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Govt policy among hurdles to agriculture in India, says Technico’s Madan
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Saturday, 22 September, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Shraddha Joshi, Mumbai
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One of the hurdles to agriculture is the government policy. This was stated by Sachid Madan, director, Technico Agri Sciences Ltd, and one of the panellists at the one-day convention, which was held in Mumbai by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce recently, titled Indo-US Economic Relations: Building a durable future, and covered various focus sectors such as agriculture, inland waterways, logistics and defence.
“India need a consistent policy and also create a high-value item to market our produce,” he added. Citing the example of potatoes, Madan said, “Ten years ago, India used to import French fries, but now it has become one of the exporters. The same is the case with potato chips. Thus, agriculture should be improved in focussed manner.”
The event, which was inaugurated by Suresh Prabhu, minister of commerce and industry, Government of India, was addressed by Kenneth I Juster, the United States’ Ambassador to India, and P P Chaudhary, minister of state for corporate affairs.
It witnessed an interactive session on the current agriculture scenario in India. The panellists deliberated on the topics Agriculture: Can India and the USA collaborate in Agriculture? and on Genetically-modified seeds and the unending controversy over benefits and issues.
The panel also comprised veterans associated with agriculture, including Shirish Barwale, managing director, Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Corporation; Anil Jain, vice-chairman and managing director, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd; Rajat Khaturia, chief executive officer, ICRIER; Mukul Varshney, director, corporate affairs, John Deere Ltd, and Sameer Tandon, regional director, India, United Phosphorous Ltd.
The session highlighted that India, naturally , followed labour-intensive cultivation. Over 50 per cent of its population depends on agriculture, but on 14 per cent of national income. Land holdings are small and cannot benefit from mechanisation. Whereas, the United States follows a capital-intensive agriculture lead by technology. Only less than two per cent of its people depends on agriculture. because of mechanisation and technology its productivity is higher than the Indian yields, which are among the lowest.
The panellists were of the view that the agriculture was one of the sectors which has been always been in surplus. In 2013 - 14, India had an 20 billion tonne of surplus, which has now reduced to 6-7 billion tonne.
Talking about the technology collaboration, the y opined that there was a need to improve and proper usage of technology. Giving an example on proper usage of tractors, the US has developed technology where instead of ploughing the field for five to seven passes, it can be done in three passes.
As regards the availability of such technology to Indian farmers, it was easy in way by selling service. Companies are providing the Indian farmers such equipment on rent, which help in proper utilisation of technology and increase produce.
The panellists felt the need for encouragement by government on changing the crop pattern to new area. For example, shifting the production of sugarcane to eastern region from Maharashtra due to its excess requirement of water to grow. Such move should be encouraged.
Putting highlight on using bio-pesticides, they opined that the products were doing well, but they were not regulated properly, and thus manufacturers are putting chemicals according to their knowledge causing harm to land. Following Integrated pest management is recommended to farmers till proper regulations are in place.
Lastly, collaborating with America or other countries for technology, the panellists felt that it was not necessary that every technology developed would be useful to Indian land. As India have a diverse climate and geographic which help us to always to be forefront. India does not only have the capability to feed its people, but also export by using traditional way. Technology adoption would be an add-on to grow further.
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