|
Gulati of IFPRI told reporters he had asked the F M for incentivising direct buying by retailers or cooperatives from farmers, so that the value chain could be compressed. “You will be able to give benefit to consumers as well as farmers only when the value chain is compressed. At present, farmers do not get a third of what consumers pay.” BS 060110
|
While on an average, the variation between the wholesale and retail prices is 100-150 per cent, in the case of certain commodities, it is as high as 300-400 per cent. Bl 080110
|
Five-fold raise in farm debt in Punjab |
The last decade has witnessed a five-time increase in the debt-burden of farmers. Farm debt has grown to approximately Rs 30,394.12 crore in 2008 from Rs 5,700.91 crore in 1997. The debt amount has increased to 84% in 2008 from 68% in 1997, of the net farm income generated by the sector. As a proportion of the value of machinery owned by Punjab farmers, the debt amount has gone up from 15% in 1997 to 53% in 2008. |
Almost two-fifth (60%) of these ‘debt trapped’ farm households are marginal and small farmers. In the total debt owed by Punjab farmers, the share of commission agents and money lenders is estimated at 43.46% (Rs 13,179 crore), of commercial banks 31.78% (Rs 9,660 crore), and of cooperative credit institutions 18.91% (Rs 5,748 crore).
|
The remainder is due to friends and relatives (3.16%), government (0.08%), and ‘others’ (2.71%).
|
The share of main credit agencies in farm debt has also changed over these 10 years (1997 to 2008), where the share of cooperative credit institutions has declined substantially, by 8.23 percentage points from 27.14% in 1997 to 18.91% in 2008. Commercial banks share in farm debt has increased by 12.36% points; to 31.78% in 2008 from 19.42% in 1997.
|
| The share of commission agents and money lenders in farm debt has declined only marginally. This has gone down by 2.96 percentage points from 46.32% in 1997 to 43.36% in 2008. FE 040110 |
Revamping Planning Commission
|
| The Planning Commission, which currently has 25 senior-level advisers, was set up in 1950 with the objective of raising the standard of living of people by augmenting production and optimising available resources. However, planning in India has been restricted to formulation of schemes and deciding outlays while issues like quality and implementation have taken a back seat. |
| PLANNING COMMISION: AS PRIME MINISTER SEES IT |
* Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the commission to revive the practice of producing annual plan reports and regularly brief the Cabinet on policy issues
|
* The planning body should not only decide outlays for various programmes but also reach out to the grassroots level to make a difference to outcomes
|
* The commission should function as the nation’s think tank, which involves itself in the processes of both ideation and implementation
|
* Singh envisions the commission as a dynamic body involved in general as well as specific hurdles faced by government plans at all levels
|
| * There is a need to evolve more experts from different sectors to make the commission more relevant to the changing social and economic milieu of the country. BS 110110 |
| Comments: K.R.S.Reddy |
January 11 , 2010 ,08:45 IST |
|
| One important aspect that needs reorientation in the working of Planning Commission is its obsession with over all GDP growth figure to the neglect of sectoral growth, especially Agri sector. Greater attention needs to be paid on the work force in each sector and increase in their incomes rather than on over all growth which ultimately result in growth of services sector and organised industrial sector and to the neglect of unorganised sectors where 90% of work force are engaged. Instead of top down planning, bottom up planning with focus on income generation in unorganised sectors including Agriculture where majority of work force are involved is the need of the hour. |
For this to happen, the elite group of advisers should change their mind set and representatives from farm sector and un-organised sector should be inducted to bring about the needed change in the thinking and planning process of the Planning commission. |
| Adverse effect of Climate change on Agri Production |
| * “In the absence of effective adaptation, the country would lose 3.9 million tonne of wheat yield due to climate change by 2020 and 11.7 million tonne by 2050 and 23.5 million tonne by 2080. Per hectare wheat yield in India is needed to be increased to 3.8-4 tonne by 2020 and more than 4 tonne by 2050 to feed the growing population ,” the ICAR study showed. |
| However, the assessment also observed that though adaptation strategies have the potential to nullify these losses completely in the short run, those would be less effective in the long run. The study also analysed that the adjust potential yields have slowly increased from 4.25 tonne per hectare in 1960 to 4.8 tonne in 2000 largely because of expansion of irrigation in wheat producing regions of northern India. On an average, this increase in potential yields was 14 kg per hectare per year. FE Dec 14, 2009 |
 |
In the drought prone belt of Maharashtra, climate projections suggest a significant though more variable increase in rainfall (approximately 20 percent to 30 percent at the basin level) accompanied by higher temperatures of about 2.4 degree Celsius - 3.8 degree Celsius, on average. As a result of the heat stress caused by a warmer climate, sugarcane yields are expected to decline considerably (by nearly 30 percent), even though there may be small improvements in the yields of several dryland crops. |
|
|
In Orissa, climate projections suggest a substantial shift in the patterns of rainfall towards the flood-prone coastal regions with a dramatic increase in the incidence of flooding.
In some districts rice yields will come down by as much as 12 percent. |
|
|
For drought-prone areas, the report recommends the need for a diverse portfolio of cost-effective ways of reaching thepoorer farmers to help reduce their risk exposure. |
|
| Women’s Contribution in Farming goes Unrecognised |
| According to the Bhubaneswar-based Directorate of Research on Women in Agriculture (DRWA), the contribution of women in agriculture is far greater in the hilly regions than in the plains. The data collected from nine Himalayan states indicate that women spend 3,485 hours per year on agricultural work, which is more than twice the number of hours put in by men (1,212 hours), and nearly three times by bullocks (1,064 hours). |
| On the whole, they provide 60-80 per cent of labour in agriculture. Their participation in crop production is 75 per cent, horticulture 79 per cent, livestock rearing 58 per cent and post-harvest operations 51 per cent. |
| In the country, nearly half of the labour engaged in rice cultivation consists of women. Plantation sector relies crucially on women for most farm operations. In general, they contribute to wide-ranging agricultural operations, including sowing, harvesting, inter-culture (weed removal) and post-harvest drying, cleaning and value-addition of the produce. |
| Studies have revealed that household chores account for 26 per cent of the working time of rural women. Another 17 per cent time goes to fuel wood collection. |
| In the horticulture sector, women play an important role in small-scale production of vegetables, fruit and flowers. They also take the produce to weekly markets for sale. Even cumbersome operations like inter-culture and harvesting are done by women in the backyard horticultural farms. |
| In livestock husbandry, too, women play a significant role, spending between three and six hours a day in tending animals. Tasks like feeding the livestock, milking them, collecting cow dung, cleaning animal sheds and bathing the animals are generally performed by women. Surinder Sud-BS-120110 |
