New Strategy: Agriculture | Indian Economy for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Introduction of New Agricultural Strategy

• The new agricultural strategy was adopted in India during the Third Plan, i.e., during 1960s. As suggested by the team of experts of the Ford Foundation in its report “India’s Crisis of Food and Steps to Meet it” in 1959 the Government decided to shift the strategy followed in agricultural sector of the country.
• Thus, the traditional agricultural practices followed in India are gradually being replaced by modern technology and agricultural practices. This report afford Foundation suggested to introduce intensive effort for raising agricultural production and productivity in selected regions of the country through the introduction of modern inputs like fertilizers, credit, marketing facilities etc.
• Accordingly, in 1960, from seven states seven districts were selected and the Government introduced a pilot project known as Intensive Area Development Programme (IADP) into those seven districts. Later on, this programme was extended to remaining states and one district from each state was selected for intensive development.
• Accordingly, in 1965, 144 districts (out of 325) were selected for intensive cultivation and the programme was renamed as Intensive Agricultural Areas Programme (IAAP).
• During the period of mid-1960s, Prof. Norman Borlaug of Mexico developed new high yielding varieties of wheat and accordingly various countries started to apply this new variety with much promise. Similarly, in the kharif season in 1966, India adopted High Yielding Varieties Programme (HYVP) for the first time.
• This programme was adopted as a package programme as the very success of this programme depends upon adequate irrigation facilities, application of fertilizers, high yielding varieties of seeds, pesticides, insecticides etc. In this way a new technology was gradually adopted in Indian agriculture. This new strategy is also popularly known as modern agricultural technology or green revolution.
• In the initial stage, HYVP alongwith IAAP was implemented in 1.89 million hectares of area. Gradually the coverage of the programme was enlarged and in 1995-96, total area covered by this HYVP programme was estimated 75.0 million hectares which accounted to nearly 43 per cent of the total net sown area of the country.
• As the new HYV seeds require shorter duration to grow thus it paved way for the introduction of multiple cropping, i.e., to have two or even three crops throughout the year. Farmers producing wheat in Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi started to demand heavily new Mexican varieties of seeds like Lerma Rojo, Sonara-64, Kalyan and PV.-18.
• But in case of production of rice, although new HYV varieties of seeds like TN.-l, ADT-17, Tinen-3 and IR-8 were applied but the result was not very much encouraging. Some degree of success was only achieved in respect of IR-8.

Important Features of Green Revolution

Revolutionary:

• The Green Revolution is considered revolutionary due to its reliance on new technology, ideas, and inputs such as HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation water, and pesticides.
• These innovations were introduced suddenly and spread quickly, leading to dramatic results, hence it is termed a revolution in green agriculture.

HYV Seeds:

• The core strategy of the Green Revolution was the use of high-yielding variety (HYV) seeds.
• These seeds are typically of a dwarf variety, maturing quickly, and are effective where there is sufficient and reliable water supply.
• HYV seeds require four to ten times more fertilizer compared to traditional varieties.

Confined to Wheat Revolution:

• The Green Revolution primarily benefited wheat crops, often neglecting other crops.
• It was first applied to wheat cultivation in areas with ample irrigation water available year-round.
• Currently, 90% of the land used for wheat cultivation benefits from this strategy.
• Most HYV seeds and a significant portion of chemical fertilizers are used in wheat cultivation, making the Green Revolution largely a wheat revolution.

Narrow Spread:

• Initially, the Green Revolution's impact was limited to a few regions, primarily Punjab, Haryana, and Western Uttar Pradesh.
• In recent years, the reach of the Green Revolution has gradually extended to other states such as West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, and various southern states.

Arguments in Favour of New Strategy in India

Intensive Approach for a Vast Agricultural Country:

• India, being a vast agricultural nation, needed an intensive approach to make a significant breakthrough in the agricultural sector within a short period.

Addressing the 1960s Food Crisis:

• Given the severe food crisis in the 1960s, it was essential to adopt a new strategy to meet the growing food demands of the country.

Economic Justification through HYVP:

• The introduction of the High Yielding Varieties Programme (HYVP) significantly raised agricultural productivity, making the new strategy economically justified.

Selective Adoption in Promising Areas:

• Due to the scarcity of agricultural inputs required for the new strategy, selective adoption in promising areas ensured maximum benefits from intensive cultivation.

Spread Effect of HYVP:

• Successful yields through HYVP would encourage other farmers to adopt the new technique, leading to an overall rise in the productivity of Indian agriculture.

Secondary and Tertiary Effects of Increased Productivity:

• Increased agricultural productivity would reduce the need for food imports, saving scarce foreign exchange for other purposes.
• The boost in commercial crop production would also lead to the expansion of agro-based industries, especially in rural areas.

