State of India’s Agriculture & Farmers Crisis By Ajay Kumar

Some Facts-1 2 lacs suicides in past 10 years 40 % farmers are in debt Cost of inputs increasing faster than price of produce Droughts ( almost 40 % area affected ) & Floods every 5 years Not able to provide crop insurance for more than 10 % of crops in past 20 years 40 % of farmers want to give up agriculture

Some Facts-2 More than 60 % area is dependent on rain only Some of the irrigation projects not completed for past 20 years Average net profit on 1 acre of land growing cereals is about Rs 5,000 Just growing cereals & pulses does not give even rs 3000/- pm on a farm of 5 acres Some crops give even Rs 1000 per acre

Some Facts-3 Subsidy in fertilisers is huge 40 K cr Per capita land holding reduced from 0.63 to 0.27 hect ( 0.6 acres) Agriculture is a very risky business – climate, input shortages, markets & disease

Agriculture at a Glance-1 Land –Cultivable -142 million hectare –Irrigated – 60 million hectares –Rainfed – 80 million hectares –Double Cropped – 50 million hectares –Forest – 68 million hectares

Agriculture at a Glance-2 Farmers & Land Holdings –Landless- 7.5 crores –Marginal Farmers- 7.6 Crore ( less than 2.5 acre ) with average of 1 acre holding –Small Farmers- 2.2 Crore ( Between 2.5 to 5 acre ) with average of 3.5 acre holding –Large Farmers- 2.2 Crore ( more than 5 acre )

Major Problems-1 No focus on rainfed agriculture Spurious seeds Non availability of seeds – variety, quantity, quality & in time Spurious fertilisers & pesticides Middlemen harassing farmers MSP not commensurate with input costs Landless not considered as farmers

Major Problems-2 Credit related (STC & LTC) –Coop structure has collapsed due to politicization –Only 50 % provided KCC –Long Term Credit largely not available –Credit not available for traditional resources –Diversion of rural agriculture credit to traders, factories & government schemes –No monitoring & management of private credit

Major Problems-3 Risk is not being covered Compensation for natural calamities is slow, subjective & inadequate Extreme Electricity shortage- 2-4 hours per day Farmer has no respect in society Farmers have no say in decision making or planning for agriculture

Solutions-1 Farmers should have representation in Decision making We should plan for rainfed areas & increase investments atleast 5 times including forests Focus on marginal farmers & landless as they constitute almost 80 % of farmers households

Solutions-2 Integrate agriculture with allied sectors & develop integrated plans Manage inputs to agriculture e.g fertilisers, canal water, electricity Reduce costs of inputs & increase net profits Increase investments- public, individual & private

Solutions-3 Manage Corporations, Boards, Agencies & Departments better Focus on water management Provide easy access to information in local languages such as weather, market etc Improve the price of crops & products by better MSP, direct marketing, exports Better Credit Policies

Solutions-4 Reorient Scientific institutions to work on relevant problems & not for writing papers or pleasing bosses Full insurance coverage in next 3-4 years Computerize compensation mechanisms Institute awards & incentives to increase the confidence of farmers Initiate measures to bring farmer to centre stage of development

Thanks