Popularly known as father of the Green Revolution in Bharat Prof MS Swaminathan has been a former Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. He was later Principal Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and served as Director General of the International Rice Research Institute. He has also been president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1988. In 1999, Time magazine placed him in the ‘Time 20’ list of most influential Asian people of the 20th century
In 2004 he was appointed chairman of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) constituted to study the problems of farmers. In different sets of recommendations the Swaminathan Panel emphasised on the Cost-Risk structure in Indian agriculture. It said that the farmers frequently face fury of the nature in the form of drought, unseasonal and heavy rains causing extensive damage to crops. This coupled with weak institutional support, ever increasing cost of production and not so supporting minimum support prices (at that time) have led to an adverse cost-risk structure of farming. This led to peasant indebtedness and farmers’ distress. He stressed on improving farm productivity and profitability in perpetuity without ecological harm.
In an exclusive interaction with Organiser he shared his mind on the ongoing farmers’ crisis with Ajay Bhardwaj.
Excerpts;
* How do you view the farmers’ unrest in different parts of the country?
The widespread unrest among farmers clearly shows that irrespective of location they all suffer from economic problems. The input-output pricing, adequate and assured procurement at the Minimum Support Price and an efficient public distribution system are all needed to help overcome these problems. Also, credit at low interest rates should be available before the sowing time. A credit-cum-insurance policy will help to insulate farmers from risks beyond their control.
* Do you think the loan system has landed farmers in trouble?
Small farmers will require funds for the purchase of needed inputs. Therefore loans at the right time and at low interest rate will be of help to small producers. What is wrong with the loan system is the fact that the funds are not available at the right time and in right amount. Also, linking of the loans to the legal title to land has become another impediment particularly in the case of women farmers who generally do not possess pattas. The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) has recommended the provision of loans at an interest rate of 4%. Also it has recommended that in the case of women farmers, land pattas should not be demanded.
* Is farmer victim of some malaise that has seeped into the rural Bharat?
Farmers suffer from many problems, among which credit and remunerative marketing are most important. This problem prevails all over the country in the rural economy. This is why farmers are agitating that the procurement price formula recommended by NCF, namely, C2+50%, should be implemented without further delay. The two major areas affecting farmers are the monsoon and the market. With climate change, monsoon behaviour is becoming erratic, and droughts have become more frequent. Market volatility is another major problem, particularly for crops other than wheat and rice, where public procurement is done by agencies like the Food Corporation of Inda. For example, this year even pulses fetched a very low price since they are not included in the public distribution system in spite of the widespread prevalence of protein hunger in the country.
* Have the recommendations you made in your report been implemented?
The NCF recommendations are yet to be implemented in an integrated manner. Some of the recommendations relating to agronomy and technology like ‘more crop per drop of water’, issue of soil health cards, are being implemented. However, the most important recommendation relating to pricing, procurement and public distribution are yet to be acted upon. This is the major problem of agriculture since the economics of farming has not received adequate attention.
* What would you recommend for the government to do?
The most important recommendation I will make is the speedy implementation of the National Policy for Farmers. Neither colonial nor independent India had ever set-up Farmers’ Commission since the earlier Commissions all related to agriculture and not particularly to the problems of farmers. Now that the government has changed the name of the Ministry to Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, as recommended by NCF, it is time that farmers’ welfare received the same attention as big industries. I would like to repeat what I have been frequently saying, “if agriculture goes wrong, nothing else will go right”. The agriculture of Punjab and North-west India provides the insulation against hunger, which is essential for agrarian prosperity. *