Achievements of the New Agricultural Strategy

• Let us now turn our analysis towards the achievement of new agricultural strategy adopted in India. The most important achievement of new strategy is the substantial increase in the production of major cereals like rice and wheat. Table 3.3 shows increase in the production of food crops since 1960-61.
  
• The Table 3.3 reveals that the production of rice has increased from 35 million tonnes in 1960- 61 to 54 million tonnes in 1980-81 and then to 99.2 million tonnes in 2008-2009, showing a major break-through in its production. The yield per hectare has also improved from 1013 kgs in 1960 to 2,186 kg in 2008-09.
• Again the production of wheat has also increased significantly from 11 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 36 million tonnes in 1980-81 and then to 80.6 million tonnes in 2008-09. During this period, the yield per hectare also increased from 850 kgs to 2,891 kgs per hectare which shows that the yield rate has increased by 240 per cent during the last five decades. All these improvements resulted from the adoption of new agricultural strategy in the production of wheat and rice.
• Total production of food grains in India has been facing wide fluctuations due to vagaries of monsoons. Inspite of these fluctuations, total production of food grains rose from 82 million tonnes in 1960-61 to 130 million tonnes in 1980-81 and then to 213.5 million tonnes in 2003-04 and then increased to 233.9 million tonnes in 2008-09.
• The new agricultural strategy was very much restricted to the production of food-grains mostly wheat and rice. Thus, the commercial crops like sugarcane, cotton, jute, oilseeds could not achieve a significant increase in its production. This can be seen from the Table 3.4.
• The Table 3.4 reveals that the production of sugarcane and other cash crops recorded some increase during the last four decades but this increase cannot be termed a significant one. Thus, the green revolution was very much confined to mainly wheat production and its achievements in respect of other food crops and cash crops were not at all significant.

Weaknesses of the New Strategy

• Capitalist Farming Growth: The adoption of new agricultural strategies through IADP and HYVP led to the growth of capitalist farming in Indian agriculture, as these programmes were largely restricted to big farmers who could afford the heavy investment required.
• Neglect of Institutional Reforms: The new agricultural strategy failed to address the need for institutional reforms in Indian agriculture.
• Income Disparity: The Green Revolution widened the income disparity among the rural population.
• Labour Displacement: The new agricultural strategy, combined with increased mechanization, created a problem of labour displacement.
• Inter-regional Disparities: The Green Revolution increased inter-regional disparities in farm production and income.
• Undesirable Social Consequences: The Green Revolution led to undesirable social consequences, including incapacitation due to accidents and acute poisoning from pesticide use.

Second Green Revolution in India

• Considering the limitations of first green revolution in India, the Government of India is now planning to introduce “Second Green Revolution” in the country with the objective of attaining food and nutritional security of the people while at the same time augmenting farm incomes and employment through this new approach.
• This new approach would include introduction of “New Deal” to reverse decline in farm investment through increased funds for agricultural research, irrigation and wasteland development.
• Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh while inaugurating the New Delhi office of International Food Policy Research Institute observed that, “Our government will be launching a National Horticulture Mission that is aimed, in part, at stimulating the second green revolution in the range of new crops and commodities.”
• The Government is of the view that with more advances in science, and technology in areas such as biotechnology coming from the private sector, it was important to ensure availability of these products to the poor farmers.
• Prime Minister Mr. Singh argued, “The challenge is how to encourage this creativity, this innovativeness and at the same time to ensure that new products and new processes will be far affordable for the vast majority of farmers who live on the edges of subsistence.”
• Thus under the present circumstances, it can be rightly said that new cutting edge technologies should be taken to the fields for enhancing productivity to make agriculture sector of the country globally competitive.
• While addressing at a national workshop on “Enhancing Competitiveness of Indian Agriculture” on 7th April, 2005 at New Delhi, Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar observed “There is a big challenge before us. We have to adopt new technologies and familiarise them to the farming community. With 60 per cent more arable land, India produces less than half the quantity of food grains grown by China.”
• Even the Brazilian yields of black peppers, originally imported from India, are six times higher than India utilizing the same variety. This simply shows that India is lagging far behind in raising productivity of agriculture.
• The Economic Survey, 2006-07 while pointing out the weaknesses of agriculture in India observed, “The Structural Weaknesses of the agriculture sector reflected in low level of public investment, exhaustion of the yield potential of new high yielding varieties of wheat and rice, unbalanced fertilizer use, low seeds replacement rate, an inadequate incentive system and post harvest value addition were manifest in the lacklustre agricultural growth during the new millennium.”
• The Economic Survey, 2006-07 further observes, “The urgent need for taking agriculture to a higher trajectory of 4 per cent annual growth can be met only with improvement in the scale as well as quality of agricultural reforms undertaken by the various states and agencies at the various levels. These reforms must aim at efficient use of resources and conservation of soil, water and ecology on a sustainable basis and in a holistic framework. Such a holistic framework must incorporate financing of rural infrastructure such as water, roads and power.”
• It is also true that today unfortunately the green revolution is a distant memory and its impact has also certainly ebbed. Therefore, it is essential to revisit the problems of the agricultural sector and address the cry of anguish that we hear from farmers from different directions of the country.
• There is a strong argument for high agricultural investment, especially irrigation, which has large externalities even if it requires a scaling down of other subsidies and reordering the priorities.

