The great dilemma that is agriculture! Balancing between production and pollution

"Food insecurity" is a subject talked about very often because of two critical factors-population explosion and progressive reduction of food crop yield attributed by many to the global warming phenomenon. During the last 10 years frequent droughts and floods in different parts of the world have adversely affected agricultural out put significantly. Though technologies are continuously being developed and deployed to achieve increased yields, farmers in most undeveloped, under developed and developing countries still remain impoverished due to economic factors. In a country like India farmers are choosing the route of suicide to get them relieved from the unbearable burden of life. Recent climate talks COP21 (Conference of Parties to the 1997 Kyoto protocol ) that took place in Paris in November 2015 were concerned more with global warming due to uncontrolled green house gas emissions by all countries irrespective of their economic status a small but significant step was taken to bring focus on the food security in the world in the coming years and a realization seems to be dawning on wise people that climate change is intimately linked to food production and unless it is tackled there is no hope for survival of the human race. The ambitious target of reducing global warming and restricting global warming by not more than 2C by achieving zero net anthropogenic green house gas emissions by the second half of this century. was a bold decision. These decisions are to be given legal frame work of agreement between April 2016 and April 2017 in New York aas per the Paris agreement. Some of the decisions arrived at the Paris conference can have far reaching implications for all the countries though a mute question still remains as to how far actionable steps will be taken in the coming years. . 

It's become a catch-22 of our times: the global food system is both a villain and a victim of climate change. Agriculture accounts for almost a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions, and yet floods, drought, and the planet's increasing climatic variability play with the fate of our food. Continuing on the current climate trajectory will mean a future of profound food insecurity, especially for developing nations.
This week, these concerns have been prominent on the agenda at the COP21 climate talks in Paris. For the first time at a COP conference, agriculture had its own dedicated focus-day, held on Tuesday by the Lima-Paris Action Agenda (LPAA), a partnership established between France and Peru to showcase and strengthen on-the-ground climate action in 2015 and beyond. "For years, agriculture, food systems, including oceans, including forests, have been knocking hard at the door—and now there's movement starting," said David Nabarro, former special representative of food security and nutrition for the United Nations, at the LPAA agriculture press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
That door should have been yanked open a long time ago, considering that our food systems are due to bear so much of the brunt of climate change. But there are strong signs of progress. The world needs creative solutions if we are to reduce agricultural impact and feed everyone on the planet (an estimated nine billion by 2050)—and some of the best have recently been aired at the talks.
Here are three that caught my eye: each places our global food system squarely on the climate table.

The first step in prioritising food systems is to confront what will happen if we don't. On Tuesday at COP21 the World Food Program and the U.K.'s Met Office Hadley Centre launched a new, interactive mapping tool that predicts, in unprecedented detail, how future climate scenarios could influence food security, especially in the world's developing nations. Based on five years of meteorological and agricultural research, the Food Insecurity and Climate Change Vulnerability Map shows how food security could change at the individual country level, either worsening or improving depending on three variables that users can tweak on the map: time scale (you can choose between the present day, 2050s, 2080s), emissions (low, medium, high), and adaptation (high, low, none).
As a starting point, the map could help countries forecast their food security risk and inform their planning, says Richard Choularton, chief of climate and disaster risk reduction at the World Food Programme. "The results of the analysis can provide some insight into vulnerability at the national level, when the specific factors behind the index are unpacked." For example, in one country road access might emerge as the main limit on food security, in another it might be the variability of rainfall. The map also shows what can be achieved if reduced emissions are paired with increased adaptive measures—like climate-smart agriculture—to make food systems more secure. "What's most important, especially in the context of Paris, is that mitigation or adaption alone is not enough," Choularton says. "We need a very serious combination of both."

