Introduction/Apology
I begin with apologies
on two counts. First, for not being able to come personally to the Conference,
something that I really wanted to do, but could not for logistic reasons.
Second, for the delay in preparing this rapporteur's report. Having said that,
I take this opportunity to thank the office bearers for bearing with me and for
the opportunity that they conferred on me. It is an honour. I enjoyed reading
the papers for the theme on 'Agrarian Distress, Family Farming, Land Management
and Other Issues' for the 76th annual conference of the Indian Society of
Agricultural Economics being held during 21-23 November 2016 at
Assam Agricultural Uiversity, Jorhat. Under this theme, there are two full
papers and 17 abstracts, all selected anonymously. I came to know the identity
of the author's much later and I should complement the office bearers for their
professional conduct. I will not elaborate on the papers or even attempt to
summarise them, as they have been presented in the conference, but will
highlight certain aspects that appeal to one's academic sensibilities that are
relevant to the theme.
The Theme
Distress in Indian
agriculture has two analytically interrelated domains - the agrarian and the
agricultural. The former is about the distress that the farmer (as also the
agricultural labourer) is in. In other words, it is about the distribution of
the agricultural produce and its impact on the livelihood of the people
involved in or dependent on agrarian activities. The latter is the distress
that the farm is in on account of a production focus (the target of 4 per cent
growth not being met). To be specific, it raises questions about the
inadequacies and inappropriateness of the agricultural developmental
programmes.
A symptom of the
agrarian distress is farmers' suicides. Equally important is the link of
suicides to livelihood concerns. Of course, absence of suicides in a region
does not do away with agrarian distress. Similarly, debt, or non-serviceability
of debt, is a symptom of the agricultural distress (note that its absence does
not imply absence of distress).
Land evokes many
questions. The rights of the tenant or even sub-tenants as also the concerns of
the land owner, increasing usage for urban and industrial purposes, and
digitalisation of records among others. At the farm level, land management
aspects require an understanding of soil health, the relevance of cropping
practices that espouse sustainability (for instance multiple cropping and crop
rotation).
Climate change is an
important concern. It is not only about rising temperatures, but also about
intense wet spell and long dry spells. Conventionally risks were identified
with weather shocks (that is, abundance or shortfalls in water leading to
production loss) or price shocks (low returns per unit of output). However, it
was understood that these two shocks moved in opposite directions reducing the
impact of their combined risk. Over the years, this has changed and both can
occur concurrently. At the same time, there is an increase in marginalisation,
casualisation and feminisation. Researchers working in the field as also others
are conveying that the median age of the farm worker (cultivator and
agricultural labourer) is increasing. Farms are increasingly being dependent on
the older or female populations.
Understanding of the
agrarian and the agricultural will require and enquiry that encompasses the
economic, the social, the multiple facets of agricultural sciences (soil,
hydrology, seeds, livestock, fisheries), the agro-ecological aspects, and the
emerging technological dimensions (for instance, genetically modified seeds)
among others. This requires studies that go beyond disciplinary boundaries and
within disciplines they need to apply mixed methods are challenges that need to
be taken head on.
The Two Full Papers
It is interesting to
note that one of the full papers on 'Assessment of risk due to exposure to
drought: A study of farm households of
Nagaland' by Baiarbor Nongbri, S.M. Feroze, Lala I.P. Ray and L.
Devarani is a collaborative endeavour by a Masters student of Agricultural
Economics with three Professors from different disciplines - Economics, Natural
Resource Management and Agricultural Extension. The scholars not only go beyond
disciplinary boundaries, but also go beyond state boundaries - the scholars are
based in Meghalaya, the conference is in Jorhat, Assam and the paper is on
Nagaland. The merging of boundaries is the call of the hour to enhance our
understanding from a mixed method perspective. In examining the persistent
shortfalls in rainfall, the paper captures the vulnerability of farm households
to drought, which also has implications on their riskiness. It calls for
research into drought tolerant varieties, water-saving technologies for
agriculture as also household (including drinking water) and other
requirements.
The other full paper
on 'Status and Determinants of Livestock Insurance in India: A Micro Level
Evidence from Haryana and Rajasthan' by Subhash Chand, Anjani Kumar, Madhusudan
Bhattarai and Sunil Saroj is also another piece of collaborative exercise. It
permeates institutional boundaries with scholars from a national institute
joining together with an international institute. Using primary data based on
field work in two states - Haryana and Rajasthan, the scholars highlight the
low penetration of insurance among livestock farmers and call for farmer-friendly
insurance products.
Agrarian Distress
From the 17 abstracts,
there are about six papers with the word distress in the title. One paper is on
Maharashtra, one compares and contrasts the scenario of cotton farmers in
Maharashtra and Telengana, one is on Odisha, two papers are on Punjab and one
is on backward regions.
