tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37785700968263671442024-03-19T14:18:46.174+05:30Ground RealityUnderstanding the politics of food, agriculture and hungerDevinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.comBlogger1197125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-73474021321411417692024-03-16T11:22:00.004+05:302024-03-16T12:28:55.719+05:30An Indian farmer is a prisoner of his image <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjTiPWVMifi7GSske2PZHi3YPKRd6kH2CnntEmuG04pdG2bX90Ms56IwA6S6jyMAjlMVo9P0I1lI01mWa_0uPdQc2zZ1-THdvveWApBmS_YllsPK-dSPsvHDOFKRly1jxEdYjEnMM6H1XLY_3GC2daqpDN2Xi5aBHGhHifqdYfnuFvnALPTP6wLS2M1Do" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1267" data-original-width="1900" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhjTiPWVMifi7GSske2PZHi3YPKRd6kH2CnntEmuG04pdG2bX90Ms56IwA6S6jyMAjlMVo9P0I1lI01mWa_0uPdQc2zZ1-THdvveWApBmS_YllsPK-dSPsvHDOFKRly1jxEdYjEnMM6H1XLY_3GC2daqpDN2Xi5aBHGhHifqdYfnuFvnALPTP6wLS2M1Do=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 16pt;"><br /></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 16pt;">Farmers are victims of the dominant economic policies. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-size: 16pt; font-style: italic;">Pic courtesy: </i><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Microsoft News </span></div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;">Several decades ago, the distinguished civil
servant-scientist-administrator, late Dr M S Randhawa, had in an article talked about
the popular perception about farmers and farming. A farmer is no doubt very
hard working, and comes winter, summer or rain; you can always see him toiling
hard in his crop fields. There is no denying that putting in his sweat and
labour, farmers have single handedly pulled the country from the abyss of a
hunger trap.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">But what disturbed Dr Randhawa was the accepted image
of a farmer that prevailed in the society at that time. In popular imagination,
a farmer wears a simple dress, often a dirty <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">kurta </i>and<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> dhoti</i> and walks
around wearing a soiled <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jutti</i> with stitched
holes. He is expected at best to use a bicycle for commuting and whenever you
see him driving a two-wheeler, it often raises eyebrows.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Times may have changed but the perception about
farmers and farming still remains the same. The bicycle may have been replaced
by a two-wheeler, which may be now replaced by a car, many a times the swanky
models for farmers in the upper bracket, but the popular imagination about
farming as a profession hasn’t changed much. A reflection of the rural-urban
divide, farming still continues to be at the urban fringe. For instance, a
farmer is still frowned upon if he tries to enter the urban space, and apes even
the food habits, and that includes eating pizza for instance. Further, at a
time when it is not unusual to see a household helper driving a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">scooty</i> to her place of work, a farmer using
an expensive music system on tractors is easily disapproved of.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Farming has in fact become a dirty word. There is so
much of visceral apathy towards farmers that the dominant narrative questioning
protesting farmers demand for a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP)
is met with scorn and contempt. The derogatory terms that continue to be thrown
at protesting farmers and the disparaging remarks in the mainline as well as the
social media, is a reflection of the hatred and disgust that prevails against
the farming community. It is generally believed that farmers are a pampered
lot, receive huge subsidies, get free electricity and do not pay income tax. Any
increase in farmer’s income will hit consumer prices as a result of which food
inflation will increase therefore the focus has remained on denying farmers the
right to enhanced income.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">There is so much of misinformation and flawed economic
arguments being tossed around that it isn’t easy to decipher the realty from
the myth. In any case, policy makers, economists and the media seem happy with
the seeds of confusion that have been sown. Whether it is the imaginative food
inflation figures or the expected financial burden on the national exchequer, all
kinds of questionable data is doing the rounds. The basic premise being that
any rise in farmer’s income will distort markets and thereby reduce trade and
industry profits.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In reality, what has become more than obvious is that
the nation appears content at keeping the farmers perpetually in poverty.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">If farmers were a pampered lot I see no reason why
the average farm income should continue to be at the lowest ebb. At the risk of
reiterating what has been said earlier, the latest report of the Situational
Assessment Survey for Agricultural Households 2021 computes the average monthly
farm household income at Rs 10,218. It also showed that the income from farming
was less than the monthly wages of MNREGA workers. Worse still, as an Indian
Express explainer on the situation of farmers (Feb 23, 2024) shows the average
farm incomes in States like West Bengal and Odisha is still lower and in the
range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per household per month. Even in Andhra Pradesh
and Telengana where more than 90 per cent farm households are indebted, the
incomes are very low. In a study it has been found out that in several
drought-hit districts of Andhra Pradesh nearly 14 per cent of household incomes
comes from government schemes that includes direct income support by Centre and
the State governments.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Moreover, as the 2022-23 Household Expenditure
Survey presented a few days back shows how precarious has farming become as a
professional enterprise with farm households consumption falling below rural households.
Consumption is low because the income is low. Therefore to say farmers don’t
pay income tax is not fair. As a nation isn’t it is our duty to first give farmers
a taxable income? </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In any case, it is the consumer-centric approach
that actually denies farmers’ the right price. Barring a couple of years, terms
of trade have remained negative. Several studies have shown that rural wages
are stagnant or are declining for over a decade. The decline in farm household
consumption levels corroborates that. And still, the moment a relatively higher
MSP is announced, newspaper editorials invariably link it to an anticipated
rise in food inflation.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">What is little known is that the Commission for
Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) which calculates the MSP for 23 crops for
which prices are announced does look into input-output price parity and trends
in market prices before recommending the prices. There is no reason to complain
if only the media had conveyed that MSP always factors in the effect it will
have on consumer prices. Further, by keeping food inflation within the
permissible range as prescribed by the Reserve Bank of India, what people don’t
often realise is that farmers end up actually subsidising the consumers and
thereby the nation’s economy.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Take the latest study by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which makes it explicitly clear
that Indian farmers have been cultivating losses since 2000, the year when it
began assessing producer-subsidy support. The economic loss farmers have
suffered is after what price markets give to farmers, and adding the subsidy
support (including free electricity in some States) that farmers receive. The
OECD data makes it abundantly clear that to keep markets intact, we have
deliberately kept farming pauperised.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">As long as we continue to keep farmers deprived of
the basic needs, the image that Dr M S Randhawa drew for a farmer is not going
to change. A guaranteed MSP will be the first step to pull farmers out of the
crisis but a lot more needs to be done to cover up the losses that he continues
to suffer over the decades. Unless the effort shifts to ensuring income parity
between farmers and other sections of the society, farmer will continue to be a
prisoner of his image. #<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><i>Source: </i><b>Stop the MSP myths; first ensure a taxable income for farmers. </b><i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Mar 8, 2024. </o:p></span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/stop-the-flawed-msp-myths-first-ensure-a-taxable-income-for-farmers-1297184&source=gmail&ust=1710654679284000&usg=AOvVaw2VpL12cmfUCy1F5nAGmqya" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/stop-the-flawed-msp-myths-first-ensure-a-taxable-income-for-farmers-1297184" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/stop-the-flawed-msp-<wbr></wbr>myths-first-ensure-a-taxable-<wbr></wbr>income-for-farmers-1297184</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-43409714216160361932024-03-09T10:31:00.005+05:302024-03-09T10:31:57.604+05:30My interview: "Vision of Vikas passes through agriculture" <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUapu71GqvWykveVbT-ttAw9DgKdpPgeNJ_IgfvLQRMKTeyGSo4w6bMSKlUyV-GLe0lldbXp7yZEZ_xjsjewdtUPREeyl3ntiomzYsQE79NkzJKFVudUYvoXZVau0QsAsn5LgPw2fPNU9qlT2bqxI_eP5-8PCdyFP68_gIEZFH8FXLpHyqHLvBA8sgE0/s960/AP1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="960" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOUapu71GqvWykveVbT-ttAw9DgKdpPgeNJ_IgfvLQRMKTeyGSo4w6bMSKlUyV-GLe0lldbXp7yZEZ_xjsjewdtUPREeyl3ntiomzYsQE79NkzJKFVudUYvoXZVau0QsAsn5LgPw2fPNU9qlT2bqxI_eP5-8PCdyFP68_gIEZFH8FXLpHyqHLvBA8sgE0/w640-h426/AP1.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The farmers’ agitation coincides
with the central government’s announcement of Bharat Ratna for Chaudhary Charan
Singh and MS Swaminathan. How do you view this dichotomy? </b> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Ans</span></b><span style="color: black;">: Yes, there is a contradiction. Both Chaudhary Charan
Singh and distinguished agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan were
champions for the cause of farmers and farming. While Charan Singh wanted 60
per cent reservation for children of tillers in government jobs, the laws he
brought in for consolidation of land holdings and the abolition of zamindari
helped transform the rural economy. These reforms provided an enabling
environment for the Green Revolution to take effective roots by making it
convenient to bring in improved technology, which included using tractors to
plough the consolidated farm lands. As someone who felt the pain and suffering
that farmers were encountered with, he would often say that a farmer is born in
debt and dies in debt. To ensure that farmers don’t get cheated, he would
advise farmers to keep an eye on the plough and another eye on New Delhi,
implying that they cannot remain oblivious to the policy framework being worked
out for them. Farmers should know what policies are needed for their
betterment.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Prof M S Swaminathan, better known as the architect
of India’s Green Revolution, brought in a remarkable technological
transformation pulling the country out from the throes of hunger. For a country
somehow surviving in a ‘ship-to-mouth’ existence, the transition to emerge food
secure will remain a golden chapter of the 20<sup>th</sup> century history. But
over the years, Prof Swaminathan realised that increasing crop productivity
hasn’t brought in income security to the toiling millions. While crop
production had been steadily increasing (and still growing), farm incomes had
been on a steep decline. As Chairman of the National Farmers Commission, his
recommendation to provide farmers with weighted cost plus 50 per cent profit,
which means C2+50 as it is popularly known, has triggered a nationwide campaign
by farming unions demanding the formula he suggested to be implemented while
working out farm prices. Like Charan Singh, Prof Swaminathan too realised the
despicable conditions in which farmers lived, and had gone a step ahead by
actually suggesting a pricing formula that would bring economic justice to the
beleaguered farming community. By posthumously honouring both of them with the
highest civilian award, the best tribute the country can pay to the great
visionary is to implement what is popularly Swaminathan’s recommendation. This
may be a small step to ensure that a farmer at least doesn’t die in debt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As
per the National Crime Records Bureau data there has been no let-up in the
suicide cases amongst farmers and agriculture labourers in recent years. On the
other side, Modi government had promised to double farmers’ income by 2022.
What’s your take on the government efforts in this direction since 2014 and the
agricultural policies? <span style="background: white;">The BJP had come to
the power at the Centre on the promise of "Sab ka saath, sab ka
Vikaas".<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black;">Ans:</span></b><span style="background: white; color: black;"> When in 2016 the government announced it would double farmer’s income
in the next five years, the question that I was often asked was what the income
of farmers was at that time that the government promised to double. Quoting the
Economic Survey 2016, my reply was that the average farming income in 17 States
of India, which meant roughly half the country, was barely Rs 20,000 a year. In
other words, farming families were living on less than Rs 1,700 per month. This
was not even enough for a farmer in Punjab to rear a cow. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Subsequently, a few
years later, the Situational Assessment Survey for Agricultural Households,
presented in 2021, showed a farm household income in India was at Rs 10,218 per
month. In fact, farm income was computed to be lower than the monthly wages of
MNREGA workers. Income from farming alone (not including non-farm activities)
was a paltry Rs 27 per day. This showed that farming was at the bottom of the
pyramid. With farm household expenditure being lower than that of rural
households, the latest Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022-23 too endorses
the precarious condition in which farming as a profession hangs by itself. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="background: white; color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With such low farm
incomes, indebtedness in the sector is growing. It is like a serial death dance
on the farm. With incomes remaining static or on the decline, there are no
signs that indicate any lessening of the tragedy on the farm. Whereas it should
be clear that to realise Prime Minister’s vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, the
pathway is through agriculture. Given that roughly 50 per cent of the country’s
population is engaged in agriculture, there is no other way than to enhance
farmers’ income. We cannot leave farmers behind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Some
agricultural economists believe that legalising MSP for 23 crops is not
practical owing to exorbitant fiscal cost and partly because the government has
already been giving several subsidies in the agricultural sector?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Ans: </span></b><span style="color: black;">Both the assessments are incorrect.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>The Rs 10-lakh crore figure that is
being tossed around as the fiscal cost for legalising MSP for 23 crops is
primarily meant at creating a fear psychosis. While this appears to be the
total cost if farm produce is procured what farmers are demanding in reality is
that the MSP becomes a benchmark price below which no trading takes place. It
doesn’t mean the government has to procure everything. Moreover, there are
independent estimates of the additional cost which varies between Rs
21,000-crore to Rs 1.5-lakh crore. Crisil India has shown that meeting the
shortfall in MSP and the market price will cost no more than Rs 21,000-crore.
The former Chairman of the Karnataka Agricultural Prices Commission has worked the
additional cost at Rs 1.5-lakh crore. To say that agriculture receives a lot of
subsidies which would mean that the losses are taken care of is another fallacy
being propagated. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) has shown that Indian farmers have been cultivating losses since the
year 2000 when it began counting producer support. In fact, India is the only
country among 54 major economies studied where the farm losses have not been
covered by budgetary support. As I have often said, Indian farmers have been
left ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bhagwan bharose’</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In
your considered opinion, what are the imminent grave threats to farmers and
farming in India today?<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Ans: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: black;">For several decades,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>Indian agriculture has been reeling under a severe agrarian
crisis. It is essentially an outcome of policies that have kept farmers
deliberately impoverished. While the economic design we follow is aimed at
pushing people from rural areas to urban centres because cheaper labour is
needed to keep economic reforms viable, the macro-economic policies punishes farmers
by keeping farm incomes low. Any rise in food prices crossing the food
inflation bracket the Reserve Bank of India has proposed, keeps the rise in farm
prices under tight control. The inflation basket is so designed that a rise in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">aloo-pyaaz</i> prices surprisingly becomes a
cause for concern for an economy that is heading towards $5 trillion whereas
the real drivers of inflation – housing, education and health, are not counted.
As long as RBI does not revisit the Consumer Price Index to repack the
inflation basket, farmers will remain at the bottom of the heap. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Secondly, it must be realised that
markets have failed everywhere to enhance farmer’s income. In America, on an
average a farmer’s receives $85,000 as domestic support. The rate of suicide in
rural areas is 3.5 times the national average. In Europe, farmers in 16
countries have been on protest in the past few weeks. Besides environmental
regulations, they too want the correct value being fixed for their produce. In
France, a section of farmers demand fixing agricultural price below which no
trading be allowed. In India, if markets were so benevolent farmers would have
been demanding MSP to be legal right. What needs to be realised is that farmers
are paying a heavy price for the failure of markets to give more money in their
hands. Otherwise I see no reason why OECD countries should be providing a
subsidy support exceeding $260 billion to agriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 15.0pt; margin-bottom: 8.0pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;">Making MSP a legal mechanism by
incorporating the Swaminathan’s recommendation of C2+ 50 cost is the way
forward. India should take a lead in redesigning the price policy by ensuring a
guaranteed price to food producers. I am sure when India does it; the rest of
the world too would follow. Making MSP a legal right will not be an economic
burden it will in fact lead to an economic boom. Markets will not be distorted,
but would automatically adjust. After all, 84 per cent farmers (who do not
benefit from MSP regime) are dependent on markets and get 25 to 30 per cent
lesser price than MSP announced. When they get more money in their hands they
will obviously spend it in the markets thereby creating a huge rural demand.
This will fast forward the engines of growth. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">How do you look at Modi government’s continued emphasis on crop
diversification and alternative farming?</span></b><b><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">Ans: </span></b><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">At a time when it has been
estimated that a third of the greenhouse gas emissions globally come from the
food systems, the world is realising the urgency to shift to sustainable
farming practices. Move away from intensive farming practices that have pushed
the world closer to a tipping point. It is here that the transition towards
agro-ecology is becoming important. Besides a remunerative agriculture, the
transformation to ecological farming systems becomes imperative for sustaining
the future. In this connection, I find the proposed shift to crop
diversification and alternative farming as the right move in the right
direction.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In India, there is a lot to be learnt from the Community Managed Natural
Farming (CMNF) system that Andhra Pradesh has pioneered in. Already 8-lakh
farmers out of a total farming population of 60-lakh<b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i></b>are in various stages of
transition from chemical to non-chemical farming. While the greenhouse gas
emissions have come down drastically, there are no farm suicides reported in
these areas so far. This is in fact the world’s biggest agro-ecological model of
farming. It needs to be replicated across the country along with numerous other
farming practices that are being followed by numerous individuals and groups, by
suitably adapting to the local conditions. Much would however depend on
providing farmers with prices that value ecosystem services that farmers are
trying to protect. Like it happened during the time of Green Revolution,
agro-ecological farming too needs a support package by making right kind of
investments in research, education and marketing. #</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> '<b>Vision of vikas passes through agriculture'</b>. <i>Frontline.</i> March 7, 2024</span></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-656129387787704022024-02-29T18:21:00.004+05:302024-02-29T18:21:41.115+05:30The cartel that forms the mainline economic thinking <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6MSb4x6V59vIERdDrujPAk4NDDsWRgmEdFg_jSVzUtel47_t04d_d6DFuNOh1ME90_zCDcQUfDYMlKxu8ur_aCg4OJE5UHb5txOhamBocCq9dsKoSIleRvMkV-iGm7BDse6Vf837q5Zzy7aJTD7KAcm87qoidwvnAXGQ-0gHAEFissuJrsEXWjr2wKsQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="600" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg6MSb4x6V59vIERdDrujPAk4NDDsWRgmEdFg_jSVzUtel47_t04d_d6DFuNOh1ME90_zCDcQUfDYMlKxu8ur_aCg4OJE5UHb5txOhamBocCq9dsKoSIleRvMkV-iGm7BDse6Vf837q5Zzy7aJTD7KAcm87qoidwvnAXGQ-0gHAEFissuJrsEXWjr2wKsQ=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Indian farmers protest. </i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:</span><i style="font-family: inherit;"> New York Times</i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes back delivering a talk at a national
conference of economists I had said that it is not farmers who have failed but
it is agricultural economists who have failed farmers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I thought this would evoke a strong reaction from the
esteemed economists who were present but it took me by surprise when a senior
economist who was next to make a presentation actually endorsed my viewpoint. In
fact, he started his talk by saying he is in agreement with me. This set a new
agenda for the two day conference.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When I look at the debate that is happening
following the farmers protest, it clearly shows how right I was. As a retired
Army General with whom I had a conversation on video, remarked: “<span style="background: white; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">One thing is clear,
almost everyone is okay with the farmer's remaining poor and on the margins of
the development models.”</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">This
is a statement that I think should put the society at large to sit back and think,
to ascertain why is it that the people who put food on our table have to sleep either
hungry or remain perpetually in poverty. With an income level that is bottom of
the pyramid, the Situational Assessment Survey for Agricultural Household
(2018-19) clearly show that the income from farming is below that of MNREGA
workers. The income levels would even match or be lower than the income that a
number of household workers get in posh and upmarket residential
complexes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">Shouldn’t
this make the urban population question its own biases that have been drilled
into their thinking by an equally contemptuous media? Day-in and day-out the
cacophony that a section of the media blares out calling protesting farmers as
militants, rogue, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">khalistanis</i>,
anti-nationals, is only reflective of the venom they carry against farmers.
