Agricultural security is inevitable to India given the overwhelming population and the share of population dependent on agriculture for livelihood.
So having a visionary agricultural policy document in place is crucial for India.
What are the new changes needed?
Central list - Agriculture remains a State subject, but today's is a globally connected agricultural situation.
So states cannot be expected to develop strategies that optimise returns at the national level as well as ensure farmers welfare in their States.
Agriculture thus has to be brought under the Concurrent List.
An agricultural council, on the lines of the GST Council, should be formed.
Demand dynamics - Indian agriculture is moving from a production-driven enterprise to a demand-driven one.
It is, therefore, important to understand the demand-side dynamics of agriculture.
This can be done by involving the end-user industries in planning agricultural production, crop portfolio and supportive policies.
What all should the policy's objectives be?
Productivity - India has to increase its agricultural yields, and this cannot be denied citing the fact of sufficient food stock present now.
This is because, farm yields in India are quite low compared with those in other countries.
Also, climate change is going to impact agricultural productivity and yields may go down by 20-30%.
Increasing the productivity of land is critical in a situation where the demand on land for non-agricultural purposes is growing rapidly.
Ensuring good price realisation for the farmer is a separate subject and it should not be confused with the need for increasing yields.
Agri-practices - India's seed quality and agronomic practices should be improved using new technologies.
Making crops tolerant to biotic and abiotic stresses by using modern plant breeding methods and biotechnology is of utmost importance.
Also, using digital and satellite technologies for precision farming is critical.
Farm mechanisation is to be promoted to overcome impending labour shortage.
Profitability - The solution to farmers’ distress lies in improving profitability, which is intrinsically linked to price discovery.
Suppressing farm-gate prices (price at the farm, excluding any transport or delivery charge) may keep the urban consumers happy for some time but it is not a long-term solution.
Farm-gate prices should not be raised through artificial interventions by the government but by connecting farmers to markets through electronic platforms.
Also, amending the APMC Act by all the States quickly should be high on the agenda.
The Essential Commodities Act must be abolished, to allow private trade to make large-scale purchase of agricultural commodities from farmers.
India's import and export policies should be predictable and should take into account the various factors at play.
Technology - There is a need to set up an Agricultural Technology Mission.
This is to create appropriate strategies and policy framework to bring about a comprehensive technology solution for the agricultural problems.
There has to be a 360-degree view of the situation and plans for modernisation of the agriculture and food production systems.
Crop choice - India's crop portfolio has to undergo a change to optimise water, to meet emerging demand patterns and improve price realisations for farmers.
Developing climate-resilient crops is the need of the hour given the rising climate change-related risks.
Farmers should be advised to grow the right crops based on demand dynamics, international stocks/prices and other such considerations.
Farmers have to be given directional price forecasts at the time of planting crops.
Besides, it is important to create an apex body at the national level to carry out necessary modelling to achieve optimum results on this front.
Rural infrastructure - Allocation of budgets for construction of roads, silo-based warehouses and cold storages closer to villages is essential.
Also, a farm energy policy that plans to gradually bring renewables like solar, wind and farm-waste into the energy mix is needed.
Digital entrepreneurs - A scheme to create a network of digital entrepreneurs in villages should be launched.
This is to capture farmers’ data and connect them to digital markets to buy and sell.
This data can be used by insurance companies and others to offer services and products to farmers.
Off-farm enterprises - The policy should contain a scheme to help rural families take up off-farm enterprises to boost their income.
This should be supported by a suitable programme to help entrepreneurs aggregate such products and sell them in the target markets.
This will create a sustainable business model to strengthen rural incomes.
Access to credit - Banks find it hard to lend to farmers due to high operational costs and NPAs.
This forces farmers into debt trap due to the high rates charged by private moneylenders.
The government should provide guarantees to the banks for loans given to farmers, so that the banks can lend without fear.
Digitising the process of giving crop loans based on digitised land records will help banks manage the sheer size of agricultural operations.
This will help in quick and timely processing of applications and releasing money into farmers' bank accounts.
Insurance - Lack of data on yield losses is a major constraint in providing insurance services to crops.
A special product that provides insurance cover to the extent of investments made in case of crop failure and natural disasters needs to be introduced.
