Dr. P. Kumar, Dr. R. K Arora
It was a very nice experience to attend the first of its kind, the ‘National level Workshop on Farmers’ Feedback for Doubling the Farmers’ Income by 2022′ under Farmer FIRST programme of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). Farmer ‘FIRST’ is a very front line programme of the ICAR simultaneously running in about 51 different centers in the country. The said workshop was attended by about 140 farmers’ from about 24 states across the country. I too had the privilege of attending the workshop with my worthy Associate Director Extension Dr. R. K Arora and my fellow scientist Dr. Pawan Kumar Sharma. We were also accompanied by five farmers from district Samba which are a part of the Farmer ‘FIRST’ programme of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu. The two day event was being organised by National Academy of Agricultural Research and Management (NAARM) Hyderabad.
As country is heading towards 2022 and with about five years time from now all the efforts are being directed towards doubling the income of farmers within the period set by the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Prime Minister has clearly set the time limit and he referred to a doubling of farmer income of the agricultural year 2015-16 by the agricultural year 2022-23. Within 6-7 years the target has to be achieved. Infact the policy makers and planners have not been able to arrive at a consensus whether the target is achievable or not within the prescribed period. In the backdrop of all this, the workshop was an important one. The different perspectives as put out by farmers from different states for doubling the farmers’ income are as:
Diversification: Majority of the farmers were of the view that the diversification towards high value crops was necessary to double the farmer’s income. As the size of holdings have decreased and fragmentation has increased so traditional crops and cropping systems have to give way to high value crops and more profitable farming systems. In this regard farmers’ from Himachal Pradesh gave the example of big size cardamom that can be grown with minimum investment and with least number of irrigation. The crop also gives handsome return with very less cost of cultivation. A kilogram of cardamom is sold in the market at rupees 2000 per kilogram.
Minimum Support Price: Minimum Support Price (MSP) is also a mechanism through which the farmers get an appropriate and remunerative price of their produce. But unfortunately the MSP declared by the government for different commodities does not even covers their cost of cultivation. Majority of the farmers’ in one voice raised the issue of the MSP and demanded a fair and more remunerative price of their produce.
Low Yield of Livestock: Livestock is also an important component of the farming families. In India every farming family has still one or two cows, buffaloes or goats that are being used for milk and other purposes. This livestock is poor in health, has very low yield, and does not gets proper feed and timely vaccination. Farmers were of the opinion that a large scale breed improvement programme should be taken up by the government. Various studies have studied that timely vaccination can result in 30 to 40 per cent increase in milk yield. Timely vaccination and artificial insemination facilities with good quality feed and mineral mixture thus should also be provided to them to raise their yield of milk. Goat called as poor men cow is also a valuable asset for rural peoples and whose milk is very useful against diseases like Swine flu and Dengue. Goatry can be promoted and the milk can be procured from them under buy back arrangements.
Wild Animal Menace: In states of Uttrakhand, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh wild animal menace is a major problem reported by the farmers that severely reduces the yield of different crops. Wild pigs, monkeys, peacocks and other animals damage standing crops as well as growing seedlings. The maize standing crop is damaged by wild pigs extensively and the pulse crops like moog and mash are damaged by Peacock. Similarly horticultural crops and their fruits are damaged by monkeys. States like Himachal Pradesh has already started the concept of fringe forests where small area outside the forests is used for growing the fruit crops. The basic purpose is that the animals like monkey which feed on fruits would come outside the forests would get the fruits from the fringe forests and would not come to the orchards raised by the farmers. Fencing is also another option for preventing the damage by wild animals.
Enhancing Exports: Some farmers were of the view that export of different commodities should be increased with the neighboring countries. Trade within the states can also be increased by creating interstate ports. For items that are to be exported value addition and
processing should be encouraged.
Water Conservation: Water conservation is very vital for growing crops in rainfed regions which have no assured source of irrigation. Farmers from the rainfed regions demanded creation of water harvesting structures like farm ponds with a provision for irrigation techniques like Drip and sprinkler at very nominal or subsidised rates.
The two days national workshop had also a session of the farmers with Gajendra Singh Shekhawat; Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Government of India. Minister himself took the lead and provided opportunity to each of the farmer to speak about the various obstacles in doubling farm income. Farmers also were very quick to grab this opportunity and all of them very quickly spoke out on various issues. While some of them talked of the positive results they get from soil health card scheme of the government; some also doubt the reliability of the results of soil testing. Some farmers also spoke in favour of easy access of the institutional credit and the produce to be procured directly by the government agencies. The minister was also very positive and assured them of all possible help.
(The authors are from Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu)
