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Agri-Modernization & Mechanization

Green Revolution:

• Launched in 1965-66 as HYV program
• Model: Philippines and Mexico
• S. Swaminathan brought HYV developed by Norman Borlaug

 Objective of Green Revolution:

• Manage food crisis
• Develop self-sufficiency in food production
• Modernization of agriculture
• Develop agro-industry interface

 Components of Green Revolution:

1. High Yielding Varieties (HYV)
2. Use of Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides
3. Mechanization of Agriculture
4. Irrigation

Impact of Green Revolution

Positives:

• The Green Revolution has remarkably increased Agricultural Production. The biggest beneficiary of the revolution was the Wheat Grain.
• Green Revolution increased the per hectare yield in case of wheat from 850 kg per hectare to an incredible 2281 kg/hectare in its early stage.
• India reached its way to self-sufficiency and was less dependent on imports. The production in the country was sufficient to meet the normal and emergency demand.
• Rather than depending on the import of food grains from other countries India started exporting its agricultural produce.
• There was a rise in rural employment. The tertiary industries created employment opportunities for the workforce.

Average Yield Per Hectare of Crops during 1950-51 to 1999-2000 (Yield per hectare in Kgs)

• The adoption of new technology has also given a boost to agricultural employment because of diverse job opportunities created by multiple cropping and shifts towards hired workers – transportation, irrigation, food processing, marketing. etc
• There has been more consistency with the annual harvest because the fields are worked in a similar way each year.
• New technology and modernization of agriculture have strengthened the linkages between agriculture and industry.
• It has helped to create numerous strains of plants that are resistant to disease and pests. It makes farmers more secure financially.
• The Green Revolution in India majorly benefited the farmers of the country. Farmers not only survived but also prospered during the revolution. Their income saw a significant raise which enabled them to shift from sustenance farming to commercial farming.

Negative:

• Retardation of agricultural growth due to inadequate irrigation cover, fragmentation of farm size, failure to evolve new technologies, inadequate use of technology, declining plan outlay, unbalanced use of inputs and weaknesses in credit delivery system.
• Regional dispersal of the evolution created regional inequalities. The benefits of the green revolution remained concentrated in the areas where the new technology was used.
• Since the revolution for the number of years remained limited to wheat production, its benefits were mostly accrued only to wheat-growing areas.
• Interpersonal inequalities between large and small scale farmers.
• Adverse effects on the distribution of pattern of income in rural areas. It led to widening the inter-regional and intra-regional disparities in income
• The new technologies introduced during the revolution called for substantial investments which were beyond the means of a majority of small farmers.
• Farmers having large farmlands continued to make greater absolute gains in income by reinvesting the earnings in farm and non-farm assets, purchasing land from the smaller cultivators, etc.
• Ecological cost of the green revolution is tremendous and unsustainable.
• The farmers are largely dependent on the market for the supply of inputs and for the demand for their products.
• Demand for agricultural credit has also increased as the new technology has increased the cash requirements of the farmers. Poor farmers were not able to get loans easily.
• There has been displacement of agricultural labour by extensive agricultural mechanization and left them unemployed.
• The hybrid crops have also created environmental impacts like soil pollution, water pollution due to excessive use of fertilisers, pesticides etc. needed by these crops.

Conclusion

• There are both positive and negative impacts of the Green Revolution on farmers.
• Due to the Green Revolution there was a considerable increase in the food grains production which was extremely necessary for farmers to increase production so that agriculture became remunerative.
• Due to the Green Revolution, the agricultural sector of India is able to meet the increasing demand for food grains. However, now is the high time to bring a green revolution which is also farmers friendly.

• Evergreen revolution refers to productivity improvement in perpetuity without ecological and social harm.
• The evergreen revolution involves the integration of ecological principles in technology development and dissemination.

