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如何让印度农业变得“性感”
形容词“性感”意味着令人兴奋的吸引力，迷人的描述，“一辆性感的新车”，作者说，被故意用来传达这样一个信息:印度的农业需要彻底的转变，不仅仅是种植作物。它必须是“农业”，还包括花、鱼、家禽、牲畜、蜜蜂等，使它成为最诱人、最现代、最令人向往、最受尊重和回报最高的职业。为了让印度农业变得性感，这里提出了一个六步行动计划:开始尊重农民、合作社、集体和chc，“Atmanirbhar”综合农业，关注妇女和SHGs，增加储存，降低食品通胀，创建国家认可平台。
由——Avik将挑战
觉得标题有攻击性?你不应该，为农业，或农业，在印度是一个经济活动这既不受尊重，也不符合理想。它在经济上也不可行，仍然是失业者的最后手段。它需要尽快变得现代化、有抱负、受人尊敬并极具吸引力。因此,标题!
2014年11月，我们相遇了先生Rohtash Mal的前董事总经理护送拖拉机还有一个通过“定制雇佣中心”进入农业机械化领域的企业家。我很高兴和他一起在拉贾斯坦邦建立了他的品牌“Samadhan”。在我们订婚之初，我问他，是什么让你放弃了一份轻松的公司工作，来到了这个领域。“让印度农业性感”,他说。
梅塔博士谈到了农业的灵魂。其他人都关心身体方面的问题。这正是这种在印度被称为“务农”的活动的错误之处。围绕农民的整个生态系统只涉及提供实物工具和数字接口。几乎没有人花时间在农业的情感方面，比拖拉机或旋转旋转机更深入到使用它们的人的精神框架。
我在这里有意地用“耕种”这个词，而不是“农业”。后者是关于种植农作物、水果和蔬菜，而前者也关于花、鱼、家禽、牲畜、蜜蜂和更多。
农业雇佣了约占本港工作人口的45%，并为55%的人口提供生计。然而，它只贡献了18%的国内生产总值．如下图所示，从事农业的劳动力正在逐渐减少。
大约1.46亿土地拥有2.63亿劳动力，意味着每个农场大约1.8人。我不清楚这是否包括那些每年回“家”一两次的佃农和佃农，他们在城市工作以外的地方收割和赚取额外收入。重要的是，有9900万土地(68%)不足1公顷(10000平方米/ 2.47英亩)。
我们43%的土地是可耕种的，而-à-vis全球平均水平只有11%。这使得我们自古以来是世界上最富饶的地区之一，这也解释了为什么那么多种族、部落和信仰都想在这里定居。
打破一些神话
误解1:农业对GDP的贡献正在下降．我们中的许多人都认为，这个行业没有足够的价值，不值得关注，也不值得在需要时给予补贴。好吧,如果电动汽车补贴可以成为一种新趋势，农业和农业机械化也可以。
这张来自MOSPI / Statista的图表显示GVA每年都在上升。因此，重点和资金支持实际上带来了投资回报。只有提高机械化水平，生产力才会提高，特别是边缘农田的生产力。
误解2:我们的农民生产力不够．他们使用陈旧的方法，不准备像其他行业一样投资现代技术。从20世纪60年代开始，基于印度电影中描绘的农民形象的刻板印象就一直存在。
这两张来自印度央行2022年1月发布的《印度农业公报》的图表显示，除了豆类以外，印度农民的生产力一直在提高，与美国、乌克兰和加拿大的农民相比，印度农民具有巨大的竞争力。美国、乌克兰和加拿大是世界上机械化程度最高的农业市场。有趣的是，土地持有较少的国家似乎生产力更高。
误解3:农业不够现代化．尽管印度的情况还不理想，无法确保与投入的努力相匹配的最佳产量，但根据ICAR的数据，2020-21年所有主要作物的平均机械化水平为健康的47%。我猜是一些行业，比如纺织、鞋类和一些更多的“城市”工作。
水稻和小麦等主要作物的机械化程度很高。如果棉花和甘蔗等落后的作物取得进展，农业的生产力水平将大大提高。
正如下面两张图表所示，自2016年以来，尽管新冠疫情期间的数据尚未公布，但我们看到机械设备的销量正在上升。从2020年拖拉机的销售来看，机械的销售趋势应该会上升，2022年也会下降。
机械化，就像汽车普及率一样，如果我们和巴西相比，还有很长的路要走。【印度的汽车普及率是每千人26部，而巴西是每千人470部!】］
那么，怎样才能让农业变得性感呢?
