2022 review. A game-changing year for agriculture

The year 2022 started off with protesting farmers going back to their respective States, after 15 months of gruelling and unrelenting agitation against the Farm Laws. It has been a game-changing year for Indian agriculture on many counts, but was influenced by the extreme events both globally and within the country.

For 2023, what remains to be seen on the domestic front is whether the government will succeed in use of Direct Benefit Transfers for the farmers as well as how successfully the sector is cushioned from the global challenges.

While the Russia-Ukraine war triggered the export demand for Indian foodgrains — mainly wheat, rice and corn — farmers back in the country were impacted by the rising incidents of unfavourable and changing weather patterns throughout the year across different agro-climatic zones.

If the higher than normal temperature levels during the early part of the year shrunk the wheat output in the key producing regions of North, the patchy rains during the crucial monsoon period in the eastern parts of the country influenced the rice cropping pattern. The higher than normal rains impacted output of pulses and other plantation crops such as coffee and pepper among other, besides influencing yields of cotton in the Southern States.

Import curbs

The farmers largely benefitted from the surge in prices of various agro commodities such as wheat, corn, cotton, oilseeds such as mustard, soyabean and groundnut among others, as a fallout of the Ukraine war. The rise in food prices impacted the consumer wallets and also forced the government to keep the imports open for commodities like pulses while placing curbs on shipments of wheat, flour, broken rice and sugar among others. Besides, it also forced the government to renew its focus on initiatives to boost domestic oilseeds such as sunflower.

Tech adoption

The technology adoption in agriculture continued to gain pace with the use of drones, precision farming and hydroponics among others making further inroads aided by the deeper penetration of mobile connectivity and the government policy support. This has not only helped attract the investors’ interest but also helped expand the fledgling start-up ecosystem, which is seen helping strengthen the post-harvest and storage infrastructure besides the agri-marketing mechanism.

GM Mustard

After what the industry called a policy paralysis with regard to considering GM trials for over a decade, the year also saw the clearance for GM mustard’s environmental release by the GEAC, which has rekindled hope among the research-based agribiotech companies. GM is a key policy, but the decision, however, is embroiled in a huge controversy, with anti-GMO activists, farmers’ unions and a section of scientists strongly opposing the move. They even moved the Supreme Court, challenging the move to allow the GM mustard for commercial release.

As regards Farm Laws, though the opinion was sharply divided on whether withdrawing the laws that promised reforms was a good or a retrograde decision, the fact that the farmers went back to the fields augured very well.

The year also witnessed a crucial move by the warring factions of the seed companies to bury the hatchet and join hands. The two sides have been engaged in nearly two-decade-long legal and verbal duels over issues like royalty and prohibitive seed technology licensing clauses. The two sides announced that they would establish a self-regulatory mechanism to sort out knotty issues, if any, and a mutually beneficial seed technology mechanism to ensure a win-win situation for both sides. They also announced that the first product under the new arrangement will see the light of day in 2023.

The year also witnessed a bitter fight between the Centre and the Telangana government over the procurement of parboiled rice. But the year saw a dramatic change in the second half that made the Centre announce a slew of measures to augment the rice reserves to keep the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) running for another quarter (October-December 2022).

Fortification of rice under PDS

After doing pilots in several States, the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution released SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) early this year, mandating the millers and State procurement agencies to follow certain measures to bring uniformity and ensure the quality of the fortified rice.

The SOPs include how millers should print logos of +F, endorsed by the FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). About 10 per cent of all the samples should be sent to FSSAI-approved and NABL (National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories)-recognised laboratories.

The SOPs are going to be implemented in 2023, giving a boost to the delivery of fortified rice under the public distribution schemes.

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