A misnomer of sorts

It is really the dynamism of Indian agriculture that invariably arouses curiosity and urge for probe among scholars and social scientists alike. Besides being vast and diversified, this sector is known for its sharp and readily noticeable fluctuations in output trends in its various segments. What is also peculiar about it is that both positive and negative trends can subsist at the same time in different regions and in the same region at different times.

As such, it lends itself to any number of studies, reviews and discussions. However, for the same reason, it becomes very difficult for any single work on agriculture to capture all its hues and contours. The Oxford Handbook of Agriculture in India has, in fact, not even attempted to do that. In fact, the name 'handbook of agriculture' seems a misnomer of sorts as the book is not on the basics of Indian agriculture as the name would tend to suggest. It is essentially the report of a study sponsored by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) under its global initiative to analyse policy implications of the role of agriculture in developing countries. Such studies were sponsored in 11 countries by this global body. With that objective in view, the book has concentrated largely on running through the process of agricultural development and probing into its interaction with environment, poverty reduction, social change and migration trends. However, the contents look a little dated as the data used for capturing developments and drawing inferences are several years old, mostly prior to the period when the widespread deceleration in agricultural growth bred distress among farmers, resulting in incidents of suicides.

Much of the analysis is based on the results of the 55th round of national sample survey data pertaining to 1999-2000. Though the book editor and its major contributor, Shovan Ray, concedes this, he also seeks to justify it saying: "I would surmise that a few more points of data may not transform the results all that much." But the surmise does not seem to be wholly correct as is reflected in the fast-paced developments in the farm sector in the past few years, bringing it into sharp socio-political focus. The second-generation problems of the green revolution, which began surfacing more sharply after 2000, have really not been portrayed adequately in this book.

The section on agriculture and poverty reduction says that the fall in poverty is driven mainly by income growth in the post-reforms period of the 1990s. There is also evidence of increase in inequality in consumption expenditure in this period, resulting in an increase in urban-rural differences. Besides, it points out that poverty decline has taken place in almost all the states though rates of reduction differ substantially across the states""ranging from 0.23 per cent in Bihar to 3.30 per cent in Kerala.

An interesting observation made in the book is that the states with a higher concentration of poverty lie in the central and eastern parts of the country, where the green revolution was late to reach for lack of irrigation and adequate public expenditure on infrastructure development. Thus, rural poverty persists largely in rainfed, dryland and semi-arid parts of the country.

The issue of agriculture and environment has been covered in some detail. But the analysis seems unable to indisputably link environmental degradation with agriculture except in the case of irrigated regions in general and the wheat-rice growing Indo-Gangetic plain in particular. The menace of water-logging and growing soil salinity in irrigated tracts has been attributed, as could be expected, to faulty irrigation project designs, low water charges and similar other factors. The solutions suggested include the use of zero tillage technology, which minimises the need for water and curbs soil erosion, and charging reasonable price for irrigation water.

On the migration front, a significant point put forth is that the past trend of disparity in agricultural development leading to migration (from backward to developed areas) is no longer visible. "Despite significant increase in regional disparity, migration has gone down. The developed states in the 1990s report a much lower percentage of in-migrants than in the previous decades and out-migration from the backward states has gone down. The migration from rural to urban areas, too, has registered a significant decline, despite high rural-urban and inter-regional inequality", the book states. Interestingly, the book observes that rural areas in the immediate periphery of large cities often act as dormitories for poor migrants as they are unable to find a foothold in the cities.

OXFORD Handbook of Agriculture in India

Edited by Shovan Ray
Oxford University Press
Price: Rs 595; Pages: 231