The planet's soils naturally hold vast quantities of carbon—two to three times more carbon than the air. Releasing it through unsuitable, soil-degrading agricultural techniques will contribute to climate change and also reduce soil health—but, if we keep more carbon locked in the soil, it has the power to both mitigate climate change and increase agricultural productivity. On Tuesday as part of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, hundreds of partners joined to launch '4/1000', an initiative designed to increase the storage of carbon in the earth: "If we were to increase the amount of carbon in the soil by just 0.4% then we would compensate entirely for the increase of carbon in the atmosphere—just to show how huge the potential is," says Frank Rijsberman, CEO of the CGIAR Consortium of International Agricultural Centers, one of the partners contributing to the initiative. As part of 4/1000 the CGIAR itself is proposing a $225 million project that aims to increase carbon storage by promoting better farming techniques in developing world agriculture. Methods like agroforestry and reduced soil tillage could keep carbon enclosed in the soil, leading to a 20 percent boost in yields, and in theory offsetting greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent. The benefits will be three-pronged, says Rijsberman: "We will mitigate greenhouse gas emissions; adapt agriculture to climate change and thus improve food security; and improve ecosystem functioning."

An estimated 1.3 billion tons of food is lost and wasted annually between farm and fork, producing 3.3 Gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent each year. On Tuesday at COP21, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the International Food Policy Research Institute announced that to counter it, they'relaunching a new platform that will encourage G20 member countries, the private sector, and NGOs to pool their resources toward the goal of fighting food waste. Today, that new forum—called the G20 Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste—goes live. The platform is designed to "provide up to date information on policy, strategy and actions for food loss and waste reduction, and share best practices across countries—something which is badly needed," says Anthony Bennett from the Rural Infrastructure and Agro-industries Division at the FAO. G20 member countries—which include China, Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States—along with other countries, will be encouraged to use the forum to share what works for them in cutting food waste, and what doesn't. As the platform grows, it will also feature a database of low-cost, accessible technologies available to tackle this problem. The hope is that the platform will become a place where countries can unite and ultimately scale up their efforts to reduce the global impact of food waste. These are just three of the many projects worth knowing about: as part of the Lima-Paris Action Agenda, several other food-focused initiatives were launched this week, touching on everything from low-carbon beef to the sustainable management of marine food systems. 

No one should have any quarrel with the contention above that Carbon emission, carbon lock up and enormous food waste taking place around the world are the most critical areas which need to be tackled. Reckless use of fossil fuels, especially by the industrially developed countries for ensuring a luxury life style speaks of a mindset that sacrifices will have to come from poor countries in the form of mandatory reduction of carbon emission though they are on the threshold of exciting economic growth and improvements in their living conditions. Similarly the enormous food waste that is taking place in advanced countries is depriving the poor people of their food needs for survival in the continents of Asia, Africa and South America. Use of these wastes considered enormous go for landfills generating green house gases that contribute to global warming. The responsibility to arrest the catastrophic climate changes rests both with the poor as well as the rich countries of this planet and a give and take approach only can produce tangible results in the coming years.                                                 

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

Changing face of Indian agriculture-Mechanization vs manual operations

How often we hear the bland statement that rural India is responsible for feeding a population estimated at 1.20 billion in India and 70% of India's population is engaged in agricultural and other rural based activities, being the residents of more than 5 lakh villages across the country. However what is not clear is whether so many people are really needed to produce the quantum of foods being harvested year in and year out? There was this situation during the early stage of growth of this country when the technological base of agriculture, especially use of mechanical implements was indeed very weak, with most operations in the field being carried by the labor available locally. Over the years India's technological base has expanded and there is indigenous manufacture of many mechanical implements liker tractors which can fill the places of many manual workers with much more efficiency and it is no wonder that many well to do farmers are shifting to mechanized cultivation at least partially in many parts of the country, especially in Punjab and Haryana. Probably part of the productivity achieved during the last few years can be attributed to this factor. If this is so one wonders what ever has happened to the displaced labor caused by such mechanization trend? 

