The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Not sweet enough
Sugar mills should pay farmers more

THE Punjab government has announced an increase of Rs 40 a quintal in the sugarcane prices for the 2013-14 crushing season. The procurement prices, which will range between Rs 290 and Rs 275 a quintal, have been immediately rejected as inadequate by the Bharatiya Kisan Union. There is a dichotomy between the cost of production of agricultural commodities and procurement prices announced by governments. Since diesel prices are being incrementally raised, the cost of production is on the rise. The true cost of water and labour is seldom adequately factored in. The M.S. Swaminathan committee’s suggestion of a 50 per cent profit margin for farmers on each crop has remained unimplemented, resulting in disenchantment among farmers.

There are 688-odd sugar mills in the public, private and cooperative sectors in the country. Many are on the verge of closure due to poor profitability and the seasonal nature of business. Mill owners say since farmers are a major vote bank, politicians fix high prices for sugarcane. Until recently, they were forced to sell a part of their sugar at subsidised rates to the government for the public distribution system. In April, the government partially decontrolled the Rs 80,000-crore sugar industry, allowing the mills the freedom to sell their produce in the open market with no obligation towards the government. For the PDS requirements the Centre will reimburse the states the difference in the PDS and retail prices subject to a maximum of Rs 32 a kg for two years.

Accepting the recommendations of the Rangarajan Committee, the Centre has left to the states the issues of sugarcane pricing, the bonding of farmers with specific mills and abolition of cane area regulation. The mills are the obvious gainers and they should now clear farmers’ arrears. They should also implement the Rangarajan committee’s suggestion to pay farmers a 70 per cent share of the value of sugar and its byproducts. To make the sector viable, cane and sugar will have to be produced at lower costs with better varieties and minimum water consumption.

Farm labour
Mechanisation research needed afresh

ONE of the earlier effects of the Green Revolution in Punjab was that the rates of local labour became unaffordable on farms. Industrial and infrastructural development over the past two decades has led to even the migrant labour becoming scarce in the state. The situation has been compounded by the rural job guarantee scheme becoming a competitor for labour in the states from where the most migrants came — Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. People prefer work closer home, even if the rates are slightly lower. As earlier, this year, too, the short supply of labour is being felt most acutely at paddy transplantation time. With its focus shifting to diversification from paddy, the government initiative to promote mechanised transplantation seems to have taken the backseat.

As the economy grows, and industrial production becomes India’s mainstay, agriculture is bound to come into greater competition for labour. The labour cost will thus be determined by industrial rates as more and more of the labour force acquires skills. One of the first fallouts of that will be an increased cost of food production. Punjab is fairly mechanised in farming, at least in terms of wheat and paddy, but as other states shift to these two crops, those too will have to arrange access to machines for their farmers to avoid a steep increase in input costs. It would do them good to avoid the Punjab model of even small farmers buying personal tractors. Cooperative provision of implements is the way to go.

In its drive for diversification, labour is another factor Punjab will have to take into account. Thus far, temporary labour has been coming in at transplantation and harvest time, which served the purpose. Also, all farm mechanisation research and innovation was focused on the two main cereal crops. Diversification could bring in a whole new and varied set of crops, with each requiring its own implements. Horticulture, which is a lucrative alternative, is particularly labour-intensive, and the requirement is year-round. Agricultural universities in the region have to get to work on the multifarious requirements at the earliest, lest the farmer be dissuaded from diversification for want of labour.

Thought for the Day

Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom. —Hannah Arendt

ARTICLE

China’s intransigence
Strategic concern influenced its actions
by Air Marshal R.S. Bedi (retd)

Chinese do not act in haste or, for that matter, impulsively. Their every action is pre-meditated and well thought out. Their 19-km-deep incursion across the LAC in the Daulat Beg Oldie sector last month was neither incidental nor a local affair. This was also not the first time that Chinese troops had transgressed beyond the LAC in this area. It may as well not be the last one either. Although they never questioned India’s sovereignty over this region and their maps too show it as Indian territory, their actions are, however, contrary to it. Obviously, these are rooted in some tactical and strategic logic.

