Irrigation accounts for, by far, the largest part of the total investment in the agricultural sector. However, the intensively irrigated crop production regions that currently hold the key to the country’s food security are experiencing technology fatigue and are under increasing environmental stress. There is also the problem of major investments not yielding optimum results because of inefficient or insufficient support structures or inputs. The answer lies in dovetailing major and minor irrigation projects. For example there are dams which cannot function because no water courses are made. They can be dovetailed to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme. Other activities and programmes that can be converged are: construction of new tanks or deepening of existing water tanks; small and minor irrigation schemes; making provisions for protection from flooding; micro management plan; watershed; and water conservation. The thrust activity of irrigation needs to be planned in a holistic manner, bringing all these components together. The next step is optimum utilisation of water by encouraging the use of sprinklers, drip irrigation, plastics for horticulture water conservation and subsidy for instruments for plant protection. Thus irrigation is not just an issue of one department but requires dovetailing with employment generation schemes, proper land shaping, planning, credit for drip/well/ sprinklers/lift irrigation, grants and loans from special targeted schemes for SC/ ST/OBC and women.
Agricultural implements: These include sprayers, hand sprayers, machine sprayers, harvesters and even simple instruments for top working for fruit trees and floriculture. These instruments can be given on credit, through grants, as part of mini-kits or through direct purchase or hire. Often the distribution of these implements is taken in isolation, resulting in its nonavailability for some needy farmers. A holistic approach links it with the identified thrust activity so that appropriate implements in sufficient quantity are available and there is no wasteful expenditure.
Fertilizers: The Government gave a subsidy on fertilizers to manufacturers in the hope that the benefit would ultimately be passed on to the poor farmers. However, that has not happened. It is commonly felt that this subsidy has benefited the manufacturers more than the farmers. The book adjustments make it appear like a relief to the farmer but this scheme does not improve his immediate income levels, increase productivity and nor does it amount to a complete waiver of the loan – it just means some relief from the accrued interest and postponement of the installments to be paid. It is important that any activity directed relating to fertilizer subsidy has an individual rather than general approach. The correct dose of fertilizer to be used has to be individualistic (landspecific) – this ensures that no farmer is burdened with more fertiliser than he needs, thus saving himself from unnecessary indebtedness. The extension staff should be Agriculture doctors (using the green cross to help farmers identify them) who can prescribe to individual farmers the right dose of fertilisers, and also the cropping pattern to rejuvenate the micronutrients in the soil in a natural way — for example, leguminous planting after wheat works as the best rotation pattern. There is a trend towards organic farming andfarmers should be informed about its benefits, essentials and other details.
Pesticide: With control of pests being the objective, activities target both the issue of subsidies in pesticide control and also propagation of organic pesticides. The Agriculture doctor plays an important role in recommending the kind of pesticide (natural or chemical), the amount to be used and the timing.
Harvesting: Holistic approach guides farmers to a holistic approach to harvesting and towards using appropriate technology. Systematic convergence can help them minimize costs (by linking them with appropriate credit schemes) and even give them an additional source of earning if they operate through SHGs and Cooperatives. If they are made part of a Labour Cooperative, they can earn for their labour and those with sophisticated instruments can add value to their labour and thus increase their earnings.
Storage: Activities and funds of several ministries and other stakeholders can be converted to ensure good storage facilities. These include the Ministry of Rural Development’s infrastructure schemes, public-private partnerships, funds of agriculture mandis (autonomous bodies for agriculture marketing), the Horticulture Board’s subsidy schemes for cold storage, and direct funding by banks for temporary and long term storage facilities.
Marketing: The first need is to converge schemes to educate farmers of their rights in terms of setting prices and empowering them for collective informed negotiations with the buyers. The thrust activity of increase in production and crop selection has to include the component of marketing and an investment in building the capacity of farmers to market effectively. They should be exposed to all aspects of this operation (such as the possibility of buy back arrangements with the private sector). Farmers should have established linkages with wholesale mandis, corporate farming, cold storages, private sector, processing plants and retail outlets.
