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Agriculture reform implies that the feeder (producer) can feed himself and his family so that he may be inclined to produce enough to feed the others. Even superficial repair to the severely damaged PDS will require a comprehensive programme for rooting out corruption and improving administration.
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It should, however, be recognised that the PDS is beyond repair. Most of the food grains are pilfered even before they reach the ration shops, after they leave FCI godowns. The Food Corporation of India is steeped in corruption. It offers the farmers prices that do not even cover the cost of production.
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These prices are fixed by the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) and, at the time of sowing, have little value as indicators of probable harvest time prices. Farmers who go to the APMC market yards are pounced upon by politicians-cum- intermediaries.
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In the current agricultural marketing system, there is little that can be salvaged. The vicious cycle of CACP, APMC, FCI and PDS needs to be replaced by a simple system where the futures commodity markets are the default channels. Even if agricultural marketing is cleaned up, can the Indian farmer produce enough food and fibre to meet the aggregate demand? Shard Joshi-BL 070410
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from: K.R.S.Reddy
Posted on: Mar 29, 2010 at 18:53 IST The Hindu |
All discussions and debates are centering on demand side of the issue. First efforts should be directed to improve supply of food grains. Farming is a high risk and losing proposition with stagnant yields and unremunerative farm produce prices not even covering all the costs ,youth not willing to do farming occupation and labor becoming costly and unavailable. It is the farmer who is subsidizing the consumers and this is going on since long. But this exploitation of farmers' toil can not be the solution in an egalitarian society. Therefore food grain production should be made remunerative and then attempt at food security. Can there be food security when farmers' livelihoods are in jeopardy?
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| Will the Budget spur farm growth? |
| Budget 2010-11 spells out a four-pronged strategy to spur growth in the farm sector — increase in production, reduction in wastage, credit support to farmers and a thrust to the food-processing sector. |
In order to achieve these goals, the FM has increased the budgetary allocation for agriculture by 27.5% from Rs16, 370 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 20,870 crore this year. A series of tax concessions for arresting post-harvest losses and promoting food processing sector, some sops for growth in output of pulses and oilseeds, and extension of green revolution in the five eastern states complete the story.
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| The FM has proposed extension of green revolution in our five eastern states — Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, and eastern UP and allotted Rs 400 crore for this purpose. |
An amount of Rs 400 crore is paltry when compared to the share of the selected five states in area (14%), population (28%) and number of villages (28%) at the all-India level. Given the leakages from the system, it would not be an easy bet. If this amount is divided by the number of villages in these states, each village will receive Rs 26,000 only.
This is insufficient to usher green revolution. Besides, these states are facing serious problems related to soil health.
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The FM has proposed to create 60,000 pulse and oilseed villages in dry land areas with soil conservation during 2010-11. A sum of Rs 300 crores has been ear marked for this purpose, which translates into Rs 50,000 per village and Rs 25,000 per crop.
This amount can hardly bring about a revolution in productivity and production of these crops. |
A real big push is an urgent need and this is possible through liberal financial allocation along with strict monitoring by the states. Without vision, commitment and action at the state level, there is little hope of rebound in agriculture. Usha Tuteja, ET1100410
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Agri-insurance cover for farmers significantly low
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Only about 30 per cent of the farmers in India receive institutional credit while about 20 per cent of the total farmer population is covered under agriculture insurance scheme. One reason, for the low coverage of loanee farmers, is the exclusion of certain crops from the scheme.
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| “Out of 11.55 crore farmer families in the country about 5.77 crore are eligible for the insurance cover. In 2009-10, we covered about 2.5 crore farmers”. The coverage of non-loanee farmers is very low. |
According to the findings of National Sample Survey, less than 10 per cent of the country's farmers are aware of the crop insurance policy. The rate of premium for the policy varies between 1.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent for most crops. Part of the premium is shared by the Centre and State Governments. |
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India's wholesale price index rose 9.90 per cent in March from a year earlier At its January policy review, the Reserve Bank raised its WPI inflation projection for end-March 2010 to 8.5 per cent from its earlier 6.5 per cent with an upside bias. Average inflation rate for 2009-10 is 3.8% (4.7% for 2008-09).
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Food articles inflation is at 16.65% (6.5% for 2008-09. Primary articles is at 14.10% (9.7% for 2008-09). Manufacturing inflation eased to 7.13 per cent (6.9% for 2008-09). Fuel inflation, however, quickened to 12.71 percent (6.8% for 2008-09). P T I April 15, 2010 |
| ‘More cell phones in India than toilets-Is this progress’ |
United Nations: "It is a tragic irony to think that in India, a country now wealthy enough that roughly half of the people own phones, about half cannot afford the basic necessity and dignity of a toilet," said Zafar Adeel, Director of United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. |
The research shows roughly 366 million people (31 per cent of the population) in India had access to improved sanitation in 2008. |
Other data, meanwhile, shows 545 million cell phones are now connected to service in India's emerging economy. The number of cell phones per 100 people has skyrocketed from 0.35 in year 2000-01 to about 45 today. Fe 150410 |