The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Plan has rightly highlighted a holistic framework and suggests the strategy to raise agricultural output:

(a) Doubling the rate of growth of irrigated area;

(b) Improving water management, rain water harvesting and watershed development;

(c) Reclaiming degraded land and focusing on soil quality;

(d) Bridging the knowledge gap through effective extension;

(e) diversifying into high value outputs, fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs and spices, medicinal plants, bamboo, bio-diesel, but with adequate measures to ensure food security;

(f) Promoting animal husbandry and fishery;

(g) Providing easy access to credit at affordable rates; and

(h) Refocusing on land reforms issues. National Commission on Farmers has already laid foundation for such a framework.

• Outlining the above eight-point strategy for realizing second green revolution, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently observed that there was a need to improve farm management practices to enhance productivity. This also requires improvement in soil health, water conservation, credit delivery system and application of science to animal husbandry to achieve the second green revolution.
• There should also be a sharper focus on strategic research in plant technology. Moreover, Indian agriculture at present needs new investments and a new wave of entrepreneurship in order to utilize its extensive potential.
• However, the formulation of programmes and their implementation in different states must be based on unique regional contexts incorporating agro-climatic conditions; and availability of appropriate research and development (R & D) which is to be backed by timely and adequate extension and finance.
• Moreover, R&D has to focus on areas such as rain-fed and drought from areas; crops such as drought resistant and amenable to biotechnological applications; and also on biotechnology which has huge growth as well as exponential under the present context.
• In July 2006, the government initiated the National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) with a provision of Rs. 1,125 crore (250 million dollar) for fine tuning agricultural research in the country. This six-yearly project is likely to enhance livelihood security in partnership mode with farmers’ groups, panchayati raj institutions and private sector which would go a long way in strengthening basic and strategic research in frontier agricultural research.
• The project (NAIP) would have four components including one in which ICAR would be the catalysing agent for the management of change in the Indian national agricultural system. The other components of the project would be research in production and consumption systems, research on sustainable rural livelihood security and basic and strategic research in frontier areas of agricultural sciences.
• The present WTO trade regime has changed rules of the game and the country needs to work hard to bring the benefits of changing made environment to the farmers so as to integrate domestic farm sector with the rest of the world. The processing of agricultural produce has wider options.
• Processing can multiply the export value of farm produce and can open up vast international markets. India currently processes less than two per cent of its agricultural produce compared with 30 per cent in Brazil, 70 per cent in USA and 82 per cent in Malaysia.
• Under this present move, the private-public partnership would play a major role in the success of the second Green Revolution in the country. Mr. Singh observed in this connection, “We have to promote greater public-private partnership in the days and months to come for bringing in an agrarian revolution.”
• As a part of its programme, the Government of India, as per its NCMP, will play focussed attention on the overall development of horticulture in the country by launching a National Horticulture Mission. Although it was announced in the last budget (2004-05), the Union Budget, 2005-06 has allocated Rs. 630 crore for the Mission for doubling horticulture production in the country by 2011- 12.
• The Mission will ensure end-to-end approach having backward and forward linkages covering research, production, post-harvest-management, processing and marketing, under one umbrella, in an integrated manner.
• Planning Commission is considering undertaking a Food and Nutrition Security Programme to focus on achieving adequate nutrition levels among pregnant women and other people both in the urban and rural areas along-with National Food-for-work programme. The government is devoting as much as Rs. 40,000 crore to various social programmes including mid-day meal scheme and the Antyodaya Anna Yojana in recent years.
• The Union Budget, 2010-11, in its four pronged strategy for agricultural growth has undertaken a strategy to extend green revolution to the eastern region of the country comprising Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Eastern UP, West Bengal and Orissa with the active involvement of Gram Sabhas and the farming families. The budget has also earmarked Rs. 400 crore for this initiative.
• The budget has also proposed to organise 60,000 “pulses and oil seed villages” in rain-fed areas during 2010-11 and provide an integrated intervention for water harvesting, watershed management and soil health, to enhance the productivity of the dry land farming areas. The budget provided Rs. 300 crore for this purpose and this will be a integral part of Rashtriya Krishi Vikash Yojana.
• Unfortunately, the first green revolution of India was very much dependent on micro irrigation based on underground water resources. This shows lack of farsightedness on our part. As a result, the water table at the underground level has gone down seriously which has made the minor irrigation system ineffective in most of green revolution infested stales like Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh etc.
• Thus it is high time, that our country should not depend too much on underground water resources and instead the country and its people should try to follow the policy of water conservation and rain water harvesting by rejuvenating the ponds, wells and water bodies. The success of second green revolution would depend very much on this new strategy which would make it sustainable and make the green revolution really green.