 Need for Evergreen revolution:

• Need for the Evergreen revolution arose due to failures of the green revolution.
• More than five decades after India launched the Green Revolution, it has not only failed to eliminate hunger but also malnutrition is at its high.
• Wheat and rice have largely displaced more nutritious pulses and other cereals such as millets in consumption.
• Soil has lost its fertility due to unscientific application of fertilizers.
• Due to mechanization of agriculture, the likeliness for sons instead of daughters led to skewed sex ratio in Punjab, Haryana.(Perspective that men can handle machines better than women)
• Indian agriculture became cereal- centric and regionally biased.
• Water logging in fields and salinity increased due to excess irrigation.
• Farmers got burdened with debts from moneylenders, banks.
• Given growing population and over-exploitation of land resources, the pressure on food security will continue to rise.
• 65% of the population is still living in the villages and over 70% of the rural people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood.
• The Green Revolution was mainly confined to well irrigated areas. It was not successful in rain-fed areas, which contribute significantly to the country’s total food-grain production.
• The environmental consequences and ecological costs are offsetting the progress made so far.
• Depletion and pollution groundwater. The lakes and ponds are becoming less developed due to eutrophication – a direct consequence of the Green Revolution.
• Growth in the agricultural sector has been almost stagnant.
• GM crops are caught in various controversies related to intellectual property, ecological consequences, health consequences etc.
• Global warming is said to engulf productive coastal lands due to rise in sea levels. This creates an urgent need to raise agricultural productivity.
• It is necessary to develop a suitable strategy to improve agricultural development in India.
• To ensure equitable and sustainable growth

 Evergreen Revolution Should Ensure:

• Improving agricultural production
• Generating gainful self-employment for the small farmers and weaker sections of the society.
• Scaling up food production without disturbing the ecological balance.
• Boosting agricultural development, women empowerment (65-70% labourers in agriculture) and environmental protection. (Women are the major power in agriculture as about in crop production is contributed by women).
• Reclaiming degraded and low fertile landsand lands deprived of irrigation.

Other Revolutions

Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India (BGREI)

• Green Revolution that turned India from ‘begging bowl’ to leading producer of food-grains.
• The BGREI program was announced in the Union Budget of 2010-11.

7 states

•  Odisha
• Jharkhand
• Chhattisgarh
• Assam
• West Bengal
• Eastern UP
• Bihar

 BGREI is about bringing similar benefits to eastern India that largely remained untouched of the wonder that converted the north-west into a ‘grain bowl’.

• BGREI is a flagship programme under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY).
• It is intended to address the constraints limiting the productivity of “rice-based cropping systems”.
• BGREI focuses on bringing the second Green Revolution in eastern region, which has rich water resources.

 BGRE

• Equitable and sustainabl
• water harvesting and
• Extension of agriculture
• Balance regional development
• Yield maximization of rice
• Harness the water potential

 Objectives of BGREI

Government Initiatives to Strengthen BGREI

• The ICAR has established IARI, Hazaribagh (Jharkhand)
• Establishment of Indian Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology, Ranchi.
• It has also established the National Research Centre for Integrated Farmingat Motihari (Bihar) to further strengthen the agricultural research for the eastern region.

 Ways To Make Second (Evergreen) Green Revolution A Success Story

• Precision Agriculture – farmers can make the most efficient use of vital inputs such as water and fertilizer by applying them in precise amounts.
• Testing labs – Testing of samples of soil from agricultural fields is vital for achieving nutrient stewardship.
• Technology – Mobile-based applications for farmers will form an important part of the data-driven precision agriculture approach.
• Efficient Use of Water
• Laser levelling – Laser levelling has been shown to improve crop yields, reduce labour time spent wedding, and, in particular, reduce water use for irrigation by up to 20-25 per cent.
• Developing additional water sources through tube wells, dug wells and farm ponds.
• Micro and drip irrigation
• Utilizing potential of fertigation technology
• Climate smart agriculture
• Promotion of Flood, Drought, and Salinity tolerant rice varieties.
• Use of Drum seeders for timely planting of direct seeded rice.
• Cultivation practices to increase biological and economic stability.
• Selection of improved varieties to suit Agro-climatic necessities
• Soil management by proper method of tillage.
• Organic farming.