There is a strong feeling that the frenetic pace at which migration of rural population into urban areas must have some thing to do with declining opportunities for gainful employment in the farmlands in the country because of perceptible transition from predominantly labor oriented operations to a machine based production regime seen all over the country, though it is more in some states and less in some others. One of the amazing phenomena associated with this transition is that it flies contrary to the theory that small land holdings that characterize the land holding pattern in the country does not lend itself to mechanized farming unlike that existing in western countries where farm sizes can be 1000 acres and above in most cases. Look at the land holding pattern in India which brings out the stark reality about the predominance of marginal farmers in the agricultural landscape of the country. Almost 63% of the landholders have, on an average holding size of less than an acre of land to till while about 19% are relatively better placed by farming on a piece of land about the size of 3 acres per family. On the other end of the spectrum, 1% of the farming population own on an average 35 acres of land.per person. Others fall in between with average size holding in the range of 5 acres to 35 acres. The million dollar question that begs for an answer is how far such a landscape is amenable to mechanized farming? 

No doubt Indian agriculture is going through a transformation with governments, both at the state and central levels pumping in enormous money for sustaining the livelihood of the farmers, especially the so called marginal farmers. Minimum Support Prices offered to more than two dozen commodities and many farmer welfare programs are able to provide sustenance to millions of farmers. But at the same time more farmer suicides are taking place with a monotonous regularity defying any logical explanation. Billions of rupees worth of loans are being written off every year with politicians competing with each other in announcing such write offs! If India can boast of food grain stocks that is capable of ensuring food security we have to thank our hard working farmers who toil under adverse conditions like frequent droughts and floods. But can this situation continue indefinitely and will the farmers continue to stick to their land if agricultural activity becomes a perennially losing avocation? Land fragmentation in India is inevitable under a government regime where inherited land holdings by successive generations get shrunken in size and obviously becoming more and more non-viable. These inherited land pieces are not easily salable due to severe restrictive policies of the state governments with financially capable entrepreneurs barred from buying agricultural land. A classical Catch 22 situation!   

A recent report by one of the agencies under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) provides interesting information regarding the changing agricultural scenario in the country. According to this report, Indian farmers, in spite of enormous hurdles and limitations are increasingly using more and more power based mechanical devices replacing the human element to manage their lands. India is known for its bullock driven economy till a couple of decades ago with agriculture contributing substantially to the national GDP and man and the beast combination successfully brought about the green revolution in the last millennium achieving the much desired food self sufficiency. Even to day many agricultural and social experts are not willing to write off the poor oxen which was an integral part of the rural settings across the country. A 1000 animal village with 60% milking cows and the rest dry cows and oxen is being propagated by the government of India for the integrated development of a village which can sell its milk for generating income while the byproducts from the animals like cow dung can produce cooking gas as well as manure for the farms belonging to the villagers. How far such novel schemes will succeed in an era when people are exposed to the convenience inherent in mechanical implements based agriculture remains to be seen.    

If ICAR findings are to be believed, Indian agriculture is going through a far reaching change mode beginning two decades ago. The share of human power available for carrying out the various operations in farming seems to have come down to less than 5% while draught animals' share also hovers around another 5%. More than 90% of the power is estimated to be drawn from mechanical sources like tractors and power tillers ( 47%); electric motors (27%) and diesel engines (16%). Compare this with the situation obtaining 40 years ago when 60% of the power was provided by humans and animals - 15% by farm workers and 45% by animals. These estimates are based on an average value of power that a human or a draught animal or any of the machines generate per unit of land. An average human being notionally capable of yielding about 0.15 kilowatt power per hectare of land worked while a tractor can give 30.21kW. .

It is true that overall farm mechanization in India has just reached about 40% which may be a low figure when compared to 95% levels prevalent in many developed countries. Thus 40% of farm operations for major crops are done by mechanical power sources and 60% is still being done by non- power sources like humans and bullocks.which generate only 10% of the total power available in farming. Naturally such over dependence on non-power sources has its own limitations in terms of efficiency. To day tractors are used mainly for initial land preparation by most farmers.while many use mechanical means for threshing and irrigation. Free supply of power for pump sets has helped those farmers having more than two acres of land while marginal farmers are denied this vital input free. Core operations like transplanting, weeding, fertilizer use etc are still done by farm workers. The small size of land holdings does not permit use of power driven tools for these operations. The use of power tillers and other farm machinery is facilitated by their easy availability on rental basis for a cluster of villages. 

