To describe the current situation on the agricultural front as “grave” or “serious” would be an understatement. What’s worse is that, as is usually the case in this country, it is rural poor who are the worst sufferers in any drought. The government cannot ignore its responsibility to mitigate the condition of the worst afflicted by the speedy provision of emergency food and water supplies. There is a flicker of hope that the rains will come in good measure soon after August 15, now less than a week away; but if that does not happen the situation could turn cataclysmic in certain areas. If agricultural operations come to a standstill, then where will farmers and labourers get the money to buy food which the government says is there in plenty in the FCI’s godowns? Even today, with the government saying it has adequate stocks of 253 lakh tonnes of wheat and 323 lakh tonnes of rice, the ration shops in Mumbai, for instance, are not giving wheat, rice and sugar to ration card holders. They are being forced to buy these items in the open market. In states like Maharashtra, some parts of Andhra Pradesh and northern Karnataka, jowar is a staple food for many people, but the government has nothing to stock it. There has been no agricultural breakthrough in pulses and oilseeds as in the case of rice and wheat, even though pulses are the only source of protein for crores of vegetarians across the country. India is one of the largest consumers of edible oils, and yet we depend on imports for three-fourths of our requirements. When the world markets come to know that India is going to import grain, the international prices shoot up, adding to domestic inflation. The government is also forced to subsidise these imports for the poor.
The sheer neglect of research and development in pulses and oilseeds reflects poorly on the government, and only shows how our administration is so totally ignorant about the needs of agriculture. Much was expected of Sharad Pawar, who understands the needs of farmers and could have revolutionized the pulses and oilseeds sector. It is still not too late for him and the government to remedy this, and bring about a new green revolution in pulses and oilseeds in the way Indira Gandhi had done with rice and wheat many decades ago. Without this, there will be no real food security for much of the people of India.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken the initiative by calling state chief secretaries to discuss, among other things, planning for the rabi season. Gram and masoor can be increased and work on this should start immediately. There have to be some special programmes and minimum support prices should be announced early to encourage farmers to take up production of rabi crops on a war footing. The government’s agricultural minister would do well to reduce their dependence on bureaucrats and bring in some real experts to plan are to get food at reasonable prices. From the farmers’ standpoint, government polices today are totally lopsided: if the crops are abundant, prices go down and farmers suffer as they can’t even recover their cost of production. There needs to be a way to protect them and motivate them in the same way that the government does for industry.
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