 Genetically Modified Crops (GM CROPS)

• According to WHO, GMOs or Genetically modified organisms are organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally by mating and/or natural recombination.
• Crops or foods using GM organisms are referred to as GM crops or Genetically modified crops.
• BT cotton, a non-food crop, has been the only GM crop cultivated in India yet attempts have been made to commercially release BT Brinjal and develop DMH -11, a transgenic mustard.

 Issues and Challenges with GM Crops

• Monopoly à patent laws give developers of the GM crops a lot of control over the food supply e.g. the “terminator seeds” allows farmers to use the seeds just once.
• Outcrossing à the migration of genes from GM plants into conventional crops or wild species may have an indirect effect on food safety and food security.
• Decline in yield à after a few years with respect to many GM crops which in turn leads to diminishing returns.
• Environment concerns à like the susceptibility of non-target organisms (e.g. bees and butterflies), the loss of biodiversity of crop/plant species, presence of toxins (produced in GM crops) in every part of the plant may reach the soil/water table.
• Resistance developed by pathogens à to the toxins produced by GM crops. E.g. the pink bollworm has grown resistant to the toxins produced by BT cotton seed of Monsanto

Agriculture Finance

This can be divided into two categories:

Issues of Agriculture finance in India:

• Insufficiency à In spite of the expansion of rural credit structure, the volume of rural credit in the country is still insufficient as compared to its growing requirement arising out of the increase in prices of agricultural inputs.
• Inadequate amount of sanctionà The amount of loan sanctioned to the farmers by the agencies is also very much inadequate for meeting their different aspects of agricultural operations. Considering the amount of loan sanctioned as inadequate and insignificant, the farmers often divert such loan for unproductive purposes and thereby dilute the very purpose of such loan.
• Lesser attention of poor farmers à Rural credit agencies and its schemes have failed to meet the needs of the small and marginal farmers. Thus, lesser attention has been given on the credit needs of the needy farmers whereas the comparatively well-to-do farmers are getting more attention from the credit agencies for their better creditworthiness.
• Inadequate institutional coverage à In India, the institutional credit arrangement continues to be inadequate as compared to its growing needs. The development of co-operative credit institutions like Primary agricultural credit societies, land development banks, commercial banks and regional rural banks, have failed to cover the entire rural farmers of the country.
• Red tapism à Institutional agricultural-credit is subjected to red-tapism. Credit institutions are still adopting cumbersome rules and formalities for advancing loans to farmers which ultimately force the farmers to depend more on costly non-institutional sources of credit.

 Government measures:

• Kisan credit card:The Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme was launched with the aim of providing short-term formal credit to farmers.
• Investment loan: Loan facility to the farmers is available for investment purposes in the areas viz. Irrigation, Agricultural Mechanization, Land Development, Plantation, Horticulture and Post-Harvest Management.
• Interest subvention scheme
• Micro-irrigation Fund under NABARD
• SHG Bank linkage programme

 Agricultural Marketing

• Agricultural marketing covers all the activities in the movement of agricultural products from the farms to the consumers.
• Agriculture markets are regulated by Agricultural Produce Market Committee(APMC) Acts.
• Agriculture is a state subject and almost all state governments enacted APMC act in 1950’s or so, to bring transparency and end discretion of traders.
• Under the APMC acts, States are geographically divided in to markets which are headed by market committees and any production in that area shall be brought to a market committee for sale.

