Page 157 - DECO502_INDIAN_ECONOMIC_POLICY_ENGLISH

Unit 13: Recent Issues in Indian Agriculture

• 70 percent of the population dedicated to farming and allied activities Notes
• Excellent domestic demand
• Global game-changers operating in this space
• Enormous funding commitments from the government
• Considered policy support from the government : four-pronged strategy covering agricultural
production, reduction in wastage of produce, credit support to farmers, and a thrust to the
food-processing sector
Nevertheless, the challenges cannot be wished away. In the following sections, eight of the key
challenges that face Indian agriculture are discussed. Later, some ideas on innovative opportunities
for investors which fit well with what India requires are explored.
13.2 Agricultural Challenges in India

The story of Indian agriculture today is one of farmers at the grassroots stymied for money, advice,
basic technology, energy and water. The government, on the other hand, is more focused on the
larger though very real issues around food processing, warehousing and logistics.
The main issue is that India faces food insecurity even as it wastes large amounts of food. The problem
may broadly be examined under the following eight headings and solutions sought under them.
Fertilizer Abuse
What was traditionally the food bowl of India - the Punjab-Haryana belt - has been devastated by
fertilizer abuse and consequent soil degradation that has made agriculture an unprofitable business.
Fertilizer use has jumped up from merely 0.58 kg per hectare in the early 1950s to 7 kg at the onset of
the Green Revolution in 1966-1967 with the adoption of high-yielding varieties of paddy and wheat
Fertilizer consumption increased from 784,000 tonnes during 1965-1966 to 1,539,000 tonnes during
1967-1968 to 24,909,000 tonnes in 2008-09. In 2010 the sale of urea in kharif (summer or monsoon crop)
2010 season, up to July 31 , was 7.36 million tonnes, up from 6.81 million tonnes in the corresponding
st
period last year.
The fertilizer subsidy bill doubled over the first seven years of the current millennium. The subsidy
growth has clearly overtaken the crop growth, with some estimates saying that at least one-third of
the subsidy goes to fertilizer producers. The worry is compounded by food productivity not keeping
up with the continuous increase in fertilizer application, while soil quality has been simultaneously
degraded. Yet another aspect of the fertilizer crisis is around the use of potash. Plants need more
potash than any other nutrient, but Indian soils are being continuously mined by crop plants while
soils are getting depleted of potash at an alarming rate. Global stocks of mineral potash are not
expected to last beyond 30 to 40 years. The implications are grave for Indian agriculture.
Long-term use of synthetic fertilizer has resulted in nutrient imbalance, micro-nutrient deficiency
and the deterioration of soil health, causing low agricultural productivity.
Reducing Arable Land
Further anxiety derives from the industrial assault on agricultural land that has led to nationwide
turmoil -leading to the impending exit of the Leftists from West Bengal (where they have held sway
for more than three decades) and even in Gujarat, which has handled the changing land use
professionally. Indeed, the ratio of agricultural land to India’s farming population has shrunk to 0.3
hectares per person in India. In advanced nations the area is more than 11 hectares per person.
In a developing country such as India, the dilemma between growth and preservation of the natural
habitat will continue to be posed for some time. However, the focus has to be on improving agricultural
yields through tried and tested technology, knowledge-sharing and access to energy, credit and
decent infrastructure.

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