Credit: Loans are available to farmers through several institutions/programmes, such as cooperative banks, lead bank district credit plan, kisan credit cards, Primary Agriculture Cooperative/Credit Societies, Large Adivasi Multi-purpose Cooperative Societies for SC/ ST farmers, credit for land development. However, there is a need to rationalise their borrowing, both in terms of the extent of finance required and the cost of that loan. The holistic approach will enable them on both, ensuring a better repayment percentage by facilitating linkages that ensure optimum utilization of the money at the least cost. The credit gets supplemented by forward and backward linkages automatically and thus ensures fruitful usage of the credit given. There is also a need to focus more on the root of the problem and the attitude to loans by empowering them to take decisions that are beneficial to them and have some relation to the size and potential of their land holding. Misguided by the lure of cash crops, many of them indulge in heavy borrowing. They have no belief in or understanding of the banking system and depend on money lenders. There is a need to converge efforts to increase productivity, educate them in the advantages of the banking system and create a more flexi-lending system with low interest rates. In this context, the issuing of Kisan Credit Cards is a good initiative. This Government of India scheme aims to save farmers from high-interest rates usually charged by money lenders in the unorganised sector. The interest rate can be as low as 2.00% under this scheme
Finance planning: The root cause of farmers’ suicides is poor finance management rather than crop failure. It is therefore as essential to educate farmers in finance planning as in agriculture technology. The training to farmers is currently done in bits and pieces under various schemes of the Government. The holistic approach on finance planning will empower farmers to plan their finances – and will facilitate the process of doing so.
Alternatives after calamities – Crop insurance and Insurance of farmers: Given the high vulnerability of the Indian farmer to the vagaries of nature, it is essential to have in place a plan of action after calamities, including insurance cover for the farmers. However, insurance policies need to be aligned to ground realities, otherwise, like the National Crop Insurance scheme, they will be nonstarters. This scheme uses the tehsil as the unit – it is based on the area approach, with ataluk/tehsil taken to be the area. Indemnities payable to farmers in the area are assessed on the basis of the average yield for the area; the variations in the yield within the area are neglected. This method is considered unsatisfactory. To be effective, insurance schemes in this sector have to be more localised and even individualised. Recommendations for improved schemes have reduced the unit area to Panchayat level and have brought localised calamities also into the purview of coverage. Thus they have defined areas for notified crops for widespread calamities, whereas the insurance provisions are on individualbasis for localised calamities such as hailstorm, landslide, cyclone, and flood. The recent Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana also have an issue of what should be the unit and thus acceptance among farmers is not very large.
The Tsunami relief package is a typical illustration of the problems referred to above. The farmers in the affected region were given seeds which would not give a suitable yield in the soil which had become saline as an aftermath of the Tsunami. In fact, the compensation package (apart from giving the right kind of seeds for saline soil) should have factored in low early returns and given seeds for three crops — till the soil became normal. Thus the issue of compensation of crop has to be more technology-based than a revenue model. It also has to be rights-based and not given as a charity. After any calamity, it is important to salvage the crop/ suggest alternatives and provide a bridge in terms of compensation. Converging welfare with the effective technological inputs ensures a cushion in case of calamities. Thus necessary amendments are required in the relief manuals.
The other relevant insurance schemes include Janashree to ensure higher education to children of farmers; life insurance schemes of the private sector; group insurance and insurance for small and marginal farmers. Then there are the federations (e.g. those of fisheries and dairy farmers) which have welfare measures for the family of the deceased. Schemes like Janashree encourage higher education among the wards. The premium for these schemes should be paid by SC/ST/OBC corporations.
