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Apropos your editorial “Banking on Agriculture” ( Business Line, November 7), Indian agriculture not only suffers from credit deficit and investment deficit but also suffers from pricing problems, right type of marketing, unwillingness to change, shifting the crops to suit the environment of the day, declining size of land holdings and the unpredictability of the weather.

The Government has been addressing the concerns about credit and investment to a certain extent. However, other problems are yet to be addressed on a big enough scale to make agriculture a profitable venture.

The agriculturist has land at his disposal, is willing to invest and work. He rightfully expects that the output must compensate the cost of cultivation, the rewards for the labour and entrepreneurship undertaken by him, interest cost and repayment obligations and leave a surplus at the hands of the farmer.

However, vagaries of weather, the glut or deficit conditions, cost of transporting, unpredictability of the traders and market make his profession not so profitable. He, therefore, does not cultivate all the cultivable land.

In this connection, it is relevant to recall the words of agricultural scientist Dr M. S. Swaminathan, who once said that right price is the best fertiliser an Indian farmer can get to continue his profession.

The problems of the farmers can be solved only by creating a high powered organization, like the Planning Commission, to ensure that the problems of the sector are addressed in a meaningful way to make agriculture a profitable profession.

Such a step will ensure that the farm market mechanism works to make India a self-sufficient as well as an export-surplus country.

P. E. Muthu Mumbai

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