Sustaining Farming and Farmersin Vidharba

Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Ramanjaneyulu

In the era of economic, ecological and climate crises

Intensive Agriculture

• Economic Crisis– Increasing costs of cultivation and decreasing returns– Reducing public support and increasing indebtedness

• Ecological Crisis– is highly LINEAR, whereas traditionally agriculture was highly CYCLICAL.– is based on maximizing the output of a narrow range of species leading to

monoculture of crops and varieties– is based on capital depletion and massive additions of external inputs (e.g. energy,

water, chemicals)– views the farm as a factory with “inputs” (such as pesticides, feed, fertilizer, and

fuel) and “outputs” (grain, cotton, chicken, and so forth)– never cared about the externalities

• Socio-political crisis– Increasing tenancy, land use shift– Increasing farmers suicides, 270,940 in 17 years– Huge migration

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1995

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2006

2007

2008

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2010

2011

Farmers suicides in India

No. of suicides

Source: NCRB 1995-2010Total 270,940 in 17 years

• two-thirds of the suicides are occurring in half-a-dozen States that account for just about one-third of the country’s population

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2011

Farmers suicides in Maharashtra

No. of suicides

Source: NCRB 1995-2011Total 53,818 in 17 years

State Farmer Suicides Difference (2nd Avg-1st Avg)

1995-2002 2003-2010

Andhra Pradesh 1590 2301 +711

Assam 155 291 +135

Karnataka 2259 2123 -136

Kerala 1292 1071 -221

MP+Chhattisgarh 2304 2829 +525

Maharashtra 2508 3802 +1294

Tamil Nadu 992 866 -126

Uttar Pradesh 640 531 -109

West Bengal 1426 990 -436

The table only includes States whose annual averages have risen or fallen by over 100 farm suicides between the to periods. It also treats Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as one unit for data purposes.Source: NCRB Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India Reports 1995-2010

Deep economic crisis

• Reducing incomes• Yield stagnation• Increasing costs of cultivation• Increasing small holdings• Increasing tenancy• Reducing institutional credit

All the policy supports are skewed towards large farmers, large farms, few cash crops and high external

input based production systems

Farmers income

• Increasing costs of cultivation• Increasing living expenditure• Reducing Subsidies• Fluctuating Market Prices

Income and Expenditure of farmersLand holding

Category Total Income (Rs/month)

Expenditure(Rs/month)

Percent of farmers

<0.01 Landless 1380 2297 36 %

0.01-0.4 Sub marginal 1633 2390

0.4-1.0 Marginal 1809 2672 31 %

1.0-2.0 Small 2493 3148 17 %

2.0-4.0 Semi-medium 3589 3685 10 %

4.0-10.0 Medium 5681 4626 6 %

>10.0 Large 9667 6418

Total 2115 2770 All farmers

Source: Report “On Conditions Of Work And Promotion Of Livelihoods In The Unorganised Sector” Arjun Sen Gupta Committee, 2007

Unremunerative prices• MSP determination is faulty and unscientific. • Governments keep the prices low to ensure cheap

labor and cheap inputs, and food security for poor• Minimum Support Prices are announced for 25

commodities but market intervention only for rice, wheat, cotton

• Agricultural prices don’t account for living costs of rural families. Rising inflation has double impact on farmers with increasing living costs & decreasing incomes

• Removal of quantitative restrictions and allowing cheaper imports

• Restrictions on exports on certain crops depressing local market prices

Comparision of Costs and MSP

Source: CACP Kharif Price Report,, 2011-12

Crop

Cost/quintal(CACP est.)

Cost/quintal (State govt est.)

Recommended MSP

Paddy 896 1270 1080

Jowar 1393 1145 980

Maize 935 1114 980

Tur 2373 3668 3100

Groundnut 3185 3324 2700

Sunflower 2799 3439 2800

Cotton 2579 3828 2900

Moong 2974 3480 3400

Prices to Farmers during 2010-11 and 2011-12

Crop 2010-11 Rs/Quintal 2011-12 Rs/QuintalCotton 6500 3600Turmeric 14000 4000Chillies 12000 5500Redgram 5000 3500Blackgram 5200 3500Bajra 4000 2000Jowar 2500 1800Onion 16000 2500Sweet Orange 75000 60000

