20/07/2020 - Agriculture | Mainstorming

IAS Parliament 4 years

KEY POINTS

· India can emerge as an important seed producer and a large exporter of seeds to many developing countries in South and South-east Asia as well as Africa.

· The country can produce very competitively-priced seeds for hybrid rice, hybrid corn, hybrid Bt HT cotton, and several vegetables including tomato, potato and okra, provided we set our regulatory system right.

Fertilisers

· India has been a net importer of fertiliser nutrients (NPK) for almost two decades (see graph). In 2019-20, India imported fertilisers worth $6.7 billion. We are totally dependent on imports in case of Muriate Of Potash and in case of DAP, we import the rock and the finished product.

· India wants to be atmanirbhar by opening up five new urea plants in the public sector with a total capacity of 6.35 MMT. Almost 70 per cent of the gas being used in urea plants is imported at a price much higher than the price of domestic gas. And of these five, the one in Talcher is based on coal gasification with Chinese technology.

· The best way to achieve atmanirbharta in fertilisers is to change the system of fertiliser subsidies. Deposit equivalent cash directly into farmers’ accounts, calculated on a per hectare basis, and free up fertiliser prices.

· Allow the private sector plants to compete and expand urea production in a cost competitive manner, be it at home or in countries in the Persian Gulf where gas is much cheaper.

Farm machinery

· Green Revolution gave it a push, but the real break-through came after de-licensing in 1991. Tractor companies compete and bring out better products at low cost. Mahindra and Mahindra leads the pack with an almost 40 per cent share.

· The new class of entrepreneurs and start-ups are coming up with special apps for “Uberisation of tractor services” so that farmers can avail of these services at low cost, without owning a tractor.

· In an economy of small landholders, owning a tractor is a high cost proposition as it is not fully utilised. This needs to be made more efficient by creating a market for tractor services.

· The private sector is our strength. The only thing the government has to do is to unshackle them from the chains of controls and webs of unnecessary regulations. They will make an Atmanirbhar Bharat.