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As a representative of the NGOs
(who have a reputation for making several provocative
statements, a few that are objective and even these at the wrong time) may
I claim the freedom to make a few sets of
statements based on the perceptions of an observer,
since I am an outsider to the agricultural research family.
Having spent over 25 years in development in various capacities, may I
start off with a set of statements based
on personal experience as well as on reports from others, ranging
from the people who have been involved in the development process to academics and scientists who have contributed to
it. The context of these statements is limited
to (i) India, (ii) Rural India, (iii) Rainfed rural areas with erratic
rainfall from 300 to 600 mm, (iv)
undulating terrain with high soil erosion and poor soil quality and to a society which is not homogeneous but is
comprised of groups with varied access to, and control
of, economic, political and social power. MYRADA has been working in partnership with ICAR, Wastelands Development
Board, the Swiss Development Cooperation,
German Agro-Action, E.Z.E, PLAN International and with Canadian Organisations
such as CIDA, HOPE, and the C.H.F in these arid areas for several years. Many of the observations in this paper are drawn
from this experience.
The first set of statements sets the context and provides the reasons
that demand a sustained commitment from
all of us to ensure that the poor play a role in decisions regarding
investment in future agricultural strategy:
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Though at the global level there is evidence that the prices
of food grains (cereals) has shown a
declining trend over the past ten years, this is not reflected in the rural areas where the prices of cereals (rice,
finger and pearl millet, sorghum), as well
as of fuel and cooking oil have registered an annual average increase of
approximately l5% to 2O% between l985 to l995.
This is the case in four rural areas
across three states in Southern India where MYRADA is working. The proportion of daily wages spent on food has
also increased significantly during this
period. This is why people who were reluctant to join "food for
work" programmes (outside drought
situations) in the early ‘8Os were willing to do so
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A recent statement by the Finance Minister of India that the number of
people under the poverty line has
decreased from 25% in 1987-88 to l9% in 1993-94, has been
accepted with a degree of scepticism by many. I am, however, inclined to accept his figures, but with the proviso that
there has been significant improvement
only in certain parts where the number below the poverty line has fallen
even below l5%. There is evidence, however, that in arid areas there has been little improvement and even a rise in the
number below the poverty line. Even in
areas where there has been significant improvement in livelihoods, the gap between the poorest and others has grown.
The dependence on markets for food has
also increased due to social pressures, this in turn has increased peoples
vulnerability to market fluctuations. A new
strategy, therefore, which is adequately
diversified to cope with issues specific to the area and to the local configuration in society, is called for. Surveys
also indicate that those who have succeeded,
attribute their success to their own initiative. Government services (such as agricultural extension in rice and
wheat producing areas) which the larger
farmers especially with irrigation facilities found useful in the past, is
viewed increasingly as irrelevant to further
progress. Though infrastructure provided
by Government such as roads, electricity and markets have played a significant
role, it is not being expanded or maintained at the level required to cope with demand; this is an additional cause of
frustration. Besides, scarcity of these
resources, reduces the access of the poor to them, since political,
economic power and social status, which
the poor do not enjoy, play a major role in ensuring
access to resources in a situation of scarcity.
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Researchers inform us that the population will exert an
extraordinarily heavy pressure on food
supply. Even if current productivity growth rates continue, a world-wide
shortfall in cereal production of 700 million tons is expected by the year 2025. The shortfall in oilseeds, fuel and
other items in the food basket will probably
be higher. We are also told that there will be a dramatic increase in population between the years 2005 and 2025, and
a decline after that. Whether this
increase and decline will be uniform throughout, or whether the increase will be greater and the decline slower in
developing countries when compared to the
developed (taking into account both natural increase and the potential to migrate which globalisation should promote) is
not clear. If it turns out to be so, then
the stress on the poor will surely increase, especially if the projected productivity increases in cereals does not
materialise in these countries and if the purchasing
power of the poor does not register a significant rise.
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We are also told that on a global scale, grain production per person
is showing signs of stagnation due to
reduction in productivity increase and other factors like water
logging in irrigated areas, salinity and increasing extension of cultivation
into marginal lands. Studies in India, for example show a marked increase
in areas affected by sodicity and a significant decline in lands held by Government which were allocated for pasture and
grazing since they were not fit for
cultivation; the decline over a period of ten years (1975-85) is in the
range of 5 million ha.; these lands have
largely gone under cultivation.
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Researchers also warn us that the size of land holdings will continue
to decline; it is expected to be one
tenth of a hectare per person by the year 2025 in South Asia. Can
we expect productivity increases to compensate for this loss, or will the marginal farmer have to depend almost entirely
on the market for his food?
