The Hindu Business Line : Save plant wealth for country's health

The farm sector's slow growth gives economists and planners alike the jitters. Various committees have generated volumes of reports, recommending a series of measures for farm sector growth. India's burgeoning population, which is expected to overtake China's by 2020, may prompt frequent import of foodgrains. Yet, the Agriculture Ministry wants farmers to diversify to horticulture and animal husbandry as to achieve 4 per cent growth in agriculture, which would in turn sustain the 8 per cent plus GDP growth.

India's cultivable area extends to over 149 million hectares, of which 45 million hectares are irrigated. More than 85 per cent of rainwater goes waste as run off. If India can preserve 30 per cent of the rainwater, there will be no need to dam rivers for irrigation purposes at huge cost. The water table would automatically rise to recharge millions of borewells across the country.

Conserving Rainwater

The Government, through its media and extension agencies, must educate villagers about simple methods of conserving rainwater. The Irrigation Departments at the Centre and in the States should maintain district-wise data on the water table and water run-off.

The latest Union Budget focusses more on development of basic amenities in villages; mainly roads, irrigation, health facilities, education, social safety and marketing networks. If these initiatives are implemented, the large-scale migration from villages to cities would be arrested.

More people will become interested in farming and related activities if the agriculture sector is rid of the involvement of middlemen.

While world over, there has been a shifting of people from agriculture to other sectors — for instance, if in 1913, farms employed 28 per cent of the Americans, 41 per cent of the French, 60 per cent of the Japanese and 12 per cent of the British, they now absorb less than 6 per cent of the population in those countries — in India, however, 70 per cent of the people depend on some 20 natural sectors.

Ironically, despite the unprecedented growth of the industrial sector in the last century, there have been job losses worldwide, especially in the natural sector. To that extent it is an advantage India that still has 20 natural sectors that can provide livelihoods to a significant section of the population. As Economics Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz says, countries need to keep in mind a vision for development that is sustainable, equitable and democratic.

Many economists and planners believe that industry alone can boost GDP and that there is a need to reduce the dependence on agriculture. But, for a country like India, it is not possible to engage more than a certain percentage of the population in the industry and services sectors. The country's strength lies in rediscovering its natural sectors.

Plant wealth

India has significant biodiversity and is home to a wide range of edible plants. Efficient agricultural input management can save and rejuvenate countless number of herbs and shrubs that will not just sustain the farmers but also provide them with an income source. India need never witness any farmer suicide if it protects its plant wealth. In boosting the industry and services sectors, India should not destroy agriculture — nature's gift of sustainability.

(The author is a Pune-based freelance writer.)