It was on April 15, prior to the visit of the Chinese Premier, Li Keqiang, on May 19 that the crisis erupted suddenly. China instigated the crisis and took India by surprise. For days Delhi remained clueless about how to respond. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid continued to downplay the incident unconvincingly, calling it acne-like. The PM too brushed it aside as a localised incident. In nutshell, India failed to respond in time. The least India could have done was to deploy troops immediately to convey its intent clearly. Hesitant to avoid direct action, India always tends to back off. Whether China or Pakistan, this has always been the pattern of Indian response to our adversary’s offensives.

It took 21 days for India to get intransigent China to agree to pull back on May 5. At long last, India had to harden its stand by threatening to cancel External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid’s upcoming visit to China which would have cast a shadow on the all-important Chinese Premier’s visit to India. China could ill-afford to take such a risk at this juncture unless there was some cost benefit rationale in favour of it. Both countries had been cooperating all along on various issues like Afghanistan, the WTO, trade, economic affairs, BRICS and military exercises.

Only if the Indian leadership had handled the crisis more firmly and resolutely right from the outset, it would perhaps have not reached this critical stage. Political leadership was indecisive and hesitant.

No doubt, the military is to be guided by political hierarchy. For this, an enlightened political leadership is essential which is sadly missing in our case. Political leaders in this country have no interest in matters military. Except for 1971, when Indira Gandhi displayed tremendous acumen and trust of her military leadership, India’s political class has seldom exhibited such attributes.

The Chinese are aware of this. They know the weak and indecisive nature of the Indian political class. They perhaps expected it to cave in quickly. But the hysteria whipped up by the nation and the media forced the government to pick up the gauntlet reluctantly. Notwithstanding this, the government still tried to underplay the significance of the incident with its usual placatory statements and appeasement of China.

China finally agreed to pull back having remained in eyeball-to-eyeball contact for weeks, but only after getting its pound of flesh. Now that it had achieved its mission, it did not mind pulling back to the April 15 line, along with India pulling back, despite having insisted earlier that its troops had not crossed the LAC. Neither government was in a position to allow the face-off to turn into a military engagement. The Chinese are aware of the Indian armed forces’ current prowess. They went in for this adventure apparently under the mistaken belief that the Indian government would not precipitate the matter and cave in quickly under pressure. They obviously misjudged the nation’s response.

However, the disengagement did not come about so easily. During these flag meetings, the Chinese adopted a hard line and insisted on India pulling out unilaterally from the currently held face-off position. China insisted that India stop infrastructure build-up and construction of bunkers in the Fukche and Chumar sectors of Ladakh as a pre-condition for the withdrawal of its troops. Not only that, the Chinese also demanded that some forward observation posts, bunkers and shelters in this area be removed. They also expressed their concern as regards the reactivation of advanced landing grounds in the north and Nyoma in the east during the last few years. China had also been telling India to stop infrastructure build-up along the LAC. During these flag meetings, China was consistently raising objections to increased military activities, aggressive patrolling and infrastructure build-up by India on its side of the LAC. Despite this, the Chinese finally agreed to the Indian proposal to delink all these issues from the current crisis to be taken up separately.

What transpired between the two sides during the last flag meeting before the Chinese agreed to change their stand and pull back simultaneously is in the realm of conjecture only. However, there are enough indicators that suggest that India has indeed given in substantial ground and agreed to dismantle some border defences and also not to fortify the positions any further.

Realising the vast comparative disadvantage and the likelihood of two-front war, India had started to build infrastructure in a big way in the last five years. India needed roads badly for enhanced accessibility in the Himalayan mountains. A number of road projects were sanctioned by the government along different parts of the LAC. India also decided to reactivate the old advanced landing ground (ALGs), both in the western and the eastern sectors.