MSPs for 2012-13 (Rs/q)Crop Current MSP After increase

Paddy (coarse) 1080 1250

Paddy (A Grade) 1110 1280

Blackgram 3300 4300

Soybean (black) 1650 2200

Soybean (yellow) 1690 2240

Groundnut 2700 3700

Cotton (medium staple) 2800 3600

Cotton (long staple) 3300 3900

Sunflower 2800 3700

Sesame 3400 4200

Ragi 1050 1500

Valasulu 2900 3500

Maize 980 1175

Bajra 980 1175

Jowar 1000 1520

Jowar (hybrid) 980 1500

Monoculturing crops, varieties, genes, trees animals

• Today Cotton, Maize, Paddy, Sugar Cane are the only crops whose area increasing

• Within crops 80% of the production comes from few genetic backgrounds

• Increasing area under hybrid crops in areas not suitable like rainfed areas, hill regions

• 99 % of the cotton with bt genes to fight four major pests..several others in pipeline

• Promotion of water intensive orchards in rainfed areas• Promotion of cross bred animals, buffaloes in rainfed

areas

GM crops and foods• Key issues

• Relevance of GM crops• Biosafety issues• IPRs andMarket monopoly• Conflicts of interests and scandals

• Studies on NPM vs/Bt cotton• Documentary evidences on Violations of regulations

in field trials, • Illegal GM food crop field trials• First reports on Bronze wilt, Tobacco Streak Virus,

Mealybug• Evidences on sheep death• Studies on Environmental Risk Assessment and Socio

Economic Impacts

http://www.indiagminfo.org

Before Bt Cotton 70% increase

Cotton in MaharashtraYear Area (lakh ha) Production (lakh bales) Yield (kg/ha)

1996-97 30.85 33.00 182.001997-98 31.39 21.50 116.001998-99 31.99 26.50 141.001999-00 32.54 38.00 199.002000-01 30.77 18.25 101.002001-02 29.80 34.25 195.002002-03 28.00 26.00 158.002003-04 27.66 31.00 191.002004-05 28.40 52.00 311.002005-06 28.75 35.00 207.002006-07 31.07 50.00 274.002007-08 31.95 62.00 330.002008-09 31.42 62.00 335.002009-10 35.03 65.75 319.002010-11 39.32 87.75 379.002011-12 41.25 74.00 305.002012-13 41.30 80.00 329.00

http://cotcorp.gov.in/statistics.aspx

Sno State 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10

1 Andhra Pradesh 1997 1394 1541 1381 1015

2 Gujarat 2700 2670 2660 2650 2750

3 Haryana 4560 4600 4390 4288 4070

4 Jammu & Kashmir 1433 829 1248 2679.27 1640

5 Karnataka 1638 1362 1588 1675 1647

6 Kerala 571 545 780 272.69 631

7 Madhya Pradesh 787 957 696 663 645

8 Maharashtra 3198 3193 3050 2400 4639

9 Orissa 963 778 N/A 1155.75 1588

10 Punjab 5610 5975 6080 5760 5810

11 Rajasthan 1008 3567 3804 3333 3527

12 Tamil Nadu 2211 3940 2048 2317 2335

13 Uttar Pradesh 6671 7414 7332 8968 9563

14 West Bengal 4250 3830 3945 4100 NA

Total 39773 41515 43630 43860 41822

**Source: http://ppqs.gov.in/IpmPesticides.htm MT of active ingredient

Status of pesticide utilization in different states**

Depleting natural resources• Increasing dark zones due

to groundwater depletion• 30 % of soils are reported

to be saline by the recent study by ministry of environment

Fertilisers 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12

Indigenous Urea 7.79 8.52 10.24 10.65 12.65 12.95 17.97 17.58 15.08 13.31

Imported Urea 0.00 0.00 0.49 1.21 3.27 6.61 10.08 4.60 6.40 6.98Sale of decontrolled fertiliser with concession to farmers 3.23 3.33 5.14 6.60 10.30 12.93 48.56 39.08 33.50 29.71

Total Fertiliser Subsidy 11.02 11.85 15.88 18.46 26.22 32.49 76.60 61.26 54.98 50.00*

* Revised estimate is 90.00 th cr

(‘000 crore)

Consumption of Fertilizer by Land Holding

Source: Fertilizer Association of India, 2007Size of Land Holding (Acres)

Higher dependence on chemical fertilisers by small/marginal farmers – higher risk

Fertilizer issues

• Fertilizer use efficiency less than 50%• Factor productivity of fertilizer coming down• Fertilizer production largely dependent on

Petroleum products and prices fluctuate with them

• Phosphotic and Potash reserves coming down

GHG emissions from India• 64% of India’s population

depends on Agriculture• Contribution of Agriculture to

GDP ~ 18%.• GHG Emissions from Agriculture

sector – 344 million t CO2e/year

• Agriculture – second largest contributor of GHGs

Source: India’s first national communication to UN

Source: India’s Initial National Communication on Climate Change, 2004

Share of different sectors of agriculture in India to climate change

CH4 and N2O emissions

One of the largest contributor of CH4 and N2O

Chemical Fertilizers contribution

• Total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from the manufacturing and transport of fertiliser are estimated at 6.7 kg CO2 equivalent (CO2, nitrous oxide and methane) per kg N

