Surinder Sud: Enough headroom

FARM VIEW

Wheat yields, for instance, can be raised by 38 per cent in the case of Uttarakhand at even the existing levels of technology.

The deceleration in agricultural growth is often attributed to the plateauing of crop yields and lack of generation of new productivity-boosting technology. This, indeed, is too simplistic a view to take. Actually, there exists a yawning gap between the yields at the farmers' fields and those obtainable with the production technology that is already available. As such, the output of most crops, including the key ones like wheat, rice, pulses and oilseeds, can be stepped up considerably by bridging, or narrowing down, this yield gap.

Let us take wheat, the most talked about crop at the moment, as a case in point. The disparity in the actual productivity on the growers' farms and achievable yields with known improved cultivation practices varies from about 5 per cent in Haryana to as much as 38 per cent in Uttarakhand. (See accompanying chart, based on the data given in the draft report of the sub-committee of National Development Council on agriculture presented to the Planning Commission.) 

ACTUAL AND POTENTIAL WHEAT YIELD WITH AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGY Wheat yield (tonnes/hectare)
State	Farmers' practices	Improved practices	Difference in %
Uttar Pradesh	3.30	4.20	26.50
Bihar	2.90	3.70	25.70
Punjab	4.00	4.50	10.60
Haryana	4.50	4.80	5.10
Rajasthan	3.70	4.00	6.00
Gujarat	3.50	4.00	15.60
Madhya Pradesh	2.50	3.30	33.40
Maharashtra	2.90	3.40	17.30
West Bengal	2.10	2.80	32.90
Uttarakhand	2.40	3.40	38.60
Himachal Pradesh	2.10	2.60	23.00
Source: Planning Commission

Even in the main north-western wheat belt comprising Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan (irrigated lands), where the current wheat productivity is fairly high, the present yield level of 3.5 to 4.5 tonnes a hectare is 5 to 10 per cent below the potential. In Uttar Pradesh, the largest wheat producing state, the average state-level productivity is only about 2.8 tonnes a hectare, against 4.2 tonnes possible with improved practices, reflecting a gap of over 26 per cent. States like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal can raise their output by a whopping 25 to 33 per cent.

Indeed, the case of rice, which has a higher share than wheat in the staple food basket, is no different. In fact, the yield-gap in most states is even larger in this crop, allowing room for raising productivity and production without waiting for any fresh technology generation.

According to the numbers presented in the report, the productivity gap in irrigated paddy ranges from 14 per cent to a whopping 59 per cent in different states. In rainfed paddy, it is as high as 46 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 66 per cent in Jharkhand and a whopping 134 per cent in Manipur. Indeed, barring Punjab and Haryana, which took to paddy cultivation only after the green revolution, all other states have a substantial gap in yield that needs to be addressed to enhance rice availability.

In crops like pulses and oilseeds, often deemed as a lost case in terms of raising domestic production, a considerable scope for yield-enhancement is evident from the 'front-line demonstrations' conducted on the farmers' fields under the aegis of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The yield gap in Bengal gram (chana), for instance, is as much as 34.4 per cent and that in lentil even higher at 47.5 per cent.

In oilseeds, productivity gains of the order of 40 per cent in kharif groundnut, 66 per cent in soyabean and 37 per cent in mustard are possible with better agronomic practices.

Thus, it may be safe to conclude that the country's farm production can be stepped up by more than 20 per cent through the popularisation of the existing technology alone. The output of wheat, too, can be pushed up by 10 to 15 million tonnes through this route, obviating the need for imports.

This apart, new concepts like minimum tillage (or zero tillage) cultivation, raised-bed planting and precision farming can help cut production costs and conserve natural resources like land and water.

surinder.sud@bsmail.in