In an economy heady with its success in information technology, it is easy to forget that industrially advanced regions like California or countries like France are also leading agricultural producers. So Manmohan Singh’s call for a second Green Revolution should not be seen as rhetoric of the kind prime ministers are wont to spout when they address the Indian Science Congress. Instead, it is a serious exegesis of the policy of the UPA government he heads. As the PM pointed out, agriculture forms a declining proportion of our national income. The share of Indians who depend on agriculture for their income — some 70 per cent of our total population — is finding the going difficult. Indeed, there has been little or no growth in rural employment ever since the economic reforms began in the early Nineties.
The UPA is seeking to change things with its massive Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, enhancement of rural credit and projects to building up rural infrastructure. But our scientists and technologists need to provide the scientific and technical fixes to boost productivity and add value to the output. The plight of our cotton farmers, perhaps, exemplifies the problem. They need: seed that can match international lint quality; to be taught to use it by our agri-science institutions; advice, as well as effective bio-agents and pesticides to deal with infestations; and finally effective irrigation technology like sprinklers and drip irrigation systems to reduce the need for water.
But politicians have not been particularly helpful in the process. They will spend a huge amount of money as support prices and other sops to meet the immediate need for cash by rural voters, but will not invest or make efforts to create an agro-industrial infrastructure that will generate higher incomes for the farmers. They will dole out sops like free power which do long-term damage to the productivity of the land. With its arable land, significantly more than that of China, abundant water (if used properly) India can become an agricultural superpower, if we can harness our knowledge community and avoid the pitfalls of populism.