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What ails agriculture in Andhra Pradesh and what should the State do to make it an attractive proposition for the youth?
A commission headed by R Radhakrishna, an expert, wants the State government to revamp the institutional architecture for agriculture.
The new architecture should be guided by a farmers’ commission led by an eminent economist, it said. Stakeholders, including government representatives, should be taken on board to formulate policies, conduct studies and bring out commodity-specific reports, the panel said.
The Commission on Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural Development of Andhra Pradesh, which was set up by the State government two years ago, has submitted its report with a set of recommendations after studying the issues and successful models in other States. The report was discussed at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies here on Tuesday.
“We have recommended to the government to amend the tenancy laws in order to allow credit flow into farming. We have asked it to build land banks for tenant farmers on the lines of such banks set up for corporate ventures. The amended law must allow longer tenures of tenancy so that the farmers can take long-term loans,” said S Galab, Director of CESS, who is also on the commission.
The other members on the panel include economists D Narasimha Reddy, SR Hashim, Sheila Bhalla and K Hanumantha Rao, and bureaucrat T Vijaya Kumar.
Briefing a gathering on the salient features of the 250-page report, Hanumantha Rao said the new framework will provide for building a registry of tenant farmers for free flow of credit.
The Kerala modelHe also felt that there should be curbs on buying of land by non-cultivators. He cited the Kerala example, where panchayats play a key role in identifying lands for lease.
The massive study included interactions with 5,000 farmers, associations, market committees, advocacy groups and NGOs spanning 19 public hearings in 13 districts of the State.
The commission felt that poor governance is the main reason for marketing inefficiency and low price realisation by farmers.
To address this, it wants the government to allow democratic election of farmers’ representatives to the market committees.
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