Problems of Agro-marketing in India:

• Large no. of middle men
• Lack of grading and standardization
• Inadequate transport system
• Lack of storage infra
• Lack of credit facility to farmers
• Lack of market info to farmers
• Indian farmers receive 25% of the retail price of their produce (US farmers get 70%)

 Measures taken by Government:

• Regulated Markets à Amendments in APMC act and ECA act are recent developments.
• Development of infrastructure à It includes efforts of connectivity under PMGSY, Efforts to improve other infrastructure under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana or development of food parks.
• Co-operative marketing à Promotion of co-operative culture and ideas like contract farming are being discussed with enthusiasm.
• Policy instruments à Measures like Minimum support price, buffer stock and public distribution system come under this head.

Minimum Support Price (MSP)

• The MSP is the rate at which the government buys grains from farmers. Reason behind the idea of MSP is to counter price volatility of agricultural commodities due to the factors like variation in their supply, lack of market integration and information asymmetry.
• The MSP is fixed on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). It is approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime Minister.

Impact of MSP on Cropping pattern:

Crop selection gets distorted in favor of those crops which have a high share of subsidies or attract large volumes of subsidies. For example, cheap electricity and irrigation subsidies motivated Punjab farmers to go for water guzzling crops like rice.

Need for Crop Insurance

• In our country nature has always been moody. Crop insurance provides protection to farmers against losses caused by crop failure and thereby ensures stability in farm income.
• It also reduces, to some extent, government expenditure incurred on relief measures extended to meet the havoc caused by natural calamities such as droughts and floods, locusts, plant diseases.
• It also strengthens the position of co-operatives and other institutions that finance agriculture to the extent it enables the farmer members to repay their loans in years of crop failure.
• By protecting the economic interest of the farmers against possible risk or loss, it accelerates adoption of new agricultural practices.
• It may act as an anti-inflationary measure, by locking up part of the resources in rural areas.
• The government launched a new crop insurance scheme, PM’s Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) with a view to de-risk agriculture from the vagaries of nature.

 Feminization of Agriculture

• As per the 10th Agriculture Census (2015-16), the percentage of female operational holdings in the country have increased from about 13% percent during 2010-11 to around 14% during 2015-16.
• Agriculture, contributing around 16% of the GDP, is increasingly becoming a female dominated activity.
• Agriculture sector employs 80% of all economically active women; they comprise 33% of the agricultural labor force and 48% of self-employed farmers.
• About 18% of the farm families in India, according to NSSO Reports are headed by women
• According to the Economic Survey 2017-18, a rise in migration of men from rural to urban areas has resulted in feminization of agriculture.

 Steps Taken by Government

• Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP)
• Implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, it is a programme exclusively for women farmers.
• It is a sub-component of Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission.
• It aims to empower women by enhancing their participation in agriculture and to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for them.
• Upto 60% (90% for North Eastern States) of the funding support for such projects is provided by the government.
• It is in line with the provisions of the National Policy for Farmers (2007).
• At least 30% of the budget allocation has been earmarked for women beneficiaries in all ongoing schemes/programmes and development activities.
• Government has increased its focus on women self-help groups (SHG) to connect them to micro-credit through capacity building activities and to provide information and ensure their representation in different decision-making bodies.
• Recognizing the critical role of women in agriculture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has declared 15th October of every year as Women Farmer’s Day.

Government Schemes

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan)

Pm Fasal Bima Yojana

• Every year, in one part of India or the other food crops are affected by natural calamities (like flood, drought and plant diseases).
• The farmers have to be assured that they will be compensated for such loss in crops. Otherwise, they cannot be drawn into the campaign to increase productivity of land under their plough.

 Salient features of PMFBY are as follows.

• PMFBY targets to cover 50% India’s cropped area in the next three years. There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
• In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
• There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if the balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.
• The new scheme will also seek to address a long-standing demand of farmers and provide farm-level assessment for localized calamities, including hailstorms, unseasonal rains, landslides and inundation

 Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana (PM-KMDY):

• It is an old age pension scheme to provide social security net to around 3 crore Small and Marginal old age farmers as they have minimal or no savings to provide for old age and to support them in the event of consequent loss of livelihood

Mission For Integrated Development Of Horticulture:

• Promote holistic development of Horticulture sector (including bamboo & coconut)
• Encourage aggregation of farmers into groups such as FPOs.
• Enhance horticulture production, augment farmers’ income and strengthen nutritional security.
• Improve productivity by ways of germplasm, planting material and water use efficiency through micro irrigation.
• Support skill development and create employment generation opportunities.

