AGRICULTURAL
REFORMS-2020 AND INCLUSIVE FINANCE
MY QUIXOTIC THOUGHTS[1]
The New Year-2021 has
started with the farmers’ agitation turning into a series of chilling events
that culminated on the Republic day, the 26 January 2021. This day will be
remembered for the vandalism witnessed in the premises of the Red Fort, Delhi
where the huge crowd of people (I do not wish to classify them as agitating
farmers) raised the flag of Punjab alongside the National Flag. A black day in
the history of this great democracy called Bharat. Earlier, it was thought that
the 12th January 2021 would
be a day that will be remembered and discussed for some more time. Until then,
only views and counter-views and the merits and demerits of the three Farm Laws
as part of Agricultural Reforms-2020 occupied the media space. On that eventful
day, the Supreme Court(SC) suspended implementation of these Laws. In addition,
it went ahead by setting up a four-member expert committee to ‘negotiate’
between the farmers and the government. Even before the ink used for writing
the SC judgement dried up, one of the committee members resigned from it. It
has added further confusion to the way things are going to evolve in the near
future. A few days back, the Reliance company, the leading corporate in a
number of sectors, announced that it would enter into an agreement for purchase
of paddy through a Farmers’ Producer Organisation (FPO) in Karnataka paying
above the Minimum Support Price (MSP). As a gesture of goodwill, the Government
of India have announced that it would keep implementation of the three Laws in
abeyance for one to one and a half year.
These moves may or may
not resolve the issue, as the agitating farmers appear to be having a single
agenda, that is, total withdrawal of the three Laws by the government.
Understanding the Issue
Under the Indian
Constitution, Agriculture is in the
State list with a rider that it is also in the Concurrent List giving Centre
and the States to control production, supply and distribution of agricultural
products. For example, while the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC)
are under the direct control of the
respective States where the farmers are allowed to market their produce, the
Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) etc.,
are under the control of the Government of India (GoI) for procurement, storing
and distribution of agricultural produce.
End of 2020- the
Agricultural Reforms-2020 has been in
the eye of a storm of the people who either themselves feel affected by the
measures of the GoI or getting misguided by some of the vested interests who
know only to oppose without offering any implementable solutions. The New Law
is about the three Bills viz.,
i.
Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce
(Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020,
ii.
Farmers (Empowerment and Protection)
Agreement of Price Assistance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and,
iii.
The Essential Commodities (Amendment)
Bill, 2020.
The First Bill aims to promote seamless
inter-state and intra-state trade removing the hurdles in the present system,
restricting such movements. This is an important step that would improve the
ease of doing agri-business.
The Second Bill addresses
the issues relating to backward and forward integration of the entire
Agricultural Supply Chain which among other things includes, engaging
processors, aggregators, wholesalers, exporters, retailers and others.
The Third Bill is an
improvement of the existing Essential Commodities Act that would liberalise the
regulatory environment for farmers.
The reader should also
understand that there is a big elephant in the room which the government is
opining as the stumbling block for the ills of the farmers in the country. That
is the APMC which is under the control of the respective States.
Role of Agriculture in
Indian Economy
From time to time,
economists and specialists in agriculture have debated the relative importance
of agriculture and industry in economic development of our country. The debates
were also on the relative merits and demerits of agriculture based economy for
our country. The reality is that while agricultural development is
possible without industry but not vice-versa.
Production and Productivity Challenge
Food Crops
A close look at the State-wise production food crops including two major
crops viz., Rice and Wheat, would give us a clear diversity in the area of
cultivation and their production (Table-1).