鉴于我过去7年在这一领域做项目的经验，我相信有6个具体步骤将有助于将农业转变为一种对年轻一代有吸引力的职业，并为当前的农业社区所尊重。务农必须作为一种职业而不是不得已而为之，是出于选择而不是出于强迫。
1. 开始尊重农民
印度人最后一次想到农民是什么时候?在《农场法》运动中。他们在神圣的国家首都的边界上煽动，我们在社交媒体、电视和其他数字平台上攻击和妖魔化他们。
这个社区像士兵一样奉献和无私地为国家服务。我记得哥打的一个农民告诉我:“只有当你没有在你的盘子里吃到你的‘烤肉’时，你才会想起我们……即使到那时，你也只会诅咒我们，而不会问为什么你吃不到烤肉……”
农民像学生、士兵、产业工人和医生一样要求权利和安全。我们的思维模式必须改变，接受他们是社会平等的，而不是为主人工作的附庸。
2. 合作社、集体和社区保健中心
考虑到边际农场(低于1公顷)的优势，解决方案必须自下而上考虑。典型的自上而下思维在印度行不通。我们把合作社和集体作为旧世界的“左派”原则来回避。他们的失败不是因为原则，而是因为腐败。合作社创造了印度的乳业。通过将所有边缘农场纳入集体计划和行动，他们也可以改变其余的农业。
因此，由于我国大部分可耕地的生产力都很低或非常低，全国各地都需要定制租赁中心。社区中心将确保小规模和边缘农民获得世界级的机械化和技术。
马尔曾预测2015年全国需要25万个社区卫生中心。除了像他这样创办了Samadhan的私营企业家，拖拉机制造商也开始了他们的CHC网络，如马欣德拉的Trringo和TAFE的J-Farm。一些邦政府也自己承担起了这项任务，比如安得拉邦的Rythu Bharosa Kendras(计划总共修建11000座)。通过CHCs使用机械化技术使马哈拉施特拉邦干旱地带的大豆产量提高了15%-17%。全国有数千个类似的证明。
3. “Atmanirbhar”综合农业
1967年，当Hare Krishna Konar和Benoy Chaudhury在西孟加拉邦发起了印度第一次有组织的土地改革运动时，他们意识到，必须给小农和边缘农民提供一种综合农业的模板，包括除了依赖气候的作物和蔬菜之外的可持续收入来源，如牲畜、渔业、蜂蜜、家禽和基本的食品加工。“巴尔加行动”的成功为现代农业创造了蓝图。
ICAR从2011年起以NICRA[国家气候适应型农业倡议]的形式进行了同样的现代化。印度正在100个气候最脆弱的地区建立NICRA模范村。当政府谈及成为“阿特曼尼巴尔”经济时，它必须将农业作为国家使命的一个组成部分，而不仅仅是制造、it和研究等“更华丽”的方面。
4. 关注女性和SHGs
目前约有1亿妇女从事农业，预计到2047年这一数字将增至1.2亿。ICAR预测，在未来的25年里，从事农业的女性将多于男性，因为男性继续向城市迁移，寻找城市工作，而女性则继续从事农业。这为大部分印度人提供了两种收入来源。
此外，根据政府数据，在国家农村生计任务的指导下，自助小组运动现在已经发展到约790万个团体，在印度农村地区有8600多万妇女参与。宋惠乔报告(nrlm.gov.in)，由西孟加拉邦领导。这是自著名社会活动家Smt成立SEWA以来印度最大的成就之一。埃拉·巴特1972年在艾哈迈达巴德。
妇女将确保农业变得可持续、有利可图和进步。这个行业在他们手中管理得最好，因为他们最了解如何让村庄繁荣起来。
5. 食物储存起来,通货膨胀下来
即使在独立75年之后，仍然缺乏粮食储存基础设施，这是削弱农民能力的一个因素，一方面迫使他们以低于成本的价格出售农产品，另一方面，营养不良的人继续这样做。
上面的图表显示了在独立和规划了75年之后，只有大约15%的易腐产品被妥善储存的可悲状况。在16个州中，只有6个州的储存量超过其生产总量的10%。除非这种情况得到改善，否则农民破产和自杀的情况将永远不会减少。这就需要补贴和大量的冲销来伤害整个纳税人群。下次你批评农业补贴时，把你的注意力转移到政客和中间商之间的关系上，因为他们从未建立起适当的粮食储存基础设施。
