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Indian Agriculture

India’s agricultural sector is in turmoil. Thousands commit suicide as limited resources and irregular monsoons make new tech key to expanding productivity


Rebecca Bundhun 17 (Rebecca Bundhun, 6-24-2017, "India agriculture’s growing crisis", National, https://www.thenational.ae/business/india-agriculture-s-growing-crisis-1.92473, accessed 7-23-2017) jd

Farmers in the state of Maharashtra, where Mumbai is located, also staged protests, throwing vegetables and spilling large quantities of milk on to the roads to draw attention to their plight. In Madhya Pradesh, in central India, several farmers were killed as police opened fire during protests. And farmers from Tamil Nadu in India congregated in New Delhi, carrying human skulls and holding dead mice in their mouths, in a desperate effort to get attention to their cause, with the south Indian state in the grips of a severe drought. Their demands have been clear. The agrarian community want their loans waived and are seeking better prices for their produce, as they struggle to profit from the sector. Adding to their woes, they are burdened with large levels of debts. These factors combined have pushed large numbers of farmers in India to take their own lives. Farmer suicides in India surged to 8,007 in 2015 from 5,650 the previous year – an increase of 41.7 per cent, according to data released by the national crime records bureau this year. Maharashtra accounted for the highest number of farmer suicides among Indian states in 2015, with 4,291 cases, compared to 1,569 in Karnataka, and 1,290 in Madhya Pradesh. “In the entire farm cycle, farmers take the biggest risk but are the least beneficiary,” says Rajiv Tevtiya, the chief executive and co-founder of RML Agtech, which creates technology-based products to help farmers improve agriculture productivity and profitability. “For instance, in case of drought or crop diseases, farmer crop fails whereas in case of glut, they are not even able to recover the cost.” The troubles farmers face urgently need to be addresses to make the industry sustainable for the country’s farmers, he says. Several states have announced loan waivers this month in reaction to therecent protests. But the problems run far deeper. India’s farming sector is in crisis, with experts saying the industry in its current state fails to provide a sustainable livelihood for many who work in the industry. About half of the Indian population depends on agriculture for income. Agriculture and its related sectors contributed US$244.74 billion to India’s economy in the financial year to March 2016. “Farming has been an integral backbone of the Indian economy,” says Vivek Nirmal, the joint managing director and chief executive of Prabhat Dairy, which works with 100,000 dairy farmers in India who supply milk to the company. He says measures need to be taken to increase farmers’ incomes, but adds this does not necessarily mean simply increasing the amount of money they receive for their produce. “To boost the agricultural sector and make it a sustainable business, productivity and infrastructure are the two key elements,” he says. “Increasing productivity through technology, educating the farmers, helping them source the best seed, working on seasonal issues, minimizing waste by increasing warehouses and cold chain facilities, can ease the life of a farmer. So it is the mentioned issues that need to be solved more than the minimum support price issue.” In India’s farming sector, there are a number of middlemen involved in the supply chain, which limits the amount of money farmers receive. Meanwhile, a lack of refrigeration, power and storage means a lot of food is wasted because it perishes before it reaches the shops. If infrastructure to support agriculture was improved, this could provide a major boost to farmers’ incomes, Mr Nirmal says. Arun Jaitley, India’s finance minister, when delivering the Indian government’s union budget in February, highlighted an aim to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. It earmarked more than $148bn in loans for farmers in the current financial year, in an effort to help boost the rural economy. “India is the largest producer of spices, pulses, milk and tea, and the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits and vegetables, sugarcane, cotton and oilseeds,” according to a recent report by the India Brand Equity Foundation. In Maharashtra, following the spate of dramatic protests this month, the chief minister of the state, Devendra Fadnavis, gave in and agreed to a loan waiver for small farmers, despite earlier saying the state’s own debts precluded such action. The local government has proposed a cap of 100,000 rupees (Dh5,696) for each farmer for this debt relief, but farmers are calling for larger bailouts. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Karnataka, have followed suit and have also announced loan waivers. But analysts say such moves will ultimately have a limited – or even negative – impact. “While the solution to the agrarian crisis facing the country is not an easy one, providing a debt waiver to farmers will only provide short-term relief. It will also lead to a bad credit culture, besides exerting pressure on state finances,” says Devendra Pant, the chief economist at India Ratings & Research. “The waivers may mask the delinquencies for the time being. The unintended outcome of this could be reduced availability of credit to the farmers from banks, forcing them to resort to the unorganized lending sector.” And these waivers could make a significant dent in India’s economy, some analysts say.

