Healthy soil and sustainable growing

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080110/wl_sthasia_afp/indiaeconomyagriculturec

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 'Green Revolution' pioneer sees crisis in India's agriculture

by Naseeb ChandThu Jan 10, 2:21 AM ET

Indian agriculture is heading for a crisis as food output stagnates and
millions of poor farmers struggle with high debt and crop failures, the
nation's foremost farm scientist has warned.

Economic growth averaging nine percent a year, fuelled by manufacturing and
services, has masked the crisis in the countryside, said M.S. Swaminathan,
who led the "Green Revolution" of the 1960s that made India self-sufficient
in food.

"While the contribution of manufacturing and services is laudable, it is
still the farm sector that provides the largest employment in the
subcontinent," said Swaminathan, 82, who heads India's National Farmers'
Commission.

About two thirds of India's 1.1 billion people still depend on agriculture
for a livelihood and are being neglected in the euphoria of a surging
economy, the scientist said in an interview last week in this southern
Indian city.

At a conference in Visakhapatnam attended by Swaminathan and other
scientists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for a "second Green
Revolution" using new technologies that are "eco-friendly, efficient,
affordable and scalable" to boost food production and improve farmers'
lives.

Farmers are a powerful voting block in India, where Singh's Congress party
came to power in 2004 on a pro-rural platform amid perceived disenchantment
over economic policies tilted towards industry and the cities.

Swaminathan, a plant geneticist, spearheaded the first Green Revolution
that began in the late 1960s, helping turn India from a starving nation
into a food exporter.

Under the programme, recognised as one of the world's most successful
agricultural turnarounds, the planting of high-yield varieties of wheat and
rice resulted in a dramatic rise in food output.

But Indian agriculture, hostage to the vagaries of the monsoon, has been in
decline in recent years and is growing at less than a quarter the pace of
the overall economy.

Annual per capita foodgrain production declined from 207 kilograms (455
pounds) in 1995 to 186 kilograms in 2006. The rate of agricultural growth
fell from five percent in the mid-1980s to less than two percent in the
past half-decade.

At the same time, thousands of debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide
after crop failures forced many to sell plots held for generations.

"Unlike in the 60s and 70s, when the first Green Revolution was ushered in,
farmers of the present generation are a lot more pessimistic," Swaminathan
said.

"They are cynical and diffident about the way politicians and governments
deal with them," he added. "They are no longer enthused to take to farming
seriously."

In 2006, the ruling Congress party launched a multi-billion-dollar welfare
drive promising 100 days of work for every rural family in the battle
against rural poverty.

But only about three percent of households which signed up received
employment for 100 days and many only got about two weeks, the Indian
Express reported recently.

The data came from a six-month internal audit of the programme which cited
widespread examples of corruption, inefficiency and misuse of funds for the
poor performance.

The government has repeatedly said it wants to make India's economic growth
more inclusive as national elections in 2009 near.

But the delivery system has collapsed because of "monstrous growth" in the
bureaucracy, said Swaminathan.

"When the first Green Revolution was launched, it was carried out like a
symphony in unison by scientists, policy makers, state agriculture
departments, marketing agencies and farmers," he said.

While the government is spearheading the establishment of Chinese-style
special economic zones for industry, Swaminathan said the time has come to
set up special agricultural zones to boost farm production and reduce the
widening income disparities between rural and urban India.

The government should step in with administrative and infrastructure
support and market access while scientists and agricultural think tanks
contribute "technology and tools," he said.