Harvesting Cancer

Bhakra dam at 740ft is one of the highest in Asia. When it got commissioned in 1963, it changed the fortunes of the farmers in the region, and little did they know, lives of their future generations. The farm productivity of the irrigated land increased by 39% to 43%, compared to the rainfed plots. Increase in agriculture productivity however came at a very heavy price. People of the region literally paid for it with their lives. Cancer rates sky rocketed in 30 years, so much so that Punjab is now called cancer capital of India.

Intensive agriculture, aided by canal based irrigation, has enabled not only multiple crop cycles, but agriculture of unsustainable crops like paddy, resulting in tremendous stress on the soil and water. Soil is sought to be rejuvenated by use of increasing quantity of chemical fertilizers, where as water is increasingly getting pumped from the ground, getting depleted at an ever increasing rate.  Further, to protect the yield, farmers take no chances, and poison the produce and the soil, with pesticides. Concoction of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and multiple crop cycles, is resulting in dangerous levels of harmful chemicals in the blood of the locals.

Punjab has only 2.5% of total agriculture land in the country but uses more than 18% of all the pesticides used in the country!

South of Sutlej River in Punjab, called Malwa region, also called cotton belt - Batinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Ferozpur, Muktsar, Moga, Barnala, Sangroor  - is the worst effected by cancer. Other regions of Punjab - Majha (North of Beas and Sutlej till Jehlum) and Doaba (Between Beas and Sutlej) - are fast catching up on this dubious distinction.

Irrigation enabled green revolution. However, in the scramble that ensued, short term objectives got way too much weightage, compared to long term and sustainable objectives.  The problems range from the abuse of fertilizers and pesticides, resulting in poisoning of the soil and the produce, to unsustainable crop cultivation. Cultivation of paddy is resulting in water logging and soil turning saline, in places that are close to the canals, and dangerously depleted ground water table in other places.

To think of it, Bhakra Dam, besides many other ingredients, is a key input to the "harvest of cancer" in the region. 

A pile of rat shit!

53%  of India ‘s land is arable, as per 2011 world bank report.  In hectares, we have 2^nd largest land area, under cultivation, after US. That is huge. No wonder, this region nurtured an ancient civilization that found it perfect to settle and grow. It was a sought after land for many intruders, who wanted to conquer it and then settle down here to enjoy its riches. However, we in the present are wasting the natural bounty. Infact we have made this huge fertile land our bane.

India is the 2^nd largest producer of rice - 23% of entire worlds output; 2^nd largest producer of wheat - 18% of worlds production, 2^nd largest producer of fresh vegetables – 10% of world production.

What do we do with this bounty? We let it rot! Why, because we want the food to be available for our own countrymen. So, the government buys the food and stocks it. Does not matter if we do not have storage space, we just stock it in open. Does not matter if the food spoils, we still have a pile to look at from a distance and feel happy that we have a pile, even if it most of it has turned into rat shit!

In financial terms this is how it translates – Farmers spend money to grow the agriculture produce, farmers use fertilizers, subsidized by the government to the tune of INR65,000 cr. Farmers get free electricity, in most parts of the country, to pump ground water for irrigation, this translates to approx. INR30,000 to 35,000 Cr. Then there is subsidy on diesel, subsidy on seeds and other miscellaneous schemes that keep getting announced from time to time. Add to this the cost of the effort put in by 50% of our population, which is engaged in agriculture, approximately 600million people.  You are looking at a staggering bill! However, this is just the cost of production. 

Now, comes the procurement time. Government again spends money to buy the produce and stock it. Government has administrative machinery to organize buying and purchasing of the agriculture produce. Government machinery costs money.  For stocking, government creates storage spaces, though grossly inadequate and substandard, these storage spaces consume a lot of money to maintain (at least on paper). Government has many organizations to manage this infrastructure, and logistics of movement of farm produce from one region to another, like FCI. These organizations are overstaffed, inefficient and corrupt to the core, these eat more money.

Then what we do? We wait. We wait for the food pile to turn into a pile of rat shit, so that the cycle can start again!

Am I making case for no food buffer?  Absolutely not. We most definitely need some. But, typical of us, when we do, we overdo. There is a reasonable limit for actual food buffer and there is a way to manage that buffer. Beyond a certain level of actual food buffer, we need to create a financial buffer for food.  We can sell excess food in the world market, pocket that money, invest that money in safe securities, which will earn interest as well, and use it when we have to, during the rainy days, when our buffers run low or when the production in lower.

Tackling Poverty

Key is agriculture reforms. However, there is very little that has been done in this area. Huge workforce is engaged in agriculture, but they are under employed. Too many people keeping themselves busy, doing too little. Not that they are lazy, just that there are not many opportunities. Govt must create an environment where the percentage of population involved in agriculture comes down considerably, allowing consolidation of farms, enabling mechanisation and adoption of efficient farming techniques, resulting in improved productivity.

It is a waste of time and effort to make small farms productive beyond a point. By throwing small handouts to them from time to time, their misery is only being prolonged. Suicides will continue, even with Minimum Support Price regime, free electricity, no tax and waiver of loans from time to time.

Effort should be made to move people out of agriculture into other sectors of economy. Migration of population to urban economic hubs should be encouraged and facilitated. Government on the other hand has been trying to just do the opposite, with schemes like NREGA. Government pays to keep the people poor!

Government should set a growth target of 5% for the agriculture sector, up from dismal 1.5 - 2%. This can not be achieved by throwing money and some crumbs at an inefficient system. The system must be overhauled. It starts with putting someone in-charge, who has the zeal to fix it. Not someone like Pawar, for who agriculture is one of the many things that he does on the side, while he gets some time from Indian politics and International cricket politics.

Till the time that Indian agriculture does not pull its own weight, it will remain a drag on the overall Indian economy, keeping people in perpetual poverty. I wonder what is government's long term vision, if there is one.