Second Green Revolution and the Agreements of National Commission on Farmers

• As a Chairman of the National Commission on Farmers Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the main architect of first green revolution of India, listed five components of Agricultural renewal. These five components as suggested by the commission include—soil health enhancement; water harvesting and sustainable and more equitable use of water; getting access to affordable credit and crop insurance as well as life insurance reform; attaining development and dissemination of appropriate technologies and improved opportunities, and creating infrastructure and regulation for viable marketing of agricultural produce.
• These components suggested by the commission are considered very important for proceeding towards second green revolution.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while inaugurating the 93rd Indian Science Congress on June 3, 2006 mentioned two more important components. These include: (a) application of science and biotechnology to the improvement quality seeds and utilisation of herbal and other plants; and (b) application of science to animal husbandry for improving productivity of livestock and poultry.
• While giving a call for a “Second Green Revolution”, Prime Minister Singh pointed out two main reasons why the first green revolution is out of steam.

These are:

(a) First green revolution did not benefit dry-land farming anyway; and
(b) it was also not scale-neutral and thereby only benefitted large farms and big farmers.

• One more confirmation of the failure of first green revolution in improving the condition of the small and marginal farmer is available from the NSSO latest data on rural indebtedness for the period January to December, 2003 showing a rise in the level of indebtedness from 4 per cent to 27 per cent in just one year.
• Taking the national figure of rural household indebtedness at Rs. 1,12,000 crore, the figure is found to be about 63 per cent of total outstanding debt of Rs. 1,77,000 crore of India.
• Moreover, the average per capita monthly expenditure figure (MPCE) of farm household of Rs 503 is just higher by Rs. 135 only over the rural poverty line figure of Rs. 368 for India in 2003, which is again largely influenced by larger size farm households. This average MPCE figure is also lower the poverty line in many states like Orissa (Rs. 342), Jharkhand (Rs. 353), Chattisgarh (Rs. 379) and Bihar (Rs. 404) and it is also lower in 31 other districts already identified by the Government in the states like Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala.
• Failure of our first green revolution is also noticed in respect of the failure of our agricultural scientists in developing superior crop varieties with higher yield. As a consequence, the current level of our food grains production at 210 million tonnes is comparatively much lower to that of 550 million tonnes of China whose size of population in just 300 million higher than that of India.
• Besides, the Commission (NCF) report is also silent on land reforms. Although presently the land reforms strategy is sidelined in India but for modernisation of agricultural practices needs the introduction of co-operative joint farming. The Kerala experiences in this respect can be utilised in other states.
• By encouraging co-operative joint farming strategy, the problems of small and fragmented holdings of 93 per cent holdings of the country can be solved which can go a long way in improving the economic condition of small and marginal farmers of the country.
• While discussing on the sidelines of 97th Indian Science Congress held at thiruvanthapuram. Dr. M.S. Swaminathan has warned that the country would face a food crisis if agriculture and farmers were ignored. He observed “We are on the verge of a disaster. We will be in serious difficulty if food productivity is not increased and farming is neglected. The future belongs to nations with grains. The current food inflation is frightening. If pulses, potatoes and onions are beyond the purchasing capacity of the majority malnourishment will be a painful result.”
• Dr. Swaminathan urged the government to implement the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers. As the recommendations are aimed at ushering in the second green revolution in the country, the government should immediately act upon them to overcome the serious crisis we are facing on the food front.
• The government should act upon three major recommendations—”It should change compensation laws as farmers do not have pay commissions like the sixth pay panel; attract youth to farming and amend the Women Farmers Entitlement Act to allow Women avail bank loans without their land as a collateral security.”
• Thus it is observed that despite the unprecedented price rise, suicides by farmers and widening demand- supply gap, the government and political parties had failed to act seriously upon the recommendations made by the commission.
• Finally, as the approach paper of the Eleventh Plan, emphasised on the promotion of ‘Inclusive Growth’ thus by adopting the reports of National Commission on Farmers, the Second Green Revolution should try to meet the problems of small and marginal farmers in a specific manner for providing income security to a large section of rural households.
• While implementing the Second Green Revolution process, the small and marginal farmers could be given its importance and for treated as partners of development instead of a mere beneficiary of some government schemes or programmes.