New Delhi, January 1: Battling two extremes of drought and unseasonal rains in various states, agriculture sector faced a “difficult year” in 2015 resulting in severe distress for farmers and even suicides, while the foodgrain output is likely to decline for the second straight year in 2016.
The lower farm output also led to a sharp jump in prices of key kitchen food items like pulses, onions, tomatoes and mustard oil in 2015.
To salvage the situation, the government launched Rs 50,000 crore worth irrigation and soil health schemes and is all set to unveil a new insurance scheme and electronic agri-market in New Year to ensure that the farmers earn 50 percent profit from produce.
“More districts were gripped by drought this year due to 14 per cent deficient rains. Definitely, there will be some impact on agriculture production, but not to the extent that everyone were fearing at the beginning of the rainy season,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh has said.
The impact on farm output is likely to be minimal as the government has taken timely measures like seed and diesel subsidy among others to help farmers save crops, he said.
The Centre has sanctioned a drought relief package of Rs 7,898 crore to four states — Karnataka, Chattishgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, and the decision on proposals of other six states will be decided soon, he added.
The country’s foodgrains production fell by 4.66 per cent to 252.68 million tonnes in the 2014-15 crop year.
The fall was steeper (10 per cent) in pulses at 17.2 million tonnes, which resulted in retail prices skyrocketing to over Rs 200 per kg. High dal prices also became a big political issue during the Bihar election.
High vegetable prices, including of onion and tomatoes, kept the government at toes. In contrast, low sugar prices continued to be an issue for the industry and the government as cane price arrears swelled to over Rs 21000 crore.
Asked about the priorities in 2016, the Minister said the government would focus on reducing the cost of cultivation and ensure profit to farmers through effective implementation of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sichai Yojana, National Agriculture Market and soon to be launched crop insurance scheme.
“We want to ensure farmers earn 50 per cent profit over the cost of cultivation. Better seeds, balanced application of fertilisers, enhancing irrigation facilities, e-market for sale, and better crop insurance — all this will help farmers reducing the cost of cultivation,” Singh said.
Renowned agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan described the year 2015 as a “difficult year” for farmers and farming.
In outlook for next year, he said: “There may be a short fall in view of the aberrant weather. Our agriculture has however gained sufficient resilience,” Stating the major challenge that the sector faced was in pulses, Swaminathan -the father of green revolution – said: “There is a short of pulses. In spite of the problems, our farmers have tried to produce as much as they can.”
The year 2015 began on a bad note for the farm sector as untimely rains in March-April affected kharif crops of 2014-15 crop year (July-June).
This was followed by bad monsoon, the lifeline of Indian agriculture as only 40 per cent of the cultivable area is under irrigation.
The country witnessed 14 per cent deficit in southwest monsoon for the second consecutive year, prompting ten states including Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh to declare drought in 287 districts.
Lesser rainfall during crucial July-September period not only hit some of the kharif (summer) crops but also rabi (winter) crops like wheat, which are being sown at present.
According to the first advance estimates, the foodgrains production in kharif season of 2015-16 crop year is likely to fall by nearly 2 per cent at 124.05 million tonnes.
Although the government has not come out with its initial production estimates of rabi crops, but the experts say there could be some impact as lack of soil moisture and deficient northeast monsoon has affected planting of wheat, oilseeds and pulses in the ongoing rabi season.
With Indian agriculture still dependent on monsoon, the Agriculture Minister said the new crop insurance scheme will be launched in January, under which farmers will pay below three per cent premium and get their settlement claims early.
Stating that electronic agri-market will be a game changer for farmers next year, Singh said: “As many as 250 mandis (wholesale markets) will be covered by next September, ensuring free movement of farm produce from one market area to another.”
The Centre has kept Rs 175 crore to provide assistance of about Rs 30 lakh per mandi for the software and it has approved financial assistance for Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh.
That apart, the government has decided next year to implement irrigation projects in 100 districts under the Pradhan Mantri Sichai Yojana besides promoting balanced use of fertilisers under the ‘soil health card’ scheme.
Asked if the government would promote genetically modified (GM) pulses and oilseeds to boost output, Singh said:
“We will do whatever signal we will get from the Environment Ministry. We have a scientific regulatory body GEAC to take a call on these issues. We will follow whatever it says. I do not have any personal opinion on this.”