Co-operative Farming

• Cooperative farming promotes pooling of resources and practicing joint agriculture.
• Cooperative farming is not a new concept in India.

 Why Cooperative farming?

• Economies of scale – As the size of farms increases, the per hectare cost of using tube-well tractors comes down.
• Small farms – some land is wasted in forming the ‘boundaries’ among them. When they’re combined into a big cooperative farm, we can also cultivate on that boundary land.
• Overall, Large farms are economically more beneficial than small farms.
• Solves the problem of sub-division and fragmentation of holdings.
• Cooperative farms have more men-material-money resources to increase irrigation potential and land productivity. Members would not have been able to do it individually on their small farm.
• Case studies generally point out that with cooperative farming, per acre production increases. Eg AMUL in Gujarat, SOFA in Salem, MAHA farmers cooperative in Maharashtra etc

Contract Farming

• Contract farming is the process of agricultural production carried out according to an agreement between unequal parties, companies, government bodies or individual entrepreneurs on one side and economically weaker farmers on the other which establishes conditions for the production and marketing of farm products.

 Pros of contract farming from the perspective of farmers interests:

• Makes small scale farming competitive – small farmers can access technology, credit, marketing channels and information while lowering transaction costs
• Assured market for their produce at their doorsteps, reducing marketing and transaction costs
• It reduces the risk of production, price and marketing costs.
• Contract farming can open up new markets which would otherwise be unavailable to small farmers.
• It also ensures higher production of better quality, financial support in cash and /or kind and technical guidance to the farmers.
• In the case of agri-processing level, it ensures consistent supply of agricultural produce with quality, at the right time and at a lesser cost.

Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020(Contract farming ordinance)

• It provides a framework for the protection and empowerment of farmers with reference to the sale and purchase of farm products.
• The provisions of the Ordinance will override all state APMC laws.
• Farming agreement: The Ordinance provides for a farming agreement prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce, aimed at facilitating farmers in selling farm produces to sponsors
• Duration of agreement: The minimum period of an agreement will be one crop season, or one production cycle of livestock. The maximum period will be five years.
• Exemptions from existing laws: Farming produce under a farming agreement will be exempted from all state Acts aimed at regulating sale and purchase of farming produce.
• Pricing of farming produce: The price to be paid for the purchase of a farming produce will be mentioned in the agreement.
• Delivery and payment: The Ordinance provides that the sponsor will be responsible for all preparations for the timely acceptance of deliveries and will take deliveries within the agreed time.
• Dispute Settlement: The Ordinance requires a farming agreement to provide for a conciliation board as well as a conciliation process for settlement of disputes

 Reinventing Agriculture in the Time of COVID-19

• Peak harvest with no procurement: This is the peak of Rabi season in India and crops like wheat, gram, lentil, mustard, etc. were at a harvestable stage or almost reaching maturity.
• Labour unavailability due to reverse migration
• The shortage of migrant labour has resulted in a sharp increase in daily wages for harvesting crops.
• Input shortage: Due to global trade disturbance, farmers are facing the shortage of agricultural inputs like fertilizer and pesticides.
• Fall in prices: Agricultural prices have collapsed due to lack of market access.
• The rise in labour costs and Fall in prices farmers are staring at huge losses and hence allowing crops to rot in the fields, a better ‘stop-loss’ mechanism.
• Lockdown induced debt and Cash Flow Constraints: The most important issue that farmers have to surmount is the problem of repaying their crop loans, gold loans and other informal debts.