Table-1: STATE-WISE PRODUCTION OF FOODGRAIN CROPS (Thousand Tonnes) |
||||||
State / Union
Territory |
Year |
Rice |
Wheat |
Coarse Cereals |
Pulses |
Food Grains |
ANDHRA PRADESH |
2019-20 |
8638.1 |
0.0 |
2681.2 |
1185.3 |
12504.7 |
ASSAM |
2019-20 |
5097.8 |
23.7 |
108.4 |
119.0 |
5348.8 |
BIHAR |
2019-20 |
6053.1 |
5897.0 |
2036.3 |
400.9 |
14387.3 |
CHHATTISGARH |
2019-20 |
6499.8 |
115.3 |
312.3 |
239.2 |
7266.6 |
GUJARAT |
2019-20 |
1973.2 |
3211.8 |
1740.8 |
1060.8 |
7986.6 |
HARYANA |
2019-20 |
4824.3 |
11876.4 |
1098.4 |
64.4 |
17863.5 |
JHARKHAND |
2019-20 |
3190.7 |
444.8 |
530.7 |
815.4 |
4981.6 |
KARNATAKA |
2019-20 |
3676.2 |
219.8 |
6450.5 |
2232.1 |
12578.6 |
KERALA |
2019-20 |
614.2 |
0.0 |
0.7 |
2.2 |
617.1 |
MADHYA PRADESH |
2019-20 |
4801.8 |
19607.1 |
4822.2 |
3799.3 |
33030.5 |
MAHARASHTRA |
2019-20 |
3183.1 |
2076.0 |
4726.6 |
4028.7 |
14014.4 |
ORISSA |
2019-20 |
8037.4 |
0.2 |
233.2 |
424.0 |
8694.7 |
PUNJAB |
2019-20 |
11782.2 |
17568.1 |
629.1 |
10.8 |
29990.2 |
RAJASTHAN |
2019-20 |
480.5 |
10916.1 |
7287.1 |
4494.8 |
23178.6 |
TAMIL NADU |
2019-20 |
7181.4 |
- |
3333.1 |
523.8 |
11038.4 |
UTTARAKHAND |
2019-20 |
653.6 |
912.9 |
265.6 |
56.3 |
1888.5 |
UTTAR PRADESH |
2019-20 |
15523.7 |
32586.8 |
4472.5 |
2445.5 |
55028.6 |
WEST BENGAL |
2019-20 |
15569.7 |
583.8 |
1655.2 |
446.8 |
18255.5 |
ALL INDIA |
2019-20 |
118425.8 |
107592.0 |
47477.8 |
23153.6 |
296649.2 |
ALL INDIA |
1980-81 |
53631.4 |
36312.6 |
29018.0 |
10623.7 |
129585.7 |
TELANGANA |
2019-20 |
7337.2 |
7.4 |
3119.4 |
556.7 |
11020.7 |
Source :
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India
As
far as production of rice is concerned, except Kerala and Rajasthan, it ranges
in other States from 1973 (thousand tonnes) in Gujarat to 15,524 in the UP and
15,570 in West Bengal. As far as production of wheat, UP tops the list with
production of 32,587 thousand tonnes
followed by MP with 19,607 thousand tonnes. The Punjab ranks third and Haryana
and Rajasthan closely following.[2] This analysis is significant
in the context of the agitation of the farmers who are toilers in the soil.
When we look at the area under cultivation of food crops for the years
2015-2020 and compare it with the situation in 1950-51, there was an appreciable
increase in the area of cultivation of food crops. For Rice, it increased from
308 lakh hectares in 1950-51 to 438 lakh hectares in 2019-20. As for Wheat
production is concerned, the area increased by over 3.21 times during the same
period. The area of cultivation of food grains increased from 973 lakh hectares
to 1276 lakh hectares during the same period, an increase of 1.31 times
(Table-2). The credit goes to Dr M.S.Swaminathan, Indian Geneticist who saved
India in the 1960s from the brink of poverty by introducing ‘Green Revolution’ and
focussing on Rice and Wheat cultivation using improved seeds and modern
cultivation techniques. As they say, rest is the history with India becoming
self-sufficient in food production soon after.
Table-2: Area Under
Cultivation- Food Grains (Lakh hectares) |
|
|
||||
Year |
Cereals |
|
||||
Rice |
Wheat |
Coarse Cereals |
Total Cereals |
Pulses |
Total Foodgrains |
|
2019-20 |
438 |
315 |
240 |
993 |
283 |
1276 |
2018-19 |
442 |
293 |
221 |
956 |
292 |
1248 |
2017-18 |
438 |
297 |
243 |
978 |
298 |
1275 |
2016-17 |
440 |
308 |
250 |
998 |
294 |
1292 |
2015-16 |
435 |
304 |
244 |
983 |
249 |
1232 |
1950-51 |
308 |
98 |
377 |
782 |
191 |
973 |
Source : Ministry
of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India
But, the Indian farmers are now caught in a vicious
circle of low risk taking ability-low investment-low productivity and weak
market orientation. According to the GoI
data, India's rice yield was 2191 kg/hectare, while the global average stood at
3026 kg/hectare, while wheat was 2750 kg/hectare as against the world average
yield of 3289 kg/hectare.[3] The crop yields in India are lower than those
in the US, Europe and China and the government is implementing several schemes
to address this issue.