Many social experts feel that such rapid mechanization trend can create a human problem because machines are bound to displace humans in the farm hinterlands of the country resulting in huge unemployment and under employment. However the national statistical figures available most recently tell a different story. According to the figures from the government there were 111 million cultivators and 75 million agricultural labourers in 1991 working to about 185 million people directly engaged in farming activities. Look at the latest figures and what a change has come about defying any rational explanation. As per the 2011 census there were 119 million cultivators and a whopping 144 million agricultural labourers, making a total of 263 million people working on land. If population increase during this period  is factored, as against a population increased of 43% during the last twenty years, the number of landless agricultural laborers registered an astonishing increase of 93%. The primary reason for this is that there is nowhere else where this army of under-employed people can find work, forcing them to crowd into agriculture or related rural work. It also pushes up migration to cities in search of jobs. 

The MNREGA, a novel initiative from the government to provide sustenance to persons not finding income generating activities, especially during the non-agricultural season in many rural areas has definitely helped to alleviate the situation to some extent. According to some estimates government had spent over 2 lakh crore rupees between 2007 and 2014 on this much touted welfare scheme though there is nothing much to show vis-a-vis permanent assets created, as per the original intention of the planners. Another paradox that is glaring is that there are not many takers for jobs offered under MNREGA with more than half the allocation remaining unspent for want of demand! Probably this program may have to be revisited for bringing about appropriate changes immediately to serve the purpose and create assets in the area of operation. 

If there are 144 million landless agricultural laborers hanging around the villages, largely under employed, what is the government going to do to prevent such a colossal waste of human resources year after year which is bound to go up if the present trend of agricultural mechanization continues at the current pace?  As there does not appear to be any clear policy orchestration still, are we going to see more and more people in the rural areas being pushed to poverty due to this?  In the light of the big push being given to the "Make in India" policy of the new government in the coming years, why not create massive industrial townships with adequate infrastructure for skill development in many rural areas with supporting family care facilities so that the vast population of under employed people, wasting most of their time, are absorbed by the industry on a regular basis? After all per in acre employment, agriculture cannot compete with industry and boosting manufacturing sector can be a sure way of utilizing the otherwise wasted man power. Reports from China indicate that large scale shifting of rural population to specially built smart towns and transferring the land to giant American agricultural companies with most modern technology and deep pockets are being attempted to expand the food production to meet future needs of a burgeoning population. This is not to suggest that we must ape China but the idea of rehabilitating rural population through such novel out of the box thinking is necessary to save the country from a potential melt down in our rural hinterlands causing turmoil all around.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MINDLESS URBANIZATION-IS THIS THE ROUTE TO PROSPERITY?

Urbanization is an inevitable step when economic development models world over ignore the rural population and their aspirations. The great divide between urban and rural population is a classical feature of demography in almost every agrarian economy and there was a time when this trend in migration of rural people to urban areas was frowned upon for a valid reason viz the the adverse consequences of its impact on agriculture, especially food production. After all food security is of primary concern and priority in every country and no agrarian economy can afford to do any thing that may contribute to dip in food production caused by lesser land being tilled due to diminishing availability of farm hands. In India more than 70% of people live in over 5 lakh villages, their avocation being mostly tilling the land. However decreasing size of landholdings progressively is making the agriculture a nonviable option and consequently farmers are trying to move to urban areas in search of better prospects and income generating opportunities. Added to these woes many regions in the country face droughts fairly frequently making agriculture next to impossible. Government of India consciously tries to arrest this trend through various farmer friendly policies to make rural living as comfortable as possible. 