The Chinese have not been comfortable with these developments on the Indian side. China feels that the strategic balance that existed in its favour for decades would soon be affected if India continued its build up at the present rate. The fact that they started reacting immediately to India’s development plans along the LAC, even though on the Indian side, shows their understanding of strategic nuances and the emerging scenarios.

In contrast, years of development work in Tibet involving road, rail and other infrastructure projects and hardening of airfields for a variety of air operations did not fetch any protest whatsoever or critical response from Indian political leadership. It failed to comprehend the strategic importance of Chinese multifarious activities in Tibet. China has built as many as 15 airfields in Tibet. Of these, six full-fledged bases have been developed in western Tibet and Xinjiang province alone. Fighter aircraft with full weapon loads and transport aircraft like IL-76 with troops and heavy load on board can operate right up to the Indian forward defences. China has been operating Su-30MMk, Su-27 and J-10 fighter aircraft from these airfields regularly. It has also built a huge road/rail network in Tibet. The railway line from Gormo to Lhasa being extended to Shgatse and then further on to Kathmandu has enabled China to induct and sustain troops in Tibet as and when required. Besides, 58,000 km of roads have been constructed by the Chinese in Tibet.

Notwithstanding their own feverish infrastructure build-up along the LAC, they have the temerity to balk at India and halt its development by constantly raising objections and indulging in deliberate incursions to destabilise India. It is in this context that India failed to display the requisite political will in taking on the Chinese after their deep incursion and refusal to pull back unless their demands to dismantle Indian defences were met. Whether India put up any such demands is doubtful. While the Army and the nation were confident and no more bugged by the “1962 syndrome”, the political class, however, remained mired in pacifism. The angst in the nation is clearly palpable.

MIDDLE

Not so civic
by Rama Kashyap

During my teens I was an ardent reader of now defunct The Illustrated Weekly of India. Deeply entrenched in my memory is a cover story published in the magazine decades ago. Columnist and scholar Khushwant Singh, then Editor of the weekly, wrote in his inimitable, no-holds-barred style as to how Indians were the dirtiest people in the world.

That is a different matter. But is it not a fact that despite a significant rise in the literacy rate, we continue to behave like uneducated and uncouth people? We may be very particular regarding our personal hygiene, but it is also true that most of us are least bothered about keeping our surroundings clean.

In close proximity to my house there is a small park, which I visit every day for my evening walk. Along the circular walking path there are benches for the people to sit and relax. All around the benches one can invariably find empty packets, bottles, disposable glasses, wrappers, paper-plates, etc. Not that there are no dustbins in the park, but the people who snick-snack in the garden often leave a trail of junk behind. It is quite common for the people to eat ground nuts and leave a mound of shells. They would have a banana or an orange, there are peels left behind as a tell-tale sign. This phenomenon is not peculiar to my neighbourhood park only but is a common sight in all the public places. Even in the plush Sector 17 market; people enjoy their drink and eatables on the benches and coolly walk away, leaving the trash behind. Why take the trouble of throwing the refuse in the dustbins when there is an easier option of abandoning the litter there itself? We take no time in converting “beauty spots” into “eye sores” as if we are not comfortable in neat surroundings.

What may be outrageous elsewhere is perfectly normal for us. Whereas in the West, owners ensure that their dogs do not litter on the streets; here we make sure that the pets relieve themselves out of the home. The pet dogs have to be taken for a walk to piss and shit outside. The pet is trained not to litter the house but there is nothing wrong if the dog raises its leg in front of the neighbour’s house. We may be finicky about keeping our house clean but some of us display an appalling civic sense. I know of a couple who carries their garbage every day in a poly-bag while they go out for their morning walk and casually throw it on the roadside. How callous!

It is not unusual to see a hand coming out of a swanky car to throw a wrapper or a peel on the road. A gentleman getting down from his car to ease himself on the road side is a common sight. We do not mind spitting here, there and everywhere in the public. When Lalit Bhanot, then organizing secretary, Commonwealth Games, made the infamous comment on the Indian standards of hygiene, he was ridiculed by almost everyone. We were outraged. How dare he let the world know how dirty we are!

