Mumbai: Economist and former member of Maharashtra State Planning Board H.M. Desarda, on Tuesday termed the recently announced farm loan waiver by the State government as a necessary but not sufficient condition to deal with the problems related to agriculture.
Prof. Desarda linked today’s problems in agriculture to ecology and traced their origins to the techno-economic model of farming ushered in by the Green Revolution.
“A radical form of land distribution and low external input sustainable agriculture (LEISA), a system of agriculture which is based on principles and options which are ecologically sound, economically feasible and culturally acceptable, are alternative solutions to the issue we are facing,” he said.
Cognisant of the fact that farmers are price takers and distress sellers, Prof. Desarda suggested that not only should farmers be given minimum support prices, but there must be a procurement guarantee as well.
When asked how the loan waiver would impact the State’s fiscal deficit, Prof. Desarda said, “The country has 6 lakh crore in non-performing assets, and the telecommunication sector has a debt of ₹4 lakh crore. But when one talks about waiving loans for farmers, we raise questions about the fiscal deficit. The state has 15 lakh hectares of non-agricultural land. If you collect a flat ₹100 per hectare from this land, waiving the loans will not be a problem. There must, however, be a political will to act. India is a rich country inhabited by poor people.”
Prof. Desarda said the word ‘development’ troubled him. “For short-term political gains and increase in productivity, people narrowed the base of agriculture, and we have paid a heavy ecological price. The crisis of agriculture today cannot be solved by more of the same industrial farming system,” he said.
Prof. Desarda also critiqued the mono-cropping system that the Green Revolution put into place.
He added that the fossil fuel-based path of agricultural growth has become unsustainable in the face of global warming and climate change.
The professor said that Maharashtra has less than 5% forest cover and loses approximately 60 billion tonnes of soil per year, while 23% of the cultivable land in the country is unused. “There is a need to save the natural capital of the country, but the politicians and bureaucrats are resource illiterate. People and nature are just raw materials for ‘development’ for the government.”
While suggesting alternatives, the professor said that those who till the land must own it.
“The ones that physically work on the farm, they and they alone, should be the de facto and de jure owners of the land. Yield can be protected by several organic methods of farming, such as utilising earthworms in place of chemical fertilisers. Organic insecticides and biological nitrogen fixing processes are also available. Animal husbandry must be carried out alongside crop growth. LEISA is a gradual process, but it is possible and practical,” Prof. Desarda said.