Personally, many sensitive journalists call to say how ashamed they are at what
is being said on the media, Still worse is that hardly a few voices that speak
on behalf of the farming community are invited to panel discussions, and even
when invited they are given less time to air their views. Some are even stopped
in between and not allowed to even complete the sentence. </span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">Anyway,
let’s go back to know how the flawed economic thinking rules the roost. First,
when I said that agricultural economists are responsible for the prevailing
farm crisis I didn’t mean every economist. There are many sensitive and
environment and development economists whose voice gets lost in the din and
noise that mainline thinking creates. Secondly, there still is a question to be
asked. After all, if it was all hunky-dory as we as students (I too have been a
student of agriculture) have been made to believe, why is it that almost 60
years after the Green Revolution took off, the average farm family income is
only Rs 10,218 per month, at the lowest level. This is the average but a
majority of farmers somehow survive on less than Rs 5,000 per month.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">But
when was the last time agricultural economist as a community ever raised
concern at the declining farm incomes? Why did they fail to alert the policy
makers that all is not well in agriculture?</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">Why
I say this is because farm income is not only to be seen as another set of
statistics. It involves livelihoods, impacting the survival of at least the other
half. Perhaps we have forgotten to draw any lessons from Susan George’s
monumental work: ‘How the Other Half Lives’. With such low income levels, I
wonder how the other half lives in India. While the media narrative is that
farmers are a pampered lot, and get free electricity and don’t have to pay any
income tax, the fact is that the OECD (Organisation for Cooperation and
Development), the richest trading block, has tabled a study that says Indian
farmers have been continuously incurring losses since the year 2000.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">The
moment you question the flawed economics that has kept agriculture deliberately
impoverished, a battery of mainline economists are up in arms arguing for the
same kind of blinkered economics that has failed farmers everywhere in the
world. If markets were so benevolent, there is no reason why farmers in India
and also in 16 countries of Europe are on protest. US farmers too had protested
in the past asking for income parity, another term for guaranteed prices.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">In fact, I find the free marketers have monopolised the
economic thought process to such an extent that along with media and the
academia they have formed in reality a cartel. All dissenting voices who call
for an alternative system are silenced. This is what had prompted a well-known
American economist to say the need is to change the dominant thinking. To
illustrate, you have to see a Twitter thread by a French economist, Cesar A
Hidalgo, who works on economic complexity. Citing several chilling examples of
how the bias in economics prevails, he said when he made a presentation in a
seminar series at the Harvard University, another professor from Cambridge MA
University had whispered in his ears “</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;">I would have liked so much to be the reviewer of
your paper, because I would have enjoyed so much rejecting it.”</span></i><i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;">The
thread has more than 2000 comments, with a majority sharing how the dominant
economic thinking is shutting out public opinion and even research analysis
that challenges the inherent bias. He also cites how someone who went on to win
the Nobel Prize had ganged up with the department heads to run down junior
faculty’s probing analysis that is “changing the face of development
economics.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;">The
nexus that prevails protects the ‘mainline economic thinking’. It is so deep
rooted that it is becoming not only difficult but almost impossible to
penetrate the fortress. The same kind of economic thinking, which obviously
backs business and trade, has protective layers and need to be peeled
layer-by-layer. This holds political parties of all hues captive to the
domineering but an outdated economic thinking. It is heartening to see some
economists daring to say that the 21<sup>st</sup> century economics cannot run
on 20<sup>th</sup> century economics.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;">Indian
agriculture too is a victim of the same outdated economics. By demanding MSP to
be made a legal right, protesting farmers are actually calling for a course
correction to bring about a systemic change in agricultural price policy. It is
time not to rubbish the farmers’ movement but to see it as a call for a bigger
economic reform that will perhaps help in changing the overweighing perception
about farming. Give farmers the right income, and farming will no longer be a burden
but generate enormous wealth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>#</span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; line-height: 115%;">Source: The free marketeers-media-academia nexus killing farmers across India. Bizz Buzz. Feb 24, 2024. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/the-free-marketers-media-academia-nexus-killing-farmers-across-india-1293605&source=gmail&ust=1709297250885000&usg=AOvVaw1LzhhaSuyahlYGvqBDLvjS" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/the-free-marketers-media-academia-nexus-killing-farmers-across-india-1293605" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/the-free-marketers-<wbr></wbr>media-academia-nexus-killing-<wbr></wbr>farmers-across-india-1293605</a></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-23818071255556902402024-02-21T13:47:00.001+05:302024-02-21T13:47:16.548+05:30No need to redicule farmers. Let's try to listen to them <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK6JParwez09MARJe0KYbLeVWQY5U4Cx25YXnHQVHz7_EqmSdu9Pwy6knz1_4woX74cwLhIFvWn0q8CXlaKTjvNhGLyHS5PMauacpBxAP8X21ASTp53ZshVC6nLm1CBaHUThk85gUNuC5PcL90h5lLCGrtng8mrU8LfN11EE0RVNq9gzyM5a90k3-X0eU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="498" data-original-width="885" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjK6JParwez09MARJe0KYbLeVWQY5U4Cx25YXnHQVHz7_EqmSdu9Pwy6knz1_4woX74cwLhIFvWn0q8CXlaKTjvNhGLyHS5PMauacpBxAP8X21ASTp53ZshVC6nLm1CBaHUThk85gUNuC5PcL90h5lLCGrtng8mrU8LfN11EE0RVNq9gzyM5a90k3-X0eU=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy: NewsClick </span></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">At a time when a vicious misinformation campaign is
at its peak, I don’t know from where to begin. Not only in the mainline media, the
social media too is full of abuses, slander and loads of insults is being
heaped against the protesting farmers. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It looks as if the farmer has suddenly turned into a
villain. Once revered as the nation’s hero – Hero Number 1, to use the famous
Bollywood film title – they are now treated with scorn and the hidden contempt against
farmers is out now in the open. Much of it is because of the misinformation
campaign that the media continues to blare. If I am not incorrect, journalists
tell me this vilified campaign is largely based on unsigned notes that
circulate in the media WhatsApp groups. Screenshots of such notes have been
doing the round on social media.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Talking about the mainline media, the other day I
confronted a panellist who is part of the committee that has been set up to
look into how to make MSP more effective. We were on a TV show discussing the
relevance of the farmers demand for making MSP a legal right. What shocked me
was the rudeness with which he responded, so much so that he ended up calling
farmers as ‘anti-nationals’. Knowing their position being strongly anti-farmer,
I don’t know why such people are first nominated to the MSP committee. Not to
cast any aspersions on the other members, what I think is that while deciding the
composition of such important committees, policy makers should be careful in
picking up members who don’t carry an inherent bias.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I have often been asked to respond to questions that
are being raised in the media interviews and discussions. For instance, when
asked that a TV anchor was saying that food inflation will jump by 25 per cent
if farmers were given the legal right for MSP, my reply was that we should be
grateful to this enlightened journalist that he didn’t say that inflation will
go up by 150 per cent. He could have said so knowing that whatever he says will
go unquestioned. To another question that a legal MSP to farmers will entail an
additional expenditure of Rs 10-lakh crore, which the country cannot afford, my
answer was to first tell me the source of this compilation, and secondly why do
fear raising MSP for farmers.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So far, out of the 23 crops for which MSP is
announced, it is effectively used for two crops – wheat and paddy – and to some
extent for cotton and pulses, and that too in some States. Parliament has been
recently informed that 14 per cent farmers in the country get MSP, which means
86 per cent farmers are dependent on the markets. If markets were so benevolent
I don’t see any reason why farmers should be protesting, knowing they will end
up facing police repression. Farmers are not protesting for entertainment or
are drawing any sadistic pleasure from protests. In fact, it is time their
genuine demands are heard, and efforts made to resolve it. We cannot expect
them to take to streets every now and then.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Farmers are somehow surviving at the bottom of the
pyramid. To explain, let me reiterate the findings of the latest Situational
Assessment Survey for Agricultural Household. The latest report shows that the
average income of farming households is Rs 10,218. If we do not include income
from non-farming activities, what farmers earn is an average of Rs 27 per day. Such
a low income from farming is indicative of the levels of poverty that prevails
in the farming sector. And in any case, to meet the Prime Ministers vision of
Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, it is essential to economically lift the farming
community. After all, nearly 50 per cent of the population – close to 700
million – is dependent on agriculture and policy makers need to understand that
while moving towards a growth trajectory heading to a $5 trillion economy, the
majority population cannot be left behind.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">What the farmers are essentially asking is to
provide a legal guarantee for MSP, and to integrate it with the Swaminathan’s
recommendation of C2+50 formula. This will ensure economic justice for farmers,
and provide a ray of sunshine for the beleaguered farming community. Providing
a higher and assured income to farmers will not be burden on the country but
will in fact lead to a higher economic growth. More money in the hands of
farmers, and as I said earlier comprise 86 per cent farmers who do not get MSP,
will surely stand to gain. More money in the hands of farmers means they will
have more money to spend in the markets. The demand that will be created will
be huge, driving faster the wheels of development. This will result in a higher
economic growth.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The 7<sup>th</sup> Pay commission, which benefitted
about 4 to5 per cent of the population, was seen as a booster dose for the
economy. Imagine if 50 per cent population spends more, it will be a rocket
dose for the economy.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Instead of realising the growth potential from
legalising the MSP, economists and the media are blinded by the so-called
efficiency of the markets. If markets were so efficient, I see no reason why
farmers all over the world are deep in crisis. To illustrate, the rate of
suicide in rural America is 3.5 times higher than the national average. In
Europe, farmers protests have been seen in 17 countries in the month of
January, and protest still continue in Spain, Poland and Italy. The primary
demand in Europe too is for an assured price for agricultural produce. This is
exactly what protesting farmers in India are demanding. Like in Europe, Indian
farmers do not want the government to procure everything. They want MSP to
become a benchmark below which no trading takes place.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To toss around imaginative figures that the
government will have to entail is simply aimed at creating a fear psychosis. It
happened earlier when the National Food Security Act was brought promising
cheaper ration for the poor and hungry. The cry that any move to legalise MSP will
distort markets is essentially to protect the corporate interests. After all,
agriculture provides raw material for the industry. If farm prices go up,
industry fears that its profits will be squeezed.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Just to ensure a higher profit margin for the
companies, India cannot keep a large section of its farmers perpetually in
poverty. It’s time to take a call – whether we want to keep markets intact or
pull farmers out of the worsening agrarian crisis. #</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Source: Uplift the farming community or forget Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. Bizz Buzz. Feb 9, 2024. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/uplift-the-farming-community-or-just-forget-sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-1291651&source=gmail&ust=1708589699160000&usg=AOvVaw01nfh-6Hbneac4ypi3f55w" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/uplift-the-farming-community-or-just-forget-sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-1291651" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/uplift-the-farming-<wbr></wbr>community-or-just-forget-<wbr></wbr>sabka-saath-sabka-vikas-<wbr></wbr>1291651</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-24527831052993592712024-02-11T12:58:00.002+05:302024-02-11T12:58:41.742+05:30Lessons from the European farmer protests <p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguf2aCnLItBvFh0UAC4bCw-HQZonCeTizrMEdLKmm6lHIrIlWa0Zent-KX5DeWKi5ScFp4b7D3wu9_6gU-2-B1SDX9G0OxW1pD3yUECaOtzzYw1-C5F4kuZ52AnGxCiSk416-GvWEHoHhI_6DzQIuXAuz2UJJd22_R2QptrNDDzc94iZyjPYxvXtfAyTg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3509" data-original-width="5500" height="408" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguf2aCnLItBvFh0UAC4bCw-HQZonCeTizrMEdLKmm6lHIrIlWa0Zent-KX5DeWKi5ScFp4b7D3wu9_6gU-2-B1SDX9G0OxW1pD3yUECaOtzzYw1-C5F4kuZ52AnGxCiSk416-GvWEHoHhI_6DzQIuXAuz2UJJd22_R2QptrNDDzc94iZyjPYxvXtfAyTg=w640-h408" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Farmers protest in Brussels.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Pic courtesy: Reuters</span></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">As farmers from Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar
Pradesh and Rajasthan are getting ready for a renewed farmers protest around New
Delhi beginning Feb 13, an unprecedented surge in farm protests is being
witnessed in Europe. For almost a month now, Europe is on the boil.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Beginning from France, the protests fanned out to
Germany, where enraged farmers brought Berlin City to a near stand-still. And
then again back to France where irate farmers have threatened to bring Paris
‘under siege’ with tractors, the farm protest movement has spread to Romania,
the Netherlands, Sicily, Poland and now to Belgium. News reports say Spanish
farmers are also contemplating joining the protests. While angry farmers have
been blocking traffic, throwing heaps as well as spraying manure over government
offices; at a number of places agitated farmers have been putting old tyres and
other agricultural waste to fire, and also stopping vehicles carrying imported
food stuff and throwing it on streets. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Initiating a discussion in European Parliament in
Brussels, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, began by
acknowledging the growing disenchantment and frustration being felt by the
agricultural community across the 27-member nations. “We all agree that the
challenges are, without any question, mounting. Be it competition from abroad,
be it overregulation at home, be it climate change, or the loss of
biodiversity, or be a demographic decline, just to name a few of the
challenges.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But perhaps what she failed to mention was that the
outrage is primarily against the denial of an assured and rightful price to
farmers. Whether it is the imports from Ukraine (and elsewhere) that have
caused prices to fall thereby impacting farmer’s income or it is the withdrawal
of diesel subsidy for agricultural vehicles that were in force for several
decades now, which would significantly reduce farm incomes, the reality is that
farm income has been steadily on the decline. “We don’t want incentives. What
we want is for our products to be valued and sold at good prices,” said an
enraged Belgian farmer, summing up the desperation that drives European farmers
to roll out thousands of tractors in protest.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“We’re being left to die,” another angry Belgian
farmer told the media.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In France, a third of farmers live on 300 Euros (Rs
27,025) per month, a French MP had recently said, opposing the hike in MPs
expenses by another 300 Euros. Expecting a stiff opposition to the raise in MPs
expenses at a time when farmers are protesting, the hike has been temporarily
withdrawn. In Germany, between 2016 and 2023, the economic barometer index for
agriculture shows farm economy has worsened. In Romania, net farm income has
declined by 17.4 per cent in 2023.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This piquant situation is not only confined to
Europe. It reminds me of some media reports where small farmers in the US have
been quoted as saying: “They’re trying to wipe us off the map.” With rural
suicides in America being 3.5 times the national average, tackling a growing tide
in farm depression is becoming a national issue. In India, 11,290 suicides by
farmers and farm workers were officially recorded in 2022. If markets were
farmer savvy, I see no reason why farmers should be faced with an existential
crisis all across the globe. Further, instead of finding a permanent solution
to the vexed farm crisis, climate change is coming in handy for the European
governments to increasingly push farmers out of agriculture.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While Romania’s Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu admitted
that the “farmers’ protests were justified,” the newly-appointed French Prime
Minister, Gabriel Attal, says that his government has decided to “put
agriculture above all.” Germany meanwhile has already decided to phase out
diesel subsidies for agriculture instead of scraping it in one go. Despite
these assurances, the fact remains that none of the European leaders has been
able to point to the real villain behind the growing agrarian despondency: the
failure of markets to provide an assured income to farmers.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If de-regulating agricultural markets and bringing
corporate control over agriculture was a viable alternative there is no reason
why Europe should be faced with recurring farmers’ unrest in one part or the
other, for over a decade now. Surely, it should be clear by now that liberalising
markets have failed to enhance farm incomes. It shows that the macro-economic policies
tailored to keep economic reforms viable by keeping farm price low were
fundamentally flawed. While the focus remained on keeping food inflation low,
the real drivers of inflation – housing, education and health – were
deliberately kept out. That’s a macro-economic deception.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It has become absolutely clear that providing more
incentives to cover up the loss farmers frequently incur is not a permanent solution.
If it was so, there is no reason why despite pumping in a huge support of $107
billion per year in 2020-22 (Europe farmers in any case are among the highest
recipient of subsidies and direct income support), it failed to keep farm
population intact, if not growing. Nor did it reduce the fury of European farm
protests in 2023. The beginning of 2024 shows the farm protests spreading and further
intensifying. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It is here that I see the demand by farmer groups in
India to be globally relevant. Instead of asking for incentives, Indian farmers
are seeking a legal framework for Minimum Support Price (MSP). Although the
formula to work out the MSP needs revision, European farmers must understand
that left to markets, the remaining farming population too would become
extinct, sooner than later. To make farming a viable enterprise, guaranteeing
farm prices by ensuring that no purchases are allowed below the benchmark price
is the only way forward.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Mainline economists and media will certainly
browbeat saying assured farm prices will distort markets. Don’t worry, while
the markets will adjust, farmers cannot be denied a living income. It’s
therefore time for a historic correction in price policies that ensures no farmer
is forced to commit suicide nor can be pushed anymore into mental agony and distress.
# <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Source: </i><b>Prioritise assured income for farmers. </b><i>The Tribune.</i> Feb 1, 2024. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/prioritise-assured-income-for-farmers-586074&source=gmail&ust=1707722567183000&usg=AOvVaw1W7VyEpxi8FIZjhRq3ma-G" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/prioritise-assured-income-for-farmers-586074" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/prioritise-<wbr></wbr>assured-income-for-farmers-<wbr></wbr>586074</a></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-33370819249101821122024-01-29T12:11:00.002+05:302024-01-29T12:11:24.779+05:30It was always from lab to land. The need was also for land to lab <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIJUhchbawAMYCzw_vgXUoga8NVk1OZ-SZBHK0hlt5EMO-F0Z36_pFtPAAaG5H5IOgFymNFdmsNSW2JVWSNxGxCd4E8Z97UfZaYgAZb26blpQGpVZpfnHqHN08J4lSwdQUjIShmFe5Iub7Vd3H7viUjPEN8ntW13foo341jw_4Q8Xtm6_Wo5FPMRQ-Apk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="1195" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIJUhchbawAMYCzw_vgXUoga8NVk1OZ-SZBHK0hlt5EMO-F0Z36_pFtPAAaG5H5IOgFymNFdmsNSW2JVWSNxGxCd4E8Z97UfZaYgAZb26blpQGpVZpfnHqHN08J4lSwdQUjIShmFe5Iub7Vd3H7viUjPEN8ntW13foo341jw_4Q8Xtm6_Wo5FPMRQ-Apk=w640-h290" width="640" /></a></div><i><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">The concept of Farmversity is beginning to pick up in India. </span></i></div></i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I was doing my graduation in agriculture, and
that was some 50 years ago, one of the popular slogans was “from lab to land”. Knowing
the significance and importance of ushering in an intensive agriculture, the
slogan was perhaps aimed at imbibing a spirit of scientific rigour among future
agricultural scientists. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Even at that time, I used to question myself, why
can’t we make science a two way channel. After all, agriculture has been
practiced from time immemorial, and there is a lot to learn from the wisdom
that farming communities entail. My argument therefore was for rewriting the
slogan, as: “From lab to land and from land to lab.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As you guessed it right, my voice was lost in the
din. But after half a century later, the society at large now realises the folly
of ignoring what was traditionally known. Not only a folly, the intensive
farming practices that have been ushered in over the past few decades has
actually led to enormous devastation of the natural resources, and is the
reason why food farming systems is blamed for releasing a third of the global
Green House Gas (GHGs) emissions.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Delivering a plenary talk at the 19<sup>th</sup>
Organic World Congress in New Delhi, in 1977, I had said: “With soil fertility
declining to almost zero in intensively farmed regions; excessive mining of
groundwater sucking aquifers dry; and chemical inputs, including pesticides,
becoming extremely pervasive in environment, the entire food chain has been contaminated.
Further, as soils become sick, forests are logged for expanding industrial
farming, erosion takes a heavy toll leading to more desertification. With crop
productivity stagnating thereby resulting in more chemicals being pumped to
produce the same harvest, the farmlands have turned toxic.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While there are no lessons learnt, it is heartening
to see a parallel international movement growing in favour of agro-ecological
farming, savouring the principles of farming in alignment with nature. For over
three decades now, a silent revolution has been in the making. It is now
becoming more visible.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India too, despite agricultural research and
education not being in favour of anything that challenges the corporate-driven intensive
agriculture design, I see the movement for agro-ecology growing. A large number
of farmers and civil society groups, who have demonstrated confidence in farming
in tandem with nature, have laid the foundations. Despite reluctance, policy
makers are coming under increased public pressure to reframe policies in favour
of environmentally safe and healthy farming practices. It may take some more
time, but the growing consumer awareness at a time when the globe climate
enters the boiling phase; there will increasingly be a push for a transition
towards agro-ecological farming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Besides numerous stalwarts of organic farming and
its different variants like permaculture, bio-dynamic farming, natural farming
and regenerative agriculture, the movement is coming together as a much needed
transformation from chemical to non-chemical farming. With Andhra Pradesh
emerging as a leader with the success of AP Community-Managed Natural Farming
(APCNF) systems, which is being managed by a government-sponsored non-profit
company <span style="background: white;">Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), </span>having
already shifted or in the process of shifting nearly 8-lakh farmers from
chemical to non-chemical farming; and with several State governments having
formulated organic farming policies, the space for agro-ecological farming is
only expanding.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While the Organic Farming Association of India
(OFAI) has been regularly holding bi-annual organic conventions, what brings a
whiff of fresh air is not only the expanding network but also another effort
being made to sett up of a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Farmversities
Alliance</i>. The underlying aim being to ‘regenerate and revalue organic and
natural farming models, local economies, indigenous knowledge systems and
ancient wisdom traditions’. Unlike agricultural universities, which rely on
research, education and extension as the three activities that scientists are
expected to engage in, the Alliance will focus on education, co-existence and
minimalisation. These are the principles of non-violent economics that Mahatma
Gandhi had also talked about. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Simply put, it leads to rebuilding farming systems
that will hopefully shift the power over farming from the control of global
corporations.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is happening at a time when the agribusiness
corporations are moving from Green Revolution (call it Agricultural Revolution
3.0) towards the next phase, the Agricultural Revolution 4.0, which brings a
synergy between various emerging technological tools, including artificial
intelligence, robotics, satellite imageries, and digital technology and thereby
further tighten the corporate control over agriculture. Already, a renewed
thrust to push farmers out of agriculture in the name of climate change is
happening in several developed countries, with the aim to build on industrially
produced synthetic foods.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But this should not be demoralizing. Why I say so is
because ultimately what drives the global agenda is how the people perceive it.