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Is there any need to point out the proportionately heavy erosion of
soil from marginal lands on higher
slopes which are usually cultivated by the poorer farmers?
In MYRADA’s Gulbarga project, a number of experts were surprised when
the richer farmers cultivating lands lower in a watershed objected to soil
erosion control measures higher up, on the
grounds that their harvest of soil would
be reduced. This is only one example, among many others, that draw attention
to the importance of social configuration in development strategy that seeks to focus on the poor.
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There has been no investment in Government
Revenue lands even though they have a
close interaction with agricultural lands and impact significantly on
their productivity. A similar situation
prevails with degraded forest lands; there is no strategy
to relate the health of these degraded forest lands with sustained productivity in adjacent dryland farms. One
has only to read the National Forest Policy
of l988 and various other policy and administrative guidelines to see
that the concept of this inter
relationship does not hold a significant place. In MYRADA
projects covering arid areas of Anantapur District in Andhra Pradesh and the eastern part of Chitradurga District
in Karnataka, the price of one bag of biomass
(not farm yard manure) is equivalent to the price of half a bag of urea.
The forest lands are bare, except where
eucalyptus or acacia auriculaformis plantations
have survived; yet people continue to make an effort to meet their food needs in an environment that is
decreasingly supportive.
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Increases in agricultural productivity during the past 30 years have
been largely restricted to irrigated
areas and confined to rice and wheat and, to a limited extent,
to major millets. Even where research has focused on dry land crops, it has been usually restricted to single plant
improvement without adopting an integrated
approach essential to ensuring sustainability in dry areas. In rainfed areas there have been limited increases
restricted to a few areas; declines in productivity
have been a far more common feature. This had directly affected the
livelihoods of the poor.
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The prices of materials used in food production (such as seeds,
fertilisers (except urea), animal feeds
and fuel) have increased sharply in the context of liberalisation
and the removal of subsidies. One must, however, record (contrary to
the claims of a few local politicians), that small farmers who are able to
manage their water requirements are happy with
the improved quality of seeds supplied by
some private companies and even to produce hybrid seed on contract.
The sharp increase in prices of fertilisers (except urea) has had a
serious impact on productivity in dryland
areas. In some parts of South India, such as Kerala,
where horticulture is a major livelihood source, farmers have shifted from P and K based fertilisers after the prices
increased dramatically, to farm yard
manure which is being imported in large quantities from Southern parts of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. With the prices of
farm yard manure rising, farmers in these
areas have opted to sell F.M instead of applying it to their fields. With decreasing farmyard input, the productivity of
dryland farms is bound to decline. The
use of P and K based fertilisers in these areas has also declined sharply
due to price increases with urea remaining the only inorganic input; this unbalanced use of fertiliser will further
decrease the quality of soils in these areas which
are already highly vulnerable.
The second set of statements represents largely my beliefs; some are
strongly influenced by my vision of
society and will, therefore, be disputed, others have been accepted
by-and- large.
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Development strategy needs to focus investment on the regeneration
and management of natural resources
mainly because success in this area creates the greatest
potential for improving livelihood opportunities for the poor. The
recent focus on productivity of labour,
therefore, needs to be matched with a sustained investment
in and commitment to the productivity of lands under the Forestry, Revenue and other departments, Water bodies
and Biosphere Reserves. Management
systems appropriate to each area and asset need to evolve with the support of strategic intervention where
required.
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For productivity in dryland agriculture to become sustainable, all
lands in a micro watershed must come
under one management (not ownership) which reflects
all interests. Experience in MYRADA’s projects indicates that for such a
management system,(involving several groups as
well as Government) to emerge and to be
effective, requires changes in policy and in attitudes, and adequate investment in time and resources. Experience
also indicates that for the poor to benefit,
they need to be organised into self-help groups which are based on affinity
and homogeneity and which can mobilise their own resources and build networks and linkages; together these factors
provide them with the support they need to
gain the skills and confidence required to change their lives for the
better. Experience also indicates that
outside intervention (possibly from an NGO which has
a comparative advantage in these areas) will be required to initiate the process (and to intervene strategically as it
progresses) leading towards this integrated
system of area management as well as to ensure that the poor play an effective role in the process and benefit from
it.
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The new mantra of liberalisation and globalisation will bring new
opportunities to a few - all among the
educated elite, and a host of problems - most of which will
impinge on the poor. While this mantra may contain the economic and technical potential required to transform the
lives of the elite as well as of the poor,
the chances are that the elite alone will benefit since they have greater access to and control of these resources. Unless
each of us here makes a serious commitment
to ensure that future policy, strategy and investment in agriculture are driven by the socio-economic demands of poor
households and unless we commit ourselves
to ensure that others act to achieve the same objective, the "Doubly
Green Revolution", as some would call it, will have no direct impact
on the livelihood resources of the poor.