“More states are likely to trip on this politically slippery slope,” according to the investment bank Edelweiss Capital. “If the fever spreads, we envisage waivers could catapult to about 1.5 per cent of GDP.” Despite the current malaise, the potential is there for the sector to thrive and for farmers to profit in a country of more than 1.2 billion people, it is argued. “Farming can be a very profitable venture in India even for small and marginal farmers,” says Mr Tevtiya. “Looking at the India demographics, the demand for agriculture products is only going to go up but it’s the supply which is still unpredictable. There are very few businesses in today’s world where demand is predictable [but] agriculture is one such business.” Still, while demand may be relatively predictable, there are many aspects of farming that are highly unpredictable. As the monsoon rains make their way across the country, farmers will be looking to the skies and hoping for good rains, which are vital to have a good season of crop production. In recent years, poor monsoon rains have devastated many farmers. Expectations are for a normal monsoon season this year, which could bring some relief to farmers


India’s response to shortfalls is increasing fertilizer use which further decreases productivity and makes food insecurity inevitable


ANI 10

Asian News International, Founded over 50 years ago, ANI is today South Asia 's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India , South Asia and across the globe. (“Greenpeace ‘Living Soils’ campaign calls to save soils from harmful chemical fertilizers, August 3, 2010, http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_greenpeace-living-soils-campaign-calls-to-save-soils-from-harmful-chemical-fertilizers_1418211)



Every year Central government spends around Rs50,000 crores on chemical fertilizer subsidies, and this is a major driver that catalyzes intensive chemical fertilizer usage4. The Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) policy which was brought in to correct this problem continues to support only chemical fertilizers, and hence fails in its own cause. The new policy proves to be an old wine in new bottle. “On one hand our Union government worries about the declining agricultural productivity due to soil degradation and food security and on the other hand they continue to support chemical fertilizers. Support for organic fertilization practices in mainstream agriculture is very minimal. This anomaly can jeopardise the Agriculture production system”, said Tapan Sharma of Diamond Club Community Center, Sipachar, Darrang. “We should not wait for the problems to appear. In the case of Assam we should learn from bad experiences from other regions and go the ecological way at the earliest, said Kulendra Deka, general secretary of North East Centre for All Round Development (NE CARD), Darrang

Fertilizers cause destroy the soil ecosystem and overall productivity


Deppner 10

Dave, Executive Director at Future Trees Inc, Florida’s formost company for forestry (“Lessons in Sustainable Land Development, February 16, 2010, http://www.agribusinessweek.com/lessons-in-sustainable-land-development/)