另一个使农民陷入困境的因素是食品价格上涨。事实上，储存不足和食品通胀是相互作用的。由于过度依赖自然季节性降雨，任何气候扰动和缺乏储存都会破坏粮食供应链。像奶制品、谷物和水果等更有组织的行业价格波动较小，而像蔬菜、甘蔗和豆类等无组织的行业则严重影响了生活成本。下面的图表说明了同样的情况。
6. 创建国家认可平台
如果电影、体育协会和国防部队都能有自己的国家奖项，为什么农民就不能呢?我们有拉什特里亚·克里希·萨曼吗?我们有农民的国庆节吗?
当我们说“Jai kisaan”时，我们只是嘴上说说，但实际上希望“Jaaye kisaan”(让农民迷路)。基本上，这个国家的其他地方认为农民是理所当然的，把农民放在社会经济链条的底部，被认为是贫穷的，没有受过教育的，没有权力的，因此被遗弃。
政府也好不了多少，它从来没有把农民带到国家平台的前沿，也没有为他们创建专门的平台。
在对农民的基本尊重没有增长之前，务农是农民自己想要逃避的行为。农村的年轻一代将涌向城市，为“零工经济”增添活力。
印度一直被称为“金色的鸟”。这并不是因为这片土地上埋藏着珠宝和财宝。这是因为这片土地是世界上最肥沃的土地之一，确保了几个世纪以来的黄金收成。在1967年的印度电影《厄普卡尔》中，当Mahendra Kapoor唱到“Mere desh ki dharti sona ugle, ugle here moti…”我的土地出产黄金、钻石和珍珠他是认真的!
免责声明:(作者是体验印度的联合创造者。此外，他还曾担任大众汽车印度公司的营销、产品规划和公关主管。)
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报告:今年节日期间，电动汽车需求增长134%
最新的《Justdial Consumer Insights》报告称，今年节日期间，印度对电动汽车的需求跃升了134%，在印度二线城镇和城市的受欢迎程度迅速上升，超过了-à-vis一线城市。
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By- Avik Chattopadhyay<\/i><\/b>
Find the title offensive? You should not, for farming, or agriculture, in India is an economic activity<\/a> that is neither respected, nor aspirational. It is also not economically viable and still is the last resort of the unemployed. It needs to be modern, aspirational, respected and hugely appealing, as soon as possible. Therefore, the title!
In November 2014, I met Shri Rohtash Mal<\/a>, ex managing director of Escorts Tractors<\/a> and an entrepreneur in the space of farm mechanisation through \u201ccustom hiring centres\u201d. I had the pleasure of working with him building his brand \u201cSamadhan\u201d in Rajasthan. What made you leave a cushy corporate job and enter this space, I asked him, early on in our engagement. \u201cTo make Indian farming<\/a> sexy\u201d, he said.
