Context: Agriculture in India

• Agricultural development in post-independence India started as a response to food shortages. Green revolution was designed to meet this challenge. Serious efforts were taken to increase production and productivity.
• However, even after India became a net exporter of foodgrains, the mindset continued and food security remained central to agricultural planning.
• Later, major policy initiatives were introduced, for instance, expansion of the PDS, price controls, export bans and the use of Essential Commodities Act.
• Any adverse impact of the weather on agriculture production triggered immediate responses from the government.

However, centrality of food security in policy planning took away the freedom and a substantial portion of the income due to the farmer.

While some freedoms were taken away by law, others were influenced by a complex regime of financial incentives.

Surpluses have become the recent worry. (For example, Sugar)

The current agriculture export policy is severely limiting. It still has an underlying domestic price control bias in it.

• Government aims to double farmers’ income by 2022.
• Policy focus needs to shift from food security and pro-consumer bias to a pro-farmer bias.
• The time has come to make farmers’ income and prosperity the central theme of agricultural planning for the future. And this requires a paradigm shift in thinking and planning.

Measures need to be taken for paradigm shift in Agriculture:

• Designing the agricultural policy to focus on the best returns a farmer can get from his land.
• Reforming the market and removing almost all restrictions: EC Act, APMC Act, movement across states, most of the export restrictions, etc. There is need to make e-NAM and the village markets deliver for the farmers. If there is an occasional shortage, we can resort to ‘calibrated’ imports.
• Shift from a strategy of production-chasing demand and work on a decentralised model where farmers can produce to the market, not only in terms of aggregate demand, but also in terms of the various segments, time and geographies.
• Creating reliable information systems on market demands.
• Restructuring of ICAR: Changing the main objective of ICAR to focus on ‘best returns for farmers’. ICAR has done well to increase productivity and get India out of food insecurity. However, Agri-education and Krishi Vigyan Kendras eat up most of ICAR’s budget, leaving little for futuristic research. R&D for a new India needs to be focussed on the future. This might involve a major restructuring of ICAR and creating space for private R&D.
• In order to tackle challenges posed by weather and climate variability, efforts should focus on micro-climate-based strategies and crop diversification.
• The subsidy regime needs to undergo major structural changes. Investments for sustainable agriculture have to take precedence over natural resource depleting subsidies.

Conclusion:

Less of government institutions and more of farmer-led institutions will be the key.

While India’s capabilities of forecasting weather- and climate-related events have improved significantly over time, the challenge is to get more reliable forecasts at the micro level on time. Private sector has developed capabilities for doing this on the ground and from the sky. What seems to hold them back is appropriate revenue models. This needs to be fixed.

New technologies can have a disruptive influence in the agri-sector. While fintech and food-tech are the frontrunners, agri-tech may play a larger role in the future. Their potential needs to be understood and space created for their effective engagement with farmers.