Surinder Sud: Continued neglect of rainfed lands

FARM VIEW

The productivity has languished thanks to the lack of public or private investments.

Rain-dependent agriculture spread over around 60 per cent of the farm land has suffered from neglect. The use of new technology, improved seeds and other yield-enhancing inputs has been rather limited in these lands.

Not much public or private investment has gone into unirrigated farming due to the high element of risk involved. The farmers, mostly small landowners, in any case, lack the capacity to invest. Consequently, the productivity of rainfed lands has continued to languish and this vast sector has not contributed much to agricultural growth.

Indeed, most of the government's resources as well as effort to boost farm yields have been confined to irrigated areas suitable for the seed-water-fertiliser-based Green Revolution technology. This was perhaps the right policy when the country was short of foodgrains, and food aid and imports came with unsavoury riders.

But now when that phase is over and the yields are tending to touch the plateau in the irrigated areas, the focus needs to shift to unirrigated or rainfed areas that hold substantial untapped potential.

Of course, the policy planners have not been completely unaware of the need for developing rainfed agriculture. But their approach towards it has been too narrow, aimed largely at soil and water conservation measures.

A holistic strategy combining natural resource conservation with the induction of productivity-boosting and income generating technology has, by and large, been lacking.

No doubt, the development of dryland agriculture requires large investment that the government alone cannot make. The participation of the private sector, including the corporate sector, seems a must and has adequately been recognised as such by now.

It was, indeed, this recognition that prompted the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) to collaborate with two global farm research organisations to convene a conference in Delhi specifically to identify the areas for public-private participation in rainfed agriculture promotion.

The global bodies included the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Hyderabad-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

Interesting, the deliberations at this meet clearly indicated that investment in drylands, if directed at growing high-value produce, can be more rewarding than that in irrigated areas. Besides generating income, such a shift in the product basket would also enhance employment opportunities.

One estimate was that switching over from staple cereals to high-value crops on one hectare of rainfed land could open up 70 mandays of additional employment. There is scope for further value-addition of the dryland produce through processing. This should help the private sector shed its reluctance in investing in rainfed areas.

However, there are certain pre-requisites for rainfed farming to flourish or for private investment to come into it. These include the development of supportive infrastructure such as warehouses, cold stores, roads and communication, power, ventilated or refrigerated transportation, and technology generation and problem-solving research. Intensified technology transfer effort is equally important.

Fortunately, scope exists for private sector investment in most of these areas as well. The presentations made at the Delhi meet bore this out. But the government will have to put in place a suitable long-term policy for this purpose and improve the efficiency of public agencies with which the private sector would have to deal with. Besides, the government may also be expected to invest in areas like roads in which the private sector may not be too keen to enter for various reasons, including difficulties in land acquisition and cost recovery.

Significantly, the conference indicated that a large chunk of the waste and semi-waste lands can be developed and put to gainful use by the private sector.

Investment in these ventures, too, will be economically viable thanks to anticipated good returns. But here again, the state governments, would have to suitably amend their land laws and other relevant policies.

This aside, marketing reforms are needed not only for creating a conducive environment for the private players to do their business freely and transparently but also for the spread of contract farming, which seems the ideal mode for private participation in agriculture without disturbing the land ownership pattern.

Though this process has begun, it is too slow. Only eight states have so far amended their agricultural produce marketing committee Acts to provide for contract farming, outside-mandi sales and setting up of wholly privately-run markets. The other states need to expedite amendment of their statutes.