The withdrawal of three contentious farm laws by a steadfast farming community
is a glaring example. With the call for sustainable agriculture growing, even
some of the big multinational giants have been forced to launch multi-billion
dollar initiatives for regenerative agriculture. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The setting up of India’s first independent Academy
for Agro-ecology at Vijaywada in AP will also help fine tune the gap in
agro-ecological research and create a training environment for non-chemical
farming.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But be watchful of regulatory norms that plan to set
standards for natural farming. Organic farming and natural farming are two
streams of the same sustainable farming system that relies on moving away from
the harmful chemical farming systems that have turned farm lands toxic and
polluted the water bodies. I wonder why standards (and also caps on the
quantity applied) to chemical farming were not enforced in a way that could
have at least lowered the heavy intake of harmful inputs, and reduced food
contamination. Policy makers have in the past also followed industry dictum and will go by what the industry perceives as a threat to their business. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Farmversities
Aliance</i> will work to take safe food movement to every village and city of
this country, concentrated efforts need to be made to reach out to consumers,
who are already paying a heavy price with food contamination. Decolonising our
minds based on a rethinking required that clearly draws the link between food
and medicine is the need of the times.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That is why I have always maintained that while the
Green Revolution relied on farmers to increase production, the next revolution
in agriculture will be based on what the consumers demand. The times have
changed. If at one time the thrust was on increasing grain output, the time now
is for ensuring quality. If consumers demand naturally-grown healthy food,
farmers will have to cater to what the consumers need. #<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Source:</i> <b>Consumer demand will dictate the next agricultural revolution.</b> <i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Jan 13, 2024. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/consumers-demand-will-dictate-the-next-agriculture-revolution-1281300&source=gmail&ust=1706596737578000&usg=AOvVaw22UIqpJxslqDfRuU33bYpT" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/consumers-demand-will-dictate-the-next-agriculture-revolution-1281300" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/consumers-demand-will-<wbr></wbr>dictate-the-next-agriculture-<wbr></wbr>revolution-1281300</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-22396668245887919692024-01-21T13:49:00.002+05:302024-01-21T13:49:23.019+05:30Processed food and beverages are silent killers <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixwzxUDfFGjlSvRBkZkRUwdISKuk1xvI3098mn5_lgn_9BdctTUtAalUfZFcvllmQqHhRApvIuT3rGGQwPfLjMUVJepjJ6glEDeFk2TIqLuwZoKpDeYEbjY6DnGgsUyLZy56KXd8qjbV3pe8IZ52H_aAefJOxIl4fF09AmabNJ1ii0qV7jOwcLnPu1D_8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="440" height="582" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixwzxUDfFGjlSvRBkZkRUwdISKuk1xvI3098mn5_lgn_9BdctTUtAalUfZFcvllmQqHhRApvIuT3rGGQwPfLjMUVJepjJ6glEDeFk2TIqLuwZoKpDeYEbjY6DnGgsUyLZy56KXd8qjbV3pe8IZ52H_aAefJOxIl4fF09AmabNJ1ii0qV7jOwcLnPu1D_8=w640-h582" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 21.3333px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i> </i></span></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">BBC Good Food</span></i></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;">Whenever I have raised the question of a guaranteed
price for farm produce, a section of the troll has always impounded me saying
why the consumer should pay for a poor quality farm products. Besides the
underlying contempt that the urban population at large has against farmers,
perhaps the point they are trying to raise is that not all farm produce is of
the same quality that deserves to be purchased at the Minimum Support Price
(MSP).</span><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">What they do not know is that the delivery of MSP
too is based on quality of the farmers produce. To illustrate, for superfine
rice, the price is higher than the normal varieties. For sugarcane that comes
with a higher sugar recovery, the prices the sugar mills offer are
comparatively higher. Even for eggs, the price for A-grade is higher than the
normal. More can still be done, but at least it is not as bland as the urban
educated want us to believe. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, those who time and again point to the quality
of farm produce just to deny the farmers the rightful price, are the ones who
are duped by food processing units to pay for poor quality. In fact, they end
up buying inferior quality products at a much higher price, several times more
than what they would have paid to a primary producer. Just because the
processed food comes in an attractive package, with perhaps a film star or a
cricketer endorsing the product, does not mean what the consumer ends up buying
meets the quality standards. It is in fact much worse. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The average consumer, who throng supermarkets in
search of healthy processed foods in the Malls, fail to realise that much of
the processed food products lined up on the shelves – there are roughly 40,000
processed foods in a super market store – what they end up buying is unhealthy
or if I may be allowed to say poor in quality that often is the reason behind
much of the health ailments the society is grappling with. As I have often said
if as a seller you know how to pack poison in an attractive packaging the
chances are that the consumer will be willing to buy it.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In an eye-opening study and I want every consumer to
read it, published in the open-access transdisciplinary journal, Globalization
and Health (Dec 1, 2023), Lauren <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>
have developed a methodology to ascertain how much of processed food and
beverage sales falls in the category of healthy and unhealthy. They picked up
35,550 products from 1,294 brands manufactured by the top 20 global food
giants. These companies were drawn from seven countries – USA, UK, China,
India, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia – and one would generally assume
these countries will have a sharp eye on the quality of processed foods that is
being sold.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The retail sales of these 20 big food companies in
2022 exceeded $7.7 billion. I am sure you will be shell-shocked to learn what
came out. As much as 89 per cent of the sales were categorised as unhealthy.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Wonder what happens to the same class of
quality-conscious population who raise eyebrows at the drop of a hat when a
farmer is selling his produce, but happily ends up buying unhealthy processed
foods from the supermarkets. Perhaps it is the glare of the attractive
packaging that deceives them to buy, not realising that everything that
glitters is not gold. Majority of the unhealthy sales pertained to processed food
products, soft drinks, confectionary and snacks. Less than 5 per cent of the
sales of Modelez, Mars and PepsiCo for instance fell in the category of healthy
foods, while none of Red Bull and Ferrero’s sales were healthy at all.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The companies that did comparatively better were
Grupo Bimbo (42 per cent), Danone (34 per cent) an Conagra (32 per cent)
although majority of their sales were still derived from unhealthy foods, the
study said.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India, where 74 per cent of the population is
unable to afford a healthy diet as per the UN Food & Agriculture
Organisation (FAO), and it is also believed those who can afford a healthy diet
are not eating healthy, I wonder what the Food Safety and Standards Authority
of India (FSSAI) is engaged in when processed foods sold in the country are so
poor in quality. It also means that unhealthy diet at a family is consuming is actually
the result of unhealthy processed foods that reach the plate.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Despite all the talk of conflict of interest
cropping up in the decision-making process that aims to ensure safe and healthy
foods, corporate colonisation of food is also happening internationally thereby
bringing concentration of power in the hands of a few agribusiness
conglomerates. The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, followed by the COP 27 under
the sponsorship of Coca-Cola and the COP 28 by the oil majors, points to a
direction which itself is unhealthy.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This brings me to another related question. Whenever
there is talk of providing farmers with a higher price in India, the prompt
answer I hear is the need to encourage food processing. The Ministry of Food
Processing Industries for instance has been allocated Rs 4,600-crore till Mar
2026 under PM-Kisan Sampada Yojna, which essentially goes for building
infrastructure for agro-processing clusters and for integrating cold chain and
value addition infrastructure.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The push for food processing is coming at a time
when globally serious concerns are being raised at the link between
ultra-processed foods and harmful diseases, including cancer. A 2018 French
NutriNet-Sante cohort study had shown that a 10 per cent increase in
ultra-processed foods in our diet is enough to significantly lead to the probability
of 10 per cent rise in overall cancer load, including breast and prostate cancer.
But still, whenever I have been invited to a conference discussing the
possibilities that the sunrise agro-processing industry throws up, there has
never been a session on the health impacts of ultra-processed foods. In fact,
it will not be unfair to say that the economists and others who talk of
agro-processing have little idea of the links it has with growing cancer
incidences. The left hand does not know what the right is doing.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Another study, published in the Jan 2024 issue of
Environmental Health Perspectives, has identified 921 chemicals linked to
breast cancer. More than 90 per cent of these chemicals are found in food and
beverages, pesticides, including home pest control, skin and hair care
products.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Seen in tandem with what I talked earlier of 89 per
cent of processed foods and beverages being unhealthy, it clearly tells us that
while the processing industry laughs all the way to the bank, it is the gullible
consumers who end up pay the heavy price, often fatal. #</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Processed foods and beverages are silent killers. </b><i>Bizz Buzz. </i>Jan 18, 2024. </span></span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/processed-foods-and-beverages-are-silent-killers-1283071&source=gmail&ust=1705911420907000&usg=AOvVaw2vpyhsJqRd1l47kN1bPZdb" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/processed-foods-and-beverages-are-silent-killers-1283071" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/processed-foods-and-<wbr></wbr>beverages-are-silent-killers-<wbr></wbr>1283071</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-73940919700537518252024-01-18T19:13:00.002+05:302024-01-18T19:13:25.830+05:30German farmers protest over agricultural policies<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGoP2x7B-qrNVzNQqoQNInEl4K9iyMxABb0hbFD2xC_lOUbiCQbPw2cUsZ8FeFsBERX43FOTw-t0PzZcrYlwXvYt-sVdIAbDRd8fT25nqC6PYs5XURaM6ebdO8gfuIBsZwnfffZd6RXTvbh6s_HD7t1wqTChYk9-donDO7bvZIDXTzIbcMfkWMxpBCapQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img alt="" data-original-height="309" data-original-width="549" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhGoP2x7B-qrNVzNQqoQNInEl4K9iyMxABb0hbFD2xC_lOUbiCQbPw2cUsZ8FeFsBERX43FOTw-t0PzZcrYlwXvYt-sVdIAbDRd8fT25nqC6PYs5XURaM6ebdO8gfuIBsZwnfffZd6RXTvbh6s_HD7t1wqTChYk9-donDO7bvZIDXTzIbcMfkWMxpBCapQ=w640-h360" width="640" /></i></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">German farmers block streets in Berlin. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i style="font-style: italic;"> Hindustan Times </i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">During their protest against the government’s plan
to scrap tax breaks on diesel for farm vehicle, German farmers used tall and
powerful cranes to lift a heavy tractor. This was meant to demonstrate the fragility
and vulnerability of agriculture, which continues to literally hang by a
thread. This reminds me of another farmers protest in France a couple of years
back when protesting farmers hung suicide dolls on trees outside the French
Parliament symbolizing the severe distress on the farm. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As tractors take over Berlin, many cities in Germany
– Cologne, Hamburg, Munich and Nuremberg -- too face tractor blockades. Taking
a deviation from the earlier protests when tractors would march in a
contingent, this time angry farmers have closed the highways at many places,
and also stopped train services. Throwing heaps of manure outside the official
buildings, furious farmers had brought in sheep to join the protests outside
the German Louvre museum in Berlin, with placards saying ‘we do not want to end
in a museum’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While the protests continue for almost three weeks, a
massive demonstrated was organised in Berlin on Jan 15, the culmination of the
8 days deadline that farmers had set for the coalition </span>Government to respond. Although the government had
partially pulled back, cancelling tax exemptions for agricultural vehicles and modifying
initial plans and phase out agricultural diesel subsidies in view of the
protests, farmers are still infuriated at the austerity measures that will
eventually lead to withdrawal of the domestic support. The diesel subsidies
alone amount to 900 million Euros every year. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This will mean most farmers would lose annually between
5,000 to 10,000 Euros; for some it may be still higher, agitating farmers
claim. “For our businesses, it’s a catastrophe” a protesting farmer from
Bavaria was quoted as saying.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Even before the latest farmers protest, EU Agriculture
Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski had himself pointed out that more than 1,000
farmers are quitting farming every day due to reasons of unprofitability. This
is primarily because EU countries continued with the legacy of the former US
Agricultural Secretary, Earl Butz, who in the early 1970s had asked farmers to
“Get big or Get out.” The EU prescription of ‘grow or die’ had led to the
demise of the small farms. Later, the Washington-based International Food
Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) too had prescribed the same flawed economic
thinking – move up or move out -- as a solution to address the crisis in Indian
agriculture.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The emphasis on larger farms and industrial
agriculture has brought the world closer to a climate emergency. While the
farmers are now under attack for excessive Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs)
emanating from the exhaustive farming practices they were forced to adopt, no
questions are being asked from the political parties and from the global
institutes or banking establishments that pushed for intensive agriculture.
With focus on providing surpluses, and relying on the mistaken power of
markets, farm incomes dropped and that led to the decline in the number of cultivated
farms.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Farmers fear such drastic cuts will wipe out
farming. While the Russia-Ukraine war had led to a price increase for farmers,
prior to that farm incomes had remained almost static. Already, a report to the
German Federal Parliament showed as many as 36,000 farms closing down in a
decade, between 2010 and 2020, which comes to 10 farms per day. In neighbouring
France, the latest agricultural census report released in Dec 2021 points to a
sharp drop in the number of farms, almost 1-lakh farms closing down in a
decade. Against 490,000 farms in 2010, the number has come down to 389,000 in
2020. In Europe, a total of 5.3 million farms had disappeared in 15 years,
between 2005 and 2020.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is what happens when agriculture is left to the
whims of the politicians who call for policy decisions that suite the corporate
interests. When markets are unable to provide farmers with the right prices,
subsidies are provided to cover up the loss. This ensures protection to
corporate but the real cost is borne by the farmers. In America, there are 150
programmes designed to dole out direct and indirect subsidies amounting to $ 30
billion per year. And yet, for most of the past few decades, farmers suffered losses
from low farm gate prices. In Europe too, agriculture survives on subsidies and
direct income support. Markets have failed to provide farmers with remunerative
prices.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">An interesting analysis by the US-based <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">farmdocdaily</i> has shown that in the past
40 years, between 1980 and 2020, <span style="background: white;">net returns as
a share of the total economic cost of production shows US farmers have suffered
losses for 33 years. If it was not for the federal support, the remaining family
farms in America would have collapsed. In Germany, the income losses are
covered up by subsidy support, including diesel subsidy. In India, a recent
study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has
conclusively shown that farmers have been incurring losses since 2000. Another
analysis shows that in case of paddy, except for Punjab, farmers in the rest of
the country have been incurring losses or barely scraping through. In the
Philippines, the National Anti-Poverty Commission has identified farmers and
fishermen at the bottom of the pyramid.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">The common thread that runs through
is that agriculture in all these countries, and elsewhere too, is dependent on
markets. If markets were so efficient and benevolent, as the corporate
economists want us to believe, there is no reason why farming should be a loss-making
proposition. For the rich as well as the poor countries, markets have rendered farming
as more or less a paralysing burden. The fundamental breakdown is primarily
because of a broken financial system that sucks up wealth from primary
production, in this case agriculture, up the value chain.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Whether it is in the US, Germany,
France or India, farmers must realise that subsidies are not the solution. Since
agriculture hangs by a thread, the symbolism too has to change. We need a realignment
that is permanent, and leads to a new global economic awakening that focuses on
assuring farmers with profitable and guaranteed prices. There is no other way.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Lesson from German farmers' stir.</b> <i>The Tribune. </i>Jan 17, 2024. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/lesson-from-german-farmers-stir-581821&source=gmail&ust=1705671533545000&usg=AOvVaw3P_O1gQ_8D1PX2PL4vAGZb" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/lesson-from-german-farmers-stir-581821" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/lesson-from-<wbr></wbr>german-farmers-stir-581821</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-53792461992109141752024-01-14T11:23:00.003+05:302024-01-14T11:23:33.083+05:30Lobbyists push hard for more corporate control over agriculture <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEJjnUIUanDuWfgsyqgfHnu9Mv23mxOig6jBbkk7hf2F392U3uyJhAR-oPo_IxGe9zgHIT4GkxWH3NGy061CRNsbCh2gJAQFVOlO7YBsJAcx7vlZMD1W_pGfIKtPfrYsKFIKsxeot09Y-PDpv4y1_DFpLk8uQe3BcXR5Ye1A9oIzhGdKsFZWBt42zBaUk" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1067" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiEJjnUIUanDuWfgsyqgfHnu9Mv23mxOig6jBbkk7hf2F392U3uyJhAR-oPo_IxGe9zgHIT4GkxWH3NGy061CRNsbCh2gJAQFVOlO7YBsJAcx7vlZMD1W_pGfIKtPfrYsKFIKsxeot09Y-PDpv4y1_DFpLk8uQe3BcXR5Ye1A9oIzhGdKsFZWBt42zBaUk=w640-h480" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With courtesy:<i> Pennsylvania Food & Ag Careers</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes you wonder that despite so much being
talked about safe and healthy foods, unsustainable fertiliser use, soil
degradation, increasing desertification and the need to move towards
agro-ecological farming systems, there is hardly much change in the policies
that call for an urgency. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Irrespective of the political hues, both at the
national and the global level, the policy framework, more often than not hinges
on the strategy that agri-business giants spell out. Whether it is left, right
or the centre the political leadership is so well-entrenched with the same
economic thought that it is often difficult to penetrate the skewed but dominant
economic thinking with saner alternatives. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The System Initiative on Shaping the Future of Food
Security and Agriculture that the World Economic Forum had initiated works towards
strengthening food systems, linking global-level insight and collaboration to
country-led action. It is stuffed with chief executives, ministers and heads of
international organisation and others. So while we hear the chief executive of a
multinational giant talk of a systems change to drive the efforts to the next
level or the head of another agri-business giant tell us that digital
technology will power Green Revolution in Africa, the underlying message
remains the same.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Agri-business will frame the global agenda for food
security, nutrition and agriculture. The new Vision for Agriculture launched a
little earlier too had industry majors leading the programme.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So much so that even the international targets to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thereby save the world from the
catastrophic impact of climate change are being seen from the prism of
agri-business. No wonder, at the recently concluded COP28 at Dubai,
agri-business companies had doubled their participation from the last
conference held a year earlier. Bayer, one of the world’s biggest agri-business
giants, had more representatives participating than the entire delegation from
Eretria. In fact, if we view it more carefully, lobbying by agri-business
companies has grown in the recent past.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I remember a report in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Down to Earth</i> magazine sometimes in August-September 2019 (because
I was speaking at another conference in the same building the same day) a
closed door meeting was organised by the Indian seed industry with scientists,
agriculture expert and a couple of ministers in New Delhi to push for hybrid
paddy seeds sale. Considering that 94 per cent of the paddy area in the country
was under open pollinated varieties, the market for hybrid seed was therefore
large. And as the report had quoted industrial personnel saying something like
this: ‘promoting hybrid seeds is promoting seed industry business’.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is not an isolated event. Such meetings are
routinely organised by various farm commercial groups besides direct lobbying
with the concerned ministries. More recently, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Reporters’ Collective</i> had shocked the nation with its
investigative report that showed how a NRI businessman had lobbied with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Niti Aayog</i> to set up a task force to
corporatize Indian agriculture. The big agri-business giants were part of this
task force. This Task Force was set up in 2017 and incidentally chaired by the
same bureaucrat who also headed the committee on doubling farmer’s income.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In another interesting report, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DeSmog News</i>, a portal that is aimed at clearing the public relation
clatter on climate, has in a detailed investigation revealed the “unholy
alliance” between agri-business lobbyists and selected influential Members of
European Parliament (MEPs). Between January 2000 and January 2003, over 400
meetings took place between the industry representatives and the MEPs. This
comes to an average of two meetings per week, which is quite an aggressive lobbying
effort by the industry.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If you are wondering why the agri-business in Europe
have been lobbying so hard, well, the targets for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions by 2030 speak for it. European Union aims to become carbon-neutral by
2050, and to achieve this the specific targets for 2030 includes cutting down
on fertiliser by 20 per cent, reduce usage of hazardous pesticides usage by 50
per cent, reduce use of antimicrobials for livestock by 50 per cent, and
eventually bring 25 per cent additional area under organic cultivation. This
means a substantial hit to the commercial interests of the chemical farm input
industries. All efforts are therefore to ensure how a fear psychosis of reduction
in crop yields hitting food security is built up to ensure that external
chemical inputs do not get the cut.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">According to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">DeSmog</i>,
four of the largest pesticides companies - Bayer, BASF, Corteva and Syngenta
along with fertiliser companies like Yara and OCP Group were the favoured
giants whose representative had frequent meetings with the selected MEPs. The
meetings the industry group had were eight times more than the meetings with
non-government representatives. The news portal quoted a transparency watchdog
representative from the famed Corporate Europe Observatory saying the big
farming lobby, the agro-chemical industry and the Conservative politicians work
together in order to keep the untenable and unfair status quo in EU farming as
long as possible.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Interestingly, while in the EU agri-business is
lobbying hard to ensure that the new green initiatives do not hit corporate
interests, in India the same agribusiness companies, besides their Indian
counterparts, are lobbying hard to push for more corporate control over
agriculture. I wonder when will Indian politicians and policy makers realise
that the corporate interest they are promoting are the same ones that the rich
developed countries increasingly want to move away from. That is why I maintain
that Indian policy makers and mainline economists are at least 10 years behind
the changes that we see happening at the international level.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The three contentious farm laws that were withdrawn
after a year-long protest by farmers were in reality aimed at making it easier
for corporate to expand their business activities in India. While the
agri-business interests have helped build a narrative among the educated middle
class that corporate control over agriculture will make farming more profitable
with the elimination of the middle-men, in reality not many know that market
reforms in agriculture have failed to prop up farm incomes anywhere in the
world. Farm incomes have been steadily declining in the US, and also in the
rest of the developed world.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">India therefore needs to work towards a food system
that is suitable to its own interests. We do not have to copy and paste from
the western countries. Be alert, and keep a close watch over agribusiness
lobbying efforts. #<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-21706172422583597622024-01-05T16:48:00.001+05:302024-01-05T16:48:17.360+05:30Whether we like it or not, Natural farming is the future. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaKIXQaAWkBhM_RrXd7-UcY5HcrxCp5NZ-8T8SlY7WmfK9Tw0fVYNRCvbgrEhFo_YAkNzjCH2QbReFPGr5vePSPZL1WXD5kXMcl-yHBS8TjwojK-gbHbCJd0onM_PCutreb5I9WtRrVHMN84ob41ZScmDdCsV7HoNpyDWG-SPQyFYBWOvTbVphzjugeh8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="630" data-original-width="1200" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiaKIXQaAWkBhM_RrXd7-UcY5HcrxCp5NZ-8T8SlY7WmfK9Tw0fVYNRCvbgrEhFo_YAkNzjCH2QbReFPGr5vePSPZL1WXD5kXMcl-yHBS8TjwojK-gbHbCJd0onM_PCutreb5I9WtRrVHMN84ob41ZScmDdCsV7HoNpyDWG-SPQyFYBWOvTbVphzjugeh8=w640-h336" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Natural farming needs more research and public investments.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy<i>: Reuters</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">K Radhika is a marginal farmer from village
Veerapanenigudem in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh. She has just 1.1 acre
of land and that too under natural farming, I couldn’t believe when she said her
son has completed MBA and her daughter is studying in the United States. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When asked why she hasn’t given up farming when her
children are doing so well, she replied: “My children do want me to give up and
stay with them but I tell them you do what you are doing and let me do what I
enjoy doing.” She follows a staggered cropping system that is called ATM (Any
Time Money) that provides her with a regular income.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">ATM is one form of classification of the activities
enshrined under the AP Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme,
which as the name implies, is all about farming in harmony with nature. Starting
from Punnukula village in Khammam district some two decades ago, this
agro-ecological farming system is now spread to 3,730 villages across the 26
districts. Already 8-lakh farmers have either shifted completely from chemical
to non-chemical farming or are in the process of transition. By 2031, it aims
at converting the entire 60-lakh farming population of AP from chemical to
natural farming. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Mysamma hails from Battiinapadu village in NTR
district. She cultivates cotton in two acres, and it was in 2018 she transitioned
to natural farming. When she told me that her daughter is an aeronautical
engineer, for a moment it appeared to me as if I was having an interaction with
middle-class housewives. But these small and marginal farmers, mostly women,
had come from various parts of Andhra Pradesh to share their experiences about
the virtues, strengths and the immense potential of climate-resilient and
environmentally healthy natural farming system.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Some of these farmers, with an average landholding
of less than 1 acre, some even owning land in fractions of 0.10 to 0.50 cents, had
assembled at the Guntur headquarters of the APCNF implemented by the state-owned
Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) non-profit company. In an interaction that followed for the
larger part of the day, it became obvious why the mainstream thinking has been
trying to run down viable alternatives. Small landholdings are often decried as
unviable and in the name of land and labour reforms, economists and corporate
leaders call for pushing them out of agriculture to join the urban workforce.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The global economic design devaluates small and
marginal farmers as an economic burden. But a little hand holding support, and
a set of appropriate marketing initiatives, can catapult these farms into
viable enterprise that do not heat the planet nor poison the air, water and
soil. No wonder, linking the dots, it becomes clear why the agri-business
industry thinks otherwise and had doubled the number of lobbyist (than the last
year climate talks) at the recently concluded COP 28 at Doha. For instance, the
multi-national agribusiness giant Bayer with which surprisingly the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) had recently signed research
collaboration, had sent more representatives than Eritrea. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And that reminds me of an analysis published in the
prestigious scientific journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature</i>
that drew from studies in 51 countries over a period of 50 years to conclude
that against the commonly held perception, small farm were more productive and
ecologically sustainable. But such studies do not become part of the mainstream
science policy. This is because globally, agricultural scientists, economists,
media and policy makers have spent decades endorsing the commercial interests
of the agribusiness giants that debunk anything but intensive farming thereby
resisting efforts to move towards an environmentally healthy but an equally productive
sustainable food system. Still, there is quiet a turnaround that is shaping a
transition to new agriculture.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I call it new agriculture because the conventional
monocultures that relied more on producing surpluses had not only desiccated
farm lands, turned soils sick, mined ground water and contaminated the food
chain and also forced farm populations to abandon farming and migrate. In addition,
it added on to the twin problems of growing human disease overload, including
cancer, and pushing the world into an era of climate emergency. However, in
view of the boiling temperatures, this kind of agriculture is left with a
limited role for the future. Transforming the food systems towards
agro-ecological food systems not only ensures food security and nutrition, but rebuilds
healthy eco-systems, creates economically viable livelihoods and thereby adds
to employment generation. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Rethinking agriculture is the need of the times. Right
from the Philippines to Vietnam; from Cambodia to Mexico; and from India to the
USA, a strong and vibrant movement towards agro-ecology is slowly but steadily
bringing a change in policies; like the small steps being taken to rebuild <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">paramparik kheti</i> and introduce schemes
to reduce fertiliser use with the underlying objective to restore and
ameliorate Mother Earth. But still a lot more needs to be done beginning by
discarding outdated economic policies that suited corporate interests. A transformation
towards ecological sustainability is also becoming paramount for farm research
and education.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To illustrate, take the devastation caused by the
failure of genetically-modified Bt cotton. What was hailed as a silver-bullet
has finally bitten the dust. On the other hand, I see hope in farmers like Laxmi
Narayana from NTR district who are engaged in organically-grown cotton. Going
around his farm, I find a large number of plants that had more than 100 balls.