Details of Janashree: The Central Government and Life Insurance Corporation together launched the Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) on August 10, 2000. JBY is sponsored by the government. The scheme is devised to provide life insurance cover to rural and urban people below and marginally above the poverty line.The premium to be paid for the scheme is Rs.200/- per member. 50% of the premium will be paid by the members or the State Government/Nodal Agency. The other 50% of the premium will be borne from the Social Security Fund. Nodal Agencies comprise Self Help Groups (SHGs), NGOs, Panchayat, or any other institutional arrangement. Janashree Bima Yojana offers a special scheme to women SHG members. The plan assists women under SHG members in their children’s education. It also offers a term insurance plan with a coverage of Rs. 30,000 on a premium of Rs.200/ year. 50% of the premium is shared with LIC and 50% of the premium is paid by SHG member. It also offers a social security scheme, Shiksha Sahyog Yojana which covers children of parents covered under the JBY. The benefit comes as a scholarship amount of Rs.600, which is paid in every six months to students studying in IX to XII including students pursuing ITI. Maximum number of two children under this plan is offered with the scholarship.
Biogas: Holistic planning enables the farmer to make use of abyproduct of his farming as compost and as energy for cooking and, if possible, for electricity as well. It could trigger an environmental initiative like creating a smoke-less chulha(cooking stove). The convergent approach thus fills the gap for these products by constant education by different field workers and does not restrict it to a field visit by a functionary of the department or agency dealing with biogas.
Forest dwellers: The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 is a key piece of forest legislation focusing on the rights of forest dwelling communities to land and other resources, denied to them over decades as a result of the continuance of colonial forest laws in India. The Act has generated a lot of debate – and concern among conservationists. However, this manual will limit itself to the issues related to sustainable income, displacement and rehabilitation of tribal. Despite forest produce being a multi-million-rupeetrade, there are few mechanisms for using it to generate sustainable livelihood opportunities for the tribal population. This in itself can be a thrust activity to list land and forest-based produce, their collection, growth, marketing, value addition etc. There is ample scope for convergence to achieve the outcome of giving the forest dwellers an income that can move from sustainable to surplus. The tendu patta (leaf used for making beedis) trade in Madhya Pradesh is an excellent illustration of linkage between the collectors of leaves and professional marketing practices.
CONCLUSION
There are countless schemes for all the above elements but little information is available on the impact of schemes at the critical cutting-edge level. There is a need for effective outcomeoriented monitoring. Most of these schemes are universal and do not take into account specifics. Schemes are often lost in the mazeof scores of schemes; many lie unutilised, their objective forgotten, even though the scheme remains. An objective analysis shows that only 12% of the schemes are utilised. Thus after a calamity, waiverof interest and giving a fresh loan is easier said than done; watershed development has become just a meaningless formality to be included in plans; major irrigation schemes have been accorded low priority; rain water harvesting is done more as a demonstration than a regular practice. Extension services, which have a pivotal role to play, have unfortunately been ignored. Respect for the last functionary needs to be regained to make these schemes work for the actual targeted beneficiaries.
Part of the 59th Round of the National Sample Survey Organisation carried out in 2003, was the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Farmers. The results of the SAS survey were compiled in five valuable reports: Indebtedness of Farmers; Some Aspects of Farming; Access to Modern Technology; Household Consumption Expenditure for Farmers; and Income, Expenditure and Productive Assets of Farmer Households. The National Commission on Farmers, chaired by Prof. M. S. Swaminathan, submitted five reports through the period December 2004 – October 2006with recommendations for rejuvenating Indian Agriculture. Following from the first four, the final report focused on causes of famer distresses and the rise in farmer suicides, and recommends addressing them through a holistic national policy for farmers. The National Development Council (NDC) has also prepared its diagnosis and prescriptions. There have been a number of committees on financial inclusion. But all these recommendations are being addressed in bits and pieces. If they are followed in a comprehensive, consistent manner, Agriculture will emerge as the driving force to push the country’s growth rate even higher. The issue today is not one of lack of laws or financial and other resources, or even an appropriate policy – it is simply one of having patch work approach. The answer lies in paradigm shift to holistic planning. (Concluded)
Dr. Aruna Sharma has served as Secretary, Govt. of India. She is a Development Economist and served as Secretary, Ministry of Steel; Secretary, Electronics and Panchayati Raj. She also held charge of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj in Madhya Pradesh state government. She conceived and launched governance software like Samagra, now operational in 10 states and coordinated for Direct Benefit Transfer. She was member in 5 member high level committee of RBI for deepening digital payments.