Clearly, the PM doesn’t want the agriculture sector and its lacklustre performance to anger the aam aadmi the way it did during theNDA regime three years ago. Especially as the coming years will witness assembly polls in several states. This explains why in February 2007, finance minister P. Chidambaram announced a special grant of Rs 50 crore each for the Gobind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pantnagar, and Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, and a Rs 100 crore grant to the Punjab Agricultural University.
Agriculture has resurfaced in the agenda of the UPA government and therefore as a choice of career for the urbane, young professionals in India. Of course, given the Gen-X’s peculiar penchant for ‘management’ courses, it’s an mba in agriculture that’s most sought after. Sadly, the other two significant halves of agriculture education—research and technical expertise in specialised fields like animal husbandry, fisheries, dairying, horticulture, irrigation, soil management, and agriculture extension—are still largely ignored.
Explains M.S. Swaminathan, the father of India’s first green revolution, "With the likes of Wal-Mart, Reliance and Bharti investing huge sums in the agri-retail sector, youngsters are attracted to agriculture once again. But they prefer to view it as a career path where they want to enjoy all the benefits of a plush corporate job and thus largely opt for courses in agri-business management. My friend C.D. Mayee, chairman, agricultural scientists’ recruitment board, continues to tell me that almost 60 per cent of the seats available under the board either go vacant or have to be staffed with substandard individuals as the real research talent pool available is extremely uninterested in a career as an agricultural scientist."
Adds P.L. Gautam, vice-chancellor, G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, "Students are showing a renewed interest in agriculture, especially in fields like agri-biotech, organic farming, herbal cultivation. But agri-business management continues to be our most popular course, those in forestry, fisheries and dairying come in second. Also, the total number of seats we have in the latter categories is less compared to practical courses like veterinary sciences."
This disenchantment of the Indian youth with agriculture, despite it continuing to be the mainstay of almost 70 per cent of our population, is but another aspect of the bitter truth. A survey by the National Sample Survey Organisation found that "almost 40 per cent of the farmers wanted to quit agriculture and move on to other more lucrative professions", says Swaminathan. It’s indicative of a larger systemic problem, reflecting the core of the crisis that’s staring Indian agriculture in the face. Agriculture is unviable and, of course, unsustainable.
Official figures indicate that 78 per cent of the farming population owns only 32 per cent of the land. This makes most farmers small and marginal, with an average landholding size of only 0.37 hectares. Agriculture can merely be a subsistence activity for them. The continued dependence on a fickle nature and only 40 per cent of the net sown area of 142.8 million hectares having assured irrigation makes agriculture a gamble against the monsoon for a majority of the farmers.
Intermittent monsoon failures and other vicissitudes have made rural indebtedness a serious and endemic trait. Also, by virtue of their being small, a majority of farmers do not have the wherewithal to hold on to produce till it fetches reasonable returns. This makes them open to exploitation by traders. They are forced to sell their produce immediately after harvest at low prices. Unlike other countries where farmers can realise one-third of the market prices of commodities, Indian farmers manage to get only one-fifth of the prices in their kitty. The balance finds its way into middlemen’s pockets.
Is there any reason why the average Indian farmer should remain so vulnerable and ill-educated when the country boasts of a sizeable number of state agriculture universities, specialised post-graduate and research institutes, technical missions on food commodities like wheat and rice, and a national research centre on camels and yaks?
Explains Swaminathan, "When we ushered in the first green revolution, we created an enthusiasm and saw to it that a career in agricultural sciences was perceived as being both a great public service and intellectually gratifying. So, we created a political and public understanding of agricultural sciences. That is sorely missing now." The feeling among experts is that after deeming agriculture as a state subject, the Centre has washed its hands of the sector, and all the educational postings mandated by the agriculture department are routine and without a rigorous selection process.
More thought, they contend, is paid on selecting the cricket team’s coach than the director of the technical mission on oilseeds. Says S.P. Tiwari, deputy director (general education), Indian Council for Agricultural Research, "We have over 50 central and state agriculture universities, and the situation is changing with the recent interest the private sector has shown in agriculture. Biotechnology, crop protection and agri-business management are emerging as new areas of interest. As far as funding goes, I’m flush with funds. But we are dependent on the state’s contribution when it comes to implementing our programmes, as we contribute 20-30 per cent of the project cost and the state has to contribute the rest." And that doesn’t happen.
It’s this nitty-gritty that the Centre needs to look into. But instead of concentrating on them, the prime minister has embarked on an Indo-US knowledge initiative on agriculture education, research, services and commercial linkages that will prepare graduates in both countries to harness science and technology in the pursuit of attaining and sustaining the ‘Evergreen Revolution’. It will also introduce new courses in agriculture to cater to the changing demand and modernise curricula to enhance quality and relevance.
One isn’t sure whether the solution is to force external changes, or to pressurise the local institutes to become modern. Either way, it’s the farmer who will have to grapple with the transformation. The unfortunate thing is that not too many are even thinking of what will happen to them, their families, neighbours, or counterparts across the country.
