Q1: In your experience what is your perception of the Indian agriculture Industry?
Agriculture is one of the strongholds of the Indian economy. However, as we see it, Indian agriculture is currently in a transition state given the convergence of various factors such as shrinking land, low productivity, limited potential to expand irrigated agriculture, declining productivity, and poor infrastructure in the villages. Reports indicate that the contribution of Indian agriculture to GDP has come down drastically to about 18 percent. And while agriculture is directly connected to food, nutrition, health and environment of 50-65 percent of Indian population, given the choice we think a large number of farmers would move out of agriculture and migrate to the city.
In India, the dependence of a large number of people on agriculture for their livelihoods is a paradox. Agriculture, particularly dryland agriculture, currently constitutes 60 percent of arable land in this country. Yet, it remains at subsistence level where a large proportion of farmers are not able to meet their own demand for food, feed, fiber and fuel. India also has a considerable number of poor people (below 300 million) and a high incidence of malnutrition among children.
Taking all that in consideration, India has enormous potential to become a major player in the global agricultural industry.We strongly believe that the best way to reverse Indian agriculture’s decline is to pave the way for the much needed transition from subsistence agriculture to an inclusive market-oriented agriculture supported with a high level of investment.
We at ICRISAT have determined based on a scientific assessment that current farmers’ yields particularly in the drylands of India are lower by four- to five-folds than the achievable potential yields. To achieve full productivity, there is a need to adopt innovative science-led approaches supported by enabling policies and mechanisms, and increased investments for extension as well as research for development.
Along this line, we have been harnessing complementary and purposeful partnerships to more directly address the needs of smallholders including their connections to market opportunities. We are confident that our Inclusive Market-Oriented Development or IMODwill serve as a dynamic progression from subsistence towards market-oriented agriculture. We believe that innovative products, processes and concepts by entrepreneurs and their integration into existing agricultural systems is the pathway to true inclusive agricultural growth in India, in particular, and in the drylands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, in general.
Q2: In your opinion what are the top three challenges which agriculture needs to correct to catapult it into becoming a global player?
To harness the potential of Indian agriculture (characterized by subsistence agriculture) to become a market-oriented agriculture, there are a number of challenges, but the most important ones are as follows:
1. Scarce water resources and degraded land are major concerns and bottlenecks for unlocking the potential of agriculture in India. Most part of the country, except the Northeast region, will face severe scarcity of water by 2025. This will be an enormous challenge, considering that agriculture is the major consumer of water for food production to feed the growing population, which is already almost1.2 billion. Land resource in the country is also in a state of degradation and most of agricultural lands are suffering one or other form of land degradation such as nutrient depletion, soil erosion, wind erosion, salinity and water logging, crust formation, development of hard land at shallow depth, toxicity of certain elements, and loss of soil bio-diversity.
To overcome this challenge, farmers will have to adopt scientific agricultural practices that are environment-friendly and sustainable. The most urgent concern is to conserve and harvest rainwater and minimize land degradation to kick start the engine of agricultural growth in the country. Emphasis must be shifted from only rainwater harvesting and conservation to efficient use of available water resources.
There are a number of ways and means that India may adopt to minimize land degradation, largely through diversification with legumes, minimizing soil erosion through appropriate landform treatments, rainwater harvesting for increasing groundwater recharge, and appropriate soil test based nutrient management practices. ICRISAT and its partners have mapped more than 50,000 fields in different states of the country and observed that the Indian soils are not only water deficient, but 80-100% of the farmers’ fields are also deficient in multiple micro- and secondary nutrients along with nitrogen and phosphorus. A large number of small and marginal farmers do not have access to knowledge about soil health and options for correcting these deficiencies. ICRISAT along with the Government of Karnataka have undertaken a mission mode project “Bhoochetana” under which all the 30 districts in the state are mapped for soil health. Taluk-wise recommendations based on soil analysis results are provided to the farmers, ensuring timely supply of required inputs (macro- and micro-nutrients, improved seeds, bio-fertilizer and seed treatment, chemicals and suitable machinery etc.). This mission mode project covered a 2- million ha area during 2010-11 season.
