The Hindu Business Line : Cultivate newer technologies

The Government accepted the moral responsibility for the farmers’ indebtedness and prepared a Debt Relief and Loan Waiver (DRLW) scheme that conferred no benefit on the farmers but helped rescue the banks from the burden of non-performing assets (NPAs). Even after the announcement of the DRLW, the government launched a battery of anti-farmers policies, viz.

liberalising import of edible oils and oil seeds;

restricting export of basmati and non-basmati rice, corn, milk-powder, etc.;

delisting eight commodities from the futures markets, though the Abhijit Sen Committee had clearly shown that there was no causal or functional link between futures markets and inflation; and

imposition of a hefty Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) that does not exist in any other country.

The farmer in India continues to suffer from natural calamities (aasmani) as much as from governmental tyranny (sultani).

Even before the resolution of the age-old problems, farmers are facing an array of new problems. Global warming and climate change have brought in an era of highly fluctuating temperatures and skewed rainfall patterns. These climatic changes are likely to affect adversely the production of foodgrains, bring down the output of milk and fruits and make post-harvest operations. The shortage of electricity, as also of petrol and diesel, could make agricultural practices and agriculture-based businesses even more difficult.

Role of technology

In our long human history, the problem of feeding an increasing population has usually been resolved by recourse to various kinds of new technologies, such as the green revolution technology, biotechnology, and so on. In the coming years, “agriculture under the sky” may have to increasingly yield place to “covered agriculture in a controlled environment”.

Biotechnology will have to be promoted to develop new varieties of seeds and plants that can withstand the vicissitudes of climate change and develop the capacity to bear extreme stress conditions.

A new technology has come up that permits conversion of practically all biomass into ethanol and bio-diesel. This technology will enable farmers to make agriculture the best of all vocations, as was the case before Independence. This would require the Government to permit unrestricted production of bio-fuels and desist from interfering in fixing the blending proportion, leaving it to the farmers to fix the bio-fuel prices at around the level of petrol and diesel prices. It is likely that a part of the production of edible oils will be required to be converted into bio-fuel. This need not cause apprehensions about shortages of edible oils if new technologies such as aeroponics are promoted and encouraged.

Aeroponics is a technology that was developed as a part of space exploration programme in order to make fresh vegetables available to astronauts living in space for long periods. It makes it possible to grow crops without the use of any soil, with minimum use of water and reducing the period required for maturity of crops by as much as 70 per cent. Vegetables produced on a dinner table space can suffice easily for half a dozen families.

The switch over to this futuristic agriculture will require substantial capital investment and reorganisation of agricultural structures.

Back to farms

Fortunately, land prices are soaring and large numbers of farmers are clearly expressing their desire to quit agriculture. The present recession is likely to push a substantial number of people who, earlier, migrated to cities back towards agriculture. This could be a good occasion to bring in people with necessary managerial skills and technical knowhow as also financial resources into agriculture. The farmers in India who made the country self-sufficient in food have really earned a “golden handshake”.

The futures markets, particularly those that operate through electronic platforms, can help farmers plan their crop-patterns and earn the advantage of price discovery as also of prices prevailing at future times and distant places.

Technologies such as aeroponics, biotechnology, ethanol technology can help the farmer overcome the difficult challenges of today. This will, of course require the removal of the existing duality of “companies for urbanites” and “co-operatives for the country people”.

The formation of joint stock companies by farmers by converting land and labour contribution into equity will, among other things, improve agricultural participation in the futures markets and improve liquidity of agriculture as a whole. Finally, the calamities that Indian agriculture faces can also be taken as God-sent opportunities for bringing about the technological, organisational and financial upgradation of Indian agriculture.

(The author is Founder, Shetkari Sanghatana, and a Rajya Sabha MP. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)

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