New Delhi, June 7- Tribune News Service
Farmers’ representatives are demanding that fertiliser subsidy be given directly to farmers instead of manufacturers and are also demanding an increase in the public and private investment in the agriculture sector, proportionate to the population dependent on the sector in the country. In a recent meeting with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, they also urged the government to include farm activities in its flagship programme - the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Secretary-General of the Consortium of Indian Farmers Associations (CIFA) P Chengal Reddy, who was among the representatives from the agriculture sector invited by Mukherjee for discussions on the sector for Budget 2009-10, says the Finance Minister’s response during consultations “was very encouraging”.

CIFA is now in the process of putting together reports by various farmers’ organisations, which will be submitted to the Finance Ministry by June 10. The next step will be to lobby for implementation of their demands for which they have sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar.

Reddy says regarding financial reforms needed in the farm sector, the first and foremost step should be an increase in public and private investment in agriculture sector. “Agriculture credit flow guidelines to small farmers should be redefined. Indirect finance should not be included in 18 per cent target for agriculture credit and sub limit of 10 per cent out of 18 per cent should be fixed for marginal farmers and tenants. Rural credit / deposit ratio of banks, which is now at 57 per cent, should be maintained at 75 per cent and the number of rural bank branches should also be increased,” says Reddy.

Policy reform demands include direct fertiliser subsidy to farmers, reorganising the functioning of the Food Corporation of India, having a long-term export policy for agriculture produce, encouraging the APMC, contract farming and commodities trading, incentivising PPP in agriculture research, extension and rural programmes like health, education and also mechanisation of agriculture and water conservation. They also called for the implementation of the National Commission on Farmers Report that says that the MSP should be cost plus minimum 50 per cent of the cost besides converging NREGS with farm activities.

“For providing social security to farmers, it is important the government should recognise farmers as entrepreneurs and establish commodity-based farmers’ organisations that can provide feedback,” says CIFA policy analyst Kapil Mishra, explaining that whenever the goverment talks about investment, it was largely in context with service or manufacturing sector and not about agriculture. “This despite the fact that 70 per cent of our population is directly dependent on agriculture for livelihood,” he adds. 

“Mukherjee said he wanted a quantum jump in agricultural growth,” farm activist P. Chengal Reddy quoted Mukherjee as saying. Reddy was among a team of agricultural experts whom the finance ministry held consultations on Monday. Among those Mukherjee was briefed on agriculture included food policy expert Ashok Gulati, Gopal Naik of IIM Bangalore and Mangla Rai, who heads the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is keen on revving up the farm sector and may give out more money for agriculture in his first Budget, which he will present in the first week of July, sources have told Hindustan Times. More money for agriculture means the government spends more on the farm sector to chase the agriculture GDP of the 4 per cent, a growth rate that has remained out of the government’s grasp. India’s farm sector grew by 1.6 per cent during 2008-09, compared to 4.9 per cent in the previous year. The finance ministry is working closely with the agriculture ministry for a slew of booster shots. Mukherjee’s priorities are food security and attracting investment to achieve 4 per cent farm growth. A 4 per cent farm growth is necessary for overall 10 per cent GDP that the government is aiming for even as India crawls out of the slowdown, a person familiar with the developments said.   The allocation for the agriculture department in the last Budget was Rs 10510.34 crores. The total allocation for all farm-related departments, like fisheries, was Rs 14797.53 crores.