West Bengal, by synergy among water, nutrients and crop.

Recommending implementation of a universal public distribution system, the NCF had pointed out that the total subsidy required for this would be as little as one per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

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