The paper 'From Food
to Cash: Has it Caused Distress? (Case of Maharashtra)' by Sangeeta Shroff and
Jayanti Kajale discuss the grim scenario in Marathwada and Vidarbha of
Maharashtra on account of a shift from food to cash crops, particularly a shift
from Paddy and Jowar to Soyabean and Cotton. The cash crops are particularly
vulnerable to drought conditions, as the regions are largely cultivated under
rainfed conditions. Besides, Marathwada and Vidarbha are also regions where
more than 70 per cent of the workforce are dependent on agriculture, it makes
them vulnerable.
'Are Farmers in
Rainfed Region Credit Constrained? An Enquiry in the Context of Farm Distress
by A. Suresh, K.V. Praveen, A. Amarender Reddy
and D.R. Singh' compare and contrast the scenario among cotton farmers
in Maharashtra and Telengana and observed that almost all farmers have availed
credit (98 per cent in Maharashtra and 96 per cent in Telengana). A concern that arises is that a substantial portion
credit is obtained from non-institutional sources (32 per cent in Maharashtra
and 82 per cent in Telengana; the difference to some extent explained by the
relatively higher penetration of cooperatives in the former) with a greater
interest burden. This is particularly so for the smaller as also Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
'Agrarian Crisis,
Indebtedness and Farmers Suicide in Odisha: An Analysis' by Urmi Pattanayak and
Minati Mallick juxtapose the period prior to 1990s with the period after that
by pointing out that in the former period the agricultural growth took us out
from a ship-to-mouth existence as agricultural production was more than the
population growth, but this is not the case in the recent period. Further, with
an increased reliance on input-intensive technology, also increased the
reliance on credit and with non-serviceability has led to indebtedness among
farmers. In Odisha, nearly half the farmers are indebted and the proportions
are relatively higher among other backward classes.
The two papers on
Punjab are based on primary data and point out the increasing stress in rural
areas. Randeep Kaur and Kuldeep Kaur in their paper 'Punjab Agriculture-The
Crisis of Indebtedness' refer to relatively greater reliance of credit from
non-institutional sources by marginal and small farmers at a higher interest
burden. They call for a restructuring of the credit delivery system that favour
the marginal and the small farmers.
In 'Emerging Problems
of Agriculture and Mounting Distress of Farmers – An Assessment', Sukhdev Singh
and Maninder Kaur point out that the farmer is at a crossroads. While the
aspirations of the rural/agricultural consumer wants everything on par with the
urban consumer, the returns from agriculture is shrinking and productivity
growth is stagnant. What is more, there is a loss of natural resources. These
have been exacerbated on account of policies that facilitated rice-wheat
cultivation while other crops have been declining. The shift away from paddy
and other food crops in Marathwada and Vidarbha (as indicated above) is in sync
with shift towards paddy in Punjab (largely being grown as a cash crop, as they
do not generally consume paddy in Punjab). This cruel irony stem from earlier
decisions to stem us out from the ship-to-mouth existence.
This calls for
restructuring the way we do agriculture. One such approach is integrated
farming that K. K. Datta, Uttam Bhattacharya and Shiv Raj Singh address in their 'Distress of
the Agricultural People in the Backward Regions in India: Exploring A
Development Process through Crop- Livestock Linkages'.
Land: Tenancy and Marginalisation
The concern around
tenants not getting their due and the fear of the landowner are assuming
importance. The NITI Aayog has come up with a model law to address these. In
this context, the paper on 'Changing Dynamics of Land Leasing and Tenancy in
India: Emerging Policy Issues' by Sukhpal Singh adds value. The paper examines
secondary sources of data to outline a contour of tenancy across the country
and draws primary insights from field in Punjab (with a focus on reverse
tenancy) and Gujarat (with lowest reported tenancy penetration).
When it comes to land,
the decreasing size of holdings is a matter of concern. Sanatan Nayak's
'Marginalisation of Land Holding in India: A District Level Analysis' addresses
this. While pointing to variation across states, it does highlight the
relatively higher marginalisation in certain states (Bihar and Kerala) and
certain communities (Scheduled Castes). What should ring the alarm bells is
that more than one-third of the districts in the country are facing high ranges
of marginalisation and large scale landlessness.
Water
There is a peasant
saying stating that 'Give us water, we will give you gold'. In monsoon India
where one-third of the area is drought-prone due to uneven distribution of
rainfall, V.G. Pokharkar, K.R. Waikar, A.J. Amle and S.P. Kalhapure examine the
'Impact of Farm Ponds on Economy of Beneficiary Farmers in Ahmednagar District'
of Maharashtra. The study observes that construction of farm ponds had an
overall positive effect with greater diversification, better crop-livestock
linkages, improved production, increased employment, and higher income.
The search for water
has led farmers in Chikballapur district of Karnataka to dig deep tube wells.
