Farmers in the south having coffee plantation and labour are being transported to distant farms creating a competition among the farmers to attract labourers
Lack of robust infrastructure in terms of logistics and storage as well as continous inputs from experts are key bottlenecks in improving income of farmers, said Australian agronomist Steve Capeness, who is in India to train farmers to improve income ensuring sustainability of agriculture.
Talking to DNA on the sidelines of an interaction with media persons in the city, Steve said that inherently Indian farmers have a commendable conventional wisdom enabling them use resources to get high productivity but fragmented farming structure. He advocates using cooperative models where farmers can pool their land and other resources together, bring in agronomic experts to train them as well as marketing experts so that farmers can focus on core agricultural activities. Farmers in Sahyadri area of Maharashtra are reaping rich benefits by exporting pomogrenate and grapes.
Steve remarked that infrastructural bottlenecks, especially in terms of logistics and storage are limiting the economic benefits to farmers. "In India, it takes about twice the time to transport goods compared to developed countries. Worldwide 25-30% of food is wasted before it reaches the consumer. Delay in transport reduces the nutrient value," he said.
He strongly advocated abolition of subsidy on fertilizers and pesticides as it has resulted in overuse of these chemicals reducing the fertility of the plant and increasing the toxicity of the food products. "Over use of Nitrogenous fertilizer changes the whole chemistry of plants. High Nitrogen removes Carbon from soil and emits it into atmosphere. This also releases nitrous oxide which is 300 times more hazardous than carbon dioxide. Carbon content in soil was above 5 about 80 years ago, which is reduced to as low as 0.3 in many parts of India. So the soil need external nutrients to grow crops," he explained.
He also warned of impending labour crisis in agriculture in India. This can drastically affect productivity. "With urbanization and rural people getting older, the agriculture labour is getting scare and is being traded like a commodity.
ON A LARGER PERSPECTIVE
- Farmers in the south having coffee plantation and labour are being transported to distant farms creating a competition among the farmers to attract labourers.
- This is not just an Indian problem, but is also visible elsewhere in the world.
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