Anything more than 50 healthy bolls in a plant is a good crop. Asked about the
yield performance, he said it ranges between 12 to 15 quintals per acre, which
is very encouraging. Similarly, Gopala Rao from the same district grows organic
paddy in 3.5 acres. He transitioned towards organic farming two years back and says
his harvest is around 30 quintals per acre. Non-chemical farming therefore compares
favourably with intensive agriculture. It only needs more research and public
sector investments.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We can’t just sit back. Let’s hand hold small
farmers, guide them in the right direction. They provide hope</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. #<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Hand-holding marginal farmers.</b> <i>The Tribune.</i> Dec 29, 2023. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/hand-holding-marginal-farmers-576205&source=gmail&ust=1704539301808000&usg=AOvVaw2W58dxkNeD9V2MMsVj19y2" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/hand-holding-marginal-farmers-576205" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/hand-holding-<wbr></wbr>marginal-farmers-576205</a></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-17489553830852158372023-12-29T06:39:00.011+05:302023-12-30T10:43:31.661+05:30Natural farming survives the cyclone. <p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPfmRUlVoamqo4QdNcXp-PcIn7BfjIYmGnECe9-5g7GM2xmUuyvN0Zvad8b2M9elYyoZHkQL9mNhWLNOcnPSih2o8KP9zRfVYgXTRUHmXuDZ_0zWXpl1eimTtiifPZyy64SxJDZl3x2o7XuDMX9vXt7S-IZhYDBX8pSWgPrqVrdaDuweh64bctkHfgreU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="899" data-original-width="1600" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhPfmRUlVoamqo4QdNcXp-PcIn7BfjIYmGnECe9-5g7GM2xmUuyvN0Zvad8b2M9elYyoZHkQL9mNhWLNOcnPSih2o8KP9zRfVYgXTRUHmXuDZ_0zWXpl1eimTtiifPZyy64SxJDZl3x2o7XuDMX9vXt7S-IZhYDBX8pSWgPrqVrdaDuweh64bctkHfgreU=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Inspecting the damage to paddy crop after the cyclone </span></i></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>Climate change is casting its destructive spell. As
a result, over the years, farming is becoming increasingly unpredictable.
Extreme weather events, and that includes cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, are
becoming more frequent and intense thereby resulting in huge crop losses. Still
worse, as the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, warns: “the era of global
warming has ended and the era of global boiling has arrived.”</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The global weather patterns have already gone
topsy-turvy. With global boiling setting in, the extreme climate swings will
become largely unpredictable. Already the world is in grips of human-induced
climatic emergency and that means sudden and freak droughts and incessant
floods, cold and heat waves, forest fires but the frequency and fury of the extreme
climate strike in future, as per analysis, will defy any known pattern.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“When it needs to rain, is doesn’t but when we don’t
need rains, it comes down heavily,” said a farmer in Andhra Pradesh. This came
out when I sat with a group of farmers to know how destructive the Michaung
cyclone was that had hit the coastline on Dec 5, 2023, and how much loss they
had suffered. Besides flooding the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, the cyclone
had flattened thousands of acres of the standing crops like paddy, cotton,
banana, chillies, and various horticultural crops in AP. “After the cyclone, it
was neck-deep water in my fields. But my crop was still standing,” said a paddy
farmer, who had recently shifted to natural farming.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">While the cyclone resulted in widespread crop
damages, with cotton and paddy particularly hit by a massive blow, news reports
say the AP Government sought an assistance of Rs 3,711-crore compensation
package for cyclone Maichaung damage. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When the crop damages are measured on the basis of
land revenue records, the general impression is that all crops equal to the area
mentioned or value worked out have been destroyed or partially destroyed as per
the data that is collected. However, in reality there is a significant variation
in the data collected that is not only startling but may provide the answer to
the mitigation efforts being suggested globally to minimise the crop damages
from the harmful impacts of climate change. I think it is here that the
Michaung cyclone left behind lessons that will shape the future of farming and
help reduce the negative impact on food security from crop failure and growing
hunger.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A couple of days after the cyclone, the Andhra
Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) programme, which is being
operated by the Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS), a non-profit company that has
been floated by the State Government, did a quick assessment of the crop
damages inflicted on the conventional chemical farms and comparing it with the
climate resilience demonstrated by the crops cultivated under natural farming.
This comparison became more important considering that over 850,000 farmers are
engaged in natural farming in about 3.78-lakh hectares in 3.730 villages across
the State.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">After all, it is important to know how did the crops
being cultivated under natural farming systems, which claim to be in harmony
with nature, perform when pounded by strong winds and heavy rainfall. It also
becomes important to examine whether the transformative pathway towards
sustainable food systems also buckled under the extreme weather event like the
chemically grown crops in the industrial agriculture scenario. In my
understanding, the results are astounding and should contribute to redefining
what kind of farming systems would be appropriate to ensure food security as
well as sustain farm livelihoods in future.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A couple of days after the cyclone had receded; the
RySS compiled data on various crops under both the farming systems –
conventional intensive agriculture and natural farming -- from the severely hit
districts. Using climate resilience indicators, the results obtained are
eye-opening; and should help policy makers to re-visit policies and approaches
towards transforming the food systems. Based on the data now available, policy
makers can come up with home grown solutions to address the climate threat to
food security rather than the suggestions coming from cut and paste that the
agri-business industry pushes for.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The study: “Impact of Cyclone Michaung on APCNF
versus Chemical farms in AP” ( Web link here: </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rb22uyY5xyMw94qITbFWckewhDd3rpLe/view?usp%3Ddrivesdk&source=gmail&ust=1703898029517000&usg=AOvVaw384iQNGDlSQ8szMAN9qBDq" href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rb22uyY5xyMw94qITbFWckewhDd3rpLe/view?usp=drivesdk" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://drive.google.com/file/<wbr></wbr>d/<wbr></wbr>1Rb22uyY5xyMw94qITbFWckewhDd3r<wbr></wbr>pLe/view?usp=drivesdk</a>) <span style="line-height: 115%;">has data comparing the performance of crops under
the two farming systems from three districts – Bapatla, Guntur and West
Godavari. The crops selected are paddy, cotton, banana and chilli. The crop
data pertains to the parameters that would depict the strength and sturdiness
of the farming system that can withstand the destruction from a cyclone. After
all, the cyclone had a wind velocity exceeding 70 km per hour (in many
districts it was as high as 90-100 kms/hour), with an actual rainfall of 220.4
mm. </span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At a number of places, conventional farm and natural
farms existed side by side. This showed the contrast clearly. While the paddy
crop had lodged 100 per cent in these districts, only 5 per cent damage was
observed under natural farming. The reason for the low lodging percentage under
natural farming is characterised to lodging resistance coming from higher root length
and comparatively short shoot length, number of effective tillers and effective
water management. In Guntur district, lodging in natural farming is nil while
the entire paddy crop under conventional faming had lodged. Moreover, while the
fields had remained submerged for just 2 days in natural farming conditions compared
to 7 days in chemically farmed fields. The yield estimates were significantly
higher at 3,900 kg per acre in natural farming <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vis a vis</i> 1,900 expected from conventional farms.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In West Godavari district too, the lodging
percentage for paddy was 100 per cent for the conventional farms compared to
less than 5 per cent under natural farming. The numbers of damaged tillers per
square meter were 158 in conventional grown crop compared to 21 in natural
farming. The yield estimate for conventional paddy therefore falls to 1,400
kg/acre compared to 1,900 kg/acre under APCNF.</span><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;">While it may not be possible to present the entire
statistics pertaining to other crops in this column, the strength, stubbornness
and buoyancy of the natural farming system in times of a destructive cyclone
spell shows its enormous ability to lessen the harmful impact. Instead of
relying on sophisticated technological inputs (including genetically-modified
crops) and that too in name of climate smart agriculture, that the agri-business
companies are trying to push, the pathway to transient to natural farming
offers a sustainable and viable alternative. The inbuilt climate resilience
demonstrated under natural farming is the way ahead. #<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Time to tap natural farming solutions to combat climate threat to food security. </b><i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Dec 29, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/agriculture/time-to-tap-natural-farming-solutions-to-combat-climate-threat-to-food-security-1277640&source=gmail&ust=1703922190145000&usg=AOvVaw0sbZ3756p7ZqUBzxrsW75e" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/agriculture/time-to-tap-natural-farming-solutions-to-combat-climate-threat-to-food-security-1277640" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>industry/agriculture/time-to-<wbr></wbr>tap-natural-farming-solutions-<wbr></wbr>to-combat-climate-threat-to-<wbr></wbr>food-security-1277640</a></span></p><span style="color: #888888;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></span>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-7054416528133697132023-12-23T16:59:00.001+05:302023-12-23T16:59:16.293+05:30How healthy a nation is should be the ultimate growth indicator <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizaNxhHaVjpz4gQPgsT62LcODOVOuOyG-wW661mtP5hEnCAFjR5J4LXLjYR4YhW_6ua3wHxTV8eXgQwM3eTMJk_yV2xvPpbSFSBqHnFF5oaFZGzhC1QH6oQE45SUF7SN2HojIuzqgwnQ5u0m-wysnRUiUILmkOPaxPDojKkejznoBHkdWjJdQTqrxLoxI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1500" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizaNxhHaVjpz4gQPgsT62LcODOVOuOyG-wW661mtP5hEnCAFjR5J4LXLjYR4YhW_6ua3wHxTV8eXgQwM3eTMJk_yV2xvPpbSFSBqHnFF5oaFZGzhC1QH6oQE45SUF7SN2HojIuzqgwnQ5u0m-wysnRUiUILmkOPaxPDojKkejznoBHkdWjJdQTqrxLoxI=w640-h384" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i> Bizz Buzz </i></span></div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If 76 years after Independence, more than 74 per
cent of the Indians are unable to afford a healthy diet, there is something
seriously going wrong. And that too when the country happens to be one of the
world’s fastest growing economies, and at the growth rate projections that it
is likely to achieve, India is expected to become the third largest economy by
2027.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Whatever the size of the economy, and that too built
largely with an unhealthy population, is a clear indicator of the growth matrix
not being in tune with the health of the nation.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is certainly alarming.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced
extending the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna for five years, under
which free ration will continue to be provided to 81.35-crore beneficiaries, it
was quite clear that the government sees the necessity of giving 5 kg of free
ration in addition to the subsidised food priced at Rs 2-3 per kg prescribed
under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) that people living under the
poverty line are entitled to. Since NFSA caters to 67 per cent of the
population, there is another 8 to 10 per cent that is in urgent need of
alleviating their diet levels.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It is the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
that has in a Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2023 come up
with these startling figures. This was based on the estimates for the year
2021, which was a pandemic year, but the study says that the region continues
to suffer from the same protracted effects. Sadly, the report says that the
Asia-Pacific region has 370.7 million nutritionally-poor people, which is more
than half of the undernourished population globally. Besides India, Pakistan
has 82.8 per cent and Bangladesh with 66.1 per cent malnourished population.
While Nepal has 76.4 per cent, Sri Lanka 55.5 per cent and Bhutan has 45.2 per
cent of the undernourished population. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
South Asian region thereby dominates the global undernourished map.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The FAO report also says that 53 per cent of the
country’s women are anaemic, and 31.7 per cent of the children less than five
years of age suffer from stunted growth, with another 18.7 per cent children
technically suffering from wasting, which means they have low weight compared
to their height. Interestingly, these estimates were earlier flagged by the
Global Hunger Index (GHI) reports that India had rubbished saying that the
methodology adopted was not appropriate.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While the FAO states that unless rising income
levels cover up the rising cost of food, the unhealthy food trends will not reduce.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As far as the income levels are concerned, India
continues to have a majority population living at levels that exist in Sub-Saharan
Africa. In an article “Focus on the Base of the Pyramid’ (Hindustan Times, Aug
10, 2022) it was estimated that 900 million people in India were living with an
income that matched Sub-Saharan Africa. With such low income levels, which
continue to persist despite the economy growing at the other extreme, unhealthy
diets will remain robustly sustainable. To substantiate, a recent calculation
by the World Bank had shown that among the BRICS countries, India had 91 per
cent of the population living under Rs 280 per day ($4 per day). This was the
lowest among the emerging economies, with South Africa trailing second with 51
per cent population at the same income level.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To achieve healthy diets, the answer therefore lies
in enhancing the incomes that prevail at the bottom of the pyramid. It may
sound difficult or some will say impossible, but in reality it isn’t difficult
to raise the average income levels. I have often said that since nearly 70 per
cent of the rural households are dependent on agriculture, the answer lies in
making farming a viable and profitable enterprise. With 47 of the farm
workforce that is employed in agriculture being continuously deprived of a
viable livelihood, they can never afford nutritionally-enriching diets. Many
studies have pointed out that the rural wages, which in any case are amongst
the lowest, have been further reduced or remain static. And when the poor
households have low incomes, they cut down on food intake.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">By keeping agriculture deliberately impoverished so
as to keep food inflation under control, the macro-economic policies have stifled
efforts to make farming a viable proposition. This reminds me of a flawed
treatise on political economy that the Niti Aayog had worked out in 2020 to
measure the cost of a meal (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thaali</i>)
that a common man pays across the country. In an article ‘<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thaali</i>economics gets it wrong” (The Tribune, Feb 8, 2020) I had
explained how <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Thaali</i>economics, as it
was called, was to simply convey a message that food prices are within the
reach of the average person on the street. In reality, what the report cleverly
disguised was how farmers were being actually being penalised to grow cheap
food.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The credit rating agency Crisil India continues with
the analysis on a monthly basis, and I find <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Forbes
India</i> magazine publishing the series under ‘How India Eats’ and also some
other newspapers carrying the report regularly. For September 2023, the
analysis showed that with tomato and onion prices cooling, a vegetable <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thaali</i> would on an average cost Rs 27.9.
This was less by 17 per cent than what would have cost an average citizen to
prepare the meal at home a month earlier. Similarly, the cost of non-vegetarian
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thaali</i> was also worked out.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Given that the global cost of food production as
estimated by FAO’s State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2023 has been put at
$12.7 trillion, and the hidden cost in India measured at $ 1.1 trillion, it is
time to put a stop to the Crisil monthly estimates. By putting up a chart of
vegetarian and non-vegetarian <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">thaali</i>
every month, Crisil India is actually hiding the cost of producing true and
healthy food. Considering that 74 per cent people in India are unable to afford
healthy diets, the credit rating agency must be asked to explain how relevant
is the cost it is trying to project if the unhealthy population continues to
grow.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A healthy nation should be the ultimate growth
parameter for any country. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i><b> India's economic boom fails to reach the plate.</b><i> Bizz Buzz. </i>Dec 15, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/indias-economic-boom-fails-to-reach-the-plate-1273591&source=gmail&ust=1703417009782000&usg=AOvVaw1nlUnJlMs749VzOQm0v0sV" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/indias-economic-boom-fails-to-reach-the-plate-1273591" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/indias-economic-boom-<wbr></wbr>fails-to-reach-the-plate-<wbr></wbr>1273591</a></span><p></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-49025847621532229792023-12-17T10:20:00.025+05:302023-12-17T17:25:52.034+05:30When a farmer becomes the Prime Minister <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDCgSDz25boeSzjPgWnFnxCRXYpucsys5DqpxAT_UGxli4MbXu0zOzZIEV68w8klvZbsHM4q7JHpZqmMkLK3inj4-tO5X3nLGHjDMhHi72x_l5xucTXjsUdRv0f8XV9JJqqJZUNA8YqMFj2LKY9mATgjGZahPJu0qSaFre_TUcKqomcpchvw-kN5ftVw8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiDCgSDz25boeSzjPgWnFnxCRXYpucsys5DqpxAT_UGxli4MbXu0zOzZIEV68w8klvZbsHM4q7JHpZqmMkLK3inj4-tO5X3nLGHjDMhHi72x_l5xucTXjsUdRv0f8XV9JJqqJZUNA8YqMFj2LKY9mATgjGZahPJu0qSaFre_TUcKqomcpchvw-kN5ftVw8=w640-h428" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>A happy family on the farm</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Pic courtesy: <i>Dreamstime</i> </span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16.1px; text-align: justify;">In a country where roughly half the population or nearly 700 million people (including their families) are engaged in farming, the biggest economic challenge would come from a policy swing that provides for at least 50 per cent of the budget devoted to agriculture.</span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: "Helvetica Neue Light", HelveticaNeue-Light, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"> </span></i></b></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">With 47 per cent of the country’s workforce engaged
in agriculture, and with 70 per cent of the rural households dependent on
farming in one way or the other, imagine the day when a farmer becomes the
Prime Minister. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In a democracy, a farmer too can look up to be there.
It doesn’t however mean that I have anything against the present crop of political
leaders, but all I am trying to look at is the great expectation that the
society at large will have, knowing that a farmer is in a better position to feel
the pain, apathy and anger that the rural population is living with. After all,
why should they be destined to live in penury, with all the riches being
amassed by a privileged few? Why should farmers always look excitedly at the
doles and promises the political parties throw at the time of elections? Why
can’t we have economic policies that make farming prosperous and a sought after
employment option? To put it succinctly, why can’t a farmer dream to be a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lakhpati</i>, and why can’t the future
high-net-worth individuals (HNWI), people with liquid assets exceeding $1
million, come from agriculture?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It isn’t easy I know. But it has to begin somewhere.
