Opinion Killing fields
A report on the stars of Indias food chain was released by Mckinsey with CII,last week
A report on the stars of Indias food chain was released by Mckinsey with CII,last week. The stars according to the consultancy firm included potato,poultry,mango,banana and soybean. Just like it happens in the selection of the Indian cricket team,the omissions are more curious. They include onion,tomatoes and brinjal. (This is a non-cereal list). Each of these omissions has a political story to offer.
The monthly consumer inflation figures show Indians across income groups are slowly moving to a more variegated food plate than the daal-roti as their income security rises. So the demand for these food crops has shot up. But the controversies around these crops have shot up even faster like whether to allow GM versions. Controversies around the larger food chain have expanded even faster like the push to bring more crops under the minimum support price as well as the yearly pressure to push those prices beyond market forces of demand and supply.
And controversies about the colour of investment in the sectorFDI in retail and effective dilution of the APMC to give farmers the chance to invest in farming efficiently,has expanded the most. Compared to the nays,ayes like sugar decontrol are too few.
Agriculture,even before take off graduating to the value addition chain (less than 10 per cent of it is processed now),seems hijacked by the same pattern of disputes that has wrecked the mining sector,for instance. The total Indian food production is now the third largest in the world. Yet anyone planning to offer any development plans for the sector like seed or better irrigation has to first steer clear of most of Indias major crops and then look beyond his shoulder that the choices offered do not ruffle political positions. Of course Mckinsey did not allude to these reasons for their selection of crops,but the choice is telling.
In a country which has slightly less than a third of its population below the poverty line,which means another ten per cent are always at a risk of slipping below the line,this is absurd.
Does this mean the conclusion is veering to the pattern seen in mining? Import of coal despite having the third largest reserves in the world,or of iron ore is rising to feed expanding demand,while our reserves lie untouched. Might food imports go the same way? Domestic demand beyond wheat and rice will continue to rise as food inflation trends show. Without hard decisions the choice could very well be to instead maintain the balance among interest groups.
Subhomoy is a Deputy Editor based in New Delhi.
subhomoy.bhattacharjee@expressindia.com
Share
