Agriculture & Food Management

Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Under the British Raj, the farmers did not have the ownership of the lands they cultivated. In post-independent India, many initiatives were taken for bringing land reforms and improving the deplorable conditions of farmers.

Land reforms helped to improve the socio-economic conditions of marginal and small farmers in the following ways:

• Abolition of the zamindari system: This removed the layer of intermediaries who stood between the cultivators and the state. It kept in check the debt trap and increased the share of marginal and small farmers in the production cost.
• Tenancy reforms: The rent paid by the tenants during the pre-independence period was exorbitant. Tenancy reforms introduced to regulate rent, provide security of tenure and confer ownership to tenants.
• Ceilings on landholdings: It was to deter the concentration of land in the hands of a few. It ensured redistribution of land from big landlords to landless labourers ensuring land ownership, access to credit, and food security.
• Consolidation of landholdings: It prevented the subdivision and fragmentation of land holdings. It brought down the cost of cultivation and reduced litigation among farmers and generated higher incomes.
• Cooperative farming: Under the mechanism, each member farmer remains the owner of his land but farming is done jointly. Profit is distributed among the member farmers in the ratio of land owned.

Challenges with the land reforms

• Land reforms were lengthy and cumbersome process.
• Benami transactions became a point of concern under land ceiling act.
• Digitization of land records with efficiency and correct information will take time.

The pace of implementation of land reform measures has been slow but the objective of social justice has been achieved to a considerable degree. New and innovative land reform measures should be adopted with new vigour to eradicate rural poverty and improve the socio-economic conditions of marginal and small farmers

Science and science-based technologies have been changing human lives since the ancient period. For example, when humans first time discovered fire, it brought revolutions in human lives.   From the micro to the macro level, science, and technology influence almost every aspect of human life. The role of science-based technologies in transforming agriculture is one such example.

Uses of science-based technologies in daily life: 

• Use of technologies like smartwatches: When we are doing exercise to monitor heartbeat, oxygen level, etc. This smart way of taking care of health is now becoming the new must-have gadget, especially in youth.
• Use of the Internet of Things (IoT): Though the Internet of Things is still in the stages of research and development, its uses have been started already for example IOT based on Air conditions that can be operated from a distance.
• Use of robotic vacuum cleaner: Nowadays the use of robotics in household work is becoming very common, especially in cleaning, washing, etc.
• The use of biometric attendance: Biometric attendance in offices/workplaces is another aspect of technology use in our daily lives.

Uses of science-based technologies in agriculture:

• Precision Agriculture: Information and communication technologies and mobile technology are playing an important role in monitoring and controlling crop irrigation systems. If modern agriculture is applied widely, millions of farmers will be able to benefit from the acquisition of real-time farm information.
•  Genetically modified technology: Non-food crops like BT Cotton and food crops like BT brinjal are the best examples of the use of technology in creating the best varieties of seeds. High Yield Variety seeds are another example that made the green revolution in India successful and made India a food-deficient country to a food-surplus country.
• Green Revolution: During the Green Revolution in the 1960s, India could achieve self-sufficiency in food grain production by using modern methods of agriculture like better quality seeds, proper irrigation, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.
• Use of nuclear technology: Nuclear technology is used in the food processing industry to increase the shelf life of food, make food bacteria-free, improve the quality of food, etc.
• Use of remote sensing: satellite-based monitoring of soils and the use of remote sensing has become very useful in maintaining the quality of soils and refreshing their productivity. For example, the Soil health card scheme emphasized scientific monitoring and the use of scientific tools to reclaim soil fertility.
• Sustainable Agriculture: Commercialization of Agriculture, all across the world, has led to the increasing use of chemical fertilizers, widespread mechanization, etc. This has led to environmentally detrimental agriculture. The ongoing research in agriculture sciences can make agriculture more sustainable.

Government Initiatives:

• Kisan Suvidha Mobile Application: This application helps in the dissemination of information related to weather, plant protection, disease, farm machinery equipment, market price. This app helps farmers to make an informed decision.
• Launching of E-national agricultural market: The initiative provides an electronic market trading platform and integrates India’s agriculture marketing.

Therefore, science and technology are the product of human research and development, through which humans have made their lives easy in many aspects. Whether science and technology is a boon or bane, is the never-ending topic of debate. It is difficult to predict the future of technology in agriculture but there are many promising trends and pilot projects.

Watershed management is a method employed by the government at micro-level basically in rain-fed areas with prominent role of Panchayati Raj institutions with major objectives including the conservation, up-gradation and utilization of natural facilities such as land, water, plant, animal and human resources in a harmonious and integrated manner for comprehensive development of the region and nation. The development of watershed strategy in the global perspective is traced back to the Earth summit of 1992 with sustainable growth from the grass-root level.