When Jimmy Carter decided to contest, and we know he was also a peanut farmer, in
an interview later he shared as to what happened when one fine evening he told
his mother that he wanted to stand for President.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“President of what? She asked.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“United States,” he replied. His mother did say how
she noticed the throbbing of a nerve around his neck and could therefore see
how serious he was. The rest is history. Jimmy Carter served as the 39<sup>th</sup>
President of the United States from 1977 to 1981. Prior to that he was a member
of the Democratic Party and had been the governor of Georgia State from 1971 to
1975.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now, before you accuse me of harbouring a stupid
idea and at the same time think of what appears to be an impossible dream of
seeing a farmer as the Prime Minister, let us assume even if it is hypothetical
that a farmer does get an opportunity to eventually lead the nation. With a
farmer at the helm of affairs, it will be interesting to see what kind of economic
policies are ushered in to see a complete turnaround in agriculture, so as to
meet the aspirations of a healthy agriculture, healthy environment and wealthy
farmers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In my imagination, this is only possible if the new
leader is willing to take bold decisions, and doesn’t feel obliged to carry on
with the same kind of skewed economic thinking that has led the rich to become
stinking rich, while the poor have been driven against the wall. If the World
Bank’s estimate of 91 per cent of India’s population to be living in less than
Rs 280 (or $4) per day is correct, the challenge to turn the tables certainly seems
to be gigantic. But that should not be a deterrent for a political leadership that
is determined to rebuild agriculture, aiming to convert agriculture into a profitable
and an economically viable proposition. Simply put, take steps that can chart a
new pathway of economic growth, where everyone gains and not only a handful of
billionaires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Let’s begin with the annual budget. In 2023, of the total
proposed budgetary allocation of Rs 45-lakh crore, agriculture received only Rs
1.25-lakh crore. This is just 2.8 per cent of the total budget. With such a low
budgetary outlay, the unwritten objective is to make farmers abandon
agriculture and migrate. In a country where roughly half the population or
nearly 700 million people (including their families) are engaged in farming,
the biggest economic challenge would come from a policy swing that provides for
at least 50 per cent of the budget devoted to agriculture.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The enhanced annual budget itself will lay a strong
foundation and also offset the farm losses, if properly designed, for a sustainable
and prosperous future. The economic focus has to shift to revitalising the farm
economy. To understand this, let’s first take a look at some of the startling
studies that depict the extent of deepening crisis and the reasons behind the
continuing farm distress. Rural indebtedness and suicides have been escalating
over the years. Even at the risk of sounding repetitive, it is first important
to know the magnitude of the crisis that afflicts agriculture.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To begin with, a study by the Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the richest trading block, along
with New Delhi-based ICRIER had shown that in a period of 16 years, between
2000 and 2016, Indian farmers had suffered a loss of Rs 45-lakh crore, which
means approximately 2.64- lakh crore every year. A still bigger travesty is that
no academia, no media, no State Assembly and even Parliament didn’t even take cognizance
of the serious implications of the study. As if this is not enough, the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Down To Earth</i> magazine (Oct 31, 2023)
quotes another OECD report that assesses agricultural policy and support 54
countries provide. Accordingly, Indian farmers were taxed $169 billion (Rs
14-lakh crore) in 2022 alone, some of the loss being exacerbated by export bans
and restrictions.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If only this loss estimate was for the industry, the
TV channels would have been shrieking about the prevailing policy paralysis,
and the need to provide an economic stimulus. But since it was agriculture that
suffered the severe blow, nobody cared. That is how we have been literally
handing over money to the rich thereby exacerbating inequality. Give them tax
concessions, bank-write-offs and economic stimulus packages at the drop of a
hat. But why is that farmers’ invariably face police <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lathi-charge</i>, water cannons and even police firing when they ask
for high prices or bank waivers? Why is that I have never seen the corporate
chief executives sitting at a protest at <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">jantar
mantar</i> raising their demands? The economic policies should therefore not
make any distinction based on the economic status. Let the policies be
inclusive, in harmony and imbibe justice for all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The latest report of the Situational Assessment
Survey for Agricultural Household, pertaining to the period 2018-19, works out
the average income of an Indian farm household at Rs 10,218 per month. This
puts farming at the bottom of the pyramid in India. Earlier, the Economic
Survey 2016 had shown that the average farm income in 17 States of India, which
means roughly half the country, stood at Rs 20,000 a year. This meant that a
farming family was surviving on less than Rs 1,700 per month. A farmer can’t
even rear a cow in the same amount.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">No wonder, as the OECD report says, since the year 2000,
Indian farmers continue to be taxed. In fact, India is the only country where
the negative market support for agriculture has not been covered up by
budgetary support. To keep food prices affordable, the economic design the
world follows ensures that the entire loss is borne by farmers. In reality, it
must be accepted that they alone carry the burden of subsidising the
country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">With a farmer leader is at the helm, agriculture will
receive the recognition it deserves, knowing there is no other way to achieve
the vision of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas. </i>More
income in the hands of farmers will not only revitalise the rural economy, but in
turn will boost the national economy. Imagine if half the population had more
to spend, the huge rural demand it will generate will surely act as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rocket dose</i> for the economy. Only the
mainline economists can’t see this. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If 76 years after Independence, farmers are unable
to eke out an economically viable livelihood, there is certainly a need for
economic rethinking. It will require out of the box thinking, treating
agriculture as the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real ‘</i>mainstay’ of
the economy rather than seeing it only as a burden. At the same time, it should
be clear that with more income in the hands of farmers, and knowing that agriculture
is the largest employer, a policy shift to renewing farming will also reduce
the monumental task of creating more employment and that too at a time when the
world is faced with increasing automation and jobless growth.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This will call for disbanding the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Niti Aayog</i>, and replace it with a policy
think-tank that has the focus steadfast on a people-centric economic
transformation. It also calls for a re-look at the macro-economic policies, discarding
the consumer price index (CPI) to begin with, so as to ensure that the
inflation index is based on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">real</i>
inflation, which means incorporating the inflation in housing, education and
health so that the axe does not deliberately fall on food prices as the villain
of the story. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There are numerous other initiatives that will need
to be taken and will happen hopefully with time. But the first and foremost, to
pull nearly half the country out from the clutches of poverty and hunger, and
put it on the path to economic resurgence, a strong economic architecture that
even defies the dominant structures will have to be laid out.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let us not be brow-beaten with macro-economists who
will continue to breathe down our neck. It is time to emerge free from the
shackles of an outdated economic thinking that has certainly outlived its
utility, and is primarily responsible for keeping agriculture deliberately
impoverished. #</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source: </i><b>If a farmer become the Prime Minister.</b> <i>Agriculture World,</i> Dec 2023. </span></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-3531634462812136512023-12-11T12:44:00.002+05:302023-12-11T12:44:18.564+05:30RBI cannot be a 'raksha kavach' only for the Richie Rich. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjN4u88jUPxG0ov0gRSnIwXYLp1tTwRglY3CZDtFhFy0MJcZfqcw52VAibj9GF53Ji2JRkLa9fywttN6QjnMxoA9nID0rjP4yr71Ikrpfyij1EIRmQqBdXc5FdgNj_pg4GZq_QY7NYNfiPKU5ABEtHA6Hfk6sguiPW2RfI75DaCPX0VyBIwyTEpijCVyf0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="1024" height="336" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjN4u88jUPxG0ov0gRSnIwXYLp1tTwRglY3CZDtFhFy0MJcZfqcw52VAibj9GF53Ji2JRkLa9fywttN6QjnMxoA9nID0rjP4yr71Ikrpfyij1EIRmQqBdXc5FdgNj_pg4GZq_QY7NYNfiPKU5ABEtHA6Hfk6sguiPW2RfI75DaCPX0VyBIwyTEpijCVyf0=w640-h336" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Maharashtra farmers offers to sell body organs to pay back loans. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i> Bizz Buzz</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A few days back, 10 indebted farmers from Hingoli
district in Maharashtra made a unique but strange plea to the Chief Minister
willing to put their body organs to auction so as to recover money that they
can pay back to the nationalised banks. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">They offered to sell their body organs, and in fact
had a ‘rate card’ ready -- Rs 90,000 for liver, Rs 75,000 for a kidney and Rs
25,000 for an eye. While this strange offer did create a ruckus in the
Maharashtra Assembly, it was all forgotten after a few days. The tragedy being
that anything that depicts agrarian distress is brushed away rather easily. It
is only when defaulting corporate are unable to repay the outstanding loans,
even if they are in a position to do so, that not only the political leadership
but even the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) throws a protective ring.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It happened a few months back, when acting as a ‘raksha
kavach’ the RBI directed the banks to enter into a compromise with 16,044
wilful defaulters who in any case should have been sent to the jail for
defaulting the banks to the tune of Rs 3.45-lakh crores. Wilful defaulters are
those who have the ability to pay, but refuse to do so. In reality, they give a
damn to the rules and regulations that the banking system has ascribed.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">And yet, the RBI has been soft towards them. After a
cooling period of 12 months, the banks have also been allowed to extend fresh
loans to them. Thanks to RBI, these wilful defaulters literally got a write-off
for their deliberate inability to pay back, and yet are being given fresh loans
that they can again default, and refuse to pay back. With precedence now in
place, they will be expecting another write-off after a few years.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If only the RBI had asked banks to go soft on
defaulting farmers, I am sure a majority of the farm and farm worker suicides
the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) had reported for 2022 could have been
easily averted.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Against 10,881 farm suicides reported in 2021, the
NCRB has recorded farm suicides to be 3.7 per cent higher in 2022 when a total
of 11,290 farmers and farm workers took the fatal route. In 2022, of the 5,207
farmers who took their own lives, 208 were women. Similarly, of the 6,083 farm
workers who committed suicide, 611 were women workers. Most suicides were
reported from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Maharashtra alone reported 38 per cent of the total farm
suicides, recording 4,248 suicides. If seen in conjunction with the report of auction
of body organs proposed by some farmers in Hingoli district that was mentioned
earlier, the continuing distress in Maharashtra calls for an urgent policy
response. So is with the rest of the country where too farm distress is
deepening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The Maharashtra Finance Minister Devendra Fadnavis
has already announced doubling of the PM Kisan scheme allocation. In addition
to Rs 6,000 per year that the Centre provides, Maharashtra will match it with
an equal amount thereby raising the allocation to Rs 12,000 per year. Over
1.7-crore farmers have been given the benefit of crop insurance at Re 1, but
who will ensure that the insurance co’s compensate them judiciously for the
crop losses farmers suffer? We have seen reports of Rs 15, Rs 100, Rs 200 and
so on, paid to farmers for the crop losses.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Crop insurance is touted as a big benefit for
farmers, but the data shows that private insurance co’s have walked away with
profits of Rs 35.5-crore since the scheme began in 2016. In reality, the PM
Fasal BimaYojna (PMFBY) seems to be a scheme that ensures large profits for the
bima companies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, a handout here and there is not going
to work. What Maharashtra needs is an alternative package of holistic policies
and related incentives that can sow the seeds of a revitalised agriculture.
After all, if just 4 per cent area under sugarcane can draw 70 per cent of the
groundwater, how will the doles help to rebuild farming unless the water
balance is set right? But the bigger question is who will have the political
courage to even talk of phasing out the area under water-guzzling sugarcane?
This is just one imbalance that is related to the economic viability of any
farm. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Across the country as such rural wages have in the
decline, and even the agriculture gross value addition (GVA) has been the
lowest since FY 2012, thereby driving rural consumption down. The economic boom
that we see is concentrated in the hands of the top 10 per cent. This is seen
mostly through the lens of automobile sales. While the sale of four-wheelers is
growing in the metros, with the maximum growth in the luxury segment, the sale
of two-wheelers is still not picking up. It is generally expected that that an
increase in rural wages is what makes the rural population shift from bicycle
to scooters or motorcycles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As the NCRB observes, agrarian distress is the
primary reason behind the increasing suicide rate. It also is the reason for
rural demand to remain tepid.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Perhaps a better reflection of the deteriorating
farm scenario comes from the latest report of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD), the richest trading block. In an analysis of the
farming sector in 54 of the major economies, including 38 members of the OECD,
the study shows that farmers in India have been continuously taxed since the
year 2000. Although there are a few countries where agriculture is in the
negative zone but all these countries have covered up the farm losses by
budgetary support.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India, budgetary support has failed to make up
for the continuing shortfall in farm incomes. Simply put, it means while all
other sectors of the economy receive ample support through annual budgets, it
is only farming that is left at the mercy of gods.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At the same time, the study clearly establishes that
the budgetary support for agriculture, despite many schemes being introduced
over the years, has failed to translate in a profitable income for the farming
community. The economic design is so cleverly cast that while farmers are
hailed as the food providers or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">annadata</i>
but what they receive as support is hardly a pittance. This is the primary
reason why agriculture continues to struggle against all odds, and with each
passing year the level of distress only grows.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I have repeatedly said: little do the farmers
realise that when they undertake cultivation they actually end up cultivating
losses. #</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Source: </b><i>Incredible India ! Wilful defaulters buy properties; farmers offer to sell body organs to pay-off loans.</i> Bizz Buzz. Dec 8, 2023. </span></span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/eco-buzz/incredible-india-wilful-defaulters-buy-properties-farmers-offer-to-sell-body-organs-to-pay-off-loans-1271577&source=gmail&ust=1702364980229000&usg=AOvVaw29JkTmfm6JNniMLVj344cU" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/eco-buzz/incredible-india-wilful-defaulters-buy-properties-farmers-offer-to-sell-body-organs-to-pay-off-loans-1271577" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/eco-<wbr></wbr>buzz/incredible-india-wilful-<wbr></wbr>defaulters-buy-properties-<wbr></wbr>farmers-offer-to-sell-body-<wbr></wbr>organs-to-pay-off-loans-<wbr></wbr>1271577</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-57485582987767648822023-12-07T18:36:00.002+05:302023-12-07T18:36:28.530+05:30Crackdown on unbundling of ticket prices is urgently required. It is becoming a marketing fad. <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq_xvMkcLsJZh0aFwR9nE2aqM4qd9neVmJpZFjfBqMVlNya_IshtGMB40UJ1rPtuqxf4bd02c9bjAkAQybBi9PIZLGt5f7a4E11uOFRbz-96_XEXH9JDtRWSlVX6hHTFjZVT-rovYZUb30x6Fpv6heuPiPHhnYXp_bbVU7LlxJtOV08xrPLSQEIufkrpc" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="478" data-original-width="850" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiq_xvMkcLsJZh0aFwR9nE2aqM4qd9neVmJpZFjfBqMVlNya_IshtGMB40UJ1rPtuqxf4bd02c9bjAkAQybBi9PIZLGt5f7a4E11uOFRbz-96_XEXH9JDtRWSlVX6hHTFjZVT-rovYZUb30x6Fpv6heuPiPHhnYXp_bbVU7LlxJtOV08xrPLSQEIufkrpc=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">The day is not far when passengers will have to pay for using the toilets on board. Unbundling of air ticket prices is becoming the new normal. </i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:</span><i style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;"> Zee Business </i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">At a time when price ‘unbundling’ is becoming a norm
in India like elsewhere, the US President Joe Biden has announced a crackdown
on “those hidden surcharges too many businesses use to make you pay more.”</span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span></span></div><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">“It’s wrong. It’s wrong,” President Biden said,
adding: “Research shows that without realising it, folks can end up paying as
much as paying 20 per cent more because of hidden junk fees than they would
have paid if they could see the full price upfront and compare it with other
options.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) in Feb 2021 permitted airlines to unbundle certain services from their
prices. Citing the global trends, when for example allowing for Surge Pricing
for cab aggregators, airlines and now the train services, it has become so easy
to go by what the private companies come up with. Since the ministers and the
bureaucrats don’t pay from their own pocket for air travel (or need to order a
cab when in office) they have little or no idea of the difficulty or the
hardship that the common people have to undergo. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">No wonder, a recent news report had shown that
Indigo airlines food and beverage (F&B) division had earned more profit
than Domino pizza outlets. In the days to come, with some airlines mulling over
the need to ask passengers to pay for the baggage they check in, I wouldn’t be
surprised if the airlines end up earning more profits from charging for checked-in
baggage than the total revenue arising from freight trains. Some years back,
the European airline Ryanair had floated the idea of asking consumer to pay a
price for using the toilet on board. The idea was kept in abeyance pending
strong consumer resentment. If the airline had not gone back on its proposal,
and the other airlines too had picked it up, the revenue from toilet use alone could
easily surpass the earnings from <i>Sulabh
Sauchayala</i>. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is what happens when policy makers are first
party to the decision making (when they are in office) that allows for junk
prices or at times allow exorbitant prices to be extracted at the airports, and
then express a shock when they have to pay from their own pocket. This is best
illustrated when former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was horrified when he
ordered for a cup of tea at Chennai airport (in 2018). In a tweet, he said
“Offered hot water and tea bag, price Rs 135. Horrified, I declined.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In Sept 2022, during a stopover at the Chennai
airport, I also had tweeted: “Rs 231 for a cup of filter coffee. I don’t know
why people still complain of higher food prices.” <span style="background: white;">The
point I am trying to make is no heckles are raised when airport shops extract
their pound of flesh or taxi aggregators go in for frequent surge pricing even
at an unearthly hour of 6 in the morning. But if tomato price jump from Rs 20
to Rs 40 per kg, all hell breaks loose. This is how our mind has been seasoned
to.</span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I therefore applaud the US President Joe Biden for making
an effort to stop the open loot. Whatever the private companies may say, a
crackdown is required to stem the illegal tide, and free customers from paying
predatory prices. While the top leadership in India is keeping its eyes shut, it
is the common people who continue to suffer. But then there are always powerful
moneyed lobbyists who are paid to justify the illegal trade that companies
profit from. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Take the case of the US. No sooner did Joe Biden
order a regulatory crackdown at the erring companies, a screaming news headline
in <i>Washington Post</i> reported how from
airlines to ticket sellers, companies were fighting back to keep junk fees to
protect their rising profits. Many travel writers have already started
justifying the need for price unbundling saying this helps keeps the baseline
ticket prices low. But in reality, I don’t see the air ticket prices low;
invariably the prices rising with every passing day as the date of travel gets
nearer, and that too with no additional advantages for the increased fare.
Dynamic pricing, as it is called, has seen air ticket, train and cinema prices increasing by an
average of 25 per cent.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Similarly, banks too are in the race to expand the
services for which consumers can be forced to pay. Keeping the minimum balance
in banks, as most Indian banks prescribe, is actually a tax on the poor. “When
people request basic information about their accounts, bag banks cannot charge
them massive fees or trap them in endless customer service loops,” says the US
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau chief Rohit Chopra. The need is to put an
end to these surprise fees that banks charge.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The excessive credit card fees for instance are
another loophole that the banks take advantage of. In the US, the plan is to
reduce the excessive card fees by 75 per cent. Wonderful, I must say. In fact,
I have always wondered how come the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or other
Central Banks in the developed countries failed to check the exploitatively
high excessive credit card fees.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Interestingly, the more is the emphasis on digital
economy; more is the evidence of predatory pricing becoming prevalent. In an
article in <i>Dainik Bhaskar</i> the other
day, it was reported that some companies have even started charging for word
count on the internet. The list of such junk prices or unbundling of prices is
rather long, and tells us that it is turning out to be an organised business.