Besides these physical processes, we also see chemicals that damage soils; primarily in the form of insecticides and fertilizers. Chemical fertilizers and insecticides are unsustainable, temporary solutions that rarely improve the quality of the soil. Pesticides often kill many of the insects and microbes in soils that are needed for natural processes. There are, in fact, many beneficial insects that eat many of the pest insects, but most insecticides kill everything indiscriminately. Not only are they poisonous and often improperly used, but most pesticides that are banned from use and sale in the United States and Europe are available throughout the developing world. Furthermore, insecticides get concentrated from smaller insects to the larger animals that eat them, ultimately poisoning the entire food chain. Alternatives to pesticide use entail (1) giving crops the strength they need to resist infestation by adding nutrients and organic matter to the soil, and (2) using Integrated Pest Management techniques that ward off and kill insects. Fertilizers also cause long term damage, and are often inadequate in their nutrient composition. Soil need rich organic matter in the form of humus, compost, manure, etc. Commercial fertilizers, often in the form of NPK pellets, contain just nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. These are three of the major nutrients, but there are also plenty of other nutrients – such as manganese, iron, boron, zinc, and copper – that chemical fertilizers tend not to contain. Furthermore, rains can immediately leach these chemical fertilizers down through the soil, contaminating groundwater and forcing farmers to apply more fertilizer every year. I know insecticides are bad, but how do fertilizers damage the soil? We often see communities using NPK fertilizer in forms such as 10-1-20, 14-14-14, and 20-20-20. These numbers refer to the portions of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the fertilizer. Chemical fertilizers cause at least four major problems in soil and vegetation. Fertilizers kill beneficial organisms that live in the soil. These include both small microorganisms and larger ones such as earthworms. Chemical fertilizers are often acidic, which causes the pH of the soil to change, thereby harming organisms that are critical to soil health. Chemical fertilizers create hardpans in the soil. Hardpans are hard layers that can form naturally or unnaturally under the soil. While microorganisms and organic matter hold healthy soil together, the chemicals actually break down the soil particles creating a cement-like state, which decreases the soil’s ability to trap and hold water. Additionally, chemicals applied to crops can seep into surface and underground water supplies, thus contaminating them – a major concern in rural areas of the developing world that lack treated drinking water. Fertilizers can damage plants’ health because a plant’s ability to defend itself from bacteria and fungi is directly related to nutrient amounts in the soil. Large increases in either nitrogen or phosphorus can kill certain beneficial microorganisms that live in the roots of plant, making them more susceptible to injury and diseases. Sudden, large increases in nitrogen levels, combined with a lack of trace elements, have been shown to cause diseases in plants. Plants can experience a deficiency in trace minerals, even if the trace minerals are locally available in the soil. This is because overuse of chemical fertilizers inhibits the chemical and physical reactions that transfer the trace elements into the plants through the root hairs. This is all very complicated, and is beyond the scope of this article to explain, but it is a known fact that the roots of plants can get covered by so many charged particles, such as sodium ions, that they can no longer absorb the other minerals they need. Green manures are sustainable alternatives to chemical fertilizers. Agricultural crops which received green manure of Gliricidia sepium (kakawate) yielded 9.5 tons per hectare of corn in Oromia, Ethiopia. A similar yield was obtained from plots which received green manure of ipil-ipil and Leucaena diversifalia, but a significantly ‘reduced yield was obtained from plots receiving recommended levels of chemical fertilizer. This implies that the use of multipurpose fast growing agroforestry species as a green manure can boost grain production over levels obtained from chemical fertilizer. Additionally, the multipurpose species provide the farmer with fruit, fuelwood, fodder and construction wood.

That risks biodiversity and all life on earth


Garner 2

J.H.B., Senior Scientist at the National Center for environmental Assessment, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research



(“Air Pollutants, Plants Response, Soil Microbes and Ecosystem Biodiversity”, July 2, 2002, http://isebindia.com/01_04/02-07-1.html)

