The Hindu Business Line : Rural refrain

Need for a shift in farm policy to ensure robust agricultural growth was once again the leitmotif of the Prime Minister's address, now to the chambers of commerce in the capital. The widening urban-rural divide and its larger social consequences as also private emotional implications are there for all to see. Notwithstanding the 8 per cent-plus GDP growth of the last three years — with manufacturing and services sectors clocking double-digit growth — India continues to be a very vulnerable to hunger, malnutrition and deprivation. Agriculture, on which depends the livelihood of over 600 million, continues to perform rather poorly. At a woeful 2 per cent annual average in the last eight years, farm growth (more the lack of it) is a drag that is resulting in large-scale migration and related social tensions.

From the President to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Agriculture Minister, not excluding the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance, there has been no dearth in the last two years of attention to agricultural issues and promise of remedial action. However, little has changed on the ground; if anything shortages of essential food crops have become more chronic, prices have skyrocketed, import dependence has burgeoned, and farmer suicides show no signs of abating. Mercifully, it is only because of the fatalistic or philosophic attitude of the deprived that hunger is not accompanied by violence or civil strife as seen in, say, Africa.

According to the Prime Minister, four deficit areas — public investment and credit, rural infrastructure, market economy and knowledge — need to be addressed to narrow the urban-rural divide. So, what's new? What needs to be done for agriculture is fairly well known and documented. For instance, the National Agriculture Policy published more than six years ago could be a good starting point. But, clearly, the political will to effect radical changes is lacking. While strengthening agriculture is a daunting task, one critical factor that could well take agricultural growth to the next level is rapid expansion of irrigation facilities and scientific water management. Progress in this direction is painfully slow as borne out by the huge number of pending irrigation projects, including several last-mile ones. The importance of farm credit can never be underrated; but flow of credit should be accompanied by input delivery, agronomy, rural infrastructure and dissemination of market information for farming to become gainful.

Capacity building among farmers to repay loans should be the primary objective. As agriculture is a State subject, the success of the farm sector would to a considerable extent depend on how well the Centre ensures the unstinted cooperation of all State governments. The tasks before the nation are clearly cut. There is little time to lose. The nation needs to resolve, in this season of festival of lights, to brighten up the lives of several hundred million Rural Indians.

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