 "Ashok Gulati")
Farmers in India are struggling to cope with the severe blow they have suffered because of the unseasonal rains. This is not the first time crops have been devastated because of erratic weather conditions. But the country has yet again been caught unprepared. Ashok Gulati, Infosys chair and professor for agriculture at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, speaks to Veenu Sandhu about the contingency measures and solutions to protect farmers
The unseasonal rains that wrecked havoc on their crops have left farmers in distress. With reports of farmer suicides also coming in from different states, what should the government do to alleviate their misery?
At present, it is just fire fighting. There is a fire and we are trying to douse it. The need of the moment is to figure out how the farmers are going to survive the immense damage they have suffered because of the unseasonal rains. The season that will follow is also not looking very bright. It is predicted that this year monsoon will also let farmers down. The government has said that rainfall in the June-September period will be 93 per cent of the 50-year average. Private agencies have predicted that the rains will be 102 per cent of the average. Let’s hope the private agencies are right. (If the rainfall through this period is between 96 per cent and 104 per cent of the average, then it will be a normal or good monsoon).
However, there needs to be a standard contingency plan. Farm loans can be restructured. Instead of having to pay back the loan in, say, six months, the farmers can be asked to pay back over the next two or three years. (The Reserve Bank of India has instructed banks to restructure loans of farmers whose crops have been damaged by the recent rains). These are standard things that can be done immediately. However, we should not look at loan waiver as an option. That’s a culture we should not encourage or develop.
What about compensating the farmers for the loss they have suffered?
Yes, that’s another immediate step. The prime minister has decided to raise the existing norms of compensation by 50 per cent. As of now, compensation is given to those farmers who have suffered damage of at least 50 per cent. But now it will also be given to those who have suffered one-third damage. That said, it is important to ensure that whatever compensation has been decided is paid immediately. The farmer needs help now. Delays cause permanent damage. Also, ensure that he gets the full amount. For that the level of governance has to improve a good deal more. As of now, the farmer has to run from pillar to post to get the money due to him. And then he has to pay bribes for it. The patwari will not release the money till he is paid for it. For Rs 750, the farmer sometimes has to pay a bribe of as much as Rs 250. This is a huge problem.
We also have the technology to tell how much damage a particular field has suffered. Satellite imagery can be used to immediately give this picture. That’s the level of technology we have today. Use it, and then compensate the farmer. But do it. And instead of going through the long and often corrupt chain to deliver the money, transfer it directly to his Aadhaar-card linked bank account or the account opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana. We should, in fact, have already done this.
What about medium- and long-term solutions because in the future too will have unseasonal rains and monsoon will fail farmers.
Yes, these risks are not going to go away. That is why we need to work out an institutional plan to deal with these uncertainties. We have to seriously start thinking about better and rational insurance policies for farmers to protect them in times like these. The current farm insurance policies hardly help. They have exorbitant premium rates — around 10 per cent of the sum insured. No wonder less than five per cent of the farmers opt for crop insurance.
This is where we can learn from the US and China. In the US, 70 per cent of the premium paid by the farmers is borne by the state. And in China, the state supports nearly 80 per cent of the premium. It raised it from 50 to 65 per cent two years ago. Crop insurance is not a long-term measure. It can be speeded up.
And what will be the long-term plans?
R&D or research and development, to improve the seed quality or maybe a more efficient irrigation system. It’s not as if we aren’t investing in this. But look at, for example, the plans to increase the irrigation potential in Maharashtra. What finally became of those? These are long-term plans that have to be pursued. At the moment what we’re doing is just fire-fighting.
