Beyond loan waivers & doles

Farmers do not need charity like loan-waivers or doles. They need income through fair returns on their produce to live with dignity,” maintains one of the major farmers’ organisations, the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA). This all-India body, representing a sizable section of farmers, stands apart from the other farm unions in several respects. Unlike most other unions which are linked to political parties and are agitating for loan write-offs and other financial sops, CIFA is apolitical and campaigns chiefly for policies that can make agriculture self-sustaining. Besides, instead of opposing the genetically modified (GM) crops as most other farm unions do, CIFA strongly advocates deployment of modern technologies such as nano, space, atomic, information and bio-technology to make farming remunerative. The CIFA’s crusade, therefore, is basically for a technology- and knowledge-based vibrant agriculture ably supported by efficient marketing and farmers-centered policies.

 
With this end in view, CIFA has chalked out an elaborate ‘national agricultural agenda’ which it wishes the government to follow over the next 10 years. Its broad aim is to propel the farm sector growth to at least 4 per cent a year, from the present long-term average 2 to 3 per cent, to narrow down the gap between agriculture and other sectors of the economy. For this, agriculture needs to be at the centre stage of economic development — the way industry, trade, services and other sectors have been since the beginning of the economic reforms. It also calls for a separate farm sector budget under an agriculture minister of deputy prime minister’s rank. Besides, it wants agriculture to be looked after by officials having some basic knowledge of farming rather than by the city-bred bureaucrats.

 
Significantly, the CIFA’s agenda lays stress on several areas that have not received due attention. These include land and tenancy regulations, revamping of agricultural marketing, mechanisation of farm operations and mobilisation of private investment in infrastructure, agro-processing (value-addition) and farm research. The labour employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) should be permitted to work on the farmers’ fields on a cost-sharing basis to ease the growing shortage of farm labour, especially in the agriculturally progressive areas.
 

This aside, CIFA favours stable farm policies formulated with a long-term perspective to safeguard the farmers’ economic interests. The present inflation control-oriented policies, marked by kneejerk reactions to emerging situations, frequent alterations in import-export duties and various kinds of curbs on the external and domestic trade of farm goods, tend to protect the interests of the consumers at the cost of the producers. The duty structure on the external trade of farm items should incentivise exports and allow only essential imports. The landed cost of the imported commodities, moreover, should be at least 10 per cent higher than their minimum support prices to avoid any adverse impact on domestic production. The Essential Commodities Act, which facilitates imposition of trade restrictions on mass-consumed agri-commodities, also needs to be revisited.

 
Another noteworthy, even if hard to implement, counsel from CIFA is to put agriculture and irrigation in the concurrent list of the Constitution to let the Union government play a more meaningful role in their development. Many critical subjects like agricultural credit, crop insurance, disaster relief, external trade and technology generation are already being managed largely by the Centre. The states are looking after seeds, power, cooperatives and extension services. Most of these sectors are in a dismal state. The irrigation sector, which is starved of funds because of the poor financial health of most states, would also stand to gain if brought under the direct control of the Centre.

 
With general elections round the corner, CIFA intends to approach various political parties, especially the regional parties that are expected to play a more prominent role in governance in the future, to urge them to include part of this agenda in their election manifestoes. These parties may actually benefit by doing so as many, if not all, of the CIFA’s suggestions are well-judged, need-based and result-oriented. 
surinder.sud@gmail.com