Beer companies charging extra for the glass in bars on weekends, and paying
extra for the ketchup catches is now increasingly becoming the norm.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Junk prices are the
outcome of a junk policy. Unless policy makers wake up to the threat, predatory
pricing is becoming a marketing trend that will perhaps require an
international effort to put an end to the malpractice. But before that, each
country must crackdown on stopping unbundling of prices or junk prices. Let us
get back to the era of fixed prices with no hidden costs attached. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source: </i><b>Time to crackdown on predatory pricing before it becomes a marketing fad</b>.<i> Bizz Buzz.</i> Dec 1, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/markets/time-to-crackdown-on-predatory-pricing-before-it-becomes-a-marketing-fad-1269496&source=gmail&ust=1702040318925000&usg=AOvVaw1s8_H6KZ6buIVzIGj6mlTL" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/markets/time-to-crackdown-on-predatory-pricing-before-it-becomes-a-marketing-fad-1269496" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>markets/time-to-crackdown-on-<wbr></wbr>predatory-pricing-before-it-<wbr></wbr>becomes-a-marketing-fad-<wbr></wbr>1269496</a></span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-75482866769742393952023-11-29T12:35:00.003+05:302023-11-29T19:21:19.298+05:30Mainstream economics has ensured that farmers remain impoverished. Time to change the mainstream. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiINmLBKT3kPGVBWRoE84JY40fee9sHuptktAYs5qnmga3pJo_WcHyvarbWMCTk5Al-riNfX2BOhtg91hcR8mk_VfwCckRSNEFwuu95mk6jtWccnvHMD8_0oDa2RRpc8gUAftB_Lc-WbsjZNQ9LavBVHpBLiaTaN11lM8qNHurUiJQKTWaegLodp60CiLU" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiINmLBKT3kPGVBWRoE84JY40fee9sHuptktAYs5qnmga3pJo_WcHyvarbWMCTk5Al-riNfX2BOhtg91hcR8mk_VfwCckRSNEFwuu95mk6jtWccnvHMD8_0oDa2RRpc8gUAftB_Lc-WbsjZNQ9LavBVHpBLiaTaN11lM8qNHurUiJQKTWaegLodp60CiLU=w640-h320" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">For more than 20 years, Indian farmers have been harvesting losses.</span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>Pic courtesy: <i>New Indian Express</i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Amid the elections in five States the tough competition witnessed
between the two major political parties to outscore each other on the promise and
‘commitment’ to provide a higher price to farmers, will hopefully lay out a new
template for the coming general elections in 2024. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In a way, politics is struggling hard to emerge out of the
clutches of the mainstream economic thinking that has kept agriculture in
perpetual poverty. For several decades now, the dominant economic thinking has
been to keep farm prices low so as to keep inflation under control, which is primarily
the reason why farmers remain impoverished. To illustrate, a study by the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the world’s
richest trading block, and released on Oct 30, has conclusively shown that
Indian farmers have been continuously taxed since 2000. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The reason for the terrible agrarian distress that prevails
is therefore clearly before us. The study, which spans 54 countries, also shows
that although there are a few countries where farmers are in the negative zone but
it is only in India that no effort has been made to cover up the losses by
budgetary support. Simply put, it means all these years’ Indian farmers were left
high and dry; and there had been no effort in reality to buttress the bottom
line. For more than 20 years, as I have often said, farmers have been
harvesting losses. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It suited the mainline economic thinking that believes in
sacrificing agriculture to keep the economic reforms viable. It was the same
dominant thought process that had managed to torpedo the implementation of the
Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation which wanted farmers to be paid a
Minimum Support Price (MSP) by computing the weighted cost plus a profit margin
of 50 per cent (C2+50 as it is technically known as). The plea before the
Supreme Court that it would not be feasible to provide farmers a price based on
C2+50 formula as it would ‘distort markets’ was an outcome of the same outdated
economic thinking. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In these elections, politics is trying to come out of the
economic boundaries that the mainline had constructed. Irrespective of what the
mainline economists would say, political parties are trying to walk an extra
mile for the sake of the beleaguered farming community. They realise that
agriculture needs to be pulled out of the severe crisis, and the key lies in
providing a higher assured income. The iconic farmers protest outside the gates
of New Delhi in 2020-21 had opened their eyes; and the new awakening makes them
realise that farmers cannot be penalised any more for growing food. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is interesting to see that in Chhattisgarh, for instance,
where the paddy procurement price was already high at Rs 2,640 per quintal
(against the procurement price of Rs 2,183 per quintal for 2023 marketing
season), the Congress party first raised it to Rs 3,200 per quintal with the
promise to procure at least 20 quintals per acre. To match this price, the BJP made
a commitment to procure paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal, guaranteeing that it
will buy 21 quintals per acre. Similarly for wheat in Madhya Pradesh, the price
offered for wheat is relatively higher at Rs 2,600 per quintal by the Congress
party, and Rs 2,700 per quintal by the BJP. In Rajasthan, the Congress has
promised to pay MSP by the C2+50 formula and in Telengana it has promised to
provide farmers with Rs 15,000 as direct income support. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Surprisingly, while both the parties had dithered on
implementing the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations, which was presented
in 2006, the paddy and wheat price that have been announced for the poll-bound
States is equal to or exceeds the C2+50 cost. While many people are sounding sceptical
questioning whether these poll promises will ever be fulfilled, a valid query, but
the race for announcing higher farm prices at least demonstrates that
politicians are beginning to realise the pain, agony and suffering the farming
communities are living with. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Already, several mainline economists have begun to question
the economic rationale behind announcing higher prices, and even question from
where the additional resources will come from. The chorus will only grow in the
days to come. Strangely, the same economic thinking has never questioned the
rationale behind writing-off nearly Rs 15-lakh crore of corporate bad loans in
the past 10 years, nor have they questioned the faulty economics that forces
banks to compromise with over 16,000 wilful defaulters getting a walk-over with
an outstanding of Rs 3.45-lakh crore. If the markets applaud efficiency and
good performance there is no economic reason to bail out companies that fail to
perform. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Farmers are therefore right in asking why the same
commitment for higher prices is not being extended to farmers across the
country. Since only 14 per cent farmers get the benefit of procurement prices,
the need is to provide a legal framework for MSP at C2+50 cost ensuring the
reach of the guaranteed prices to extend to the remaining 86 per cent of the
farming population. This has to be accompanied by an increased PM-Kisan
directed solely at the landless farmers. More the money in the hands of farmers
will mean more rural spending, and that will set the GDP on a higher
trajectory. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Politics will have to stay firm and not buckle under the outworn
arguments from the mainline forcing it to go back on the promises it made. As
Prof James K Galbraith, a distinguished economist at the University of Texas at
Austin says the mainstream class will fight hard to hold on to the ‘academic,
political and media monopolies’ that have been created over the decades and
will not allow fresh economic ideas to grow. We see that happening in India too. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Most of today’s mainstream economists, trained in the 1970s and
early 1980s, come with pre-fixed ideas and theories, says Galbraith. According to him: “Mainstream
economists should perhaps re-examine their core beliefs, or perhaps we need a
new ‘mainstream’ altogether.” #</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source: </i><b>Farmers deserve a fair deal. </b><i>The Tribune.</i> Nov 29, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/farmers-deserve-a-fair-deal-566813&source=gmail&ust=1701327505306000&usg=AOvVaw1ydpAVJs_N-AFetPckS5jc" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/farmers-deserve-a-fair-deal-566813" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/farmers-deserve-<wbr></wbr>a-fair-deal-566813</a></span></p><span style="color: #888888;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></span>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-56378178980425151892023-11-25T10:54:00.005+05:302023-11-25T10:54:36.800+05:30Shun fortified rice; eat more leafy vegetables<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrEE4o8Uc2gbbz9StUW1beJzvFc_Ybniv1i2YbYwRgbNGvKcIy1AvGKLdac80piBcH7RlrwR64XjEAbwxoqEsbwFTeOxKqgJGg22NQnyGPpyDwFSoUSmeI5uLI58tvlRBOgGj4_7ApnfgADidPqhWuFPmICWbmDRYSJaNwdcQd8MzHolpMFQWuJRG7kzE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="852" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjrEE4o8Uc2gbbz9StUW1beJzvFc_Ybniv1i2YbYwRgbNGvKcIy1AvGKLdac80piBcH7RlrwR64XjEAbwxoqEsbwFTeOxKqgJGg22NQnyGPpyDwFSoUSmeI5uLI58tvlRBOgGj4_7ApnfgADidPqhWuFPmICWbmDRYSJaNwdcQd8MzHolpMFQWuJRG7kzE=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Leafy vegetables. </span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i style="font-style: italic;"> Mathrubhumi </i></span></div></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">A front page report in a major newspaper early this
week highlighted a revolutionary gene-edited therapy that holds promise for
millions of people worldwide suffering from sickle cell anaemia. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This heartening news comes at a time when India is
aggressively pushing fortified rice, which clearly says on the package – that
fortified rice is not meant for people suffering with sickle cell anaemia (SCA)
and thalassemia. When I read both the reports in conjunction, it took away the
excitement.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At a time when a lot of hope is seen from the
prohibitively priced gene-edited therapy, expected to cost about Rs 1-crore a
year, and given that an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 children are born every year
with this disorder, I thought India should have been doubly careful. More so,
considering that at the global level the incidence of sickle cell anaemia in
India is among the highest.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To expect the beneficiaries of the fortified rice
programme, and moreover if they happen to be carrying the faulty haemoglobin
gene, to know whether they should opt for the rice being distributed under the
public distribution system (PDS), is too much of an expectation. Given the fact
that the genetic disorder is prevalent more among the tribes, it is quite
obvious that not many would know whether they should avoid the rice being given
under the PDS monthly ration or not. Moreover, there has been no effort to warn
in advance or create wider awareness among the beneficiary population.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Sickle cell anaemia is an inherited disorder that
affects haemoglobin. Red blood cells become sickle-shaped thereby blocking
blood flow to the rest of the body. It is a life-long disease and so far the
only remedy is bone marrow transplant. Regarding the new therapy, it maybe
sometimes before the gene-edited therapy becomes popular and also cheap that
the tribal population at large can afford. Similarly, thalassemia too is an
inherited blood disorder, wherein the body ends up making an inadequate amount
of blood.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">It therefore becomes absolutely important that we do
not add to the already prevalent disease load.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Given this background, I thought India should have
been treading very cautiously on forcing the questionable fortified grain –
fortified with iron and vitamins -- to the unsuspecting 80-crore people who are
covered under the National Food Security Act. There is no apparent reason why
the government should have been in a tearing hurry to feed fortified rice to
the masses before clearing the doubts about its efficiency and need. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But as it happens, corporate interests have taken
precedence and built up tremendous pressure to open up the market ignoring the
preventions and cautions that many studies had pointed to.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While a Dutch company is already believed to have
cornered 17 per cent of the Indian micro-nutrient premix market, the mandatory
fortification process is involving public procurement agencies. For instance, in
Punjab, which is the biggest contributor of surplus rice to the Central pool, a
State agency – the Punjab Grains Procurement Corporation Ltd (Pungrain) has
been entrusted with the task of fortifying rice. For 2023-24, the agency has
been directed to ensure that the rice millers are able to process and provide 2.5
lakh tonnes of fortified rice, which will then be mixed with the remaining
quantity and supplied. With Food Corporation of India (FCI) handling
procurement and distribution, it becomes relatively easy to add supplements and
distribute it across the country for the PDS.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In April 2023, the Central government acknowledged
that about 105-lakh tonnes of fortified rice had done to 269 districts in 27
states in the second phase.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As mentioned earlier, the undue haste appears more
to cater to the commercial interests of the private companies engaged in
building a global market for fortified rice. In an excellent investigation, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Reporter’s Collective</i> had a few
months back shown how one Dutch company, with six international organisations
were pushing to reach out for the Rs 1,800-crore fortified rice market in
India. Presented in two parts, this expose is an insight into how such crucial
decisions are enforced without any regard to public health as well as public
scrutiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Shockingly, the investigation shows how even the
Niti Aayog in its confidential documents had acknowledged that ‘none of the
districts have conducted baseline surveys of beneficiary health parameters
before starting FR distribution, which could facilitate a scientific evaluation
of outcomes and impact of the rice fortification intervention’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means the nation will remain in dark about
the impact, whether positive or negative, beneficiary populations will derive
from the intake of fortified rice. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Well, as the Niti Aayog itself admitted that there
were rumours of ‘plastic rice’ being distributed in some districts where it
visited, an excellent insight by an independent journalist and researcher,
Anumeha Yadav in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Wire</i> (Nov 21,
2023) shows how the tribals in Jharkhand found it hard to swallow ‘plastic
rice’. She quotes several tribals from Odisha and Jharkhand who say they remove
the ‘plastic rice’ before cooking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Why they call it ‘plastic rice’ is because of the way
the artificial fortified rice is first manufactured, and then mixed with normal
rice grains. According to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Reporter’s
Collective</i>: “Fortified rice grains are prepared by beating normal rice into
dough, and mixing them with powdered micronutrients, known as premix. This
dough is then machine-carved into grains, known as fortified rice kernels. One
such kernel is mixed with 100 normal rice grains and supplied through PDS.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There is no denying that India carries a huge
malnutrition burden. But what the country needs is a multiple packages of
approaches to not only provide adequate calorie-rich staples but also
supplement it with diverse and nutrition-rich resources. While there a large
number of wild and cultivated plants that are used as vegetables across the
country, there are also a number of traditional and uncultivated plant species
that are a source of nutrition especially among the tribal communities. Most of
the indigenous communities have been utilising the leafy vegetables as part of
their diets. With the passage of time, many of these leafy vegetables
preparations have otherwise become popular, and many have been pushed out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">At a time when the government is pushing fortification, bio-fortification,
and some scientists are even asking for introduction of genetically-modified
Golden Rice to address the problem of growing malnutrition, I think the popularisation
of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">bhaji </i>or leafy vegetables (as is
prevalent in Chhattisgarh) will be an environmentally sound and ecologically
appropriate way to overcome the problem of nutrition deficiency without causing
any harmful impact on human health.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Certain <i>bhaji</i> species do contain beta-carotene, the
precursor to Vitamin A (which Golden Rice claims to provide) and Vitamin B12
besides essential minerals, including iron and folic acid, and other nutrients.
#</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Counter nutrition deficiency with leafy vegetables and not by bio-fortification or genetically-modified golden rice.</b> <i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Nov 24, 2023. </span></span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/counter-nutrition-deficiency-with-leafy-vegetables-and-not-by-bio-fortification-or-genetically-modified-golden-rice-1267438&source=gmail&ust=1700976230700000&usg=AOvVaw3ZYOLhABFkvk-lhmV7nrXA" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/opinion/counter-nutrition-deficiency-with-leafy-vegetables-and-not-by-bio-fortification-or-genetically-modified-golden-rice-1267438" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>opinion/counter-nutrition-<wbr></wbr>deficiency-with-leafy-<wbr></wbr>vegetables-and-not-by-bio-<wbr></wbr>fortification-or-genetically-<wbr></wbr>modified-golden-rice-1267438</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-50972440182316982872023-11-15T19:24:00.001+05:302023-11-15T19:24:13.838+05:30Consumer Price Index (CPI) is designed to keep farmers in perpetual poverty. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4im2ScnvaK8o8d6-72k_FpmB5rMGpGMLrLyENawnvaMQKIVaPjrsOtfZCEquVp_6LLkqOPSNNeysq0IM9w-yWU3lbC4faR10OgCkXivIhoqB4Sahzt2cs2E5NxthIN5ZTvFVIMcftt8Oe9fUzK3ccA_lv3qUKQxz7ZUnr8QvpgMm7RkBmdEdFQkbfaQA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="750" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi4im2ScnvaK8o8d6-72k_FpmB5rMGpGMLrLyENawnvaMQKIVaPjrsOtfZCEquVp_6LLkqOPSNNeysq0IM9w-yWU3lbC4faR10OgCkXivIhoqB4Sahzt2cs2E5NxthIN5ZTvFVIMcftt8Oe9fUzK3ccA_lv3qUKQxz7ZUnr8QvpgMm7RkBmdEdFQkbfaQA=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy: <i>Policy Circle </i></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Comes the festival season and newspapers become
heavy. Obviously this is because of too many advertisements, most full pages coming
from the Realty sector. Invariably the advertisements are about premier
residences, high-end apartments, luxury suites, deluxe town homes and elegant
villas indicating extravagant living, all coming at an enormous cost mostly in the
range of Rs 1-crore to Rs 3-crore. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Extravagant living comes at an enormous cost. Not
only for the rich, but even for seeking a modest accommodation – one or two
bedroom sets or a small plot – comes at a huge price and these prices keep on
inflating every year. Housing being a fundamental right, people spend their
life savings and most people even seek loans that they keep on paying back over
decades. The rising housing prices, including for rentals, may be the biggest
lifestyle inflation, but is strangely never measured in terms of rising
inflation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now take a look at the onion prices on the other
hand. Onion certainly is a primary vegetable for an Indian household. But when
its retail prices started rising up, increasing from Rs 25-30 to Rs 50-60 per
kg in a fortnight, the media swung into action, raising a noisy pitch over rising
food inflation and how households are beginning to feel the pinch. Immediately
swinging into action, the government began to sell onions at subsidised rates
and at the same time imposed a minimum export duty of $800 per tonne to ensure
sufficient availability at affordable prices for the domestic market.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A few months back, tomato prices had slid through
the roof. At many a places, consumers had to shell out more than Rs 200 per kg.
Between June and July, tomato prices spiralled and if measured on a year to
year basis, headline prices increased by 201 per cent. This caused the retail
prices inflation to jump to 7.44 per cent from a low of 4.87 per cent in June. So
much so that the global analytics company Crisil India blamed rising vegetable
prices to not only be the reason to distracting policy makers but also highlighted
how the volatility in vegetable prices continues to hit the national economy. Vegetables
have been ascribed a weight of 15.5 per cent in the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
basket, and therefore play an important role in food inflation spikes.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If policy makers can go on a war footing to ensure
food and vegetable prices are affordable, why is that no effort is made to keep
housing inflation under check? Just to illustrate, isn’t it a fact that every household
living in rental accommodation has to pay an increase in rental fare by at
least 10 to 15 per cent every 11 months? Isn’t the inflation in rental fares
the highest that an average family encounters in a year given that otherwise
inflation remains within the band of 4 to 6 per cent?</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Economists would say that since food and beverages
carry a weight of 45.9 per cent in the CPI, managing food prices becomes vital
for keeping food inflation low. But what they refrain from explaining is that
while an average household spends a fortune buying an inflated priced house or
spend a large proportion of his monthly earnings on house rentals if he/she is
living in a rented accommodation, why is that when prices of land and
commercial properties rise it is seen as an investment, but when minimum
support price (MSP) for crops are hiked it is seen as leading to food
inflation?</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is because of macro-economic policies that aim
to keep inflation at 4 per cent (plus minus 2 per cent). Since food items alone
carry a weight of 39.05 per cent (out of the total for food and beverages)
keeping food prices low means that farming remains perpetually economically
unviable. That is the primary reason why farm incomes continue to be at the
bottom of the pyramid as a result of which farm distress is deepening. The
question that needs to be asked is why should 50 per cent of the country’s
population, which lives on subsistence incomes, suffer the consequences of keeping
food inflation low. How long will the society continue to keep food producers
perpetually poor by keeping the farm prices low? Do we ever realise that
farmers live in penury because the urban residents want their food to be cheap?</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">We may end up paying
more for a one way airline ticket by way of dynamic pricing than the entire
monthly household food expenditure but blame rising food prices for inflation. We
often end up paying more for taxi fares by way of surge pricing. We pay our lifetime
earnings to buy a flat, but still we blame rise in onion and tomato prices to
be driving inflation up. But invariably, the argument in defending the howling
we see over high food prices is the same. That food is consumed by the masses
whereas only those who can afford travel by air and so can pay for the high
ticket cost. This is woven deep inside our thinking as part of the economic
design.</span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 115%;">In reality, even in America, it
is housing that drives inflation up more than anything else. In America,
studies have shown that housing alone is responsible for 70 per cent of the
increase in inflation. In India, we believe the construction lobby when it says
prices increased because of inflation, not the other way around. But when it
comes to farmers, and given a choice, we don’t want farm prices to increase at
all. In fact, we are so accustomed to the low food prices that we generally
believe that inflation does not touch the inputs that farmers use in cultivation.
That is why we don’t want food prices to rise to at least cover up for the
increased cost of production. We want the cost of production to be reduced instead
(as if it is in farmer’s control).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="background-color: #fafafa;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 115%;">It is time to set the imbalance
right. While housing prices are not part of the consumer price inflation
basket, it is time to include it. This will reduce the weight of food items in
the CPI basket. In other words, when the share of food in inflation index
becomes comparatively low, the focus will shift to contain the housing prices.
This is what is required. We cannot use CPI inflation index to continue to penalise
farmers by keeping food prices low. </span><span style="background: white; color: black; line-height: 115%;">This flawed approach in dominant economic thinking has to change.</span><span style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); color: #333333; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><span style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">#</span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: rgb(250, 250, 250); font-family: inherit; line-height: 115%;"><i>Source:</i><b> A disgusting reality! Farmers live in penurybecuse urban folks want their food cheap.</b> <i>Bizz Buzz. </i>Nov 10, 2023. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/a-disgusting-reality-farmers-live-in-penury-because-urban-folk-want-their-food-to-be-cheap-1263447&source=gmail&ust=1700142727629000&usg=AOvVaw39fOW78inr4f2X1zwmxWNT" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/a-disgusting-reality-farmers-live-in-penury-because-urban-folk-want-their-food-to-be-cheap-1263447" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>industry/a-disgusting-reality-<wbr></wbr>farmers-live-in-penury-<wbr></wbr>because-urban-folk-want-their-<wbr></wbr>food-to-be-cheap-1263447</a></p><span style="color: #888888;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></span>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-40745476525684942342023-11-11T16:04:00.003+05:302023-11-11T16:04:21.535+05:30Stubble burning: Need a time-bound strategy<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="color: #313131;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #313131; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7pTLH9svdoWD-mrS6watQwSkpt2dk080IeENJub2RgjaBhezbt_OJu5JrRUcr4NznWCcknbxG8sC_CAH4qx8h-IJzZqls-qz_XzbyJHkw-Upvs_i8HcmMYedbeEWBK99oLQJmAqihHrAP3gS6VBQhw1QBMo1E5nM8Ebj9WPDB7rJBMIS7d7Y9j0zjIdM" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="650" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi7pTLH9svdoWD-mrS6watQwSkpt2dk080IeENJub2RgjaBhezbt_OJu5JrRUcr4NznWCcknbxG8sC_CAH4qx8h-IJzZqls-qz_XzbyJHkw-Upvs_i8HcmMYedbeEWBK99oLQJmAqihHrAP3gS6VBQhw1QBMo1E5nM8Ebj9WPDB7rJBMIS7d7Y9j0zjIdM=w640-h394" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Farmers in Punjab burning paddy stubble.</i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy: NDTV</i></div></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">EVEN as Delhi has deferred the implementation of the odd-even scheme,
there is no end to the political slugfest over air pollution in the national
capital. Farmers have been caught in the crossfire. “There cannot be a
political battle every time... Delhi cannot be made to go through this year
after year,” the Supreme Court observed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While the anger is justified in view of the high level of air toxicity
in the National Capital Region, the vexed problem cannot be addressed simply by
strict policing and deployment of flying squads to check farm fires. It
requires a better understanding of the reasons behind the farm crisis and
appropriate steps that need to be taken to tackle the menace of stubble
burning. Considering that Punjab alone produces 220 lakh tonnes of paddy
stubble every year, which is too huge a volume to be taken care of either by
the government or the private sector or both, there is no way to avert the
public health crisis created by farm fires without involving the farming
community. Farmers are not the villains of the story, as shrieking TV anchors
have tried to convey; instead, they can be partners in extinguishing the fires.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In this openly
played-out tug of war, with political accusations intensifying, the biggest
casualty is the sidelining of crop diversification. Despite all the talk and
efforts being made for crop diversification, the area under paddy in Punjab
has, in fact, expanded, reaching almost 32 lakh hectares. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">At this critical juncture, as several experts advocate for a shift away
from paddy in the long run, it requires an effective policy design that
outlines the diversification roadmap. Casually demanding the cessation of paddy
procurement in Punjab, with the thought that farmers will be compelled to stop
paddy cultivation if they don’t receive the minimum support price (MSP), is
myopic. Those who make such statements have little idea that an anticipated
decrease in rice production this year by 3-4 million tonnes has already
compelled the Centre to ban the export of non-basmati rice and impose duties on
basmati exports. The phase-out strategy must, therefore, be carefully
considered.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Unlike the industry, it should be clear that agriculture cannot be
expected to close its operations one day and start afresh after a few months.
It requires a well-thought-out policy mix and an action plan that the Centre
and the state governments have to collectively implement. It isn’t as easy as
saying: stop paddy procurement and provide MSP for millets. Agriculture doesn’t
operate that way. Let it also be clear that farmers are not opposed to any move
to diversify from the existing cropping pattern. Give them a viable alternative
and they will surely adopt it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Meanwhile, the management of crop residue through industrial consumption
has already led to the establishment of a significant number of biomass and
fuel plants. Approximately 50 per cent of the total crop residue, roughly about
110 lakh tonnes, is claimed to be taken care of by ex-situ management. Further,
the Punjab Pollution Control Board is under pressure to set up more fuel-based
industries to incorporate available biomass. The planning of more such
industries in the years to come implies an increasing dependence on paddy
straw.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Similarly, Punjab already has 1.37 lakh machines for stubble management.
