[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...
[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...
[Dec 2007, Volume 4 Quarterly Issue] Pdf File size - The IIPM Think ...
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MORE MARKETS, LESS GOVERNMENT<br />
planning based on the resources availability<br />
in these zones is required to be done to<br />
use the resources judiciously. Planning<br />
should be based on scientific study coupled<br />
with commercial planning, with farmers’<br />
interest in mind. If his land is suitable<br />
for a specific cash crop, which will give<br />
him better return on investment, he should<br />
be induced to do so, even if it means he has<br />
to buy food grains from the market. Under<br />
this planning, the country as a whole has<br />
to evaluate, which crop we should produce<br />
here and which crop we should import, so<br />
that overall return on agriculture improves.<br />
Similarly, if water is deficient in an<br />
area, farmers should not cultivate sugarcane<br />
there. Instead of thinking in terms<br />
of quintals per hectare, we have to start<br />
thinking in terms of Rupees per hectare.<br />
This will be the real transformation of sustenance<br />
agriculture into agri business.<br />
Hence, the third mantra is national level<br />
integrated crop planning, with focus on<br />
farmers’ return on investment.<br />
4.4 Information is key to success. Authentic<br />
and timely information reduces<br />
uncertainty in business. India is one of the<br />
leading countries in respect of Information<br />
technology. But, if we look at Indian<br />
agriculture or even information relating<br />
to Indian agriculture, we do not find IT<br />
application working anywhere. We know<br />
from USDA data what is happening in US,<br />
but we do not know what is happening in<br />
our own villages. Authentic information<br />
can be generated only if we have robust<br />
information system coupled with robust<br />
connectivity backbone upto village level.<br />
For this purpose, if the entire agricultural<br />
land in the country is mapped on computer<br />
software and latest technology for database<br />
designing and data mining is used,<br />
it will prove to be the most powerful tool<br />
to help agriculture. If the village level representative<br />
is required to feed data on<br />
daily basis regarding sowing, crop pattern,<br />
harvesting on daily basis relating to all<br />
land holding in his area and all such data<br />
travels to a central server, where it is processed<br />
to generate consolidated reports, we<br />
will get the most valuable information<br />
about Indian agriculture on daily basis.<br />
This information will be most useful for<br />
the farmers also, because they will know<br />
in how much area, onion is already sown<br />
and so, whether he should do onion cultivation<br />
or shift to some other crop. Today,<br />
if price of a commodity is higher in a year,<br />
lot of farmers will cultivate the same commodity<br />
next year, which leads to glut; fall<br />
in price and resultant loss. A number of<br />
companies will be interested to buy data,<br />
because their business is connected with<br />
agriculture and hence, the entire venture<br />
can be run in a profitable manner. Looking<br />
at the outstanding success of telecom<br />
revolution in our country, it is not a difficult<br />
target. Hence, the forth important<br />
strategy should be to develop real time<br />
database system to track agriculture after<br />
mapping each and every land holding cultivated<br />
in our country.<br />
4.5 <strong>The</strong> area under cultivation in our<br />
country is consistently under pressure. Urbanization,<br />
industrialization, housing for<br />
increasing population are taking a toll on<br />
the land under cultivation. But, still India<br />
has a lot of barren and wasteful land, which<br />
is not under cultivation. Such land is wasteful<br />
due to variety of reasons. Somewhere<br />
land is not fit for agriculture because it is<br />
full of stones and hilly layers. Somewhere<br />
it is not cultivable because of poor rainfall<br />
and lack of irrigation facilities. If through<br />
comprehensive planning we can convert at<br />
least a part of such wasteful land into agriculture<br />
land, it will ease the food security<br />
threat. In Rajasthan, agriculture has<br />
progressed very well after creating irrigation<br />
facilities through canalization. In<br />
Kutch area, similar wonders have been<br />
achieved by using Narmada water through<br />
canalization. Similarly, area covered with<br />
stony layers not fit for agriculture can be<br />
developed for poultry. Hence, the next<br />
In Rajasthan, agriculture has progressed very well after<br />
creating irrigation facilities through canalization. In Kutch<br />
area, similar wonders have been achieved by using<br />
Narmada water through canalization<br />
strategy for solving food security problem<br />
should be to convert wasteful land into agriculture<br />
wherever possible.<br />
4.6 If land resources are limited and<br />
population is continuously increasing, fundamentally<br />
there will always be a mismatch<br />
in the long run. <strong>The</strong> production of food<br />
grains has a degree of inelasticity in the<br />
long run because of long crop period and<br />
seasonality factors. Compared to that, in<br />
the same area production of fruits and vegetables<br />
can be increased manifold by using<br />
better techniques, multi-layer cropping,<br />
THE INDIA ECONOMY REVIEW<br />
77