Neeranchal National Watershed Project:

• Watershed development is critical to India’s development as vast stretches of agricultural land are in rain-fed regions, characterized by extensive land degradation, low rainfall, reduced agricultural productivity, and higher rates of poverty. 
• The Neeranchal national watershed project is a World Bank assisted project aims to fulfil the watershed component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMSKY).
• Neeranchal is primarily designed to address the following concerns:
  • bring about institutional changes in watershed and rainfed agricultural management practices in India,
  • build systems that ensure watershed programmes and rainfed irrigation management practices are better focused, and more coordinated, and have quantifiable results,
  • devise strategies for the sustainability of improved watershed management practices in programme areas, even after the withdrawal of project support, through the watershed plus approach, support improved equity, livelihoods, and incomes through forwarding linkages, on a platform of inclusiveness and local participation.

Impact of the National Watershed Project in increasing agricultural production from water-stressed areas:

• The project has helped farmers adopt new soil, water and crop management techniques to increase vegetative cover, reduce soil erosion, and improve agricultural yields.  
• It has facilitated access to real time weather forecasts and help farmers adopt climate-smart agricultural practices to mitigate climate change impacts. 
• It has also improved rural livelihoods through training, better extension services, and strengthened forward linkages to markets.    
• Efficient watershed management under the NWP has helped increase agricultural production in rain-fed areas, leading to better use of scarce water resources and raise household incomes of farmers.
• Transformation of dry patch of land to vibrant farms and plantation. For example, Thummachennupalle watershed in Chittoor district transformed into a community-owned orchard after NABARD implemented Neeranchal.
• A cheap and sustainable way to utilize the water of rivers and rivulets through the construction of check dams are a novel way to bridge the water requirement in tainted areas like Rajasthan, Latur.
• Overall improvement of the area with waste management, pollution prevention and recycling efforts has led to the holistic development of the region associated.
• This is an inclusive concept wherein decentralization, community participation and holistic approach are being applied in the areas of watershed management region to eliminate the inter-regional differences, to enhance food and nutrition security and to enhance land and water resource management.

Reasons for unsatisfactory performance:

• Non-release of funds and delay in appointment of experts for institution and capacity building 
• Lack of participation of communities.
• Building stronger capacities and systems to plan, implement, monitor and post-project sustainability of local institutions and assets. 
• In many cases, malfunction and cases of corruption are not reported properly.
• When the groundwater table increases as a result of watershed management projects, farmers in the area go for water-intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane and drain it again.

Sustainable watershed management through people’s participation is a complex process as its ultimate goal is socio-economic and social-development of the people living in the watershed area. Systematic planning, project designing, implementation and capacity building of locals for future sustenance of the indigenous are the key factors for success. Better coordination among various agencies such as MGNREGA, agriculture ministry and water ministry can bring convergence on the ground, increasing the impact of the project, in line with the Mihir Shah committee recommendations.

The food processing industry (FPI) is considered a sunrise sector that has gained prominence in recent years. The industry is of enormous significance because of the vital linkages and synergies that it promotes between the two pillars of our economy i.e. industry and agriculture.

The food processing industry is struggling with the following challenges:

• Poor supply chain linkages that results in high wastage and high costs.
• Infrastructure bottlenecks such as packaging facilities, cold storage, transportation, etc. cause a significant amount of food produced getting wasted.
• India lacks basic standardization and certification infrastructure, as there is a huge gap in the availability of laboratories, trained manpower, and certification agencies.
• Lack of trained human resources at different levels in the food processing industry mostly due to lack of training infrastructure; lack of specialized training programmes etc.
• In addition, there are challenges like inadequate demand-based innovations, access to credit, proper branding, etc.

Given the above-mentioned challenges, the government has taken the following policy initiatives:

• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) is implementing PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Kisan SAMPADA Yojana) as a comprehensive package for creation of modern infrastructure with efficient supply chain management from farm gate to retail outlet. It is expected to provide a big boost to the growth of food processing sector, help in providing better returns to farmers, create huge employment opportunities especially in the rural areas, reduce wastage of agricultural produce, and enhance the export of the processed food. Under PMKSY the following schemes are to be implemented.
  • Mega Food Parks
  • Integrated cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure
  • Creation/expansion of food processing/preservation capacities
  • Infrastructure for agro-processing clusters
  • Scheme for creation of backward and forward linkages
  • Food safety & quality assurance infrastructure
  • Human resources and institutions
• Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy: FDI up to 100%, under the automatic route is allowed in food processing industries.
• Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA): As an apex organization under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, APEDA focusses on ‘export’ of scheduled products.
• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is working to strengthen the food testing infrastructure in India, by upgrading the existing food testing laboratories and setting up new mobile testing labs across the country.
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries announced a scheme for Human Resource Development (HRD) in the food processing sector. The scheme has the following four components:
  • Creation of infrastructure facilities for degree/diploma courses in the food processing sector
  • Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP)
  • Food Processing Training Centers (FPTC)
  • Training at recognized institutions at State/national level

The food processing industry is critical to India’s growth and the government should focus on providing adequate impetus to the sector. With the correct set of policy implementations and support, the industry can grow by leaps and bounds, taking India to a new position of strength and prosperity in the global economy.