On an average, for every 24 hectares under paddy, a machine is available. The
plan is to make available one machine for every hectare. A number of machines
that were supplied earlier on subsidy have now become redundant. Now, the
demand is for the baler, which costs at least Rs 18 lakh. This begs the
question: Why were the balers not promoted earlier? After all, this machine is
not a new invention.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">With more than 5 lakh tractors, along with their accessory implements,
in operation, against the actual need for 1 lakh tractors, the introduction of
new farm machinery for stubble management has added to the machine load. This
has already transformed Punjab into a junkyard for machines, and in the years
to come, the state may face another problem. Farm manufacturers as well as the
biomass-driven fuel and energy units will need a continuous flow of raw
material. No industry would like the raw material to be in short supply. Simply
put, stubble management practices do pose a setback to crop diversification.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Going beyond politics, I think the time has come to devise a two-point
strategy to stop farm fires in the immediate future and draw out an
environmentally sustainable, diversified crop plan for the long run.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Firstly, although the number of farm fires is decreasing, farmers
themselves have been saying that they would be able to manage stubble in situ
if a small incentive covering the additional costs is provided to them, and
that too well in time. The request by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to provide
farmers with an incentive of Rs 2,500 per acre — with the Centre contributing
Rs 1,500, and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rs 1,000 to be borne together by the Punjab and Delhi governments —
makes economic sense. If the incentive is distributed among farmers in advance
in August and implemented effectively, it can put a stop to farm fires from the
next year.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">If Rs 15 lakh crore of bad corporate loans in the past 10 years can be
written off, and another Rs 3.45 lakh crore outstanding with 16,000 wilful
defaulters (people who have the money but don’t pay back) can be practically
waived under a compromise formula with the banks, there is no reason why
financial constraints should come in the way of helping the farming community.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Secondly, the Centre and the state should formulate a time-bound
strategy to move away from paddy. This strategy must include an economic
design, procurement policy and adequate infrastructure to make it not only
sustainable but also profitable and economically viable for farmers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><i>Source:</i> <b>Formulate strategy to move away from paddy. </b><i>The Tribune. </i>Nov 11, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/formulate-strategy-to-move-away-from-paddy-561467&source=gmail&ust=1699785134524000&usg=AOvVaw2oMLMaMbHGkqS5fPLmTxaY" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/formulate-strategy-to-move-away-from-paddy-561467" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/formulate-<wbr></wbr>strategy-to-move-away-from-<wbr></wbr>paddy-561467</a><p></p><div class="yj6qo"></div>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-2058301773177557392023-11-03T13:44:00.005+05:302023-11-04T11:24:52.038+05:30Indian farmers suffered a loss of $169 billion in 2022 alone: OECD Study. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Wc4npH2Led7yXpekbGr8m_z-8HtpRF6w6dFEWQTKN4isNh7A7BP_kjHHUuGnE-f01VeEaeYVVCZ7e3hP1iRd_Vf7IxPKbm3exQNDXlylga1hIOnlsTKe4IaJJxKgLGgEW7ovJvisLmQFHRwgtX-jDjhD1N2C3A2gJH_q2_oVMjiqy-bfVopILxE8Qcs/s600/Farmers%201.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="600" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Wc4npH2Led7yXpekbGr8m_z-8HtpRF6w6dFEWQTKN4isNh7A7BP_kjHHUuGnE-f01VeEaeYVVCZ7e3hP1iRd_Vf7IxPKbm3exQNDXlylga1hIOnlsTKe4IaJJxKgLGgEW7ovJvisLmQFHRwgtX-jDjhD1N2C3A2gJH_q2_oVMjiqy-bfVopILxE8Qcs/w640-h480/Farmers%201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Indian farmers continue to be in losses since the year 2000.</span></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: left;">Pic courtesy:</span><i style="text-align: left;"> Economic Times </i></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;">Imagine if a report by the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) had shown that the Indian industry had
suffered in 2022 a cumulative loss of Rs 14-lakh crore ($169 billion). </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">All newspapers without exception would have carried
bold headlines on the front page, and the TV anchors would have been shrieking
24x7 calling it as clear cut case of policy paralysis. The demand for an
economic stimulus package to the industry would have grown by now. Just like
what happens when the stock market is down, the Finance and Industry Ministers
must have been seen by now assuring the industry captains of adequate support.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But nothing like this happened. Not because there
has been any change in the corporate media policy, the staggering loss that the
OECD depicted was actually not for the industry, but for Indian agriculture.</span> And how big is this loss for the farming community can be simply gauged from the fact that while the total budgetary support for agriculture in 2022-23 was Rs 1.25-lakh crores, the loss they suffered was roughly 13 times more !</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Agriculture being a downmarket subject for the
Indian media, it is often treated as nothing more than a filler. If there is
nothing important happening that day, editors normally try to fill the pages
with reports on agriculture. That’s how agriculture, where 70 per cent of the
rural households remain dependent on for their livelihoods, is given a short shrift.
Nevertheless, this article is not about how the media treats agriculture but how
the massive loss for agriculture that OECD has worked out further worsens the
plight of the farming community. For several decades now, agriculture continues
to be in a severe distress.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">My attention was drawn to a report in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Down to Earth</i> magazine (Oct 31, 2023)
entitled: ‘Indian farmers taxed $169 billion via export bans or restriction in
2022: OECD report’. The report said that Indian farmers continue to be taxed for the past two decades, beginning with the year 2000. The
author had gone through the long report, available on the web, and sieving
through numerous charts and figures, brought out the salient features in a form
that could be easily understood.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Following the Russia-Ukraine war, India had imposed
restrictions on export of wheat, wheat <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">atta</i>
and subsequently on non-basmati rice. In addition, there were restrictions on
pulses, sugar and also hike in the onion and basmati minimum export prices. This
may be important for stabilising the domestic price and also for ensuring food
security, but at the same time ‘exacerbate the persistent challenge of low farm
incomes’. Using the framework of Producer Subsidy Equivalent (PSE) that it has
developed, OECD has been annually monitoring the farm incomes (whether positive
or negative) in 54 countries, including 11 of the major economies, examining
the production support and trade-distorting policies.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">As far as I can remember, since 2000-02, if we look
at the chart depicting the producer support, India has figured invariably among
the three or four countries where the farm income support have been in the negative, but fluctuates markedly. This should put to rest the flawed economic thinking,
prevalent among a section of the urban elites, who feel that agriculture
receives huge subsidies in one form or the other. In reality, it is just the
opposite.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To put it in the right perspective, imagine if your
income had remained in the negative zone for over 20 years now, and you were in
reality being heavily taxed instead of the expectation of a profitable assured
income (like the government employees), it would have certainly been a miracle to
pull through. Just imagine how the farming populations have survived over the
years. And yet, despite the overall market support to farmers (MPS) being in
the negative, agriculture production had still performed well giving the
country a cause for cheer by keeping annual growth in agriculture hovering
between 3 to 4 per cent. In fact, during the pandemic years, agriculture
remained the brightest star of the Indian economy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Interestingly, what comes out more shockingly is
that while in the other emerging economies, budgetary support to farmers (in
addition to how much the consumers make up for the gross farm receipts) would
offset the losses, in case of India budgetary support hasn’t been able to cover
up farm losses. This is a trend that has been seen since the year 2000, for
which the data is available. Most of the budgetary support in India has been in
the form of input subsidies like fertiliser, pesticides, seed, irrigation and
credit, but even a direct income support of Rs 6,000 per year under PM-Kisan has
not been able to neutralize the mammoth loss that farmers continue to suffer. </span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In other words, this vindicates my argument that India
has deliberately kept agriculture impoverished. Substantiating it with another
study that OECD did with the New Delhi-based ICRIER some years back, it had
worked out a loss of Rs 45-lakh crore that Indian farmers had suffered in 16
years, between 2000 and 2016, meaning that on an average farmers suffered a
loss of Rs 2.64-lakh crore every year during the study period. Add to this the
loss of Rs 14-lakh crore in 2022 alone, it becomes clear as to how severely has
agriculture been hit by severe blows, year after year.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">But here is a catch. The OECD works out the losses
comparing the Indian farm prices with the average international prices. The fact is that international
prices are already subdued with huge agricultural subsidy support that rich
countries provide. Simply put, it means that the losses that have been worked
out for Indian farmers would have been much higher if the OECD had compared it
with real prices.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While many experts will compare Indian agriculture
with China, the fact that needs to be understood is that lately China has
emerged as the country that provides the highest support to agriculture. Earlier
it was the OECD countries that were the biggest provider of agricultural
subsidies, a position that is now with China having a 36 per cent share of the
global subsidy support.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India, since consumer prices cannot be hiked to
offset the losses that food producers are incurring, only budgetary support can
meet the shortfall. That is why I think the only way to make farmers <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">atmanirbhar</i> is by following a
two-pronged approach.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">First, make Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farmers
legally binding. This should be expanded to cover the 23 crops for which prices
are announced every year, and the MSP should serve as a benchmark price below
which no trading should take place. Secondly, use PM-Kisan outlays to provide
more income in the hands of landless farm workers to cover up for the losses.
At the risk if reiterating, let me add here that direct income support should be
raised from the existing Rs 500 to Rs 5,000 per farmer per month for those
farmers who do not get the benefit of a legal MSP mechanism, and that includes
landless farmers.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In other words, devote the next five years to agriculture. Provide agriculture with at least half of the budgetary support the country provides to industry, and then raise it slowly, you will see a complete turnaround in agriculture. </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is the transformation that Indian agriculture
is crying for. After all, the more the money in the hands of farmers it will
mean more money flowing into the markets. In other words, more demand will be
generated making the wheels of development run faster. #</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Source: </i><b>Make MSP legally binding, empower landless farm workers to spread all-round cheer.</b> <i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Nov 3, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/economy/make-msp-legally-binding-empower-landless-farm-workers-to-spread-all-round-cheer-1261317%23&source=gmail&ust=1699085535420000&usg=AOvVaw0bqy1MOqqfLkE_RbFu127d" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/economy/make-msp-legally-binding-empower-landless-farm-workers-to-spread-all-round-cheer-1261317#" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>economy/make-msp-legally-<wbr></wbr>binding-empower-landless-farm-<wbr></wbr>workers-to-spread-all-round-<wbr></wbr>cheer-1261317#</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-49209111502718392082023-10-30T12:11:00.004+05:302023-10-30T12:11:45.804+05:30GMOs: Don't be misled by hyper claims. Follow a five-point criteria before buying the hype<p><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgj3dOEb4LsQfmoabYmPHZ5eApd0p0UQd-T_3sAY3XSZE5feIEy97i2oSFixhaCwJilWbGotltGvwjF34hprSK1cBtFGyuFtInf4gfJk3smR9MAAWixusJ-yF2sACPFG89BODr2-4tXZARxeFGfKVxbqm78hLaVj24fXk4fx9ZY2Ky5etvP5bEvj3zJupY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="388" height="595" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgj3dOEb4LsQfmoabYmPHZ5eApd0p0UQd-T_3sAY3XSZE5feIEy97i2oSFixhaCwJilWbGotltGvwjF34hprSK1cBtFGyuFtInf4gfJk3smR9MAAWixusJ-yF2sACPFG89BODr2-4tXZARxeFGfKVxbqm78hLaVj24fXk4fx9ZY2Ky5etvP5bEvj3zJupY=w640-h595" width="640" /></a></div><br /> Pic courtesy: <i>BrainKart</i><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">When I read reports that researchers at the Julius
Kuhn Institute (JKI) in Germany have developed varieties of a scab resistant
apple, and too by conventional breeding techniques, I was reminded of my visit,
some decades ago, to the famed John Innes Centre in Norwich in United Kingdom. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Accompanying a handful of farmers and civil society
representatives on a visit to the acclaimed plant and microbial institute, I
vividly recall an introductory briefing by a scientist. “Conventional Plant
Breeding is much more dangerous than genetic engineering,” she stated, and
added: “Genetic engineering only touches a couple of genes at best and does not
disturb the genetic makeup of the plant.” Being myself a plant breeder by
training, I asked “why is that I was never told that the science I was engaged
in was so dangerous?” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Probably not expecting any plant breeder to be in
that group, the scientist was taken aback, and then recomposing herself went on
to defend her statement. Nevertheless, this only showed how an effort was made
to run down conventional plant breeding so as to justify how useful genetic
engineering is.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">So when scientists reported the development of a new
apple variety – Pia41 – that could resist the fungal attack on apple, remaining
scab free during five years of its research trials, it comes us a renewed hope
for Indian apple growers who have constantly been applying huge quantities of
fungicides to keep the dreaded fungus at bay. Not only being scab-free, the
variety is also professed to have “a green-yellow skin, juicy, crunchy pulp and
a sweet taste with an intense aroma.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Now let me revert back to the point I was trying to
make. The new scab-free apple variety comes at a time when after 10 years of
research trials at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, wherein scientists
incorporated a gene to develop scab-resistant apple variety by genetic modification
(GM) in 2011. Eventually as it failed to yield any satisfactory results, the GM
research trials were abandoned in 2021.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This brings me to an interesting paper by a young
researcher Merritt Khaipho-Burch <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">et al</i>,
published in the much respected multi-disciplinary scientific journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature </i>(Sept 20, 2023<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">)</i>, where she not only questions the
claims of significant increases in crop yields by GM technology, and in her
article: ‘Genetic Modification can improve crop yields – but stop overselling
it’, asks why do scientists have to hype their claims. While it is so
heartening to see a Ph.D student at the Cornell University questioning the claims
over yield gains whereas I thought every senior scientist should have seen
through it, and expressed some sort of restraint before showing exuberance that
at best appear superficial.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">She starts the article by what I consider as a
profound statement. Saying that most scientific journals, including <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature</i>, often talk of yield gains by 10
to 68 per cent emanating from modifying one or two genes in crops like rice,
corn, tobacco and soybean, the reality is that most of these studies have been
conducted in green houses or in small plots (and even in pots) and then
extrapolated to show production jumps for crops grown in a hectare. “<span style="background: white;">And hardly any findings have translated into yield
increases on actual farms,</span>” she emphasised. This is what GM Watch, a
formidable group that keeps track of GM research, and scientist groups like
Union of Concerned Scientists besides others have also been saying.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">With the entire scientific community on one side, it
is commendable how a researcher, still young to take on the behemoth’s in the
field of genetic engineering, picked up the courage to demolish an earlier scientific
paper in the esteemed journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Science</i>
by a team of Chinese scientists, led by crop physiologist Wenbin Zhou of the
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The paper had claimed yield increases
of 41.3 to 68.3 per cent in rice by modifying a single gene (OsDREB1).</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Simultaneously, this research article was backed by
an editorial in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Science</i> magazine
(Supercharged biotech rice yields 40% more grain, Science, July 22, 2022) that had
claimed: “The change helps the plants help absorb more fertiliser, boost
photosynthesis, and accelerates flowering, all of which could contribute to
large harvests.” These claims had made the scientific community go euphoric and
some even blamed the environmentalists for stopping such spectacular gains to
be achieved from GM research that could feed the rising populations. Media had
taken the findings by storm, and even scientific journals were swayed by the
research outcomes.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This takes me to a similar media hype created over a
junk GM mustard variety in India, which claims a yield increase by about 25 per
cent over a test variety that is much lower in yield performance. It is
therefore important that the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC)
that grants approval over such exaggerated claims revisits its approval
framework for GM crops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Let me explain how flawed the GEAC approval
mechanism is. Instead of being swayed by hyperbole, perhaps GEAC has a lot to
learn from this young researcher. In a Twitter thread that followed,
Khaipho-Burch had blasted the scientific claims calling these ‘misleading’. In
her latest peer-reviewed paper, she says that over the years, research by plant
breeders, quantitative geneticists, evolutionary biologists and plant
biologists has shown that yield increases by 1 to 5 per cent, though modest, is
what really makes the difference. Quoting a study published in the journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Plant Science </i>in 2021, she showed that
researchers studied the impact of 1,671 genes drawn from 47 crop species and
found that only 1 per cent of the genes tested had the potential to impact
yield, and therefore needed to be studied more.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Genetic yield is a factor that does not only revolve
under a single gene. Yield is a multi-gene factor. To illustrate, in maize
alone, around 20-30 genes have been instrumental in increasing plant density by
3-4 times over the past 100 years. “Yield itself is a highly complex, polygene
trait – meaning that it is controlled by thousands of variants, each with a
small effect.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Not to be misled by the hyper claims, the authors
have suggested a five point criteria that researchers, reviewers and editors
should ensure before buying the hype. It will be immensely useful if
agricultural universities and head of the institutes in India (and also the
regulatory bodies) share this paper widely and formulate a research template
based on it.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Let the society be well-informed. #</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i>Source:</i> <b>A cautious approach needed while going about genetic modification.</b> <i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Oct 6, 2023. <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/a-cautious-approach-needed-while-going-about-genetic-modification-1253827&source=gmail&ust=1698734211417000&usg=AOvVaw32aOKXF0Fydb-v0NraLq2O" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/a-cautious-approach-needed-while-going-about-genetic-modification-1253827" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>industry/a-cautious-approach-<wbr></wbr>needed-while-going-about-<wbr></wbr>genetic-modification-1253827</a></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-24506521881834697692023-10-26T13:45:00.002+05:302023-10-26T13:45:12.573+05:30Farmers end up cultivating losses <div style="text-align: left;"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgibbef3nBQYIf8EUjSd-stNT4BnR4O0NKEEQDbvFVHHvzri0HY837ZGj-oY-IG_rdTNXHc6-vjsxted3hzBFfHJUCFyT5xZW48bFc6YNzQeNZNR2WZR3CbY5YfUFdZ-R58Gp4UHjSshxHLAwts4ihVscUNPn-mdb_gPvC0wCuOz9d85GaWAFMDZzWgKrI" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="779" data-original-width="1248" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgibbef3nBQYIf8EUjSd-stNT4BnR4O0NKEEQDbvFVHHvzri0HY837ZGj-oY-IG_rdTNXHc6-vjsxted3hzBFfHJUCFyT5xZW48bFc6YNzQeNZNR2WZR3CbY5YfUFdZ-R58Gp4UHjSshxHLAwts4ihVscUNPn-mdb_gPvC0wCuOz9d85GaWAFMDZzWgKrI=w640-h400" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">During an episode of <i>Kaun Banega Crorepati</i> in 2018, megastar
Amitabh Bachchan couldn’t believe his ears when a small farmer from
Maharashtra, doing cultivation on four acres, narrated his plight. Asked how
much he earned from farming, the farmer replied: “Not more than Rs 60,000 in a
year, of which half the money goes to buy seeds. I am able to provide only the
evening meal to my family.” </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Bachchan was shocked by the answer. Expressing
dismay, he urged the people to support the country’s farmers.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">The despair in rural Maharashtra has only grown
since. Between January and August this year, 1,809 farmers died by suicide,
according to news reports. This is slightly less than last year’s figure, but
on an average, seven farmers have been ending their lives every day. Fifty per
cent of these suicides were reported from the cotton-growing region.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">This brings me to the excitement in the media over
the recent hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of winter crops. It has been
hailed as a windfall or bonanza for farmers, but the question is: Will it
provide any succour to distressed farmers? There is hardly any possibility that
the hike in prices will turn raging despair into hope.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Let’s first look at the quantum of increase in the MSP that has been
announced. With Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and other
states around the corner and the harvesting of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabi</i> crops set to take place around the 2024 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Lok Sabha</i> elections, the increase in prices for the rabi crops is
in the range of 2-7 per cent. The average inflation rise in 2022-23 was around
7.6 per cent. The hike in the MSP, therefore, does not even cover the inflation
rate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Further, the projection of a ‘windfall’ or ‘bonanza’ for farmers is
actually based on ignorance of the ground reality. Every crop season, the
Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), which recommends the
prices to the government, also presents calculations of the percentage change
in the input price index that eventually goes into working out the cost of
production. Compared to 2022-23, the composite input price index rose by 8.9
per cent this year. This means that while the cost of production was higher,
the increase in MSP prices was not commensurate with it. This isn’t a cause for
farmers to cheer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">A year earlier, it was worse. Against the composite input price index
rise by 8.5 per cent, the wheat MSP had increased by just 2 per cent.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Incidentally, the increase of Rs 150 per quintal this year takes the
wheat MSP to Rs 2,275 per quintal. This is the highest increase in wheat price
since 2006-07 and 2007-08, when the UPA government was left with little choice
but to raise the prices for domestic producers. This had happened after a
flawed decision to allow private companies to purchase wheat directly from
farmers left a huge gap in public stockholding. The government was forced to
import wheat at almost double the prices (that were given to domestic farmers)
to meet the shortfall. It was following an uproar from the Opposition parties
and farm unions that the MSP for wheat was hiked, essentially to bring in price
parity.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Considering that the prices this year will impact major rabi crops of
Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, there is speculation about how the
increase in prices will impact the election outcomes. With wheat being the most
important <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabi</i> crop and other winter
crops, including barley, gram, rapeseed-mustard and lentil <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(masur</i>), the hike in prices certainly has a political dimension.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In January 2021, economists Sukhpal Singh and Shruti Bhogal had clearly
shown how the MSP for wheat and paddy was much higher in the years preceding
2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. These were all election years. The hike in the
2023-24 <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">rabi</i> prices is apparently on
similar lines. It is only prior to the elections that the powers that be
realise the need to announce relatively higher MSPs for farmers. While some
political parties may have reaped electoral dividends, it is time to ensure
that in future politics is kept away from determining crop prices.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Farming is not charity, and the crop prices cannot be left to the whims
and fancies of the political leadership. Agriculture needs structural reforms
wherein, irrespective of the year of elections, farmers get a price based on a
legally binding MSP that is drawn up as per the Swaminathan formula of the
weighted average plus 50 per cent profit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">In any case, since procurement is largely confined to wheat and paddy,
the percentage of farmers who reap the benefit of MSP has over the years risen
from 6 per cent to hardly 14 per cent. What has to be understood, therefore, is
that with the hike in MSP still largely remaining below the cost of production,
and markets paying distress prices by and large to the remaining 86 per cent
farmers, rural indebtedness and suicides have been escalating. Farm distress
has been deepening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;">Moreover, it is time for a relook at the macro-economic policies that
have perpetually denied a rightful income to farmers. The criterion of keeping
inflation in the bracket of 4 per cent (plus/minus 2 per cent) has hurt farming.
