Diversify Crops

• The grain ‘bias’ is only subsidising soil degradation. So diversify crops to tackle poverty.
• Create farmers’ organisations, up private role in agroprocessing.
• Give hugely excess stocks free to the hungry.

Today, private financial assistance for agriculture marketing and agro-processing is marginal. The only private bank we have is Rubber Bank. The rest is really NABARD refinancing. As long as it is a crop loan, that too strictly according to the outmoded Crop Loan Manual, it’s okay. Our strategy is to give funding for average profit activity. But there is no money for new technology and new markets. You have to create organisations and institutions, which favour these markets.

Another way is to tell the states that if you charge the proper price for inputs, we’ll include that in the procurement price. Today, subsidies for irrigation and electricity lead to misuse of land and water. Diversification can help wheat and rice farmers get out of this trap. It’s been proved that growing grains doesn’t solve poverty. The issue is creating income, which can be done through diversification. NGOs have shown it. In the Western Ghats, Virender Hegde gave half a bushel of rice to anyone who implemented the agro-climatic plan that said grow a tree rather than growing an inferior cereal and destroying the soil.

At a lower level, you can involve the private sector or put in agents. At the farm level, specially in Punjab and Haryana, storage capacity has increased hugely. But the state has to get involved too. You need to encourage a large number of farmers’ and trade institutions, those who don’t get collaterals. You create conditions so that they get involved and take some load off the government. At the district level, professionally managed district marketing boards can be set up as suggested by Prof Dandekar. Secondly, quality differentials must count. Why has the private trade got into Basmati? Due to quality reasons.

Rules have to be sensitive and take into account regional price differences due to logistics. The poorest states are deficit states and grains sell there at a higher price. And why should the grains rot? You have to look at the hungry as against the poor. The hungry were about 12 per cent of the population while the poor were 40 per cent. Now the hungry are about 9 per cent and a lot of them are socially disabled women. When you have this kind of stocks, we should give the grain free.

(The former minister for power and planning spoke to Arindam Mukherjee.)