The importance of soil organisms for plant growth has been recognized for more than a century. Today, greater recognition of the fact that soil organisms can influence ecosystem processes has lead to increase in the study of the soil and freshwater, and marine sediments. The soil environment, which is composed of minerals and organic matter, water, air, and vast array of bacteria, fungi, algae, actinomycetes, protozoa, nematodes, and arthropods, is one of the most dynamic sites of biological interactions in nature many of which are microscopic, are unknown. Their ecology is at least as important as the ecology of any community or ecosystem that has been studied above ground. There is interrelatedness between the aboveground and belowground ecosystems. Soil organisms (the consumers), depend on aboveground vegetation (the producers), for the sugars and carbohydrates (carbon compounds) produced during photosynthesis. Without the soil ecosystem and the microorganisms involved in the mineral nutrient cycles, plant growth, agriculture, and life in general would not be possible. Soil biodiversity is a crucial factor in regulating how ecosystems function. Interest in soil biodiversity has increased with the awareness of the fact that many of the most important interactions between plants take place below ground. Especially in nutrient poor soils, the dynamic interactions between plant roots, animals and microbial processes appear to determine what grows where and how. Bacteria and fungi are usually most abundant in the rhizosphere, the area around the root where exudates are most abundant. They benefit from the nutrients (chiefly simple sugars) exuded by plant roots into the soil. In turn their activities create chemical and biological changes in rhizosphere. By decomposing organic matter they play an essential role in controlling and making inorganic mineral nutrients available for plant uptake. Bacteria in the soil are essential in the cycling of nitrogen, carbon, phosphorus and sulfur. They also assist in making other major mineral nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, and iron available for plant uptake. Mycorrhizae Fungi, as integral components of soil ecosystems, are involved either directly or indirectly with all other organisms in the soil. Success of other organisms in the system, and even survival of the soil ecosystem itself, depends on fungal activity. Fungi are a source of food for many soil organisms, including bacteria, other fungi, nematodes, insects, earthworms and mammals. Fungi form mycorrhizae, a mutualistic, symbiotic relationship with plant roots that is integral in the uptake of nutrients and may be one of the most important and least understood biological associations regulating community and ecosystem functioning, are formed by fungi attracted by energy-rich carbon compounds in the plant root exudates. The mycorrhizal relationship is widespread in the plant kingdom and is found in a variety of habitats from the tropics to boreal regions. The majority of plants cannot take up mineral nutrients and water from the soil and achieve optimum growth and reproduction without mycorrhizae. The few exceptions are aquatic plants, sedges and members of cabbage family. Most mycorrhizal fungi are obligately dependent on the host for their energy requirements. In return, their role in the uptake of mineral nutrients, make them essential to plant growth. The fungus-plant root relationship is of particular benefit to plants growing in nutrient-poor soils. Mycorrhizae are sensitive to changes in the capacity of host plants to translocate the carbon compounds to the roots. An indirect effect can occur when the pollutant influences the allocation of the carbon from the plant leaves and reduces the supply of sugars to the roots. A direct effect occurs if deposition of the pollutant influences the growth and physiology of the root and reduces its capacity to absorb nutrients from the soil.

Productivity loss causes Indo-Pak nuclear war


Crowell 9

Ex-Member of the Air Reserve Technician program, a nucleus of managers, planners and trainers who have knowledge and expertise to smooth Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) units' transition from a peacetime to a wartime environment

(Gary, “Continueing Challenge”, Written at Znet. Establish policy news network, August 15, 2009, http://www.zcommunications.org/climate-change-drought-and-indias-looming-food-and-water-crisis-by-vandana2-shiva)

I read your commentary with great interest. Like all the other commentary I read in Z, I learned something solid and real, and the entire net is beginning to help me to think in a different way. The contributing factor to the challenge of climate change is the acsending population growth worldwide, although some regions such as Western Europe and Russia are experiencing a decline in birth rate, China, India, Indonisia are growing, maybe not as fast and with some variance here and there. There are still more than six billion people in the world today. It is expected, if I am not mistaken, that in another generation or so there will be ten billion people consuming the finite resources of this planet. India will outgrow China in population, and expand [aggressively] agressively as a military power in the region. Food security plays right into this. The ongoing tension between Pakistan and India over [Kashmir] Kashmire, a food growing area, could lead to nuclear war. Pakistan is espesially vulnerable and with its' hundred or so nukes faceing India's nukes over the security of its' share of [Kashmir] Kashmire not to mention its' suspicion of India's increased diplomatic activity in Afghanistan brings one to take a quick look at history. One does not have to go far back. Take for instance Japan's rise as an military-industrial power. Because only about 20% of the land in the Japanese Islands could produce food, and with limited natural resources for industrial exploitation, an expansion onto the Asian mainland (with Anglo-Euopean-American help) was essential to what they saw as their survival. Today, China is building an navy designed to eventually dominate the region. India will have five submarines with missile launch capability within the next few years, and Pakistan has its' own military expansion ongoing. Yet, we are fearful of North Korea's half dozen or so nukes, because that country is especially hungry.