Commercial
Crops
As
far as the commercial crops, the farmers market either through the cooperatives
like Sugar Cooperatives of Maharashtra, through their network of Farmer
Producer Organisations (FPOs) or directly to the corporates such as ITC through
its e-Choupal platform. However, a review of State-wise production of major
commercial crops reveals that in 2019-20, the States like Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh and Rajasthan led in Oilseeds production (6786 -6572 thousand tonnes) –
See Table-3 for State-wise presentation oilseeds production and Sugarcane
production during 2019-20 and compared with 1980-81. The Oilseeds production has gone up from 9373
thousand tonnes in 1980-81, it increased to 33,423 thousand tonnes in 2019-20,
a jump of over 3.5 times in a span of forty
years. An impressive increase but far below our requirement. With the
result, India is still a country deficit in Oilseeds production depending on
huge imports from outside. When we look at the growth of Sugarcane production
during the same period 1980-81 to 2019-20, the increase in production has gone
up by 50 times (from 7010 thousand tonnes in 1980-81 to as high as 3,55,700
thousand tonnes). Sugarcane is a highly water-dependent crop and its
cultivation has made a number of districts in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka dry. There is need to sensitise the farmers to change
from cultivation of Sugarcane to other more viable and water conserving
Oilseeds crops and other crops.
Table-3: STATE-WISE PRODUCTION OF MAJOR COMMERCIAL CROPS |
|
||
(Thousand Tonnes) |
|
|
|
State / Union Territory |
Year |
Oilseeds |
Sugarcane |
ANDHRA PRADESH |
2019-20 |
899.7 |
6769.9 |
ARUNACHAL PRADESH |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
ASSAM |
2019-20 |
201.4 |
1147.1 |
BIHAR |
2019-20 |
120.5 |
12738.3 |
CHHATTISGARH |
2019-20 |
159.0 |
1759.0 |
GOA |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
GUJARAT |
2019-20 |
6664.2 |
10743.7 |
HARYANA |
2019-20 |
1168.3 |
7798.2 |
HIMACHAL PRADESH |
2019-20 |
6.1 |
33.1 |
JAMMU & KASHMIR |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
JHARKHAND |
2019-20 |
282.6 |
0.0 |
KARNATAKA |
2019-20 |
1206.2 |
31600.0 |
KERALA |
2019-20 |
0.3 |
122.5 |
MADHYA PRADESH |
2019-20 |
6571.8 |
7433.8 |
MAHARASHTRA |
2019-20 |
4951.6 |
64666.0 |
MANIPUR |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
MEGHALAYA |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
MIZORAM |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
NAGALAND |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
ORISSA |
2019-20 |
98.6 |
453.9 |
PUNJAB |
2019-20 |
70.6 |
7633.4 |
RAJASTHAN |
2019-20 |
6785.6 |
326.2 |
SIKKIM |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
TAMIL NADU |
2019-20 |
1024.3 |
12661.1 |
TRIPURA |
2019-20 |
0.0 |
0.0 |
UTTARAKHAND |
2019-20 |
21.1 |
6937.7 |
UTTAR PRADESH |
2019-20 |
1142.0 |
178421.9 |
WEST BENGAL |
2019-20 |
1166.0 |
1724.0 |
ALL STATES |
2019-20 |
33422.8 |
355699.7 |
UNION TERRITORIES |
2019-20 |
- |
- |
ALL INDIA |
2019-20 |
33422.8 |
355699.7 |
ALL INDIA |
1980-81 |
9373.1 |
7010.0 |
TELANGANA |
2019-20 |
645.0 |
1951.2 |
Source :
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India
Again,
looking at the area under cultivation of major commercial crops, the total
Oilseeds production has gone up from 107 lakh hectares in 1950-51 to 270 lakh
hectares in 2019-20, an increase of over 2.5 times during the same period.
