The Hindu : National : Shift needed in farm policy: Manmohan

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Shift needed in farm policy: Manmohan

Special Correspondent

`It should focus on four areas of deficit to bridge the rural-urban divide'

— Photo: Ramesh Sharma

NEW PERSPECTIVE: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria and FICCI president S.K. Poddar at the Agriculture Summit 2006 in New Delhi on Wednesday.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday called for a "new perspective" on agriculture and rural development that recognised the need for ending the rural-urban divide by bridging four areas of deficit. These deficits are in the areas of public investment and credit, infrastructure, market economy and knowledge.

Inaugurating the second Agriculture Summit of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Dr. Singh said what was needed was a sustained effort so that subsistence farmers could be pulled out of their marginal existence, while advanced farmers were propelled onto the global platform. "This is the real challenge for agriculture in the next decade."

No mention of SEZs

There was no mention, however, of the various struggles against the Special Economic Zones coming up on fertile farmland as the VVIP speakers at the inaugural function emphasised the need for public-private partnership. Nor were the farmers' suicides mentioned, although the Prime Minister referred to the Rehabilitation Package for Farmers. The theme of the summit is "Reforms for empowering the farmer."

"We cannot deny that there is a crisis in agriculture in many regions of the country ... In many parts of the country, agriculture is being carried out in adverse conditions ... There are large tracts where farmers seem to be in acute distress. In many other parts, agriculture is seeing a major transformation and farmers in these parts are reaping the benefits of technology, irrigation, better infrastructure, improved marketing facilities and advanced risk management strategies. It is this duality that we need to tackle," he said.

The Prime Minister said while the Government had taken some steps on the credit front, more was needed to be done for the credit needs of farmers. Answers must be found to questions such as: do the farmers need a lower rate of interest or reliable access to credit at reasonable rates? "Is our existing institutional framework adequate for meeting the requirements of our farmers who are a diverse lot? Do we need to create new institutional structures such as self-help groups and micro-finance institutions to provide improved and reliable access to credit? Or do we need to bring in money lenders under some form of regulation?'' he asked, adding that there was no adequate response to his suggestion at the first summit for measures to improve the institutional framework for providing long-term capital for investment in agriculture.

Admitting that much was required to be done to improve rural extension services, Dr. Singh stressed the need for greater application of technology to improve farming of many crops, particularly in dryland farming with focus on farming systems as a whole. The Bharat Nirman programme, along with the Backward Regions Grant Fund, would improve rural infrastructure and provide greater irrigation. "However, there is need to shift from a focus on yield per acre to yield per unit of water consumed. So far the approach in agriculture has been incremental. We have not sought a paradigm shift in agrarian policy. The need is to strike out afresh seeking new pathways for rural prosperity."

Price rise

For the first time Union Agriculture and Food Minister Sharad Pawar referred publicly to the criticism of the need to import wheat and pulses and the rise in prices of essential commodities. "There has been some criticism of initiatives [such as private trade procuring wheat directly from farmers and wheat import]. However, we need to underscore that these reforms are in a nascent stage and we would have to allow more time for full benefit of such liberalisation to be realised by our farmers. Our agriculture and food policy would need to be flexible enough to respond to strategies that promote agriculture development in an open market environment."

He said 22 States and Union Territories had amended the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee Act that called for setting up direct purchase centres alongside mandis.

The growth of the agriculture sector during 2005-06 was 3.9 per cent. In the first quarter of this year, the growth in the sector was 3.4 per cent.

In the last two years the growth in the horticulture sector was almost 7 per cent, he said.

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