<\/div><\/div>Almost eight years later, on September 28, 2022, I attended the ETAuto Farm Equipment<\/a> Summit. Sitting attentively through the various sessions on technology, product excellence and operational efficiency, the session that literally woke me up was the one by Dr C.R. Mehta of ICAR. He took us through a journey of how the right technology needs to be adopted to help the farmer at the ground level. This was about \u201ccustomer intimacy\u201d, beyond product, technology and efficiency. This was about actually empathising with the farmer rather than talking to him from a pedestal. And I remembered Mr. Mal\u2019s words!
Dr Mehta talked about the soul of farming. Everybody else was concerned about the physical aspects. And that is exactly what is wrong about this activity called \u201cfarming\u201d in India. The entire eco-system around the farmer is only concerned with supplying with physical implements and digital interfaces. Almost no one invests any time in working on the emotional aspect of farming, deeper than the tractor or rotavator into the mental frame of the person using them.
I consciously and deliberately use the term \u201cfarming\u201d and not \u201cagriculture\u201d here. The latter is about growing crops, fruits and vegetables whereas the former is also about flowers, fishes, poultry, livestock, bees and a lot more.
Dr Mehta talked about the soul of farming. Everybody else was concerned about the physical aspects. And that is exactly what is wrong about this activity called \u201cfarming\u201d in India. The entire eco-system around the farmer is only concerned with supplying with physical implements and digital interfaces. Almost no one invests any time in working on the emotional aspect of farming, deeper than the tractor or rotavator into the mental frame of the person using them.
I consciously and deliberately use the term \u201cfarming\u201d and not \u201cagriculture\u201d here. The latter is about growing crops, fruits and vegetables whereas the former is also about flowers, fishes, poultry, livestock, bees and a lot more.
<\/div><\/div>Some statistics to start with<\/b>
Farming employs<\/a> around 45% of our working population and provides livelihood to 55% of the population. Yet it contributes only 18% to our GDP<\/a>. And the workforce engaged in farming is gradually decreasing as the chart below shows.
About 146 million landholdings engage a workforce of 263 million people, implying that roughly 1.8 persons per farm. I am not clear if this includes the contract and sharecroppers who return to their \u2018homes\u2019 once or twice a year for harvesting and additional earning over their city jobs. What is of significance is that 99 million of the landholdings [68%] are less than 1 hectare [10,000 square metres \/ 2.47 acres].
Forty-three per cent of our total land is arable vis-\u00e0-vis just 11% as a global average. This makes us one of the most fertile parts of the world for times immemorial justifying why so many races, tribes and faiths wanted to settle down here.
Sources: Dr CR Mehta, Director \u2013 ICAR; MOSPI - Statista<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figure>
Some myths to bust<\/b>
Myth #1 - the contribution of farming to GDP is dropping<\/b>. Many of us feel that this sector is not valuable enough to put focus on and subsidise when required. Well, if electric vehicles<\/a> can be subsidised being a new trend, so can farming and farm mechanisation.
<\/figure>
This chart from MOSPI \/ Statista shows that the GVA has been rising every year. Therefore the focus and financial support is actually bringing returns on the investment. Only if the levels of mechanisation can be more, the productivity would be higher especially from the marginal farmlands.
Myth #2 \u2013 our farmers are not productive enough<\/b>. They use archaic methods and are not ready to invest in modern technologies like other industries. Again, a stereotype based on images of farmers created in Indian movies lingering from the 1960s.
<\/figure>
These two charts from an RBI Bulletin on Indian Agriculture released in January 2022 show how productivity has been rising except for pulses and the Indian farmer is hugely competitive when compared with one in the US, Ukraine and Canada, some of the most mechanised farming markets in the world. Interestingly, countries with lower land holdings seem to be more productive.
Myth #3 \u2013 farming is not modern enough<\/b>. While the situation in India is not yet ideal to ensure optimum output against the efforts put in, the average mechanisation level across all major crops in 2020-21, as per ICAR, stands at a healthy 47%. Guess some sectors like textiles, footwear and a few more \u2018urban\u2019 jobs.
<\/figure>
Key crops like rice and wheat do see a high level of mechanisation. If the laggards like cotton and sugarcane make progress, farming will see much higher levels of productivity.
