Do it yourself

Last weekend I visited some villages in the Bareilly, Shahjehanpur and Hathras districts of Uttar Pradesh. I had an opportunity to speak with several medium, small and marginal farmers. Most medium sized farmers had a good standing crop of paddy and sugarcane. Most of them were, however, circumspect about the final yield, in view of the IMD’s forecast of excess rains in September. Many small and marginal farmers had lost their pulses and vegetable crops due to heavy rains accompanied by strong winds. They were dismayed and worried about their ability to manage the resources to plant Rabi crops, mostly potato and wheat. Some of them, who had taken advance from the traders, were also worried about the repayment. None of the small and marginal farmers mentioned the terms like crop insurance, bank loan, Kisan credit card, etc. Thankfully, there is an abundance of fodder for their cattle this time. After a discussion of 10-12hrs with these farmers, NGO workers helping them with farm...

Last week, the Parliament passed three important piece of legislation with stated objective to reform and liberalize the production, trade, and pricing of agriculture produce in the country. The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill This law purports to allow farmers the freedom to sell their produce outside the regulated Mandi (APMC) framework. The idea seems to be enable development of a new ecosystem where farmers and traders would enjoy freedom of choice in sale and purchase of agri-produce; and the control of state over trade in agriculture produce would reduce to minimum. It is important to note that this reform was initiated in 2003 with introduction of Model Act. Many states and union territories have already de regulated marketing of fruits and vegetable, trading on electronic platforms like e-NAM, setting up of agri produce markets (Mandis) in private sector, direct marketing of agri produce etc. The reason behind this new law there...

Continuing from yesterday ( see Farm sector economics in India - 2 ) I have said this earlier also, and I do mind reiterating. To bring any meaningful improvement in the fragile condition of India's farming community, a comprehensive rural development effort is needed. Any piecemeal solution like occasional loan waiver shall have almost no sustainable impact. The traditional farmer welfare measures like periodic hikes in support prices for certain crops, farm input subsidies, interest rate subvention have not yielded the desired results. In my view, a sustainable improvement in Indian farmers' conditions is possible only under a comprehensive rural development mission. The mission should address the problem with structural reforms at three levels, viz., 1. Farm Level; 2. Policy Level and 3. Social Level. All reforms must be pursued "urgently, vigorously, simultaneously" and in a fully integrated fashion, for having a meaningfully sustainable impact....