While area under cultivation for crops like groundnut, Tea and Coffee remained
almost at the same level as in 1950-51 when compared to 2019-20, the area under
cultivation of Soyabean and Sugarcane have grown multiple times. Cultivation of
Soyabean was almost unknown in the country till about 1950-51. Since then, it
has been growing at a steady pace and stood at 121 lakh hectares in 2019-20. As
analysis of the area under cultivation
of various commercial crops (Table-4), the sugarcane cultivation has grown
almost thrice from 17 lakh hectares to 46 lakh hectares during the same period.
There is a strong case for the policy makers to look at the growing imbalance
in production of commercial crops and remedy the situation.
|
Table-4: AREA
UNDER CULTIVATION -YEAR-WISE AND COMPARED WITH 1950-51- MAJOR COMMERCIAL
CROPS |
|
||||||
|
(Lakh hectares) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Year |
Oliseeds |
|
|||||
|
Groundnut |
Rapeseed &
Mustard |
Soyabean |
Total Oilseeds |
Sugarcane |
Tea |
Coffee |
|
|
2019-20 |
49 |
68 |
121 |
270 |
46 |
6 |
5 |
|
2018-19 |
47 |
61 |
111 |
248 |
51 |
6 |
5 |
|
2017-18 |
49 |
60 |
103 |
245 |
47 |
6 |
5 |
|
2016-17 |
53 |
61 |
112 |
262 |
44 |
6 |
5 |
|
2015-16 |
46 |
57 |
116 |
219 |
49 |
6 |
4 |
|
1950-51 |
45 |
21 |
- |
107 |
17 |
- |
- |
Source : Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare, Government of India
Agricultural Supply Chain
Challenges: Seven Vs Two
Agricultural market
regulation is continuously evolving since the British Rule beginning with the
‘Bear Cotton and Grain Market Act of 1887’.[4] In the Post-Independence India, concern of
the government was to protect the interest of the farmers from the
middlemen/Katcha Adat/Pukka Adat/Trader/Processor etc. But, the value chain
from the farmer to the processor is quite long like an Anaconda snake with
seven intermediaries. At every stage, a farmer would have to suffer financial
loss both directly and indirectly. Directly, a small farmer will not have
access to the Mandi. Indirectly, the trader will tend to underestimate the
quality of the produce and pay a discounted price even assuming the Minimum
Support Price (MSP) as a bench-mark. At the Mandi level, loss due to poor
weighing system, delay in payment to the farmer etc., act against the farming
community. Besides, payment of levies
for various services such as facilitation, auction, quality testing, brokerage
between the Pukka Adat and the Processor directly or indirectly paid by the
farmer. The charges, commission etc., in passing through the APMC, range from
0.5% to 6%. In case, a buyer buys the produce from the farmer outside the APMC
area, even then, he will have to pay the commission as levied by it which is
indirectly collected from the farmer.
In the New dispensation,
the entire value chain has been reduced to two stages- Farmer to the APMC or
Farmer to the Trader/Processor. The whole machinery of collecting various
charges/brokerage/commission etc., has been done away with and to that extent,
a farmer would stand to gain a reasonable surplus over his cost of production. Implementation
of new Laws would help in price discovery for various agricultural commodities.
MSP -What is it?
The
MSP is a minimum guaranteed price by the GoI that is expected to act as a
safety net for the farmers. At present, twenty three Agri-products are covered
under the MSP with Wheat and Rice dominating the list. The GoI by and large intervene and provide
support to the farmers by procuring the Agri-produce at MSP if the price for a
particular commodity falls below the price offered outside the APMC/ FCI areas.
It also facilitates the farmers in price discovery.
Concerns
In the light of the
above, the issues of the farmers can be classified into two buckets. One, the
real issues that can be discussed and suitable solutions found satisfying both
the farming community and the government. Two, politics connected to the issue.
This cannot be resolved through media discussions.
Food
Grains Sufficient but Oilseeds Imported
Despite
food sufficiency (cereals and to some extent pulses), India is a net importer
of Oilseeds even after seventy years of Independence.
India have moved a long way since the days of living in poverty in the 1960s to
the huge surplus in the 2020s. The same farming communities, mainly from Punjab
and Haryana, who found great
opportunities in quickly adopting to the new way of cultivation of Rice and
Wheat during 1960s are unable to shift to other crops in the 2020s. Immediate concern
is for the Policy makers to look at the ways of modifying and reducing the area
under Sugar cultivation, Paddy and Wheat.