Using the inputs provided under the project, farmers in different parts of the state enjoyed up to 60 per cent increased yields of different crops (finger millet, sorghum, groundnut, soybean, maize, green gram, black gram, pigeon pea, chick pea, etc.). This is a novel undertaking in which knowledge-generating institutions like state agriculture universities and ICRISAT are linked with extension agencies (Department of Agriculture) to bring knowledge to the doorsteps of the farmers.
2. The second challenge not only to Indian agriculture but to the world as well is climate change. With increasing variability in high and low temperatures and rainfall distribution (quantity and intensity), small and marginal farmers in India become more and more vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change. Hence, there is a need to build the system’s resilience with climate-change ready crops, knowledge of adaptation and mitigation strategy, and linking farmers with toward an inclusive and sustainable agricultural growth.
ICRISAT has adopted the Inclusive Market Oriented Development (IMOD)strategy to move people out of poverty from subsistence agriculture to marketable surplus agricultural economy with increased availability of research products, knowledge, institutional support, credit facilities and market linkages. This is a tall order and an enormous challenge which we will have to address for millions of small and marginal farmers and India can make it happen if it wants.
3. The third challenge is how to reach millions of small and marginal farm households to benefit from improved products, technologies, and approaches for sustainable management of agriculture generated by national and international institutions. Currently, extension support for farmers in India needs a lot of strengthening, and here we need to bring in innovative communication and technology transfer and exchange tools and practices to reach small and marginal farm households. The convergence of different arms of the government along with agricultural research institutions and corporate industries is very much needed, because productivity alone will not translate into improved livelihoods unless the assured price support by the industry is provided to the small and marginal farmers. Knowledge and innovations will stimulateagro-enterprises, raise rural incomes and create opportunities beyond agriculture. Smallholder farm families have to be empowered and assisted along this development pathway to lead them from pessimism to prosperity.
Q3: What are the experiences of the agriculture industry?And what are its strategies for future growth?
As we know, the agriculture industry in India has the capacity to produce the required food for its people, but the challenge is not only to produce more with limited resources through increased productivity. The major challenge on agriculture in the country, as emphasized by various state governments, is to transform Indian agriculture into a major global player to help achieve food security not only for its own population, but also for the global markets.
Upgrading rainfed agriculture through integrated watershed management practices, RashtriyaKrishiVikasYojana (RKVY), pulse villages, vegetable villages around urban areas, horticultural missions, oil seed missions and so on – all these are directed toward improving the agriculture industry in the country. However, investments need to be substantially increased along with enabling policies and their implementation in the right spirit by building partnership through convergence of research institutions, developing agents, corporate industry, and most importantly farmers’organizations to jump-start the engine to the inclusive and sustainable growth of the country’s agriculture industry.
ICRISAT together with our partners are putting our best efforts through the development of climate-change ready crops. Some of these are pearl millet which can flower and set seeds above 40oC; short duration chickpeas which can be grown in Southern India and has been revolutionizing chickpea production in Andhra Pradesh; development of pigeon pea hybrid which is the first in the world; and developing cultivars with tolerance to pests and diseases using new molecular biological tools.
ICRISAT together with our partners are also revolutionizingdryland agriculture through the integrated watershed development program approach where rainwater conservation and harvesting is used as an entry point to move farmers from subsistence agriculture to IMOD in a step-wise approach. Farmers can double the productivity of rainfed crops, and with increased water availability and ability to invest more in agriculture, diversifying into cultivation of high-value market oriented crops to bring in additional income for their families can be realized. The convergence of all these, and the inclusion of livestock-based activities, diversification of sources of livelihoods, building resilience to cope with the impacts of climate change – is what we call inclusive pathways to prosperity.
Our basic approach in ICRISAT is to use research for development and build on partnerships to reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition and environmental degradation in the dryland tropics. IMOD is a win-win strategy for all stakeholders, but it calls for not only increased investment but a change of mindset in the way we do the business of agricultural management.