As the next two charts show, since 2016 we are seeing rising sales of machinery though the Covid period data is not yet with us. Going by the sales of tractors in 2020, the trend should be upwards for machinery as well with a dip in 2022.
<\/figure>
Mechanisation, just like vehicle penetration, has quite some way to go if we compare ourselves with Brazil. [Car penetration in India is at 26 per 1000 compared with 470 per 1000 in Brazil!]
So, what will make farming sexy?<\/b>
Given my experience of having done projects in this sector over the last seven years, I believe there are six specific steps that will help transform farming into a profession that is appealing to the younger generation as well as respected for the present farming community. Farming has to be taken up as a profession and not as a last resort, out of choice and not out of compulsion.
1.<\/b>Start respecting the farmer<\/b>
When was the last time the average Indian thought about the farmer? During the Farm Laws agitation. They agitated on the borders of the hallowed national capital and we trolled and demonised them over social media, television and other digital platforms.
This community serves the nation as dedicated and selfless as the soldier. I remember a farmer in Kota telling me, \u201cOnly when you do not get your \u2018roti\u2019 on your dinner plate one night will you remember us\u2026and even then you will only curse us and not ask why the roti could not reach you\u2026\u201d
The farmer asks for rights and security just as students, soldiers, industrial workers and doctors do. Our mind-set has to change in accepting them as social equals and not as vassals working for masters.
2.<\/b>Cooperatives, collectives and CHCs<\/b>
Given the predominance of marginal farms [below 1 hectare] the solutions have to be thought bottom-up. Typical top-down thinking cannot work in India. We shunned cooperatives and collectives as old-world \u2018leftist\u2019 principles. They had failed not because of the principle but the corruption. Cooperatives have created the Indian dairy industry. They can transform the rest of farming too by integrating all the marginal farms into collective plans and actions.
Custom hiring centres, therefore, are the need of the hour across the country as larger parts of our arable land are of low or very low productivity. The CHCs will ensure access to world-class mechanisation and technology to the small and marginal farmers.
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Mr. Mal had projected the need for 250,000 CHCs across the country in 2015. Apart from private entrepreneurs like him starting Samadhan, tractor makers started their CHC networks like Mahindra\u2019s Trringo and TAFE\u2019s J-Farm. Some state governments have also taken up the task themselves like the Rythu Bharosa Kendras in Andhra Pradesh [plan of building 11,000 in total]. Use of mecnahisation through CHCs has improved the soya bean production in the arid belts of Maharashtra by 15%-17%. And there are thousands of similar proofs of performance across the country.
3.<\/b>\u201cAtmanirbhar\u201d integrated farming<\/b>
When Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Chaudhury started India\u2019s first organised land reforms movement in 1967 in West Bengal, they realised that the small and marginal farmers had to be given a template of integrated farming that includes sources of sustainable income apart from climate-dependent crops and vegetables, like livestock, fishery, honey, poultry and also rudimentary food processing. The success of \u201cOperation Barga\u201d created a blueprint for modern farming.
The ICAR has modernised the same in the form of NICRA [National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture] from 2011. Model NICRA villages are being set up in the 100 most climatically vulnerable districts in India. When the government talks of being \u201cAtmanirbhar\u201d as an economy, it must have farming as an integral component of the national mission and not only the \u2018fancier\u2019 aspects of manufacturing, IT and research.
4.<\/b>Focus on women and SHGs<\/b>
About 100 million women are engaged in farming right now and the number is projected to grow to 120 million by 2047. ICAR projects that there will be more women engaged in farming than men in the next 25 years as the latter keep moving to the cities for urban jobs while the womenfolk continue with farming. This allows two income sources for a large part of the Indian population.
In addition, the Self Help Group movement has grown now to around 7.9 million groups engaging more than 86 million women across rural India under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission as per government data [SHG Report (nrlm.gov.in)<\/a>], led by West Bengal. This has been one of India\u2019s biggest achievements since the formation of SEWA by the renowned social activist Smt. Ela Bhatt in 1972 in Ahmedabad.