Improve
Farm Mechanisation
There
is also a need to address the issue of lower farm mechanisation in India which
is only about 40 per cent as compared to about 60 per cent in China and around
75 per cent in Brazil. Given the fact that the livestock sector has grown at a
compound annual growth rate of nearly 8 per cent over the last five years, it
assumes an important role in income, employment and nutritional security.
Though, the food processing sector is growing at an average annual growth rate
of more than 5 per cent over the last six years ending 2017-18, more focussed
attention to the sector is required due to its significant role in reducing
post-harvest losses and creation of additional market for farm outputs. A study
by NABARD in 2018 on farm mechanization has identified that economies of
operation due to small holdings, access to power, credit cost and procedures,
uninsured markets and low awareness being some of the important reasons for
lower rate of agricultural mechanization in India.[5]
Produce
Crops for Value Addition & Improve Storage Facilities
Another
area of concern is limited storage facilities near the places of agricultural
production, very limited processing of farm produce to bring value addition to
the final product, not producing crops suited for converting them into a higher
value products. For example, though the tomato production in India during
2019-2020, was over 20 Million Metric Tonnes, almost 99 per cent of the
production were consumed as raw tomatoes with just 1.50 lakh tonnes getting
processed.[6] The tomatoes produced are
mainly for table purposes. It is an irony that
India is still importing finished tomato products (paste, canned and
sauce) with 72 per cent of imports from China followed by the US (17%).[7] Beside the mind-set of
the farmers in not changing the species
of Tomatoes, non-availability of quality seeds, weak infrastructure by way of
absence of refrigerated systems, absence of processing units nearby production
points instead of those used for table purposes is one of the reasons for this
state of affairs. It
is very important to increase value addition to the agricultural products
instead of bringing them to the market as raw end products. Examples are
plenty. In addition to tomato mentioned
above, fruits like Pine-apple, Apple, Pomegranate, Oranges, rare fruits of NE Region and
vegetables like Gherkins (for pickling), Ginger etc., can be produced choosing
specific varieties suited for processing.
Diversify Food Crops Production
A close look at the State-wise analysis about the production of food
crops including two major crops viz., Rice and Wheat, clearly indicates the
need for diversifying the food crop production from these two traditional crops
to other crops particularly pulses and other vegetable crops.
Diversify
Commercial Crops Production
As
for the commercial crops, the farmers engaged in Sugarcane cultivation,
particularly, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh and to some extent Punjab should
view the harm they are doing to the Mother Earth as the ground water table is
getting depleted making larger areas going dry year after year. The greater emphasis
on micro-watershed farming in these states and other states tells us the sorry
state of affairs on account of the misuse of agricultural lands for cultivation
of crops that are not suited to the area. Perhaps, these farmers should be
sensitised on the advantages of the theory of Comparative Advantage (David
Ricardo-19th Century Classical Economist).
Productivity- Adopt Technology Driven Solution
The Indian farmers are caught in a vicious circle
of low risk taking ability-low investment-low productivity and weak market
orientation. According to the GoI data,
India's rice yield was 2191 kg/hectare, while the global average stood at 3026
kg/hectare, while wheat was 2750 kg/hectare as against the world average yield
of 3289 kg/hectare.[8] The crop yields in India are lower than those
in the US, Europe and China and the government is implementing several schemes
to address this issue. The government and the farmers alone can resolve this
imbalance and through incentives they should be encouraged to diversify to other crops. The 21st
Century has opened up opportunities for Agri-Startups in India. Technology has
annihilated time and distance. Using appropriate technology for increasing
productivity of various crops should be widely made known and encouraged with
suitable incentives as generally provided for industrial development.
Rural
Finance and Inclusive Finance in Agriculture
Perhaps,
India is one of the countries which realised the need to look at the financial
needs of the agricultural sector even before it got its Independence was
achieved by creating a separate department called ‘Agriculture Credit
Department (ACD)[9]’
under the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) umbrella. Over the years it grew and the
Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC) was formed which in
1982 became the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD),
as one of the Development Financial Institutions (DFI) in the World. Since
nationalisation of private banks as Public Sector Banks (PSBs) in 1969 provided
impetus for the growth of rural credit. Priority Sector lending with specific
proportion for agriculture and other untouched sector helped to push the
directed credit to the targeted segment of the population. The formation of
Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 1992 with support from the RBI and NABARD and the
growth of Micro-Finance Institutions
(MFIs) have spurred the financing of
agricultural finance as part of MF. With the complex nature of financing
the agriculture sector, the difficulties being faced by the PSBs in financing
it, the role of MFIs needs to be relooked. The MFIs have been financing more of
non-farm sector of rural and urban credit needs of unbanked people. Perhaps, a
special category MFIs can be encouraged to provide the linkage between the
farming community and the market. The FPOs are the new generation institutions
targeting agricultural community. But, the composition of members and ownership of the FPOs give an
impression that the small and marginal farmers continue to get excluded as
these institutions are dominated by the
big farmers. With the cooperative agricultural credit institutions are
under the control of the State Governments which have their inherent management and huge
Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) and more politically controlled, a better option
will be specialised Agri-MFIs.
