Main Agricultural Problems of India and their Possible Solutions that our government has till now.
Indian agriculture is plagued by several problems; some of them are natural and some others are man-made.
1. Small and fragmented land-holdings:
The net sown area of India is seemingly in the abundance of 141.2 million hectares and the total cropped area is 189.7 million hectares. It’s divided into economically unviable small and scattered holdings. The problem of small and fragmented holdings is more serious in over densely populated and intensively cultivated states like Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar and eastern part of Uttar Pradesh where the average size of land holdings is less than one hectare and in certain parts, it is less than even 0.5 hectares.
Rajasthan with vast sandy stretches and Nagaland with the prevailing ‘Jhoom’ (shifting agriculture) have larger average-sized holdings of 4 and 7.15 hectares respectively. States having a high percentage of a net sown area like Punjab, Haryana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, and Madhya Pradesh have holding size above the national average.
Further, it is shocking to note that a large proportion of 59% holdings in 1990- 91 were marginal (below 1 hectare) accounting for 14.9% of the total operated area. Another 19% were smallholdings (1-2 hectare) taking up 17.3 % of the total operated area.
Large holdings (above 10 hectares) accounted for only 1.6% of total holdings but covered 17.4% of the operated area. Hence, there is a wide gap between small farmers, medium farmers (peasant groups), and big farmers (landlords).
The main reason for this sad affair is our inheritance laws. The land that belonged to the father is equally distributed among his sons. This distribution of land does not entail a collection of consolidated one, but its nature is fragmented.
A different area of land has different levels of fertility and is to be distributed accordingly. If four areas of land are to be distributed between two sons, both the sons will get smaller plots of each land tract. In this way, the landholdings become smaller and more fragmented with each passing generation.
Sub-division and fragmentation of the holdings are some of the main causes of our low agricultural productivity and backward state of our agriculture. A lot of time is wasted and labor work is increased in moving implements, seeds, manure and cattle from one piece of land to another.
It is very difficult to irrigate in such small and fragmented fields. Moreover, a lot of fertile agricultural land is wasted in providing boundaries. Under such conditions, the farmer cannot concentrate on just improvement.
The only answer to this problem is the merging of their holdings that means the reallocation of lands that are fragmented.
But unfortunately, this is not succeeded much. Although legislation for consolidation of holdings has been enacted by almost all the states, it has been implemented only in few states of India like Punjab, Haryana, and in some parts of Uttar Pradesh. The other solution to this problem is cooperative farming in which the farmers put their resources and share the profit.
2. Seeds:
The seed is a critical and basic input for attaining higher crop yields and sustained growth in agricultural production. Distribution of best quality seed is as critical as the production of such seeds. Unfortunately, the farmers could not get the good quality seeds as they are out of their reach, especially to those farmers who are small landholders and are small marginal farmers because the best quality of seeds is overpriced.
To solve this problem, the Government of India established the National Seeds Corporation (NSC) in 1963 and the State Farmers Corporation of India (SFCI) in 1969. To increase the supply of best quality seeds, 13 State Seed Corporation (SSCs) were also established.
The High Yielding Variety Programme (HYVP) was launched in 1966-67 as a major thrust plan to increase the production of food grains in the country.
The Indian seed industry had exhibited impressive growth in the past and is expected to provide further potential for growth in agricultural production: The role of the seed industry is not only to produce adequate quantities of quality seeds but also to achieve varietal diversity to suit various agro-climatic zones of the country.
Certified seed is the ultimate stage in the seed production chain and is the progeny of foundation seed. Production of the breeder and foundation seeds and certified seeds distribution have gone up at an annual average rate of 3.4 percent, 7.5 percent, and 9.5 percent respectively, between 2001-02 and 2005-06).
3. Manures, Fertilizers, and Biocides:
The agricultural lands have been used for growing crops over thousands of years and the replenishing of soils has not been taken care of, which has led to soil depletion and exhaustion of soils that have resulted in their low productivity. The average yields of almost all the crops are lowest in the world which is a serious problem that can be solved by using more proper manures and fertilizers.
Manures and fertilizers play the same role in soils as good food about the body. Just as a well-nourished body is capable of doing any good job, a well-nourished soil is capable of giving good yields. It has been estimated that about 70 percent of the growth in agricultural production can be attributed to increased fertilizer application.