Women will ensure farming becomes sustainable, profitable, and progressive. This industry is best managed in their hands as they best understand how to make villages prosperous.
5.<\/b>Storage up, food inflation<\/a> down<\/b>
The lack of food storage infrastructure even after 75 years of independence is one factor that cripples the farmer on the one hand forcing him \/ her to sell produce at below-cost rates and the malnourished on the other hand to remain so.
Source: RBI Bulletin on Indian Agriculture, January 2022<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
The above chart shows the pathetic situation of only around 15% of all perishable production being stored properly after 75 years of independence and planning. Only 6 states our of 16 in the chart store more than 10% of what they produce. Unless this improves, farmer bankruptcies and suicides will never see any reduction. And that necessitates subsidies and huge write-offs hurting the entire tax-paying population. The next time you criticise farm subsidies, turn your focus on the politician-middleman nexus that never built a proper food storage infrastructure.
The other factor that cripples the farmer is food inflation. In fact, lack of storage and food inflation work in tandem. Being overdependent on natural seasonal rain, any climatic disturbances and lack of storage disrupt the food supply chain. The more organised sectors like dairy, cereals and fruits see less volatility in prices whereas the unorganised ones like vegetables, sugarcane and pulses play havoc with the cost of living. The charts below say the same story.
Source: RBI Bulletin on Indian Agriculture, January 2022<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
6.<\/b>Create national recognition platforms<\/b>
If the film and sports fraternities and the defence forces can have their dedicated national awards, why not the farmers? Do we have a Rashtriya Krishi Samman? Do we even have a national day for the farmers?
We only do lip service when we say \u201cJai kisaan\u201d but actually wish \u201cJaaye kisaan\u201d [let the farmer get lost]. Basically, the rest of the country takes the farmer for granted and treats one at the bottom of the socio-economic chain, accepted as poor, uneducated, disempowered and therefore to be left to one\u2019s lot.
The government too is not much better, never bringing the farmer to the forefront on national platforms or creating specific ones for them.
Till the time the fundamental respect for the farmer does not grow, the act of farming is one that the farmer himself \/ herself will want to run away from. And the younger generation in the villages will rush to the cities to add to the \u201cgig economy\u201d.
India has been famously called the \u201cSone ki chidiya\u201d [bird of gold]. That was not because this was a land of jewels and treasures buried in the ground. That was because this land is one of the most fertile in the world ensuring golden crops for centuries. In the 1967 Hindi film Upkaar, when Mahendra Kapoor sang, \u201cMere desh ki dharti sona ugle, ugle here moti\u2026\u201d [this soil of my land produces gold, diamonds and pearls<\/i>] he meant it!
Disclaimer:(The author is co-creator of Expereal India. Also, he is former head of marketing, product planning and PR at Volkswagen India.)
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Farming employs<\/a> around 45% of our working population and provides livelihood to 55% of the population. Yet it contributes only 18% to our GDP<\/a>. And the workforce engaged in farming is gradually decreasing as the chart below shows.
About 146 million landholdings engage a workforce of 263 million people, implying that roughly 1.8 persons per farm. I am not clear if this includes the contract and sharecroppers who return to their \u2018homes\u2019 once or twice a year for harvesting and additional earning over their city jobs. What is of significance is that 99 million of the landholdings [68%] are less than 1 hectare [10,000 square metres \/ 2.47 acres].
Forty-three per cent of our total land is arable vis-\u00e0-vis just 11% as a global average. This makes us one of the most fertile parts of the world for times immemorial justifying why so many races, tribes and faiths wanted to settle down here.
<\/figure>Some myths to bust<\/b>
Myth #1 - the contribution of farming to GDP is dropping<\/b>. Many of us feel that this sector is not valuable enough to put focus on and subsidise when required. Well, if electric vehicles<\/a> can be subsidised being a new trend, so can farming and farm mechanisation.
