Our January 1981 cover

To top it all, agricultural growth has hit a plateau of 1.8 per cent and a country that boasted of producing enough food to feed its people is now importing food grains again. We require 210 million tons of grain but produce 200 million, resulting in expected import this year of 10 million tons. Importing food grain is not bad in itself. Many countries do it but then what are 739 million people in India doing on our farms?

The reason for this crisis is that there have been no new breakthroughs or investment in seed technology to improve farm yields. We are currently witnessing the worst decade for Indian agriculture since Independence.

Agriculture faces a crisis of land as the spread of cultivable land for food grains has remained stagnant at 120 million hectares. The profitability from this land has not increased either as land holdings have become smaller and investment is negligible. The sector is also reeling under a crisis of water as it remains heavily dependent on monsoons. There is a disincentive amongst the younger rural people to get involved in agriculture, which appears to promise only an uncertain livelihood and crippling debt. A decade more of the same criminal neglect and India’s myth of food grain self-sufficiency will be well and truly busted.

Our cover story has been put together by Managing Editor Raj Chengappa who spoke to experts and policy analysts to understand the phenomenon. We asked correspondents in five states to give us an accurate picture of the Indian agriculturist today.

This dismal state of agriculture calls for a questioning of preconceived notions and tough decisions. In a globalised world where India has emerged as a major economic player, we need to be confident enough to re-examine the definition of ‘self-sufficiency’ and ensure it has not become another word for poor use of available resources.

Indian agriculture needs diversification and innovative thinking. It needs to find jobs for those who are grossly under-employed, to discover and implement a market approach to agriculture. It is said that India lives in its villages. But those villagers need to live as well as the rest of India for our growth to be truly meaningful.

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