That risks extinction


Nabi 3

Dr. Ghulam Nabi, India-Pakistan Summit and the Issue of Kashmir, July 13, 2003, p. http://www.pakistanlink.com/Letters/2001/July/13/05.html



The most dangerous place on the planet is Kashmir, a disputed territory convulsed and illegally occupied for more than 53 years and sandwiched between nuclear-capable India and Pakistan. It has ignited two wars between the estranged South Asian rivals in 1948 and 1965, and a third could trigger nuclear volleys and a nuclear winter threatening the entire globe. The United States would enjoy no sanctuary. This apocalyptic vision is no idiosyncratic view. The Director of Central Intelligence, the Department of Defense, and world experts generally place Kashmir at the peak of their nuclear worries. Both India and Pakistan are racing like thoroughbreds to bolster their nuclear arsenals and advanced delivery vehicles. Their defense budgets are climbing despite widespread misery amongst their populations. Neither country has initialed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, or indicated an inclination to ratify an impending Fissile Material/Cut-off Convention.

Increasing visas is key to the Indian biotech sector-Brain circulation brings expertise and social capital back to the country-The software boom proves


Ahmed & Wamsley 8

Amer, graduate student of the Center for Global Trade Analysis * a Research Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Global Trade Analysis

(“THE LIBERALIZATION OF TEMPORARY MIGRATION:

INDIA’S STORY”, Feburary 2008, https://www.gtap.agecon.purdue.edu/resources/download/3646.pdf)



Return migration has also been hailed as the cure for brain drain woes, by leading to a brain circulation scenario, whereby the initial loss of skilled workers is mirrored by an influx of returning skilled migrant workers. It has been argued that the returning migrant workers bring back higher productivities, experience, and financial support which benefit India – transforming the brain drain into a gain. The mechanism by which the initial outflow of workers – the brain drain – becomes a brain gain is illustrated in Figure 2.1. Balasubramanyam and Balasubramanyam (1997) argue that migrants, who originally left in the 1960s and 1970s, played an important role in the establishment of the Indian software sector upon their return. As evidence they point to a number of software companies founded in Bangalore – including three of the most prominent firms, Wipro Limited, Infomart, and BPL Systems – which were established by return migrant workers; concluding that it was this return migration, and the subsequent brain gain, which provided much of the impetus for the rapid growth in India’s software sector. 11 Anecdotal evidence suggests that remittances from the US into India in the GMig2 Data Base are too high, since the lions’ shares of remittances that go to South Asia are believed to come from unskilled workers in the Middle East. However, according to figures from the Reserve Bank of India (2006), remittances from USA based Indian expatriates account for 44% of the total remittances received. The estimates calculated from the GMig2 Database are thus in the ballpark. Sensitivity analyses will examine alternative remittance distributions by source country. 12 The Gulf Cooperation Council comprises the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. 10 Figure 2-1 Brain Circulation As a result of these potential benefits from return migration, the Indian Government has developed programs aimed at Non-Resident Indians13 (NRI) and Persons of Indian Origin14 (PIO). These programs include granting visa waivers and the facilitation of financial services, normally reserved for Indian citizens. Overall engagement with potential return migrant workers and appeals to the permanent migrants to participate in the development of India has become an integral part of government policy in India. Currently there is very little return migration occurring, and it would be very easy to overestimate the actual return migration rate to India. As Saxenian (2000) has noted, very few Indian expatriates come back to India permanently as return migrant workers. Cervantes and Guellec (2002) support this by saying that in 2000 there were only 1500 return migrant workers while about thirty times that number, leave every year. If government policies for temporary skilled migration, under any conceptual framework, are to be successful the rate of return migration needs to be increased. A key assumption of Mode 4 liberalization is that return migration will occur at a specific rate, since it is a temporary movement by design. Guest worker schemes or mechanisms, such as the United States’ H1B system, would be most conducive to increasing return migration.


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