With around 60 per cent of land in West Bengal being cultivable compared to 40 per cent in the rest of the country, the state should efficiently use land for agriculture and industrial purposes, claimed MS Swaminathan, member of parliament, Rajya Sabha and chairman of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Speaking on the sidelines of an interactive session organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Swaminathan said, "Land is a precious component of the state and proper planning should be undertaken to utilise it in various sectors including housing and agriculture, ensuring optimum use of land."
West Bengal has very little fallow land compared to other states, he pointed out.
This apart, with the predominance of small land holdings in the state, the practice of cooperative farming should be encouraged along with group insurance and credit incentives for farmers, informed Swaminathan.
A draft act would also be placed in the next Parliament session for adopting a statutory autonomous professionally run body on agricultural practices, thus playing a hand holding role for the farmers, further added Swaminathan.
The pathway for higher productivity should be adopted through proper care of the soil apart from adding organic matter and micro nutrients, in which the private sector could play a significant role. Government laboratories usually could not provide holistic advice on soil matters, which was extremely important for increasing productivity.
Efficiency in water usage through water shed management and proper practices of water harvesting should also be adopted to help in increasing productivity of the land. Farmers also lack good warehousing and storage facilties which should be improved upon for maintaining soil efficiency and agricultural productivity, further added Swaminathan.
