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Quantum
Leap in Farm
Yields Vital to End
Global Food Crisis
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
believes that a sharp rise in
productivity can be the answer
to global food shortages. In
a speech delivered at the Global
Agro-Industries Forum in New
Delhi recently, he calls for
a quantum lean in agricultural
yields. Following is the text
of the Prime Minister's speech.
I am delighted to be here at
this very important gathering
of those focused on agriculture
and related industrial development.
I compliment the Food and Agricultural
Organization, the United Nations
Industrial Development Organization
and the International Fund for
Agricultural Development for
coming together and working
with those engaged in improving
the livelihood of farmers of
India and the rest of the developing
world. I am very happy that
our Ministries of Agriculture,
Food Processing, Commerce &
Industry are associated with
this very important Global Forum.
At the outset, I would like
to say that I am deeply honoured
and humbled by the Agricola
Award conferred on me. I am
aware of the commendable work
done by many of its earlier
recipients. This award, I take
it, is a recognition of the
work done for the development
of agriculture and of our farmers
by a vast number of agencies
and individuals in our country.
As I accept this very prestigious
award, I reiterate our government's
and our nation's commitment
to the promotion of the welfare
of the entire agricultural community.
A progressive increase in agricultural
productivity and incomes is
essential both for the removal
of mass poverty and for creating
an expanding market for industrial
products. It is our sincere
desire and effort to take Indian
agriculture to a new level of
knowledge-based development;
a development that is inclusive,
a development that is equitable,
a development that is environmentally
sustainable and a development
that is regionally balanced.
It is our goal to ensure both
livelihood security and food
security for all our people,
paying particular attention
to the needs of small and marginal
farmers.
India has had a long association
with each of the international
organizations present here today.
We owe a debt of gratitude for
your contribution to improving
the lot of our farmers and enhancing
our food security. India's Green
Revolution would not have been
possible without the active
cooperation and support of several
international organizations
as well as some major developed
countries, such as the United
States of America. The Green
Revolution was a great symbol
of international cooperation
inspired by the noblest of objectives.
There was a time when it used
to be said that India lived
a ship-to-mouth existence. There
was a time when we were critically
dependant on food imports. Our
farmers were hard put to survive
even one bad monsoon. All of
that was barely 40 years ago.
The Green Revolution has enabled
us to become largely self-sufficient
in foodgrains.
Today, we are at the beginning
of what may well be a new phase
in our agricultural growth trajectory.
We are once again faced with
a situation where rising demand
for foodgrains and other food
items is running into supply
constraints both domestically
as well as internationally.
This is a phenomenon, I believe,
that is not unique to India.
Similar pressures are being
felt across the world in many
other countries. The world as
a whole is faced with a situation
where rising demand for food
is not being met with a similar
supply side response. Further,
the situation is becoming more
complex due to the alternative
uses being developed for food
crops - I refer here to the
growing demand for bio-fuels.
Owing to galloping oil prices,
bio-fuels are being seen in
many quarters as attractive
substitutes for imported hydrocarbon
fuels. Some see them as a greener
alternative, although there
may be more than one view on
that. Many countries are actively
promoting the development of
bio-fuels. It is particularly
worrisome that the new economics
of bio-fuels is encouraging
a shift of land away from food
crops. What this has done is
that for the first time, there
is a direct linkage between
oil prices and food prices.
Food markets have got interlinked
to oil markets, making food
policy - making extremely complex
as well as uncertain.
Given this scenario, there is
a persistent feeling that the
first Green Revolution has run
its course. Modern technology
has certainly widened the options
available to our farmers and
planners. Yet, the world seems
to be facing the prospect of
food shortages and rising food
prices. I believe that in the
near future, this is going to
be one of the most urgent challenges
of our times. Therefore, it
is important that the world
community tackles this problem
head-on. We need a Second Green
Revolution. We need new technologies,
new organizational structures,
new institutional responses
and, above all, a new compact
between farmers, technologists,
scientists, administrators,
businessmen, bankers and consumers.
The global community and global
agencies must fashion a collective
response that leads to a quantum
leap in agricultural productivity
and output so that the spectre
of food shortages is banished
from the horizon once again.
We in India too, are deeply
concerned about rising commodity
and food prices. Sharply rising
food prices can slow down poverty
alleviation, impede economic
growth and retard employment
generation. The global economy
can also be hurt by this process.
We in the developing world will
of course be seriously hurt
by it. Efforts to promote reforms
and more open economies would
be derailed in the face of persistent
food shortages and rising food
prices. In most developing countries,
food prices are the kingpin
of the price structure. A steep
rise in food prices will make
inflation control more difficult
and can thereby hurt the cause
of macro-economic stability.
The constituency for economic
reforms, so necessary to stimulate
economic growth, would also
diminish. Pressures would mount
for restrictive trade practices.