The paper 'Farmer’s Choice for Deep Tube Well Irrigation by C.K. Soujanya, S.
Varadha Raj and R. Balasubramanian observes that the younger (those with
relatively less experience) educated farmer is digging deeper and deeper to
strike that elusive gold (nay, to address livelihood concerns) through
cultivation of water-intensive crops. However, this 'tragedy of commons' like
scenario would have long-term adverse implications on availability of
groundwater and calls for sustainable practices.
Gender
A study on
ecologically fragile distressed areas 'Microfinance in Drought Areas of
Rajasthan, India: Some Issues' by Gyanendra Mani points out the constraints
faced by female Self-help Groups (SHGs) after bank-linkages. In particular,
apathy of banks, denial of credit, insufficient credit that would make debt
non-serviceable, prevention of internal lending, and absence of coping
mechanism during periods of stress among others.
'Feminization in
Indian Agriculture: Extent and Dimensions' by Pragya Sharma is based on an
analysis of agricultural census data for 2005-06 and 2011-12. It observes an
increase in proportion of women land holders at the all India level as also in
many states. The concern, however, is absence of entitlement and calls for conferring
ownership rights and promotion of cooperative farming.
Resource Use
The paper on 'Crop
Planning for Improving Resource Use Efficiency and Sustainability in Western
Maharashtra (Plain Zone) of Maharashtra' by R.R.Nirgude, A.V.Gavali, K.G.
Sonawane and D.B. Yadav observes diversity in cropping pattern, but
non-profitability in certain crops takes them to apply linear programming to
suggest an optimum cropping pattern. Exploring the applicability of such
post-fact analysis to real-life setting with features to compensate for
possible loss could be attempted.
'Resource use and
Disposal Pattern of Major Cropping Sequence in Zone IV-a&b (Sub-Humid
Southern Plain and Aravali Hills) of Rajasthan' by P.S.Rao and Hari Singh is
based on Udaipur district where the dominant cropping system is maize-wheat. It
observes that costs per hectare increases with farm sizes reflecting perhaps a
greater risk-bearing capacity. Lack of irrigation facilities, unavailability of
newly developed high yielding variety seeds, and imbalanced use of fertilisers
are major constraints that adversely affect yield.
Comparing and
contrasting organic and conventional farmers growing brinjal and chilli in
Attur taluka of Salem district is the paper 'Resource Use Efficiency and
Determinants of Adoption of Organic Farming in Select Crops in Tamil Nadu by M.
Anjugam, P. Saranya, S.Varadha Raj, and M.Chinnadurai. The study observes that
organic farming is economically viable. However, they raise the concern with
regard to less than optimum use of inputs (perhaps to reduce costs). A
secondary source of income and possession of livestock had positive association
on adoption of organic farming. There is a need for provisioning extension
services for facilitating organic farming.
Income
The concerns of income
are important. 'Farm Size, Farm Income and Efficiency: The Case of Commercial
Pineapple Farming in Kerala' by Jomy M. Thomas and P. Indira Devi compare small
and medium farms and observe that per hectare costs are lower for small farms,
but per hectare returns are higher for medium farms. Scale economies, better
output through high plant density and better quality fruits have contributed to
this. They point out the more than optimal use of chemical fertilisers, and
build in a case for improving efficiency, particularly among the small farmers.
In the paper
'Unpredictable Income and Farmers Suicides – The case of Karnataka' by T.N.
Prakash Kammaradi, H. Chandrashekar, K.J. Parameshwarappa, Harsha V. Targal,
Gireesh P.S. and Mali Patil Vijay Kumar want to draw attention to stability and
predictability of farmers' income. They
articulate a need to reduce the gap between what the consumer pays and what the
producer receives and suggest increased production, reduction in costs, and
that market transactions at least ensure the minimum support price. However, they
do concede that even these may not be enough to provide a decent standard of
living to majority of the farmers because of small holding size. This calls for
serious introspection to provision for alternative sources of income and come
up with a minimum living income for farm-dependent households. They suggest the
need for a farmers' income commission in line with pay commission.
Summary
The theme 'Agrarian
Distress, Family Farming, Land Management and Other Issues' had two full papers
and 17 abstracts. The takeaways are as follows. The two full papers and five of
the abstracts have four or more authors and they take about collaborative
endeavours that break disciplinary and institutional boundaries, which is a
good thing for the discipline. In some of these collaborative endeavours as
also other collaborative endeavours, one sees that younger scholars (Masters
and PhD scholars) are not only part of the team but are taking a lead role,
which is commendable. The issues on agrarian distress, land, water, gender,
resource use and income mentioned in the abstracts as also in the two full papers raise important concerns,
provide suggestions and build up cases for further studies. I apologise to the
authors for any inadvertent failing on my part. I take this opportunity to once again thank the office bearers for giving me this opportunity.
