Business Standard

Surinder Sud: A losing proposition

FARM VIEW

Image

Surinder Sud New Delhi
The pitfalls of cultivating cotton are one reason for the high rate of suicides among farmers in Vidarbha.
 
The annual rainfall in Bihar and Orissa is roughly double that of Rajasthan and Gujarat. Yet, these states (Bihar and Orissa) have double the poverty ratio (above 40 per cent) than in Rajasthan and Gujarat (less than 20 per cent). These are the facts that the CEO of the newly constituted National Rainfed Area Authority (NRAA), J S Samra, cites to bring out the disconnection between rainfall and poverty as also, for that matter, between rainfed agriculture and poverty.
 
What really makes a difference is the management of the rainfall and the choice of crops. In Bihar and Orissa, the farmers usually grow paddy, a water-guzzler, in rainfed areas rather than the crops needing less water as is done by their counterparts in Rajasthan and Gujarat. In fact, the world over, rainfed paddy and poverty go hand-in-hand. This is because much of the available production-enhancing technology is meant for irrigated rice and not for rainfed paddy.
 
Besides, in the case of rainfed paddy, many farmers have to keep their land fallow (uncultivated) in the rabi season due to exhaustion of soil moisture. This results in poor crop intensity and consequential low farm incomes. About 37 per cent of the rainfed paddy land remains un-cropped in the rabi season in Bihar and over 31 per cent in Orissa. In many other states, this figure is far higher. In the irrigated areas, on the other hand, paddy growers can raise two, or in some cases, even three crops a year on the same land.
 
He also asserts that rainfed agriculture is not the same as dryland farming. Most of the policy interventions till now have focused on dryland agriculture through schemes like desert development programme and drought prone area programme, rather than on rainfed farming and rainwater management. That is why farmers in rainfed areas have continued to remain under-privileged at most places.
 
In fact, the plight of farmers in the suicide-ridden Vidarbha can also be attributed, at least partly, to similar reasons. This is a largely rainfed belt where farmers have taken to growing cotton, a commercial crop requiring high doses of cash inputs, instead of those that can support livelihood.
 
This apart, cotton is a relatively longer-duration crop, needing about 160 days to mature. But most lands in the Vidarbha region have relatively shallow soils which cannot retain moisture for that long. Only soils which are more than 2-metre deep can hold enough water to support a 160-day crop.
 
Yet another cause for the poor performance of cotton in Vidarbha is the lack of proper land levelling. Rainwater tends to flow down to the lower parts of the fields. As a result, while the crop plants on those patches get adversely affected due to excess moisture, those on the upper parts suffer from moisture stress. A part of the crop, thus, gets damaged anyhow, whether the rainfall is good or bad.
 
What is needed in Vidarbha is a multi-pronged strategy to end the farmers' distress. For one, preference needs to be given to the crops that require less cash inputs and can finish their life cycle before the soils run out of the stored moisture. Also needed is in-situ conservation of water through check dams.
 
Dug wells (shallow wells) can be constructed below the check dams to utilise the stored water for life-saving irrigation during kharif or for raising a subsequent rabi crop. Land levelling is, in any case, a must for ensuring proper crop stand throughout the fields as also for in-situ moisture conservation. Bore wells, which seek to access water from very deep layers, are unsuitable for this region as they tend to fail as the groundwater table recedes further down. The dug wells, on the other hand, usually retain water till about December or even later in years of reasonably good rainfall. In fact, tanks can also serve similar purpose, if planned well.
 
This aside, cotton marketing, too, needs to be reformed to ensure proper returns to the growers. The Maharashtra monopoly cotton procurement scheme has done more harm than good to the farmers by denying them proper prices and timely payments for the produce. Removal of all curbs on the movement of cotton and direct purchases by the traders and the user industry from the growers would help ensure better returns.

surinder.sud@bsmail.in

 
 

Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Aug 28 2007 | 12:00 AM IST

Explore News