It is my belief that we cannot
react to such a situation by
returning to an era of blind
controls and by depressing agriculture's
terms of trade. That will hurt
the welfare of our farmers as
well as the long term growth
of the economy as a whole. The
non-farming economy cannot prosper
on the back of an impoverished
farm sector. Hence, we need
creative and imaginative solutions
that increase agricultural productivity,
that increase farm incomes,
that increase food production
and, at the same time, also
contribute to greater purchasing
power in the hands of the poor.
We are also worried that climate
change and global warming may
have a harmful impact on land
productivity and water availability.
We need concerted global action
to grasp the impact of climate
change on agricultural production
world-wide. We need more equitable,
efficient and rational systems
and institutions for the utilization
of scarce water resources. The
first Green Revolution by-passed
dryland farming. We need now
new technologies and new production
regimes for rainfed and dryland
agriculture.
I sincerely hope that this conference
will come forward with new ideas
for a new social compact that
will enhance food security and,
at the same time, enhance farmers'
welfare.
Our Government has taken several
initiatives in the past four
years to address some of these
challenges. We have focused
on improving rural infrastructure
through a national programme
of Bharat Nirman. We are implementing
a globally pioneering national
rural employment guarantee programme.
I understand that many countries
and international institutions
are studying this programme
to replicate it elsewhere in
the developing world. We have
launched a National Food Security
Mission to meet the immediate
challenge of raising food output.
We are also engaged in revitalizing
agricultural research and extension
programmes. We have launched
the National Agricultural Development
Plan with a special focus on
increasing public investment
in agriculture.
I believe that farming is increasingly
becoming an unviable business
proposition for many rural households.
Small and marginal farms have
become an unviable proposition.
We therefore need to make farming
viable at this scale. Otherwise,
it would be virtually impossible
to reduce rural poverty and
distress. Indian agriculture
is built on the foundation of
small, household based farm
holdings. IFAD has been a helpful
partner and I compliment IFAD's
efforts in this direction. But
I would like to see greater
and wider engagement, especially
in providing long-term solutions
to the problems faced by small
and marginal farmers, particularly
for poverty alleviation, for
risk mitigation and access to
finance. Collectivisation, corporatisation
and land consolidation through
land alienation are neither
possible, nor socially desirable.
We cannot therefore wish away
the existence of economically
unviable farms. On the other
hand, we must find ways in which
farmers can benefit from economies
of scale in certain farm operations
such as provision of farm inputs,
credit and marketing support
while retaining family-based
small holders. Advances in technical
and related progress can have
a major impact on the productivity
and well-being of small and
marginal farmers.
Institution building, capacity
building, empowering farmers
through investment in their
capabilities, are the kind of
interventions we must seek.
Even in promoting agri-business
and agro-industries, we need
a model that can combine the
economics of small farms with
the economics of mass production
and modern marketing. We need
to focus on the economics of
farming operations as a whole,
not of individual crops alone.
I sincerely believe that some
of the solutions to the problems
of Indian agriculture are to
be found outside agriculture.
In the long run, we have to
reduce the pressure of population
dependent on agriculture. Industrialisation
has historically provided new
avenues of employment to rural
folk worldwide. In a labour
surplus economy like ours, we
need labour-intensive industrialization
to absorb the surplus workforce
from rural areas. It is in this
context, that agro-processing
increases farmers' incomes and
provides off-farm employment
opportunities. Agricultural
modernization and rural development
must, therefore, walk hand in
hand with rural industrialization.
The potential for agro-based
industrialization, especially
labour intensive industrialization,
is truly enormous. We in India
wish to promote agro-industries
and offer people living in rural
areas new avenues of employment
close to the place they work
and live. However, unlike in
the West, where much of this
was highly mechanized due to
labour shortages, we need labour
using technologies. In many
developed countries, the strategy
of food processing and agro
industry was focused essentially
on increasing farmers' incomes
without a focus on generating
rural employment. In a labour
surplus economy like ours, we
need solutions that increase
producers' incomes but also
generate new employment opportunities.
The food processing sector must
have these objectives in mind.
I am convinced that the welfare
of our farming community as
well as the livelihood of farmers
and agricultural workers will
be better ensured through higher
investment in rural infrastructure
and in agricultural development.
Farmers and workers seek incomes,
not subsidies. They seek markets
and employment, not hand-outs.
While some subsidies are useful
and helpful, especially when
targeted to those in distress,
what our rural households seek
is higher investment in land
development, in water management,
in seed technology, in output
storage and in marketing. They
also seek investment in rural
infrastructure. Investment therefore
is the key to development. We
need much greater global and
national effort to increase
investment in rural areas in
developing world, in agriculture
and agricultural technologies,
in farm and off-farm economic
activities.
I believe, this must be the
focus of FAO, IFAD, of the World
Bank, UNIDO and of all Governments
and donor agencies. I hope we
can all work together to make
this possible. |