If recent survey figures are any indication,  urbanization trend continues unabated in spite of all policy measures and social pundits are intrigued by this fatal attraction of rural people to urban life styles. No doubt that most service and manufacturing industries are concentrated in and around cities where supportive infrastructure exists for smooth functioning of the industry. Naturally the industrial sector seeks able bodied personnel, unskilled and semi skilled to support the shop floor operations at wages not available in rural hinterlands. But in reality these new entrants to the city end up in hundreds of slums living under squalid conditions unimaginable. The quality of life in cities can be terrible and unemployment becomes the norm. Government of India's SRJY scheme is supposed to help these unfortunate people to get trained in different skills so that they become truly employable or entrepreneurial for earning a decent livelihood. How far such policy orchestration has helped is some thing not very clear even after one and a half decades after its conception.

Another interesting aspect of the rural scene in India is the income opportunity deliberately created by the government through its flagship scheme under the MGNREGA which guarantees a person a job for 150 days in an year on projects in the rural area and government has earmarked hundreds of crore of rupees for this scheme. The concept is that agricultural operation is a seasonal one and most rural families are under employed with no income to sustain them. Some of the reports do indicate a limited success of this scheme while there is also criticism that farm labor is getting diverted from farm operations resulting in the dislocation of important activities like tending the plants and harvesting. Government of India comes out periodically with incentives and subsidies to industries which can be set up in rural areas so that local people get gainful employment near there dwelling places. Even these enlightened policies have not proved adequate enough to stem the migration tide that is threatening to overwhelm the much neglected urban infrastructure which is overstretched beyond recognition. Urban India presents total chaos with protected water supply, continuous power supply, lack of houses and transport facilities unable to cope up with the needs of burgeoning population swelling by the minute due to migration of rural folks in large numbers.

In contrast to the Indian situation look at what China is doing with its rural population! Obsessed with fast economic growth through industrialization and factory culture, this country is reported to be building huge cities spending billions of dollars for rehabilitating rural farming population after they were dispossessed of their agricultural land. Farmers are being converted into factory labor by force and compelled to live in sky scrappers, a culture entirely alien o them. Such mass shifting of population from villages to newly built cities is supposed to generate a consumer based economy for which industries are being set up with bias on consumer products manufacture. The philosophy seems to be to entice the citizens to buy more and more consumer goods and thus boost the GDP and the economic power of the nation. Will this model work? What are its repercussions on the people displaced from their natural moorings? What will happen to the food production? Will this lead to massive import of foods in future? Already China has become the biggest consumer of pork and the insatiable thirst for pork meat is leading to its import in massive quantities putting the local pork industry in trouble. Same will happen practically with every food item for which demand is increasing at a fast pace.    

In the mindless pursuit of global economic power the Chines government seems to be replacing millions of small rural homes with high-rise buildings with small apartments, paving over vast stretches of farmland and drastically altering the lives of simple rural dwellers. If present projections are to be believed the number of brand-new Chinese city dwellers will approach the total urban population of the United States! Already China is literally bursting with mega cities, projected as a symbol of its technological prowess!. Why it has not dawned on the rulers of this country that such deliberate "urbanization" will drastically change the character of China in a matter of few years sidelining its earlier policy of making peasants remain tied to their tiny plots of land to ensure political and economic stability. The shift is rather dramatic involving huge costs and its potential to foment unrest in the country side in the coming years is very high. Do the present rulers expect that the rural folks will willingly allow themselves to be used for radical social engineering? What are its social consequences?  Is it going to be the harbinger of another bloody revolution that many devour the country? Only time will tell!

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

AGE AND THE AGRICULTURE-AN OMINOUS TREND

Agriculture is vital to the survival of this planet and as long as each human being needs 2000 kC energy equivalent of food every day, the land has to provide it not only for the present generation but also for all those arriving in future perpetually. Historically agricultural practices have evolved from a purely manual operation into industrial scale deploying many mechanized contraptions for tilling, harvesting, threshing, cleaning and storage. Of course the degree of mechanization may vary from country to country depending on the extent of manpower involved in agriculture. In an affluent country like the US a very minuscule segment of the population is associated with food production with high degree of agricultural mechanization becoming inevitable while in India more than 70% of the population living in rural areas are involved in one way or the other with agricultural avocation. In such a diverse situation how is this planet going to meet its food needs in the coming years? An interesting question indeed!