OPED-AGRICULTURE

Diversification: Technology, prices still critical
Technology has played a significant role in improving food and livelihood security. Now the challenges have changed and the focus of research has shifted to resource management, climate resilience, post-harvest technology and quality
R S Sidhu and B S Dhillon

Crop diversification in Punjab is a complex issue. Agriculture production depends heavily on agro-climatic conditions and is further influenced by technology, policy, infrastructure, culture of the region and farmers. Historical footprints of policy, farming practices, crop patterns, consumption patterns and traditional lifestyle cannot be overnight changed and thus ignored while framing policies.

We are not strong proponent of subsidies but why always agricultural subsidies in India are criticised while other sectors in our country as well as the agriculture sector in the developed countries continue to avail subsidies and protection from external market forces. Yet, such subsidies that distort the market, leading to irrational and unsustainable use of natural resources, need to be rationalised.

Labourers transplant paddy saplings. Though farm machinery has replaced labour in farm operations in Punjab, demand for labour has not significantly declined and wages are continuously rising. Photo: AFP

But it does not mean that investment subsidies to promote some crops/enterprises to make these economically competitive in the larger interest of conservation of natural resources for productivity and rural livelihood security are bad and should not be provided. Everything cannot be left to market forces when markets in other sectors in India and other countries are distorted and our national food security as well as livelihood of thousands of farmers is at stake.

Yield enhancement has not become irrelevant. Growth in farm incomes will depend upon the future growth in yield, besides shifts in favour of high value agriculture and value addition. Most important is the enhancement in yield and economic returns of the alternative crops that are envisioned to substitute paddy.

Agricultural research needs better funding

Low agricultural research funding at 0.6 per cent of agriculture GDP is a major concern in developing countries, including India, compared to 2-3 per cent in developed countries, where farmers also actively support farm research and help in research prioritisation. But farmers don’t support research in India probably because they are generally poor. Agricultural research, particularly that is relevant to high productivity regions like Punjab, recently has become resource intensive due to the application of biotechnology, ICT, etc. and thus needs enhanced funding.

It would be highly desirable if farmers can chip in and become partners in ‘goal setting’. Buyers are already paying heavy taxes (14.5%) as market charges on grains. Taxing other beneficiaries of agricultural growth will not serve the purpose either because such taxes are also likely to be transferred to farmers.

Agricultural pricing and marketing policy through the MSP (minimum support price) and public procurement have played a significant role in increasing food productivity and production, which consequently raised farm and rural labour incomes. For national food security, foodgrain production was promoted in irrigated areas where potential of such increase was high.

Today, despite the fact that Punjab agriculture faces certain challenges in terms of slowdown in growth, depleting water resources, non-viability of small and marginal holdings, farmers enjoy better standards of living. When diversification is thought of, all strategies are envisaged that do not bring about a fall in farm incomes. In that context, the MSP and assured marketing of alternative crops are a vital necessity to maintain the current standards of living of farmers. Do the farmers of Punjab not have the right to enjoy at least the present level of living?

We were practising 100 per cent organic farming up to the mid-1950s and were grossly food insecure. What would have happened if we had continued with the same agricultural practices considering that our population has trebled since then? Improved technology backed by policy support came to our rescue. Organic farming could not, and cannot, meet the challenge of growing food demand of our country. Yet, it can be practised as a niche on limited scale to meet such demand from relatively affluent sections of society. What is needed is the rational use of fertilizers and agro-chemicals to keep their residue levels within food safety standards.

Alternatives for improving farmers’ incomes

In Punjab 31 per cent of farmers are cultivating less than 5 acres of land which are economically unviable. A reduction in their cost of production is an important strategy to improve their livelihood security. Large investment in farm machinery, especially in small-sized farms, was seen to be responsible for their higher cost of production and low economic margins leading to indebtedness. Agro machinery service centres under the umbrella of cooperative societies have proved very successful in providing services to the farmers on rent and have helped in reducing their cost of production.