• 1.25 kg of N2O emitted per 100 kg of Nitrogen applied• Globally, an average 50% of the nitrogen used in

farming is lost to the environment:• as N2O to the air as a potent GHG (310 x CO2)

• as nitrate polluting wells, rivers, and oceans• Volatilization loss 25-33 % • Leaching loss 20-30 %

Sustainable Agriculture• All agriculture takes CO2 out of the atmosphere. But, organic

agriculture does it at as much as 3 times the rate of conventional agriculture.– Not only does organic agriculture take CO2 out of the atmosphere at a higher

rate than conventional agriculture, but the system releases less CO2 into the air through the very nature of the process.

– Industry releases CO2 to produce chemical fertilizers and herbicides that conventional agriculture requires. Since organic agriculture uses neither of these inputs, the net release of CO2 is much less.

• The 23-year The Rodale Institute Farming Systems Trial® found the conventional agriculture system sequestered (stored in the soil) just 303 pounds of carbon per soil acre foot. – the organic agriculture system based on a legume cover crop and diversified

rotation sequestered 594 pounds of carbon per soil acre foot. – the organic agriculture system based on a manure application and diversified

rotation sequestered 1,019 pounds of carbon per soil acre foot

Policy Shift

• economic sustainability Better prices and income security for agricultural families,

• ecological sustainability to preserve the productive natural resources,

• people's control and access to agricultural resources including land, water, forest, seed and knowledge,

• ensuring non-toxic, diverse, nutritious and adequate food for all Indians.

29Changing to multiple cropping systems

30Switching over to ecological farming practices

Commnity Managed Sustainable Agricutlure in Andhra Pradesh 2004-05 started with 225 acres in one dist and reached 7 lakh acres in 2007-08 in 18 dist. today the prog covers 35 lakh acres in 22 distWorld Bank says this is a good tool for poverty eradicationWith 50 % development expenditure one can double the incomes of the farmers

2004

2009

2006

…aiming to reach 100 lakh acres across crops in all districts of AP in by 2014

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Acerage

Farmers

Pesticide use

Farmers and area covered under CMSA

pilot

CSA handholding support

NGOs technical support at field level

SHG groups ind. handling

RKVY funds

* Planned intervertion

MKSP funds

Recasting Support and better regulation

• Community Managed Extension till block level using practicing farmers

• Subsidies for farmers own resources and labour• Creating awareness about the problems with

chemicals• Restricting all pesticides banned world over• No GM crops in crops India is Centre for Diversity• Long term biosafety tests to establish the safety

Ensuring better prices

• Organizing farmers into groups to improve their bargaining power

• Farmer groups moving up the value chain for better price realisation

• Decentralized PDS, ICDS, Mid-day meals

Ensuring Income Security• Remunerative prices, Price stabilization fund

• Price Compensation for food crops

• Reduce Cost of Cultivation – promote low-cost methods

• Recast Input subsidies – fertilizer, seed, labour

• Institutional and Infrastructure Support Systems

• Crop insurance and Disaster relief

• Producer Bonus for rainfed farmers & ecological farmers

• Direct Payment if net income less than minimum

Price Compensation• A crop-wise Target Price is declared based on

C2'+50% and living costs• If average Farm Harvest Price is less than Target

Price, the difference should be paid to the cultivator• This provision is only for food crops which are

included in the MSP regime• Payment is calculated based on district-level or taluk-

level averages of the FHP and yield• Should benefit actual cultivator, including tenants

and sharecroppers

Demand: Farmers Income Guarantee

• Government should guarantee a minimum living income to each cultivator family; as an illustration, Rs.6000 per month which is indexed to inflation

• Farmers Income Commission: Documents real net incomes of farmers across India. Makes specific recommendations to satisfy the income guarantee

• Use basket of measures focused on farmer incomes; instead of isolated schemes, they are all geared to meet the common mandate of farmer incomes

• Accountability of agriculture policy to farming incomes

What is Required

• State Agricultural Prices Commission, which calculates correct costs of cultivation and determines MSP for all 25 crops before the season. MSP should be remunerative, considering rising living costs.

• If MSP declared by Centre is less than this, State government should declare the balance as bonus

• Timely efficient procurement directly from farmers. Storage facilities preferably owned by farmer groups

• Price stabilization fund for market intervention in all the 25 crops

CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

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