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Despite the decline in the share of agriculture in the gross domestic product (GDP) from 36.4 per cent in 1982-83 to 18.5 per cent in 2006-07, the sector sustained the country’s years of recession and, that too, without a stimulus package. However, the latest estimates say the worst monsoon in 37 years will bring down the farm growth rate to 0.2 per cent from 1.6 last year.
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It cannot be expected that the agriculture growth rate will meet the expectations of 4 per cent when 60 per cent of cropping is rain-fed and dependent upon the rain god. Despite that allocations in the budget must per force address the requirement of not only increasing production and productivity but also of per capita consumption, per capita nutrition and the purchasing power. More funds need to be allocated to ensure that production is supported by infrastructure in farm-to-shelf-food processing, warehouses, pre-cooling, cold storage chains, marketing and supporting services in a public-private mode if need be. TH 100210
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Subsidies to farmers are essential for securing rural livelihoods -Norway
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*Norway’s farmers are heavily subsidised through a lengthy consultation process between government and farmers’ cooperatives that takes place each year. But the subsidies are not just a question of economics, there is a question of securing rural livelihoods. Norwegian Minister of Agriculture and Food Lars Peder Brekk.
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| Urea prices up by 10 per cent from April |
The Union government on Thursday decided to raise the retail price of urea by 10 per cent and allowed manufacturers to fix the rates of DAP and MOP fertilisers. At present, the maximum retail price (MRP) of urea is Rs 483 a quintal, while DAP costs Rs 935 a quintal and MOP Rs 445.50 a quintal. Under NBS, subsidy is given to nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and sulphur) contained in the fertiliser. It will also do away with the maximum retail price (MRP). |
Decline in crop response to fertiliser use
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| Crop response to fertiliser use (kg foodgrain: kg NPK) declined from 15 kg in the 5th Plan period to 6 kg in the 11th Plan period. Productivity levels of several crops too stagnated, increasing dependence on high priced pulses, oilseeds, wheat, sugar imports. Soil infertility in several key food producing parts of the country has led to low productivity. |
*The use of fertilisers in our country has been rising in recent years and now stands at around 115 kg a hectare. A fixed subsidy on a per hectare basis may be paid to the farmers, who can then source the most appropriate fertiliser mix for the land, making the industry market-driven with freedom to innovate.
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| Hope of Better Rabi Crop |
The Agriculture Ministry has projected an all-time-high rabi foodgrain crop of 117 million tonnes (mt) for 2009-10. The turnaround in rabi would mean that the country's total foodgrain production during 2009-10 would be 216.85 mt. Although below the previous year's record 234.47 mt, it is better than the 198.36 mt of 2004-05 and 174.77 mt of 2002-03, which were also bad monsoon years.
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| Adverse effects of climate change on wheat production: FAO estimates that for every degree raise in temperature,6 million tons of wheat will be lost in India. |
Loss on account of poor post-harvest facilities Rs 58,000 crore |
*According to government data, lack of dependable post-harvest infrastructure, is resulting in loss of Rs. 58,000 crore worth of food items a year.
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NREGA gets a taste of uniongiri in Kerala
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| The key demands include increasing the number of guaranteed workdays to 150 from 100 and raising wages from Rs 125 per day to Rs 150 per day. The labourers should be paid the minimum of Rs 150 not only by the government but also by the farmers too is the demand raised by the Trade Uniononists. Violent trade unionism has been blamed for industrial stagnation in Kerala. Source: Now, NREGA gets a taste of uniongiri. ET 180210 |
| ‘Unlikely that NREGS has resulted in creation of productive assets’ |
| The minimum daily wage under the programme was raised to Rs 100, thereby increasing the daily wages by nearly 50 per cent in certain states such as Uttar Pradesh. In 2008-09, the NREGS generated Rs 10,720 crore of rural income at current prices, which is expected to increase to Rs 27,760 crore this year, |
| NREGS-generated consumption expenditure amounts to nearly 1.4 per cent of total rural consumption and nearly 1 per cent of total household consumption in India this year, nearly doubling the share since 2007-08. |
| It is unlikely that the scheme has yet transformed household investment into productive assets and education significantly and, therefore, it may not be contributing effectively to the growth potential of the economy. It is also true that any scheme of this proportion is prone to leakages in terms of corruption and inefficiency. It has also been found that the NREGS creates shortage of farm labour, given the high wages paid under it as compared to the wages of daily farm workers. Excerpts from The NREGS kept rural employment and expenditure up in a drought year, Vidya Mahambare: BS: 130210 |
| Exploitation by middlemen-150% to 400%: |
| Gulati of IFPRI told that by arranging direct buying by retailers or cooperatives from farmers 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.” 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 |
| Sugarcane price up by 50%, but sugar prices up by 100% |
| Compared to Rs 1500 a tonne last year, farmers got over 50% higher price for sugarcane in the range of Rs2250 to Rs 2400 during the current crushing season 09-10 due to short supply of sugar cane agitation and rally conducted in New Delhi by the sugarcane growers. Sugar prices however nearly doubled during the period thus getting windfall gains to sugar mills. It is only but natural that the sugar mills should share this profit with cane growers as per the stipulated formula. |