I believe that if we are to play an effective role
in achieving this objective, many of us will have to review and renew our skills, change our attitudes towards people’s
roles, become critical of the value of technical
expertise and methodologies to which we have been accustomed, and support
individuals in our organisation with a vision and with initiative as well as civic groups including NGOs and parastatal
institutions who can contribute towards
achieving the same objectives.
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I believe that for agricultural research to be people driven
(especially by people farming on
drylands under stress) it is not enough to have one or two initiates (showpieces) which depend on the commitment of a
few individuals; a new vision is required
that impacts throughout the system as well as dynamic leadership
(both political and executive) to motivate people to share the same vision and to translate it into objectives and
strategies. The new approach should have
at least the following features in order to support and sustain a research
strategy which gives priority to the needs of
dryland farmers:
In terms of extension strategy:
- A shift from a commodity driven approach which has structured
extension strategy so far, to a farming
systems approach especially in dryland
areas, where farmers have evolved traditional mixes in farming systems
to meet their needs and to build in insurance against local condition
(weather, rainfall patterns, animals etc.).
- A change in the information system; from a
monopoly with a didactic and top-down
approach, to a system that actively involves private companies, traders,
NGOs and agencies dealing with agricultural inputs and markets. This
will enable farmers to avail of the most accessible source and to compare
and assess information; it will also provide feedback to research from
a broad spectrum of sources and perspectives. Presently these intervenors
are considered as competitors, profit seekers or just marginalised
and kept at arms length. Professional services in communication
need to be tapped to ensure that the medium and the message
are effective. The message needs to emerge from active interaction
with people and be based on the actual experiences of farmers with
similar farming systems in dryland areas.
- A shift from standardisation (which has a strong bias towards
irrigated cropping systems) in terms of
attitudes, extension skills and systems to differentiation
in order to meet the specific needs of small and marginal farmers
in dryland areas whose farming systems differ not only from area to
area, but even within an area, depending on their need, on the location (slope, near roads, towns or forests) of their
fields and homesteads, on the depth,
quality and type of soils (one micro watershed on the Deccan plateau
often has several different types of soils; soil depths also differ significantly restricting horticulture to
certain areas in the lower reaches which
may not support the strategy to manage soil & water in a watershed),
on the grazing lands available, on the availability of inputs, infrastructure
and markets, on the credit and labour resources they are able
to mobilise and on their yearly assessment of the performance and timing
of the monsoon. This requires a broadening of the present spectrum
of skills and support services which are currently limited to providing
technical knowledge directed to production, and that of a single
commodity or sector (often described as a ‘go-it-alone’ approach) to one that includes skills that support optimum
farming systems, that fosters intra-sectoral
complementaries (agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry)
as well as linkages to institutions providing support to a broad range
of activities. Technical knowledge alone is not adequate; farmers also
need support to reduce input costs and incomes; they need to identify and exploit potential markets. In one MYRADA
project, farmers who were growing flowers
were being fleeced by middlemen. Though some of
MYRADA staff identified the middlemen as the major obstacle to increases
in farmers’ incomes, the farmers themselves did not; instead they
asked to have a telephone installed to enable them to gain access to information, on a daily basis, about prices in
two major flower markets where the
flowers were sold. They were provided with a telephone; this enabled them to bargain with the middlemen every day
which increased their incomes by over
50%.
- A shift from exclusive focus of research efforts on a single crop in
laboratory or institute conditions to one which
embraces all factors in order to evolve a
synergy that provides the basis on sustained productivity
taking into account both dryland farming field conditions and
peoples perceptions and needs.
- A shift from an approach dominated by the
culture of a ‘delivery system’ and
assessed by targets that are easily quantifiable, to one that provides long term support to bu ld appropriate farmers’
institutions which are encouraged to
design their own rules and sanctions, their responsibilities and
rights, their systems of records and financial control; they need not be registered if the members decide that
registration is not necessary and may
even make them vulnerable to official harassment. If their decisions are recorded, their financial systems open,
their leadership changed regularly and
whatever responsibilities they undertake carried out successfully,
they need to be treated as viable and legitimate institutions even
though they may not conform to the official blueprint. MYRADA’s experience
with over 3000 such groups has provided sufficient evidence that
if dryland farmers with similar farming systems are supported to form
such self help groups whose members are linked on the basis of affinity, they can gain the confidence required
to take the initiative during the process of identification and
prioritisation of needs (for a project or research agenda) and for
planning, budgeting, implementation and sustained
management of investment and resources. This extension approach
requires skills in institution building, participatory techniques and
attitudes that empower farmers’ groups.
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