It has been felt that organic manures are essential for keeping the soil in good health. The country has a potential of 650 million tonnes of rural and 160 lakh tonnes of urban compost which is not fully utilized at present. The utilization of this potential will solve the twin problem of disposal of waste and providing manure to the soil.
The government has given high incentives especially in the form of heavy subsidy for using chemical fertilizers. There was practically no use of chemical fertilizers at the time of Independence As a result of an initiative by the government and due to change in the attitude of some progressive farmers, the consumption of fertilizers increased tremendously.
But its use as such is limited because much of cow dung is used as kitchen fuel in the shape of dung cakes. Reduction in the supply of firewood and increasing demand for fuel in the rural areas due to an increase in population has further complicated the problem. Chemical fertilizers are costly and are often beyond the reach of the poor farmers. The fertilizer problem is, therefore, both acute and complex.
It has been felt that organic manures are essential for keeping the soil in good health. The country has a potential of 650 million tonnes of rural and 160 lakh tonnes of urban compost which is not fully utilized at present. The utilization of this potential will solve the twin problem of disposal of waste and providing manure to the soil.
The government has given high incentives especially in the form of heavy subsidy for using chemical fertilizers. There was practically no use of chemical fertilizers at the time of Independence As a result of an initiative by the government and due to change in the attitude of some progressive farmers, the consumption of fertilizers increased tremendously.
To maintain the quality of the fertilizers, 52 fertilizer quality control laboratories have been set up in different parts of the country. Also, there is one Central Fertilizer Quality Control and Training Institute at Faridabad with its three regional centers at Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
Pests, germs, and weeds cause heavy loss to crops which amounted to about one-third of the total field produced at the time of Independence. Biocides (pesticides, herbicides, and weedicides) are used to save the crops and to avoid losses. The increased use of these inputs has saved a lot of crops, especially the food crops from unnecessary wastage. But indiscriminate use of biocides has resulted in widespread environmental pollution which takes its own toll.
4. Irrigation:
Although India is the second-largest irrigated country of the world after China, only one-third of the cropped area is under irrigation. Irrigation is the most important agricultural input in a tropical monsoon country like India where rainfall is uncertain, unreliable and erratic India cannot achieve sustained progress in agriculture unless and until more than half of the cropped area is brought under assured irrigation.
This is testified by the success story of agricultural progress in Punjab Haryana and the western part of Uttar Pradesh where over half of the cropped area is under irrigation! Large tracts still await irrigation to boost agricultural output.
However, care must be taken to safeguard against ill effects of over-irrigation especially in areas irrigated by canals. Large tracts in Punjab and Haryana have been rendered useless (areas affected by salinity, alkalinity, and water-logging), due to faulty irrigation. In the Indira Gandhi Canal command area also intensive irrigation has led to a sharp rise in subsoil water level, leading to water-logging, soil salinity, and alkalinity.
5. Lack of mechanization:
Despite the large scale mechanization of agriculture in some parts of the country, most of the agricultural operations in larger parts are carried on by human hand using simple and conventional tools and implements like a wooden plow, sickle, etc.
Little or no use of machines is made in plowing, sowing, irrigating, thinning and pruning, weeding, harvesting threshing, and transporting the crops. This is especially the case with small and marginal farmers. It results in huge wastage of human labor and in low yields per capita labor force.
There is an urgent need to mechanize the agricultural operations so that wastage of labor force is avoided and farming is made convenient and efficient. Agricultural implements and machinery are a crucial input for efficient and timely agricultural operations, facilitating multiple cropping and thereby increasing production.
Some progress has been made for mechanizing agriculture in India after Independence. The need for mechanization was especially felt with the advent of the Green Revolution in the 1960s. Strategies and programs have been directed towards the replacement of traditional and inefficient implements by improved ones, enabling the farmer to own tractors, power tillers, harvesters, and other machines.
A large industrial base for manufacturing of the agricultural machines has also been developed. Power availability for carrying out various agricultural operations has been increased to reach a level of 14 kW per hectare in 2003-04 from only 0.3 kW per hectare in 1971-72.
This increase was the result of increasing the use of a tractor, power tiller and combine harvesters, irrigation pumps, and other power operated machines. The share of mechanical and electrical power has increased from 40 percent in 1971 to 84 percent in 2003-04.
Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest average sales of tractors during the five years ending 2003-04 and/West Bengal recorded the highest average sales of power tillers during the same period.
Strenuous efforts are being made to encourage the farmers to adopt technically advanced agricultural equipment to carry farm operations timely and precisely and to economize the agricultural production process.