The
organisations such as Sa-Dhan, the Association of Community Development Finance
Institutions, and MFIN are two RBI recognised Self- Regulatory
Organisations(SROs). These two SROs and organisations such as ACCESS that focus
on livelihood support organisations are pioneers in the area of Advocacy and
functioning as a voice of the millions of voiceless people in the country and
working with the governments both nationally and internationally. They are also
functioning as Advocacy NGOs in the micro-finance sector. Their expertise
should be used by the GoI for smooth implementation of the Agri-Reforms measures in the country.
Way Forward
The perception of the States is that
the action of the GoI would divest the ‘Agriculture’ from the States and make
itself a ‘De-facto’ Administrator. But, someone will have to take the bull by
the horn and the Policy makers have shown the determination to go ahead with
the implementation of the three Laws with a Vision of making India an
economically stronger country. As part of inclusiveness, the GoI may allow the
States to adopt the Laws as suited to them. This might comfort the States who
feel that they were not consulted.
Though, the GoI is assuring
continuation of their policy on two major issues viz., MSP and the APMCs, the
agitating farmers are refusing to buy the rationale offered. Perhaps, using the
metaphor ‘Cutting the Gordian Knot’, the GoI may scrap both the APMCs and FCIs
and make the governments themselves buy their food requirements from the market
and supply to the needy absorbing the subsidy component under various schemes
in operation. The announcement of the Reliance to buy Rice from the Karnataka
farmers paying more than the MSP should create confidence among the farmers
that action of the GoI is in their interest.
Create enabling environment for
setting up of Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) with focus on rural clusters
that would make the farmers feel proud of owning their agri-business.
Consider the NE region and other
areas where agriculture is more at subsistence level and local conditions
specific like Jhum Cultivation, Step-farming etc., and provide special assistance
to the communities engaged in such agricultural practices. Most of the areas in
the NE Region are virgin lands and Organic Farming can be encouraged. As a
corollary to the Organic Farming, the strict standards and regulation should be
in place so that the huge health conscious Indian and people in other countries
can buy our Organic Certified agricultural products.
Spread the message on the advantages
of the Agricultural Reforms Package through media and in person through the
people’s representatives.
Encourage setting up of AgriMFIs for
providing exclusive attention to the small and marginal farmers’ credit needs.
Reiteration of the quote of Joseph Schumpeter
will be more appropriate here, for the benefit of those who want agriculture to
prosper in our country. He said that ‘through Creative destruction
incessant product and process innovation mechanism by which
new production units would replace outdated ones’.
These measures might appear quixotic. But, the
remedial measures should be strong enough to benefit the farmers in the long
run.
Dr S Santhanam PhD(Eco)
GM (Retd), NABARD
C 1101, Springfields Apts
Sarjapur Road
Bengaluru 560 102
Mobile: 9422524254
[1]
Dr S Santhanam PhD(Eco), CAIIB, GM(Retd), NABARD, Bengaluru 560 102.
[2]
https://dbie.rbi.org.in/DBIE/dbie.rbi?site=statistics
[3] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/indias-crop-yields-lower-than-us-europe-and-china/articleshow/55558872.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_produce_market_committee
[5]
https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/economicsurvey/doc/vol2chapter/echap07_vol2.pdf
[6]
http://www.tomatonews.com/en/india-the-sleeping-tiger--part-1_2_1213.html
[7]
http://www.tomatonews.com/en/india-the-sleeping-tiger--part-2-_2_1214.html
[8] https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/indias-crop-yields-lower-than-us-europe-and-china/articleshow/55558872.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
[9]
Later renamed as the Rural Planning and Credit Department -RPCD