BS Manthan: Finding common ground in ideologically divided farm sector

With almost 55 per cent of the country’s population engaged in agriculture and allied activities, according to the 2011 census, the road map for a developed India by 2047 has to pass through the farms. However, discussions and debates surrounding the farm sector and its myriad problems remain mired in ideological boundaries, making finding common ground a tough task.

This is where some of the best minds in the country in agriculture and allied sectors will deliberate during the two-day Business Standard Manthan event scheduled for March 27-28 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi. 
 

The panel on the Role of Agriculture in a Developed India by 2047, to be held on March 28 (the second day of the deliberations), promises to conduct a thorough review of the country’s agriculture sector and also reflect on its future.
 

NITI Aayog member and noted agriculture economist Ramesh Chand, agriculture economist Ashok Gulati, and the voice of the farmers, chairman of Bharat Krishak Samaj (Farmers’ Forum India) Ajay Vir Jakhar will form part of the esteemed panel.
 

The demand for a statutory guaranteed minimum support price, the growing climatological challenges facing agriculture, the vexed question of dipping or stagnating yields in several crops, the challenge of feeding a growing population with limited resources, the technological challenges in farming, and the digitisation drive will all be part of the engaging 45-minute discussion.

The fact that the share of agriculture and allied activities in India’s annual gross domestic product has been declining over the years while the population dependent on farming, either directly or indirectly, hasn’t decreased in the same proportion, resulting in millions of people engaged in unproductive, low-paid jobs, presents a challenge that several economists and commentators have found difficult to address over the years.
 

Pushing more people out of farming into skilled jobs would require substantial investments in the rural non-farm sector. Simultaneously, farming has to be made productive and remunerative for the growers.

The last Situational Assessment Survey (SAS) of 2018-19 shows that for an average agricultural household, the share of income from cropping has dropped from 48 per cent in 2012-13 to 38 per cent, while that of wages and salaries has risen from 32.2 per cent to 40.3 per cent during the same period.
 

During the same period, average debt levels have remained fairly consistent.
 

India’s farm sector needs a thorough relook as the country marches towards the cherished goal of a developed nation by 2047, which the panel discussions promise to deliver.