Revisiting the farmer question

GS-III – Agriculture | Farmers’ Income | Agricultural Reforms | Rural Economy

Why in News?

• M. S. Swaminathan’s Death Anniversary: As we observe M. S. Swaminathan’s death anniversary, the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF), which he chaired, need to be revisited.
• Agriculture and the Economy: India may no longer be an agriculture dominated economy, but it remains deeply dependent on it.
• GDP Share: Only about 15–18% of GDP now comes from agriculture.
• Employment: The sector continues to employ around 46% of India’s workforce.
• Rural Livelihoods: A large part of rural India depends directly on farming and allied activities for its livelihood.
• Paradox: While India has transformed into an economy driven by industry and services, the economic viability of farming has not kept pace.

Major Challenges in Indian Agriculture

Small Landholdings

• Small Farmers: About 86% of farmers own less than two hectares.
• Constraints: Small plots constrain:
  • Economies of scale.
  • Crop diversification.
  • Adoption of new technologies.
  • Adoption of new farming practices.

Water Constraints

• Rain-fed Agriculture: Around half of all farmed land relies entirely on unpredictable rain.
• Vulnerability: This exposes farmers to drought and erratic monsoons.
• Groundwater Depletion: Elsewhere, intensive irrigation has created the opposite problem of groundwater depletion.
• Cauvery Dispute: The Cauvery dispute is ultimately a manifestation of competing demands on a finite resource.

Climate Change

• Increasing Vulnerabilities: Climate change is intensifying these vulnerabilities.
• Erratic Rainfall: Erratic rainfall is increasingly translating into crop losses.
• Floods and Droughts: Floods and droughts are increasingly translating into crop losses.
• Heat Waves: Heat waves are increasingly translating into crop losses.

Rising Input Costs

• Farm Margins: Rising costs of:
  • Seeds.
  • Fertilizers.
  • Pesticides.
  • Fuel.

squeeze farm margins.

Weak Bargaining Power

• Share in Final Value: Farmers often receive only a miniscule share of the final value of what they produce.
• Infrastructure: Weak storage and processing infrastructure affect farmers.
• Supply Chains: Fragmented supply chains and multiple intermediaries often leave cultivators with little bargaining power.

What the NCF Got Right

Agricultural Distress as an Income and Livelihood Problem

• Central Insight: The NCF offered a comprehensive response to many of these problems.
• Income and Livelihood: Its central insight was that agricultural distress was fundamentally an income and livelihood problem, not merely a productivity problem.
• Economic Well-being: Farmer policy should be judged by the economic well-being of farmers rather than by increases in production or yield.

Access to Productive Resources

• Beyond Land Ownership: The Commission looked beyond land ownership to timely access to productive resources such as:
  • Water.
  • Credit.
  • Technology.
  • Livestock.
  • Fisheries.
  • Other natural resources.
• Research Institutions and Cultivators: It called for closer links between research institutions and cultivators.

Ecological Sustainability

• Sustainable Agriculture: Its approach also emphasised ecological sustainability.
• Productivity and Natural Resources: Higher productivity could not come at the cost of soil health and water security.
• Water Use: Efficient water use was integral to agricultural policy.
• Sustainable Farming: Sustainable farming practices were integral to agricultural policy.
• Conservation: Conservation of natural resources was integral to agricultural policy.

Strengthening Farmers’ Bargaining Power

• Unequal Value Chain: The NCF recognised that farmers were at the wrong end of an unequal value chain.
• Agricultural Infrastructure: It proposed district-level agricultural infrastructure.
• Direct Marketing: It proposed direct marketing linkages.
• Rural Industry: It proposed stronger integration between agriculture and rural industry.
• Post-Harvest Infrastructure: It proposed better:
  • Storage.
  • Grading.
  • Packaging.
  • Processing.
  • Transportation.
• Bargaining Power: It sought to strengthen farmers’ bargaining power.

Broader Livelihood Security

• Not Solely Cultivation: The Commission did not assume that everyone dependent on rural India could or should remain solely dependent on cultivation.
• Livelihood-Security Framework: It proposed a broader livelihood-security framework encompassing:
  • Agriculture and allied activities.
  • Rural enterprises.
  • Non-farm employment.

Implementation Gap

• Recommendations Implemented: Over the last two decades, several of NCF’s recommendations have been implemented through separate schemes and missions.
• Larger Vision: However, the Commission’s larger vision has not been implemented as an integrated framework.
• Economic Viability: The vision of making farming economically viable has not been implemented as an integrated framework.
• Risk Reduction: The vision of reducing risk has not been implemented as an integrated framework.
• Farmers’ Bargaining Power: The vision of strengthening farmers’ bargaining power has not been implemented as an integrated framework.
• Markets: The vision of integrating production with markets has not been implemented as an integrated framework.

NCF and Global Markets

• Global Market Dilemma: The NCF anticipated a dilemma that is in sharp focus today.
• Global Markets: Indian agriculture cannot remain insulated from global markets.
• Small Farmers: Neither can small farmers be exposed to those markets without adequate protection.
• Current Context: India is now implementing Free Trade Agreements while also dealing with tariff pressures from the U.S.
• Renewed Relevance: NCF’s ideas have renewed relevance.
• Opportunity: The challenge is to ensure that greater integration with global markets becomes an opportunity for Indian farmers rather than another source of vulnerability.

Way Forward

• Not Protectionism: The answer is not protectionism, but a combination of:
  • Remunerative prices.
  • Risk management.
  • Farmer aggregation.
  • Productivity enhancement.
  • Value addition.
  • Carefully designed trade safeguards.
• Update the Vision: The task today is not to mechanically reproduce the recommendations, but to update and complete their underlying vision for the agriculture sector.
• Economic Viability: The underlying vision of making farming economically viable needs to be updated and completed.
• Risk Management: The underlying vision of reducing risk needs to be updated and completed.
• Bargaining Power: The underlying vision of strengthening farmers’ bargaining power needs to be updated and completed.
• Markets: The underlying vision of integrating production with markets needs to be updated and completed.

Conclusion

• Underlying Vision: The NCF’s larger vision was to make farming economically viable, reduce risk, strengthen farmers’ bargaining power and integrate production with markets.
• Present Relevance: With India implementing Free Trade Agreements while also dealing with tariff pressures from the U.S., these ideas have renewed relevance.
• Agriculture Sector: The task today is not to mechanically reproduce the recommendations, but to update and complete their underlying vision for the agriculture sector.

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. The National Commission on Farmers viewed agricultural distress fundamentally as an income and livelihood problem rather than merely a productivity problem. Discuss the relevance of its underlying vision for Indian agriculture today.