If one looks at the evolution of agriculture in most industrialized countries, there have been sufficient incentives and opportunities for the farming community members to migrate to industrial areas to make fortunes. A farmer family invariably lost its able bodied members who did not opt for agriculture and progressively the number of farming people started dwindling with fewer men available for tilling the land. This was the driver for mechanization which required fewer and fewer people to manage cultivation and larger and larger farms emerging during this transition period. Naturally those who still continue tilling their land are aging and naturally with progress of time average age of the farmer tends to go high. If this trend is continued how many farmers will be left to manage the land and how long these "old" hands continue to be active? Naturally such an attrition trend can grievously hurt food production adversely when the need of the hour is increasing the production to keep in step with the population growth.    

In a provocative report recently, California, the biggest state in the US had an introspection regarding the future of its agriculture in the light of its aging farmer population. As the average age of farmers in this state inch toward 60, the state which contributes 12% of that country's exports of agri-products is at its wits end as to how agriculture can be made more attractive to younger generation who only can sustain its pre-eminent role in the country. According to the experts this state will have to double its food out put by 2050 to meet the increasing food needs which can be achieved only if new players emerge in the agri-sector. More over the agri-industry employs more than 0.8 million people indirectly highlighting its economic importance for the state. The realization, that the age profile of the farmer population needs to be reversed for the survival of the industry, is prompting the state to consider taking pro-active actions now so that any major crisis in the food front is avoided.

One redeeming feature in the political and social environment in the US is the new awakening among the citizens regarding the critical importance of food safety and adequacy which has spawned citizen led movements in many urban areas to plunge into agriculture and produce foods locally from available urban lands. Though this phenomenon cannot be viewed as a movement back to the land but reflects the concern of average citizen to contribute his might to solve the food problem. More aptly it can be called some sort of a revolution happening in American agriculture production front with its own humble contribution. One can only appreciate the new spirit among new entrepreneurs who are installing mini-farms on rooftops in urban areas and market gardens in back and front yards across the country. Vacant city lots are more and more being employed as community gardens, with plots available for any resident to rent. Many suburban residents are combining their capital to lease land, and organize community-supported agriculture programs where shares of farm produce are sold directly to the public, cutting out expensive corporate middlemen like packers, distributors and grocers. In short, demand for local food is booming and so is production. 

Spare a thought to a country like India where the planners are blissfully engaged in activities of self perpetuation ignoring the future. All that the government is concerned centers around vote banks and massive subsidies and distributing foods at throw away prices in the name of hunger and poverty to increase the vote share of the ruling parties. There is not even a whiff of reforms in the agricultural sector and mass suicides of farmers continue unabated with no one at Delhi too much bothered about it. While two decades of open economy has served to boost the industry, both manufacturing as well as service sectors, agriculture is progressively being marginalized putting the national food security at grave risk.

With Green Revolution practically killing the soil health across the width and length of the country, increased productivity remains a pipe dream and added to this the farmer population is aging fast with no replacement in sight due to high rate of urban migration. Look at the two critical food areas-edible oil and pulses where perennial imports are sustaining the population and in spite of the knowledge that these two areas required critical government inputs for the last two decades, nothing much has been done. While China has seized its opportunities to expand agriculture dramatically during last few years, Indian efforts have been too meager to make any impact. At this rate, just like the farmer looking at the heaven praying for rains, the citizens in this country may also have to do the same to have a decent life keeping the hunger pangs away!


V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

THE GDP DISTORTION IN INDIAN ECONOMY-WRONG PRIORITIES OF GOI!

