Group Discussion
‘Strong rural economy holds key’
A.D. RANGARAJAN
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Students of B.Sc. (Agriculture) of ANGRAU’s S.V. Agricultural College, Tirupati, advocate long term plans like linking of rivers and knowledge dissemination from “lab to land” at the group discussion conducted by The Hindu Ed ucationPlus
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- Photo: K.V. Poornachandra Kumar
Exchanging views: Students of Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College, Tirupati, at the group discussion organised by The Hindu EducationPlus.
For strengthening the rural economy, the government should think beyond merely announcing loan waivers and take up long term plans like linking of rivers and ensure knowledge dissemination from “lab to land”.
The B.Sc. (Agriculture) students of ANGRAU’s Sri Venkateswara Agricultural College, Tirupati, bared their minds at the group discussion conducted by The Hindu EducationPlus, when they wanted every village made a “knowledge hub” by setting up farmer counselling centres. The event churned out more ideas than expected on the interventional strategies expected from the government to bail out the farming sector from the agrarian crisis.
Food plan
S. Ramalakshmi Devi (III year) demanded a nation-wide food plan in place to meet the growing demand for grains and wanted popularisation of organic farming to infuse fertility into the barren lands. D. Sivakumar (III year) regretted that the crop varieties, tools and modern practices developed in the research stations were not reaching the farmer. Also, cost escalation due to indiscriminate use of resources was pushing the farming sector to the brink of collapse and forcing the tillers to leave things to fate.
. Snehapriya (I year) saw rapid urbanisation and industrialisation as playing havoc in bringing down the area under cultivation, posing a grave threat to food security.
Diversification to allied activities like poultry, dairy and fisheries could improve household income. While admitting that middlemen could not be eliminated altogether from the marketing domain, K.V. Ashok (III year) wanted steps to confine their role to a limited area. “While an industry determines the MRP of its product, unfortunately, the farmers were being denied the say.”
P. Shoba Rani (I year) blamed the society’s indifference towards the farming sector as leading to the latter’s exploitation. She also saw the general disinterest among youth to take up agriculture as a viable career option.
When the discussion focused on why State schemes, crop insurance, livestock insurance and bank advances failed to arrest farmer suicides, K. Arunodayam (III year) squarely blamed the extension officers for not keeping the illiterate ryots informed of the developments. On the furore witnessed every year during disbursal of seed and fertilizer, N. Naveen Kumar (III year) sought formation of village-level committees to monitor distribution. He sought “Special Agricultural Zones” to boost agro-based industries.
B. Subba Reddy (III year) wanted large scale recruitment to appoint agricultural extension officers in every village. He hoped to bring in a change of mindset through conduct of tours to progressive farms.
M. Sujatha (II year) advised scientists to shed their ‘ivory tower’ approach and develop a demonstration plot in the midst of farmland to prove their point and win their confidence. M. Viswanath (II year) said a mere 9 per cent of farmers had turned progressive and adopted modern practices, while the rest continued with their age-old practices. Notwithstanding the assurances by the scientific fraternity and the media blare on farm technology, farmers lacked the self-confidence to look beyond traditional farming. He sought encouragement to ‘backyard gardens’ and rainwater harvesting.
With demand-supply mismatch adding to price volatility, the well-informed government should step in and determine the cropping pattern, said Ch.Deepa (III year). Farmers could be convinced through additional subsidies. She wanted linking of rivers taken up at the earliest.
K. Harika wanted public investment in construction of warehouses and cold storages to increase the shelf life of perishable products. By pooling up the produce and staggering sales, she hoped to overcome price fluctuation.
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