<\/figure>This chart from MOSPI \/ Statista shows that the GVA has been rising every year. Therefore the focus and financial support is actually bringing returns on the investment. Only if the levels of mechanisation can be more, the productivity would be higher especially from the marginal farmlands.
Myth #2 \u2013 our farmers are not productive enough<\/b>. They use archaic methods and are not ready to invest in modern technologies like other industries. Again, a stereotype based on images of farmers created in Indian movies lingering from the 1960s.
<\/figure>These two charts from an RBI Bulletin on Indian Agriculture released in January 2022 show how productivity has been rising except for pulses and the Indian farmer is hugely competitive when compared with one in the US, Ukraine and Canada, some of the most mechanised farming markets in the world. Interestingly, countries with lower land holdings seem to be more productive.
Myth #3 \u2013 farming is not modern enough<\/b>. While the situation in India is not yet ideal to ensure optimum output against the efforts put in, the average mechanisation level across all major crops in 2020-21, as per ICAR, stands at a healthy 47%. Guess some sectors like textiles, footwear and a few more \u2018urban\u2019 jobs.
<\/figure>Key crops like rice and wheat do see a high level of mechanisation. If the laggards like cotton and sugarcane make progress, farming will see much higher levels of productivity.
As the next two charts show, since 2016 we are seeing rising sales of machinery though the Covid period data is not yet with us. Going by the sales of tractors in 2020, the trend should be upwards for machinery as well with a dip in 2022.
<\/figure>Mechanisation, just like vehicle penetration, has quite some way to go if we compare ourselves with Brazil. [Car penetration in India is at 26 per 1000 compared with 470 per 1000 in Brazil!]
So, what will make farming sexy?<\/b>
Given my experience of having done projects in this sector over the last seven years, I believe there are six specific steps that will help transform farming into a profession that is appealing to the younger generation as well as respected for the present farming community. Farming has to be taken up as a profession and not as a last resort, out of choice and not out of compulsion.
1.<\/b>Start respecting the farmer<\/b>
When was the last time the average Indian thought about the farmer? During the Farm Laws agitation. They agitated on the borders of the hallowed national capital and we trolled and demonised them over social media, television and other digital platforms.
This community serves the nation as dedicated and selfless as the soldier. I remember a farmer in Kota telling me, \u201cOnly when you do not get your \u2018roti\u2019 on your dinner plate one night will you remember us\u2026and even then you will only curse us and not ask why the roti could not reach you\u2026\u201d
The farmer asks for rights and security just as students, soldiers, industrial workers and doctors do. Our mind-set has to change in accepting them as social equals and not as vassals working for masters.
2.<\/b>Cooperatives, collectives and CHCs<\/b>
Given the predominance of marginal farms [below 1 hectare] the solutions have to be thought bottom-up. Typical top-down thinking cannot work in India. We shunned cooperatives and collectives as old-world \u2018leftist\u2019 principles. They had failed not because of the principle but the corruption. Cooperatives have created the Indian dairy industry. They can transform the rest of farming too by integrating all the marginal farms into collective plans and actions.
Custom hiring centres, therefore, are the need of the hour across the country as larger parts of our arable land are of low or very low productivity. The CHCs will ensure access to world-class mechanisation and technology to the small and marginal farmers.
<\/figure><\/figure>Mr. Mal had projected the need for 250,000 CHCs across the country in 2015. Apart from private entrepreneurs like him starting Samadhan, tractor makers started their CHC networks like Mahindra\u2019s Trringo and TAFE\u2019s J-Farm. Some state governments have also taken up the task themselves like the Rythu Bharosa Kendras in Andhra Pradesh [plan of building 11,000 in total]. Use of mecnahisation through CHCs has improved the soya bean production in the arid belts of Maharashtra by 15%-17%. And there are thousands of similar proofs of performance across the country.