This model currently running in more than 1,200 such centres needs to be further replicated and strengthened. Leaving the field open to private players may again lead to higher rental charges. Like the joint group ownership model, cooperative structure also represents people’s collective ownership.

The protected cultivation of vegetables is another alternative for improving income and nutrition of small holders. This method suits such farms due to the availability of labour, the requirement of which is generally high for vegetable crops. However, it has to be kept in mind that the area under such crops cannot be expanded beyond a certain limit due to market constraints.

Dairying supplements as well as provides regular income to farmers in order to ensure their livelihood security. But a small dairy of 4-5 animals, though helpful, is not expected to really uplift the economic viability of small holders. Such a crop-livestock farming system can co-exist with commercial dairy as demand for milk and processed milk is generally sufficient to handle such supplies. The dairy sector has to compete with highly subsidised European dairy, which increases the vulnerability of Punjab dairy to international price volatility. Therefore, it needs to be protected and stabilised in the long-term interests of the state farming economy.

There is no denying the fact that the strengthening of supply/value chains in agriculture is necessary for the vertical integration of market and having access to distant domestic and international markets. It is a gradual process and is likely to take some time but there are certain inherent limitations in the expansion of value chains/supply chains in Punjab. Higher land prices, long distance from the sea port, limited access to the Middle East and Central Asia export markets, and climatic limitations restrict the cultivation of high-value crops in Punjab.

The inter-cropping system approach is highly crop specific in nature in terms of its cultivation as well as economic and ecological feasibility. Sometimes non-agricultural specialists propose completely non-feasible solutions due to their lack of knowledge about farming systems and practices. Inter-cropping is possible only in a few crop sequences and agro-forestry is one of such options. Even in agro-forestry, intercropping after a point cannot be practised economically and ecologically.

Wheat and turmeric are the two most important crop choices that are being taken as inter-crops in poplar-based agro-forestry. But it may have its limits since the incidence of wheat rust increases in such a system. Further, a small increase in the production of crops such as turmeric dampens its prices to such an extent that net returns become lower than the earlier situation of low production and high price.

Demand for labour, wages constantly rising

Punjab agriculture is already highly mechanised in order to attain efficiency and precision in farm operations. Labour shortages during the peak season also necessitate an intensive use of farm machines. Though farm machinery has replaced labour in farm operations but demand for labour has not significantly declined and wages are continuously increasing. Crop diversification is expected to result in higher demand for labour due to a shift to labour-intensive, less mechanised alternative crops.

Wheat being a traditional, high yielding and very stable crop gives much higher income as compared to its competing crops such as barley, brassica, etc. The production is highly stable in Punjab state due to irrigated conditions while production risk is high in other states due to its rain-fed cultivation.

The Government of India has tentatively allocated about Rs 210 crore for diversification in the state. It is a significant initiative but the amount is meagre compared to the diversification requirements. Crop diversification will be a gradual process, which needs large resources. Rice cultivation is the major cause of stress on natural resources and is thus the main focus of diversification plan as a first step.

Punjab Agricultural University is seized of the issues connected with wheat cultivation and is reorienting its research programme to develop varieties with bolder grains and make the state Karnal bunt free area. These steps are being taken to make Punjab competitive in wheat exports. The university has also initiated wheat evaluation under agro-forestry in sub-mountainous tract to monitor and address the problem of wheat rust. It had already developed improved varieties of barley for industry use, brassica and canola. The double haploid technique is being implemented in brassica and other crops to hasten the duration of varietal development from 11/12 years to 7/8 years. Long-term solutions for crop diversification will thus emerge from technology, which will have to be facilitated by policy in the short run.

B S Dhillon is the Vice-Chancellor and R.S. Sidhu the Dean of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana