We’ve a business plan to change farmer plight, says Swaminathan

‘‘At my stage in life, I don’t want to do a thesis. I need to bring something that will result in much-needed change,’’ he said, speaking to The Indian Express.

The Commission was set up by the NDA government to draw a road-map for reforms in agriculture. With the new government taking over, Swaminathan was made the Chairperson and his ambit was widened to include ways to implement promises made for farmers in the National Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

Swaminathan says the business plan worked out by them would have new insurance plans drawn up by experts and credit mechanisms drawn up by a former NABARD chief.

Calling it an effort to put ‘‘faces behind the figures’’, Swaminathan says the Commission has also identified steps required to relieve the immediate distress of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala. For the first time, issues of women farmers too have been addressed along with a concrete plan to alleviate their misery.

Aided by the World Food Programme, the Commission is holding consultations all over the country in this regard, with farmers, NGOs and the industry. Today, it held a meeting with ministry officials and the Planning Commission.

For their December report, the Commission has basically identified six priority areas to begin with.

The first one would deal with areas witnessing acute distress of farmers—either because of weather conditions, spurious seeds or lack of credit. A former chairman of NABARD will design for them new credit mechanisms, to be implemented through self-help groups. Insurance plans would deal with the weather, prices and livestock.

The other priority area would be rainfed and dryland areas. ‘‘The most poor and backward areas belong to either of these, facing the worst brunt of nature’s vagaries,’’ said Swaminathan.

The report would also address problems of women in agriculture. ‘‘In Uttranchal, nearly 70 per cent of the farmers are now women because of migration and nobody has looked at their problems,’’ he says.

The report would look at cotton farmers and weavers—this year the cotton farmers are facing acute stress due to a bumper crop and crashing international prices. Since cotton is a high-input cost crop, the damage is great.‘‘We have to look at sustainable livlihoods for them,’’ Swaminathan says.

The CMP talked of doubling the horticulture production. ‘‘But this is not enough,’’ he feels. ‘‘First, we need to fix the spoilage—which ranges between 30-40 per cent.’’