The Hindu Business Line : Stunted growth

The UPA government assumed office in mid-2004 amid lofty promises and expectations of lifting the living standards of the millions eking out a living in agriculture and related activities. Four-and-a-half years later, the country’s overall agricultural situation is as uncertain and structurally challenged as before, despite normal monsoons during the period. Agriculture continues to be of critical importance to the economy because of its high share in employment and livelihood creation, notwithstanding its reduced contribution to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

Apart from certain bright spots of higher output in some crops on occasions, domestic food output is still way short of what it can be and high prices continue to haunt the common man. Food imports continue as a matter of routine with none in the government taking charge to seriously address production and productivity issues — oilseeds and pulses are two prime examples. At just about 3 per cent, annual average growth rate of farm output over the past five years has been, to use a charitable expression, modest. Even now, agriculture continues to be a laggard in an otherwise robust growth process. Agrarian crisis is far from solved; and migration of people from rural to urban areas in search of employment is unabated. The period has also seen a large number of farmers ending their lives because of penury and distress. The farm loan waiver scheme has not had the desired impact. Very simply, the benefits of the country’s economic growth of the last four-five years have failed to flow to large sections of the people especially in rural areas. This must change; and it can, if, and only if, agriculture receives primacy in the government’s Plan process. Pious statements of strengthening the farm sector are unmatched by concrete action. The trend of falling public investment in agriculture needs to be reversed. Strengthening input delivery system, expanding irrigation facilities, building rural infrastructure as also delivering price and market information to growers deserve priority. Instead, the Government has been tinkering with trade and tariff-related issues on an ad hoc basis. There has hardly been a worthwhile attempt at capacity-building among farmers; for instance, capacity to be able to face the pressures of marketisation or unfair competition from low-priced imports. Also, needed are large doses of investment in farm research and development with built-in accountability of performance on part of research institutions.

Plateauing of yields in major field crops is a matter of serious concern which, if not addressed with urgency, can slowly compromise the country’s food security. “Inclusive growth” is the new mantra of the government, an admission that many have remained excluded from the game so far. We need serious policy interventions in the form of new initiatives designed to meet not only the ongoing challenges of demand-supply mismatch, but also the newer threats of climate change, land constraints and water shortage. This government has virtually run its course with little to show by way of exemplary performance at least insofar as the farm sector is concerned. Hopefully, the New Year should usher in greater commitment on the part of policymakers to rejuvenate agriculture from its moribund state.

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