Over obsession of Indian Government (GOI) with food grains is reflected by the enormous investments made in procurement of these staple foods at state determined prices and supplying the same to millions of people at heavily subsidized prices involving almost 80000 crore rupees expenditure to the exchequer annually. Another anachronism is in forcing the sugar industry to part with a portion of its output at a loss, to the government for supply to the low income group of population under the much criticized Public Distribution System (PDS), which has been able to sustain the "looters and criminals" who indulge in siphoning of the commodities meant for the poor! It must be admitted that for a communist or socially biased country ensuring survival of the citizens is the priority but a moot question is whether leading low quality life is what a citizen desires. Though it is known that cereals (note pulses are not even considered) and sugar do provide the required calories and to some extent proteins, if consumed in sufficient quantities, it is the protective foods like fruits and vegetables which can ensure good health. Unfortunately GOI even after the economic liberalization policies initiated two decades ago still cannot grasp the significance of the importance of these protective foods which are left to the market forces to "play around" with the result that almost all fruits and vegetables, prices of which are manipulated by the middle men, are not affordable to the so called aam admi!

According to a recent report cereals contribute just 20% of the farm out put while fruits, vegetables and milk accounted for more than 40%. The growth of the Dairy sector is attributed to the single minded devotion and commitment of Dr V Kurien, the architect of the so called white revolution in the country and every Indian ought to be proud of this achievement making the country the top most milk producing nation on this planet. In contrast it is the horticulture front that was neglected for long by both the development scientists and the policy makers. How sad it is to see a country like India which is blessed with a wide range of weather suitable for growing hundreds of fruits and vegetables lags behind in providing the minimum needs of these protective foods at affordable prices! There is practically no stable policy that governs this industry and with low productivity and high market prices GOI is pulled between the desire to export and controlling of domestic prices. Recent Onion fiasco is a classical example of how badly GOI works and its consequences on the well being of its citizens.

While claiming that India is one of the top producers of many fruits and vegetables based on statistics provided by the state administrations, no one knows the ground reality. There is serious apprehension among food scientists that a sizable production is irretrievably lost in the field as well as during post harvest stages though there is no unanimity on this issue, the spoilage figures trotted out ranging from 20% to 50%! Whether such gigantic losses are responsible for price distortions in the market is not known though some observers attribute the same to these losses. On the other hand the miserable conditions under which the growers manage production is scandalous and mostly the beneficiaries are the middle man pre harvest contractors who play the Shylock role through their money clout. To day in the Indian market no fruit sells at a price less than Rs 25 per Kg though the farmers share must be not even 20% of this market realization. How can any one in India, except a few rich,can afford to buy Apple priced at rs 100-150 kg and the old saying that an apple a day keeps doctor away is a hollow one to them because going to a doctor may be cheaper than eating an apple!

Is it not a paradox that while GOI is trying to supply cereals at a ridiculously low price of Rs 1-3 per kg it has no consideration for making fruits and vegetables available at reasonable prices to its citizens? Of course one hears about tall talks about the plans of GOI such as activating the somnabulic National Horticulture Board or launching of a Horticulture Mission but there is nothing to show at the ground level and the prices of almost all horticulture produce continue to climb irrationally with wide fluctuations from day to day! It is really a wonder as to how the rural population in the country is able to have good health by surviving on only leafy vegetables which are the cheapest and some local fruits of no commercial significance. Why NDDB, which was once roped in by GOI during Dr Kurien's rein was not able to make any impact on the horticultural front during the last three decades is not clear though one can surmise that there must have been gross interference from the high flying and arrogant bureaucracy at Delhi. Cooperative organization of horticulture growers, similar to milk cooperatives, should have been ideal for the country because of the extremely small sized land holdings and NDDB may have the answer as to why it has failed. It may be worthwhile to have a re-look at the past experience and re-tool the program accordingly. It is time for GOI to wake up and bring sanity to the horticulture produce markets in the country.

V.H.POTTY
http://vhpotty.blogspot.com/
http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com