Over time, various problems have popped up in Indian agriculture concerning productivity. In particular, there is an issue with lack of labor efficiency on the typical Indian farm. Also, irrigation is a big concern since most Indian agriculture is rain-fed. As a result, there are often issues with droughts or else floods.
In terms of land usage, it has often been observed that small farmers in India tend to overuse their land, which reduces productivity in the long term. Another big concern is the lack of access to adequate credit and insurance, which can act as a major barrier to growth for small farmers.
The Green Revolution led to an increase in the amount of land being irrigated, and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has further increased productivity. However, there are still many farmers who cannot afford these inputs, and as a result, their productivity remains low. Additionally, the high degree of fragmentation of land holdings in India makes it difficult for farmers to consolidate their land and adopt more efficient farming practices.
The Green Revolution not only allowed India to become a cereal surplus country, but it also came with serious environmental consequences. The increased use of inputs is causing damage to the environment both domestically and globally.
India’s current agricultural practices are not environmentally sustainable and need to be changed. The country needs to move towards more organic and natural methods of farming, which are not only environmentally friendly but also healthier for both the soil and the people consuming the food. India also needs to invest in better irrigation infrastructure to reduce the dependence on rain-fed agriculture.
Key Problems Of Indian Agriculture & Solutions
Farm Sizes
The average size of farms in India has been getting smaller, which reduces labour productivity and limits economies of scale. Since 1970-71, the average farm size in India has decreased by approximately half. This also suggests that there are more small landholders than before. Almost 85% of India’s holdings are managed by small and marginal farmers (SMF).
Small plot sizes make it difficult for these farms to achieve optimal labour productivity, since mechanisation is not an option. At the broad land holding level (≥ 10 ha), there are significant labor productivity gains from mechanisation. For a small and marginal farmer, investing in machinery makes little business sense.
Irrigation Coverage
Despite significant progress since independence, a large number of farms in India still rely on the monsoon for irrigation, limiting their capacity to boost cropping intensity. Irrigation coverage in India is 52 percent at the national level. The coverage is higher in some states, such as Punjab (84%), Haryana (70%), and Tamil Nadu (69%). In contrast, it is much lower in others, such as Odisha (34%), Bihar (27%), and Jharkhand (22%).
It’s no surprise that the states where the Green Revolution was initially started have the greatest irrigation coverage.Irrigation coverage should also be increased to address the problem of farmers’ incomes. According to a NITI Policy Paper, irrigation coverage should reach 53% by 2022-23 to allow for greater cropping intensity.
Despite the existence of gaps, farmers have seen a significant increase in technologies such as high-yielding seed strains, irrigation, fertilizers, and pesticides. This increased land productivity, ensuring India’s food security and resilience to famines. The public procurement and distribution network announced minimum support prices (MSPs) for cereals to farmers, ensuring farmers received a fair price for their crops.
Agriculture Credit
Despite the fact that the Union Budget of 2020-21 provides Rs. 15 lakh crores (Rs. 15 trillion) in credit to the agriculture industry, many farmers in India still do not have access to formal credit. This is because a large number of farmers are small and marginal, with landholdings of less than 2 hectares. They often cannot provide the required collateral to avail of formal credit.
A NABARD survey found that nearly a third of all agricultural households had to borrow money from unofficial lenders, which include relatives or friends. In the survey, it was observed that farmers with smaller plot sizes were more likely to take loans from non-institutional lenders than those with larger plot sizes (> 2 hectares) (NABARD, 2018). In other words, poorer farmers who can’t afford formal sources of credit have to turn to more expensive informal ones.
Another survey found that a 10% increase in institutional credit flow to agriculture leads to a 2.1% increase in GDP, controlling for inflation. This suggests that having more formal credit available benefits agriculture GDP growth.
The same study demonstrates that a 10% increase in corporate credit leads to a 1.7% rise in fertilizer usage, a 5.1% boost in pesticide consumption, and a 10.8% rise in tractor purchases. As such, credit should result in an improvement in land productivity at least to some extent by allowing the use of extra inputs.
Extension
Extension services play an important role in helping farmers access modern best practices. Extension services are essential for increasing land productivity through industrial agriculture. However, in India, the quality of extension services is often poor.
The Committee on Doubling Farmers Income observed that several issues exist with the current extension system. In particular, they noted that extension services have been emphasizing production to the detriment of post-production needs, which is where farmers’ priorities now lie.
Public extension services need to be improved so that they take a more holistic view of the agriculture sector, instead of skewing favourably towards only the crop sector. This would also include animal husbandry for example.
The Committee on Doubling Farmers Income also questioned whether the current system of extension was able to discourage inefficient farm practices, such as flood irrigation, imbalance in the use of fertilisers and pesticides. Such inefficiencies often lead to lower incomes for farmers.
Extension services aren’t designed to service all elements of the agricultural supply chain. Extension agencies’ goals aren’t focused on outcomes either.
Services that fail to meet the needs of farmers have not only left a gap in productivity, but also allowed for the spread of unsound and environmentally damaging practices.
Environmental Challenges
Under industrial agriculture, there is a conflict between what would raise productivity (enlarging the area of irrigation) and what creates higher profits (multi-cropping and use of fertilizers).
In the past, Indian agriculture was rainfed and relied less on external inputs. This made it more sustainable and environmentally friendly. However, as Indian agriculture has become more industrialized, it has increasingly come to rely on groundwater, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.
Over-extraction of groundwater has led to a decline in water tables across the country. In some parts of India, the water table has declined by as much as 1 meter per year. This has led to a decline in crop productivity and has created water scarcity issues in many areas.
The use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides has also had negative environmental impacts. Fertilizers and pesticides can pollute water sources, damage soil health, and negatively impact biodiversity.
In order to make Indian agriculture more sustainable, it is necessary to address these environmental challenges. This can be done by promoting more environmentally friendly practices, such as rainwater harvesting, integrated pest management, and the use of organic fertilizers.
It is also necessary to develop policies that incentivize sustainable practices. For example, subsidies could be provided for the adoption of more environmentally friendly practices.
Socio-economic Challenges
The high cost of inputs, such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, is a major challenge for Indian farmers.
The cost of these inputs has been rising faster than the prices farmers receive for their crops. This has led to a decline in farmers’ incomes and an increase in farmer indebtedness.
In order to increase farmers’ incomes, it is necessary to reduce the cost of inputs. This can be done by increasing government subsidies for inputs, negotiating better prices with input suppliers, and promoting the use of more efficient production practices.