6. Soil erosion:
Large tracts of fertile land suffer from soil erosion by wind and water. This area must be properly treated and restored to its original fertility.
7. Agricultural Marketing:
Agricultural marketing still continues to be in bad shape in rural India. In the absence of sound marketing facilities, the farmers have to depend upon local traders and middlemen for the disposal of their farm produce which is sold at a throw-away price.
In most cases, these farmers are forced, under socio-economic conditions, to carry on the distress sale of their produce. In most small villages, the farmers sell their produce to the moneylender from whom they usually borrow money.
According to an estimated 85 percent of wheat and 75 percent of oilseeds in Uttar Pradesh, 90 percent of Jute in West Bengal, 70 percent of oilseeds, and 35 percent of cotton in Punjab is sold by farmers in the village itself. Such a situation arises due to the inability of the poor farmers to wait for long after harvesting their crops.
To meet his commitments and pay his debt, the poor farmer is forced to sell the produce at whatever price is offered to him. The Rural Credit Survey Report rightly remarked that the producers, in general, sell their produce at an unfavorable place and at an unfavorable time, and usually, they get unfavorable terms.
In the absence of an organized marketing structure, private traders and middlemen dominate the marketing and trading of agricultural produce. The remuneration of the services provided by the middlemen increases the load on the consumer, although the producer does not derive similar benefits.
Many market surveys have revealed that middlemen take away about 48 percent of the price of rice, 52 percent of the price of groundnuts, and 60 percent of the price of potatoes offered by consumers.
To save the farmer from the clutches of the money lenders and the middlemen, the government has come out with regulated markets. These markets generally introduce a system of competitive buying, help in eradicating malpractices, ensure the use of standardized weights and measures, and evolve suitable machinery for settlement of disputes thereby ensuring that the producers are not subjected to exploitation and receive remunerative prices.
8. Inadequate storage facilities:
Storage facilities in rural areas are either totally absent or grossly inadequate. Under such conditions, the farmers are compelled to sell their produce immediately after the harvest at the prevailing market prices which are bound to below. Such distress sale deprives the farmers of their legitimate income.
The Parse Committee estimated the post-harvest losses at 9.3 percent of which nearly 6.6 percent occurred due to poor storage conditions alone. Scientific storage is, therefore, very essential to avoid losses and to benefit the farmers and the consumers alike.
At present, there are several agencies engaged in warehousing and storage activities. The Food Corporation of India (F.C.I.), the Central Warehousing Corporation (C.W.C.), and State Warehousing Corporation are among the principal agencies engaged in this task. These agencies help in building up buffer stock, which can be used in the hour of need. The Central Government is also implementing the scheme for the establishment of National Grid of Rural Godowns since 1979-80.
This scheme provides storage facilities to the farmers near their fields and in particular to the small and marginal farmers. The Working Group on additional storage facilities in rural areas has recommended a scheme of establishing a network of Rural Storage Centres to serve the economic interests of the farming community.
9. Inadequate transport:
One of the main handicaps with Indian agriculture is the lack of cheap and efficient means of transportation. Even at present, there are lakhs of villages which are not well connected with main roads or with market centers.
Most roads in the rural areas are Kutcha (bullock- cart roads) and become useless in the rainy season. Under these circumstances, the farmers cannot carry their produce to the main market and are forced to sell it in the local market at a low price. Linking each village by metalled road is a gigantic task and it needs huge sums of money to complete this task
10. Scarcity of capital:
Agriculture is an important industry and like all other industries, it also requires capital. The role of capital input is becoming more and more important with the advancement of farm technology. Since the agriculturists’ capital is locked up in his lands and stocks, he is obliged to borrow money for stimulating the tempo of agricultural production.
The main suppliers of money to the farmer are the money-lenders, traders, and commission agents who charge a high rate of interest and purchase the agricultural produce at a very low price. The All India Rural Credit Survey Committee showed that in 1950-51 the share of money lenders stood at as high as 68.6 percent of the total rural credit and in 1975-76 their share declined to 43 percent of the credit needs of the farmers.
This shows that the moneylender is losing ground but is still the single largest contributor to agricultural credit. Rural credit scenario has undergone a significant change and institutional agencies such as Central Cooperative Banks, State Cooperative Banks, Commercial Banks, Cooperative Credit Agencies and some Government Agencies are extending loans to farmers on easy terms.
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