‘Subsidies to agriculture is a world-wide phenomenon and we have to realise this’

Why is there only one Baramati in the entire country, with all its processing plants and prosperous farmers?
Smriti Sharma

Baramati is an example of development in which the rural population is the centre point. Development activities in Baramati have centred around the farmer. Every activity taken up has added value to farmers’ operations. But the resolve of our government to focus on agriculture and rural development will go a long way in creating rural wealth and prosperity for farmers. I am sure that in a few years, there will be many success stories in rural India.

Do you think free power for farmers, as announced by Andhra Pradesh and now Maharashtra, is the right way to help them?
Venkateswar

Power is a very critical input for agriculture operations. The cost of power has an implication on the cost of agriculture production and finally on the returns that a farmer gets for his yield. it is thus important that input costs of the farmer are controlled so as to make farming viable. There are various methods of controlling input costs and one of them is subsidised or free electricity. Different states choose different methods of subsidising agriculture. In fact, providing subsidy to agriculture is a world-wide phenomenon and is a reality which we in India have to realise. The only point that has to be debated or decided is the extent of subsidy and the form in which it has to be given. Some states choose to give subsidy in the form of free power while others may choose to subsidise agriculture through other means.

Since availability of water for farmers is going to become a major issue, what is the government doing to ensure that there is no over-exploitation of groundwater?
Paritosh Sen

Water is indeed a critical issue for agriculture in our country. The very nature of monsoon makes water available only for a few months of the year, which we need to conserve and use during the other parts of the year. Creation of water resources and efficient use of existing ones are the two aspects related to management of water. Our government is emphasising both the aspects in order to make more water available for farming activities. We are undertaking massive water-conservation programmes to harvest rainwater. Besides this, we are planning to launch a programme to promote drip irrigation and in-situ water conservation in a huge way.

Conservation and prevention of over-exploitation of groundwater are matters that the state governments deal with. The state governments and Central Government are very concerned about this and are taking measures to improve the groundwater situation. One of the measures has been to diversify the cropping pattern so as to take up crops which are not water-intensive and instead plant crops that need less water.

The FCI still has overflowing godowns and there is massive wastage of foodgrains. Why is it that the plans to revamp FCI and the way procurement is done are not taking off?
Suresh Nandan

The FCI’s inventory management systems are being improved and better storage practices are being adopted by the management to address such concerns. One common complaint of the supply of inferior and old foodgrains by the FCI to the PDS is not heard now only due to the adoption of such practices.

A leading consultancy organisation that has considerable experience in the food sector has been appointed to study FCI operations and suggest changes in its structure and massive operations. On receipt of the report, we will strive to implement the recommendations aimed at revamp of the FCI’s functions and corporate structure. Similarly, we are in a dialogue with states to decentralise procurement. The Government of India wants to encourage more state governments to take up procurement operations of foodgrains grown within their state. This will not only help improve state finances but also cut costs borne by the FCI while transporting foodgrains from surplus to deficit states. I will be shortly discussing this and states’ difficulties in this regard with concerned officials and food ministers.