Although food and beverages carry 45.9 per cent weight in the CPI (consumer
price index) basket, policymakers have shut their eyes to housing, which
remains the biggest inflation driver. Yet, while housing is treated as an
investment, any hike in MSP is blamed for rising food inflation. This has to
change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 15.3pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; line-height: 115%;"><i>Source: </i><b>Don't deny farmers a rightful income. </b><i>The Tribune.</i> Oct 25, 2023. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/dont-deny-farmers-a-rightful-income-556202%23&source=gmail&ust=1698394467035000&usg=AOvVaw2_-v5r_BlWOvBUgmN75FEZ" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/dont-deny-farmers-a-rightful-income-556202#" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/dont-deny-<wbr></wbr>farmers-a-rightful-income-<wbr></wbr>556202#</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt;"> </span></p><br /></div>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-24443923444165203532023-10-20T13:36:00.004+05:302023-10-20T13:36:52.891+05:30Dr Gurdev Singh Khush: The Rice Man <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrQddQXKzSlthBsu-_sMS2bIHColc9nFWWTp1Cr-oBMB7lXgPyAsJvj1rldKZXoMRJ5Hk3e9In6pe3VH-qhdySAPC8HAV3jfMKpLFa7orMWQWfWFVKIY2Rgv0jSsJYgeNRXqkU15AWQZqYV--9H10bxYRwwiNdX92QbEDAf50pR8F7gTbgkWqeeN4SaeY" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="564" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgrQddQXKzSlthBsu-_sMS2bIHColc9nFWWTp1Cr-oBMB7lXgPyAsJvj1rldKZXoMRJ5Hk3e9In6pe3VH-qhdySAPC8HAV3jfMKpLFa7orMWQWfWFVKIY2Rgv0jSsJYgeNRXqkU15AWQZqYV--9H10bxYRwwiNdX92QbEDAf50pR8F7gTbgkWqeeN4SaeY=w523-h640" width="523" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Dr Gurdev Singh Khush </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy:<i> Sikhchic.com </i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I don’t know why we keep on applying more
pesticides on rice,” wondered Dr Gurdev Singh Khush, world’s top-most rice
scientist, when I met him at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) at
Ludhiana early this week. “We scientists, as plant breeders, develop insect and
disease-resistant rice varieties and yet we see the usage of pesticides on rice
increasing year after year.” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dr Khush worked with the International Rice Research
Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, for over 35 years.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Called ‘Paddy Daddy’ by some, Dr Khush has developed
328 rice varieties, including the block-buster IR-36, and also IR-42 and IR64
varieties which together cover nearly 60 per cent of the area under rice
cultivation. Right from India to Indonesia, and from Vietnam to China to Mozambique,
these varieties became immensely popular. So much so, that a former Agriculture
Minister of Indonesia had once joked with the then Director General of IRRI
saying that IR36 had given them a lot of headaches. “We have so much rice now,
we don’t know where to store it,” he had then clarified his statement.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">IR36 was planted in more than 11 million hectares
globally in the 1980s, the largest area under any crop variety. Agricultural
economists had worked out that Asian farmers additionally produced 5 million
tonnes of rice each year, earning more than $1 billion every year. The disease
resistance that IR36 provided saved farmers nearly $500 million in insecticides
costs a year. An external review of International Rice Research Institute
(IRRI) at Los Banos in the Philippines, in 1982, observed: “The impact of IR36
alone would more than justify the investment in IRRI since its establishment 21
years ago.”</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This is where Dr Khush’s contributions remain
unparalleled. So when he expresses concern at the increasing use and abuse of
chemical pesticides on rice, it is time to sit back, think and take notice. I
remember, Dr Robert Cantrell, a former Director General of IRRI, had once said:
“Pesticides on rice in Asia are a waste of time and effort”. Farmers in the
Central Luzon province in the Philippines, farmers in Vietnam and also in
Bangladesh have conclusively shown that pesticides on rice are not required,
and even without these pesticides farmers have achieved a higher productivity.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Dr Cantrell and I were members of the Central
Advisory Board on Intellectual Property Rights of the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), the governing body of the 15
international agricultural research centres, about two decades back. We would
often worry about the harmful environmental impacts arising from the unnecessary
push that the pesticides manufacturers were able to make, both among
agricultural scientists and the policy makers. He would always express his
dismay at the reluctance of the national agricultural centres from moving away
from pesticides. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">With the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) now
dedicating an institute – Gurdev Singh Khush Institute of Genetics, Plant
Breeding and Biotechnology -- and a museum in his name, who also happens to be alumni,
the University in reality did itself the great honours. Recipient of the 1996
World Food Prize (along with mentor Henry Beachell), the Japan Award in 1987, Borlaug
Award in 1977, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1995. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, knowing these impeccable credentials, by
dedicating an institute at PAU in the name of a doyen among agricultural
scientists is certainly a distinction cast in stone.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Talking about the depleting ground water resources,
Dr Khush agrees that the time has come to develop rice varieties that would
require less water. In any case, he is not in favour of flooding of the rice
fields for most part of its cultivation. When I specifically asked, given the
food system transformation that the world is talking about, the need is to
evolve rice varieties which require less of chemical fertilisers, pesticides
and water, his initial reaction was that ‘it’s a good idea’. “This is only
possible when we educate farmers not to burn the paddy stubbles but instead
plough it in the field. This will add enough nutrients to the soil, and would
therefore require less chemical inputs.” In the days to come, we can surely look
forward to shift in rice research (at the PAU at least) from chemical to
non-chemical rice farming.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The real solution to the crisis emanating from
Stubble burning lies in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">in-situ</i>
management of the paddy straw. Given that Punjab alone produces 200-lakh tonnes
of paddy residues, the industrial application in the form of energy production
would at best remain limited, he agreed on the need to provide farmers with an
incentive to enable them to adequately manage the biomass. This becomes
necessary given that farmers are junking the machines that were initially
brought in to manage farm fires.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">There was a time when rice was linked to poverty.
But with the evolution of high-yielding rice varieties, poverty is no longer
associated with poverty. In his autography <i>“Gurdev Singh Khush – a rice
breeder’s odyssey”</i> (published by Punjab Agricultural University, 2019), he says
that farmers now harvest five to seven tonnes of paddy per hectare compared to
1-3 tonnes in the 1960s. This huge transformation in rice productivity has
increased the total rice production from 257 million tonnes in 1966 to over 720
million tonnes in 2014-15. The increase has happened more importantly in Asia,
where more than 95 per cent of the global rice production takes place.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While paddy is no longer connected with poverty, but
I feel the need today is that the focus of rice scientists and economists must
in addition shift to the economic gain that rice farmers are left with. All our
emphasis has so far been on increasing productivity while the economics of rice
production has merely received lip sympathy. Higher productivity alone cannot
be seen as a pathway to achieve higher income. If this was true, rice farmers
in India would have been among the rich farmers. Also, if rice production had
turned profitable, I see no reason why China should be one of the biggest
providers globally of subsidy support to farmers.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In India, while the paddy production has increased
by 4.5 times over the 1960s, farm income for an average rice growing household
has been on a decline. The research focus has to now look at the policies which
have deliberately kept agriculture impoverished. Along with enhancing crop
productivity, increasing farmer’s income too should become a research priority.
After all, let’s not forget: ‘No farmers, no food’. #</span> </span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-52427567562115614912023-10-15T10:27:00.000+05:302023-10-15T10:27:05.716+05:30If nature had a voice .. <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSVBdV7ObXvTnEVhQygJyqNm9SjJZOvnwxu1IGF-pnnmrJgvsscGhyEIfWcZXc6f63nPjclDu1zqvV4qvRdvP4Y_miOdF8aRSGmG_9eXbB5HDnkJMXDxJhAVjPr5tZjFnnDhDDm8xmzdf_pS9Ml_s2pfFsJQGWblpV3QkHFha8TVscioyxPS4cfL8r7a0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1366" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSVBdV7ObXvTnEVhQygJyqNm9SjJZOvnwxu1IGF-pnnmrJgvsscGhyEIfWcZXc6f63nPjclDu1zqvV4qvRdvP4Y_miOdF8aRSGmG_9eXbB5HDnkJMXDxJhAVjPr5tZjFnnDhDDm8xmzdf_pS9Ml_s2pfFsJQGWblpV3QkHFha8TVscioyxPS4cfL8r7a0=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy: <i>Makeup & Breakup</i></span></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sometimes I wonder, what would have happened if
nature had a voice. The global economic policies that have aggravated plunder
of natural resources over the decades, in the race for an infinite economic
growth, would have been tamed to a larger extent. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If soil, water and air for instance had a voice they
could often raise, I am sure the world would have been a much better place to
live.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">While a flurry of lawsuits in the United States
confront the multinational agro-chemical giant Bayer-Monsanto over the alleged
link some of its herbicides have with diseases like cancer and Alzheimer, the
UN Human Rights Council says pesticides have ‘catastrophic impacts on the
environment, human health and society as a whole.” Studies have shown that it
is a myth to believe that pesticides have a role to play in the elimination of
hunger.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In fact, when it began, the Andhra Pradesh Community
Managed Natural Farming programme, perhaps the world’s largest agro-ecological farming
system now, initially started by banning chemical pesticides. Not many may know
about it, but in the beginning it used to be called as non-pesticides
management (NPM) before it got expanded.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, I am sure soil, water and air would
have revolted at even a limited or restricted use of chemical pesticides and
fertilisers. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Dharnas</i> and protests
would have accrued at a number of places, and eventually the society too would
have realised the need to protect these precious elements of the environment, at
any cost. Policy makers then couldn’t have easily swayed with lobby groups
wanting to use and abuse the environment for their commercial gains.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This in any case does not mean that the world would
have faced recurring famines in one region or the other, or that much of the
global population would have perished by now. Necessity, they say is the mother
of invention and the world would have truly learnt to live sustainably and
equitably. At a conference held a few decades back at the M S Swaminathan
Research Foundation in Chennai, I recall the Third World Academy from Italy
making a presentation wherein it was stated that the price of nitrogen fertiliser
being very high in Brazil (no subsidy on nitrogen fertilisers at that time in
the Latin American country), farmers began to use appropriate biological
methods to make up for the non-availability of chemical fertiliser and yet had
the highest productivity of sugarcane and soybean in the world.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, who was participating
in that conference, wouldn’t agree. His point was that there is no way higher
productivity could be attained without applying chemical fertilisers, which
acted like a shot in the arm. After a lot of exchange, the Third World Academy
finally invited him to visit Brazil, and see for himself how the farming
communities did it. This invitation was accepted, and Norman Borlaug did visit
Brazil. Later, during one of his visits to India, he did acknowledge that
Brazil indeed was a top producer of soybean and sugarcane and more importantly
without using nitrogen fertilisers.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">I am sure if this could be achieved in Brazil, it
could have been possible for other crops and in other parts of the world.
Traditional farming practices accompanied by appropriate traditional knowledge
could have easily revived sustainable cropping systems based on agro-ecological
farming techniques. For instance, in India, several studies point to a higher agricultural
productivity much prior to the times when chemical fertiliser and pesticides
became the norm. In my subsequent columns in this newspaper I had talked about
how the G-20 in its Deccan High-Level Principles that was arrived at during India’s
Presidency, actually failed to acknowledge the immense need for collaborative
action for climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture based on traditional
farming systems.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">A study led by the University of Sydney published in
the esteemed scientific journal <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Nature</i>
(July 13, 2023) showed just one frightening aspect of the negative consequences
of indiscriminate pesticide pollution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Just because we don’t see pesticide residues in soil and water doesn’t
mean they are not there, impacting critical systems on land, rivers and
oceans,” said a co-author of the study. This is true, after all we don’t
realise what the pesticides are doing to the soil microbes, to groundwater, to
rivers and ultimately to the oceans. The entire ecosystem is negatively
impacted, and yet we remain a mute spectator.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Analysing from the geographical distribution of the
92 of the most commonly used pesticides, the study “<span style="background: white;">found that approximately 70,000 tonnes of potentially harmful chemicals
leach into aquifers each year, impacting ecosystems and freshwater resources,”
said Dr Federico Maggi, the lead author of the study. Even if it is in
miniscule proportion, some part of these chemicals does reach the oceans. But
while the impact on oceans may be too far for us to visualise, the harm that
such a huge quantity of these chemicals inflict while leaching into the
sub-soil and aquifers should have raised uproar.</span></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">But it didn’t happen. I didn’t
encounter any outrage anywhere, including from Sydney, where this university is
situated.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Even before this study was
published, I remember posing a similar question to Prof M S Swaminathan, hailed
as the Father of India’s Green Revolution, who passed away recently at the age
of 98. His reply was straight. While he was responsible for leading the fight
against hunger, he had at various platforms warned of the negative consequence
of the environmental fallout. “Green Revolution was eventually taken over by
Greed Revolution,” he had said in an interview, implying that strong lobbies
kept up the tempo to protect their vested interests.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Since only one per cent of the $700
billion global agricultural subsidies go for ecological farming, it clearly
tells us how powerful these agribusiness giants are. While there is a call for
reducing these subsidies that have strengthened ‘intensive agriculture’ over
the decades, a fear psychosis is created pointing to the possibility of sliding
back into hunger if these subsidies are withdrawn. Eventually it is a zero-sum
game, with Sustainable Development Index (SDI) being worked on one hand, and on
the other sustainable farming practices receiving not more than lip sympathy.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;">Perhaps one of the ways to get out
of this trap is to ensure that each one of us becomes the voice of the
voiceless. If soil, water and air cannot speak, at least we can. To begin with,
I think the need is to support the UN efforts to work out the economics of
ecosystems and biodiversity. Once we get to know the economic value of
ecosystem services that nature provides, and then can protect and conserve the
natural resources knowing the economic value of what our policies aim to
destroy. At least, we can significantly minimise the destruction.</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A national accounting system based
on eco-services protection may be the policy pre-requisite that the world is waiting.
# </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Source:</i> <b>Stop plundering natural resources and reap benefits of infinite economic growth</b>. <i>Bizz Buzz.</i> Oct 13, 2023. </span></span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/stop-plundering-natural-resources-and-reap-benefits-of-infinite-economic-growth-1255697&source=gmail&ust=1697432124775000&usg=AOvVaw3TF2gxzWUDzKH3lwfrXY2b" href="https://www.bizzbuzz.news/industry/stop-plundering-natural-resources-and-reap-benefits-of-infinite-economic-growth-1255697" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: small;" target="_blank">https://www.bizzbuzz.news/<wbr></wbr>industry/stop-plundering-<wbr></wbr>natural-resources-and-reap-<wbr></wbr>benefits-of-infinite-economic-<wbr></wbr>growth-1255697</a><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> </span></p>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3778570096826367144.post-77298127941100846552023-10-10T17:35:00.001+05:302023-10-10T17:35:17.618+05:30Get ready to live on insects while farmers are asked to feed automobiles<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Times New Roman", "serif"; font-size: 16pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-Wwf-QTaB9GjgUGih48Ymsbw3zXhWZ5ueq7z25jSXsXLSLUbm6Mcw6cJ8SCCgAa5VeXGMyUBNfv-_OkJjeJ9U0QRbEgF48REU-Vm2qFAtFNbxw9hTtXD2Hac5xBjsV3yE64ERRNBVcunDiIuNFooi9rA3ovF8K6pcVkYtpwpLOCcyxGS7jYI2nm4VPQ4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="299" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi-Wwf-QTaB9GjgUGih48Ymsbw3zXhWZ5ueq7z25jSXsXLSLUbm6Mcw6cJ8SCCgAa5VeXGMyUBNfv-_OkJjeJ9U0QRbEgF48REU-Vm2qFAtFNbxw9hTtXD2Hac5xBjsV3yE64ERRNBVcunDiIuNFooi9rA3ovF8K6pcVkYtpwpLOCcyxGS7jYI2nm4VPQ4=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Edible insect farming picks up. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pic courtesy: <i>Financial Times </i></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The world is moving in a strange direction. While
farmers are being encouraged to grow crops that feed automobiles, agribusiness
companies are getting ready to produce lab-grown food for human consumption.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is getting much closer than you think. The
romance with food that we have enjoyed over the centuries is slowly getting to
a close. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Several years ago, an American company dealing with
a variety of nutritional food products, announced a proposal for setting up a
manufacturing plant somewhere close to Bengaluru, to convert rice bran into
human nutritious food, for which the company owned a patent. Given the high
levels of nutritional insecurity being a serious cause for worry in a country which
continues to trail in the Global Hunger Index (GHI), the idea was initially welcomed.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In my response, I question the development model
that relies on using rice bran, traditionally used as cattle feed (and also for
producing edible oil) in India, converting it for human nutritional food while
at the same encouraging export of rice, a staple food, was clearly at a cross purpose.
My argument was that when India exports rice (in 2021-22, India was the top
rice exporter) much of it goes to feed the cattle of the western countries. Knowing
that the protein pathway that western countries follow is by first heavily feeding
livestock and then slaughtering it for human-edible protein conversion, my
suggestion was to instead use the rice grain available within the country for meeting
the human nutritional needs.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">The project eventually didn’t take off.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">In lot many ways, the launching of the Global Bio-fuel
Alliance during the recent G-20 Summit extends the misplaced development
pathway a little further. With multi-stakeholder support coming from 19
countries, and financial backing from World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World
Economic Forum, the International Renewable Energy Agency and certain other
international agencies, the alliance hopes to triple bio-fuel production by
2030.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Although, it is aimed at providing a cost-effective
and environmentally sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, the basic idea to
produce fuel from food is in itself at variance with the development pathway
for a sustainable future. Instead of adding more cars and other automobiles on
the streets, the global effort should be to drive out cars from the cities.
While more cars add to higher GDP calculations, and that is what policy makers
are keen to achieve howsoever unsustainable it may be, the real development
index should instead be measured by how many car-free havens can be created. That’s
the future.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">If you think this is a Utopian dream, then you ought
to know how Pontevedra, a small Spanish city with a population hovering around
80,000 has almost become car free. There are at least 10 cities where most
urban centres are becoming car free. Knowing that automobiles leave behind a
large environmental footprint, the challenge should be on how to drastically
lower the air pollution levels. Investing in mass transportation systems and drastically
reducing car sales should be a goal that G-20 countries should instead be
laying out.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">To say that the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">annadata</i>
will soon become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">energydata</i> may be a
simple way to lure farmers to continue with the business. While it makes sense
to use plant waste for bio-fuel production, like the 20 million tonnes of paddy
stubbles that Punjab produces every year, but to convert food crops for
bio-fuel is a criminal waste. In America, 90 million tonnes of foodgrains are
diverted for bio-fuel production. In European Union, nearly 12 million tonnes
of food crops are used for bio-fuels. Even during the Russia-Ukraine embargo on
grain supplies, the G-7 countries rejected a proposal from Germany and UK to
cut on diversion of grain for bio-fuel production.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">According to the US Department of Agriculture
(USDA), the US diverts 44 per cent of its domestic corn production for
bio-fuels. In addition, another 44 per cent is used for animal feed. The
remaining 20 per cent is used for human consumption, seed and for other
industrial applications. This is happening at a time when the popular
perception is that less land should be under cultivation. What we don’t realise
is that the crop area is expanding not for human consumption but for bio-fuels.
While this is necessary to achieve ‘net zero’, as it is generally believed, the
reality is as many studies have shown that bio-fuels actually lead to increased
Green House Gas (GHG) emissions.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Producing 38 per cent of the global bio-fuel
production, the US is the world’s largest producer. India’s renewed focus on
bio-fuels has seen a huge diversion of rice in just two years, between April 2021
and May 2023, by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). With the Global Bio-fuel
Alliance in place, the diversion of food crops will substantially go up.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Bio-fuel production is increasing at a time when
globally the trend is shifting to artificial food production. In the US alone,
15 per cent of the milk products on supermarket shelves are derived from
non-dairy sources. Startups are already into the business of producing milk
without any dairy cows, and several techniques like fermentation and precision
technology are being used for artificial foods. To reiterate, the first
commercial-scale food factory has already been set up near Helsinki in Finland.
It has announced plans to manufacture 4 to 5 million meals per year using
carbon dioxide from the air to interact with bacteria. It doesn’t require any
farmer, nor does it need land for growing plants.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">This trend is fast catching up. Seen in the light of
coercive action against 3,000 Dutch farmers, farmers in the developed countries
are becoming a soft target to reduce the gas emissions emanating from intensive
farming practices. Already, the insect-protein industry is booming at a scale
that it is expected to partially meet the rising protein requirement. The
insect industry is expected to grow to $ 7.9 billion by 2030.</span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Be prepared, sooner than later, the artificial food
products are like to hit the supermarkets close to you. #</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><i>Source: </i><b>The rise of artificial food industry is not a good portent.</b> <i>The Tribune.</i> Sept 20, 2023. </span><a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-rise-of-the-artificial-food-industry-is-not-a-good-portent-545887&source=gmail&ust=1697025776179000&usg=AOvVaw1UvCTc_sHJ83iCEIQEAQxA" href="https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/the-rise-of-the-artificial-food-industry-is-not-a-good-portent-545887" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">https://www.tribuneindia.com/<wbr></wbr>news/comment/the-rise-of-the-<wbr></wbr>artificial-food-industry-is-<wbr></wbr>not-a-good-portent-545887</a></span></p><span style="color: #888888;"><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;" /></span>Devinder Sharmahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05867902048509662981noreply@blogger.com0