3.<\/b>\u201cAtmanirbhar\u201d integrated farming<\/b>
When Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Chaudhury started India\u2019s first organised land reforms movement in 1967 in West Bengal, they realised that the small and marginal farmers had to be given a template of integrated farming that includes sources of sustainable income apart from climate-dependent crops and vegetables, like livestock, fishery, honey, poultry and also rudimentary food processing. The success of \u201cOperation Barga\u201d created a blueprint for modern farming.
The ICAR has modernised the same in the form of NICRA [National Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture] from 2011. Model NICRA villages are being set up in the 100 most climatically vulnerable districts in India. When the government talks of being \u201cAtmanirbhar\u201d as an economy, it must have farming as an integral component of the national mission and not only the \u2018fancier\u2019 aspects of manufacturing, IT and research.
4.<\/b>Focus on women and SHGs<\/b>
About 100 million women are engaged in farming right now and the number is projected to grow to 120 million by 2047. ICAR projects that there will be more women engaged in farming than men in the next 25 years as the latter keep moving to the cities for urban jobs while the womenfolk continue with farming. This allows two income sources for a large part of the Indian population.
In addition, the Self Help Group movement has grown now to around 7.9 million groups engaging more than 86 million women across rural India under the National Rural Livelihoods Mission as per government data [SHG Report (nrlm.gov.in)<\/a>], led by West Bengal. This has been one of India\u2019s biggest achievements since the formation of SEWA by the renowned social activist Smt. Ela Bhatt in 1972 in Ahmedabad.
Women will ensure farming becomes sustainable, profitable, and progressive. This industry is best managed in their hands as they best understand how to make villages prosperous.
5.<\/b>Storage up, food inflation<\/a> down<\/b>
The lack of food storage infrastructure even after 75 years of independence is one factor that cripples the farmer on the one hand forcing him \/ her to sell produce at below-cost rates and the malnourished on the other hand to remain so.
The above chart shows the pathetic situation of only around 15% of all perishable production being stored properly after 75 years of independence and planning. Only 6 states our of 16 in the chart store more than 10% of what they produce. Unless this improves, farmer bankruptcies and suicides will never see any reduction. And that necessitates subsidies and huge write-offs hurting the entire tax-paying population. The next time you criticise farm subsidies, turn your focus on the politician-middleman nexus that never built a proper food storage infrastructure.
The other factor that cripples the farmer is food inflation. In fact, lack of storage and food inflation work in tandem. Being overdependent on natural seasonal rain, any climatic disturbances and lack of storage disrupt the food supply chain. The more organised sectors like dairy, cereals and fruits see less volatility in prices whereas the unorganised ones like vegetables, sugarcane and pulses play havoc with the cost of living. The charts below say the same story.
6.<\/b>Create national recognition platforms<\/b>
If the film and sports fraternities and the defence forces can have their dedicated national awards, why not the farmers? Do we have a Rashtriya Krishi Samman? Do we even have a national day for the farmers?
We only do lip service when we say \u201cJai kisaan\u201d but actually wish \u201cJaaye kisaan\u201d [let the farmer get lost]. Basically, the rest of the country takes the farmer for granted and treats one at the bottom of the socio-economic chain, accepted as poor, uneducated, disempowered and therefore to be left to one\u2019s lot.
The government too is not much better, never bringing the farmer to the forefront on national platforms or creating specific ones for them.
Till the time the fundamental respect for the farmer does not grow, the act of farming is one that the farmer himself \/ herself will want to run away from. And the younger generation in the villages will rush to the cities to add to the \u201cgig economy\u201d.
India has been famously called the \u201cSone ki chidiya\u201d [bird of gold]. That was not because this was a land of jewels and treasures buried in the ground. That was because this land is one of the most fertile in the world ensuring golden crops for centuries. In the 1967 Hindi film Upkaar, when Mahendra Kapoor sang, \u201cMere desh ki dharti sona ugle, ugle here moti\u2026\u201d [this soil of my land produces gold, diamonds and pearls<\/i>] he meant it!
Disclaimer:(The author is co-creator of Expereal India. Also, he is former head of marketing, product planning and PR at Volkswagen India.)
Read More: