A report on Agriculture of Central and Western India

Central and Western India

Central and Western India consists of Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Since this area covers a large part on India with tropic of cancer passing thorough midway, this region consists of areas ranging from hot arid regions to areas of Western-Ghats with heavy rainfall.

Major Crops: Madhya Pradesh: Paddy Wheat Maize Jowar Gram Tur Urad Moong Soyabean Cotton Sugarcane Potato Onion Garlic Papaya Banana Mango

Gujarat: Wheat Bajra Rice Maize Groundnut Mustard Sesame Pigeon Pea

Green Gram Gram Cotton Sugarcane

Maharashtra Mangoes Grapes Bananas Oranges Wheat Rice Jowar Bajra Pulses Groundnut Cotton Sugarcane Turmeric Tobacco

Rajasthan Bajra Juar Gram Wheat Barley Maize Groundnut

Overview: Madhya Pradesh is a primarily Kharif crop growing state with a Kharif crop occupancy of 53 percent. Rabi crops have occupancy of 45 percent out of total cropped area in the whole state. Agriculture plays an important role in states economy as around 80 percent of population lives in rural areas, with their income dependent on agriculture. 42 percent of land is cultivable out of which 12.5 percent of land is irrigated. Even though Gujarat has lesser area than Madhya Pradesh, it has shown a high growth in agriculture during 2000-2010. It has value of output per hectare above Rs. 6250 with Saurashtra part crossing Rs. 10200 mark, which is higher than overall country standard. It is the largest producer of Tobacco, Castor, Isabgul and second largest producer of sesame seeds, cotton and groundnut in the country.

Gujarat surpasses other states in terms of productivity with highest productivity in Mustard, Castor and Cotton in the country. Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Maharashtra. Apart from principal crops, the state has huge areas under fruit cultivation. Per capita income of people has gone up in recent decade, but the major contributing factor to this is the development of urban cities like Mumbai, Pune, Nasik and Nagpur. Condition in rural areas have remained more or less the same, and in some case, worsened. Rajasthan primarily depends on agriculture and tourism which acts as a base for its economy. Nearly 80 percent of population resides in rural area and are largely dependent on agriculture as the source of their livehood. Though being the biggest state in India, Rajasthan suffers from irrigation problems due to hot and dry weather. A state where 22.5 percent of states GDP comes from agriculture, only 20 percent of total cultivated land is irrigated. The rest relies on very uncertain monsoons.

Government Schemes Since around 60 percent of population is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture, various measures have been taken by the government of India and state governments to safeguard the agriculture industry. Various Government measures taken in recent years to promote and safeguard the agriculture industry are: Contract Farming Genetically Modified seeds Dairy Co-operatives State Agriculture Universities Irrigation facilities

Contract Farming: The concept of contract farming is not new in India, its existence dates back to the British rule when farmers produce would go directly to British industries. Contract farming is a concept where companies instead of buying agriculture products from mandis, buy it directly from farmers on contract basis. The farmer gets into a contract with company to produce and sell specific crop in a specific time period. The quality standard of the crop is decided beforehand. In recent years, many organizations have come forward for contract farming as it reduced transportation costs and removes intermediaries from the supply chain. The farmers in return are able to get better selling price for their produce.

Genetically Modified seeds: Genetically modified seeds have been promoted to fulfil the various interests of farmers like reduction in usage of pesticides and better yield. GM seeds are available in market which have

resistance to certain pests or diseases or have better yield per hectare. GM crops were introduced to lower the cost of production but instead it has resulted in increased costs, as we can see in the case of famous BT-Cotton case.

BT-Cotton case: In March 2002, Mahyco, a Mumbai based company which has 27 percent stake of US multinational Monsanto, introduced three BT cotton seeds in the Indian market. The BT cotton seeds were approved by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) for cultivation in south and central India. BT cotton seeds were introduced to combat bullworm cotton pest. This GM plant produces a toxin which kills bullworm , but is ineffective against other pests. The idea was to reduce the amount of pesticides used by an average cotton farmer and increase his profits. But this idea backfired because of market manipulation and inflated costs on BT cotton seeds. Because of high costs of seeds, the cost saved by reduction in usage of pesticides was nullified. For a hectare, the cost of BT cotton farming is around Rs 1450 as compared to Rs. 725 per hectare for normal seeds. Moreover, in order to avoid pest to develop resistance to toxin produced by the BT cotton, the farming had to be done in combination with the normal cotton plants. This practice of using BT cotton with normal cotton is practiced successfully by US farmers. But lack of knowledge and inability to set aside a part of already small land owned by cotton farmer, led to the improper use of the GM crop. Clearly this technology was not meant for poor farmers with small land. Much of the suicides of the farmers in India, especially in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra is blamed on BT Cotton, which increased the cost of farming and increased debts on already debt-ridden poor farmers. Milk Co-operatives The world famous Indian dairy co-operative, Amul, is one of the leading players in dairy products in India. Based at Anand, Gujarat, Amul was formed in 1946 which today is jointly owned by 3.03 million milk produces in Gujarat. Amul is the worlds largest producer of milk and milk products. It is responsible for the onset of White Revolution in India. In Madhya Pradesh, the milk co-operative is famous in the name of Sanchi. These milk co-operatives provide employment to millions of rural population and unify them under one organization. The milk co-operatives work on less margin-high produce model.

State Agriculture Universities:

State Agriculture universities (SAU) are public universities that are targeted towards agriculture sector. The SAUs are focussed towards teaching, research and extension in agriculture. Initially, the SAUs were established with technical cooperation from United States Land grant universities. After Independence, it was decided to deal agriculture education separately from technical education, since agriculture is plays a big role in Indian economy. Hence SAUs were established dealing in specialized education related to agriculture. Irrigation Facilities: India is an agrarian country but a large part of country depends on monsoon for irrigation. Since monsoons have proven to be quite uncertain, this has resulted into droughts or floods in various years. Being an agrarian economy, a drought or flood deeply affects the economy. Hence to reduce the dependence on the monsoon for irrigation, building of dams and canals is one of the prime objectives of state and central governments. Sardar Sarovar Project : In recent years, Gujarat state has seen a high productivity in agriculture, thanks to Sardar Sarovar Project. Sardar Sarovar Dam is built on Narmada River and irrigates around 18,000 sq. km. of land spread over 12 districts in Gujarat. The dam also provides flood protection. Sardar sarovar project is one of the most controversial projects, as its environmental impact was widely debated and criticized. The project has been a centre of controversy and protest since 1980s. The protest, led by Medha Patkar, was based on the fact that building dam displaces a large sum of people and affects their live hood. Argument in favour of the dam is that the benefits outweigh the costs of human displacement substantially. Without dam, the long term cost and impact would be much greater than what it is with dam. With the implementation of 600 MW solar power plant and Sardar sarovar project, both power and water requirements of a large region of farmers have been solved. Hence Gujarat has seen a phenomenal agricultural growth of 9.6 percent, which has been three times more than the national average.

Social Aspect: In past decade, a shift of workers has been seen from agriculture to non-agricultural occupations. This is because of economic disparity between agriculture and non agricultural jobs. Considering Madhya Pradesh, where 77 percent of working force engaged in agriculture contributes 40 percent to the NSDP, mere 14 percent of working force engaged in services contributes 39 percent share in NSDP of the state. Nearly 60 percent of land holdings are under small and marginal farmers. Most small land farmers continue to use traditional methods of cultivation and have remained, by and large, untouched by modern agricultural processes.

Various socio-economic factors like debt, difficulty of farming in semi-arid regions, poor agriculture income, absence of alternative income and absence of counselling services have resulted into farmer suicides. Farmer Suicide: Farmer suicides are a major concern in agriculture sector. The most infamous region, Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, reported to have 1,044 suicides in year 2006 that is one suicide every eight hour. The worst hit states in terms of farmer suicides are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Vidarbha region of Maharashtra was hit worst because in international markets, the developed nations subsidised their cotton farmers which made Vidarbhas cotton uncompetitive in world markets. Though Indian government initially promised to increase the minimum rate for cotton by Rs. 100, but then reduced minimum support price further. This resulted into more famer suicides that were under debt and huge losses.

Environment: Central and Western India covers area of Deccan trap which is a part of Peninsular India. The region consists of Alluviam, Deccan trap, Vindhyan series and Gondwana system. Reddish yellow clay is found in alluvial flat of the Narmada valley, and volcanic rocks in Deccan trap. Desert area is found in Rajasthan where as shramp areas in Kachh region of Gujrat. Central region enjoys cool and breezy in central parts, extreme in northern region and humid in the western and southern areas. Monsoon extends from June to September. Though western parts experience enough rainfall, western region of Rajasthan and Kachh region of Gujarat remains relatively dry. Eastern Rajasthan though enjoys rivers and lush green cover, with plentiful seasonal crops. Due to harsh climatic conditions in Rajasthan, cattle rising are important for survival. Even in areas with tube wells for irrigation, cattle rising have become a norm.

Technological: As seen in the map below, except Gujarat, other three states namely Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, have low output per hectare in terms of rupees. The prime reason for this is usage of traditional farming methods even today. The green revolution almost did not touch Madhya Pradesh since mid-60s. The crop output is continued to be characterised by weather induced yearyto-year fluctuations, in dryland rainfed areas. Rajasthan follows a similar pattern of farming. Even today, centuries old method of ploughing of fields by using bulls is used. Tractors are rented to plough field sometimes during time of harvest. The low consumption of fertilizer is also liked to low yield in this region. In 1996-97, per hectare consumption of fertilizer was only 39.2 kg, as opposed to 76.87 and Punjab average of 158.4 kg per hectare.

Information Technology is playing a major role in agriculture sector. It has been proved that a well informed farmer is able to bargain better for his produce in the market. In the year 2000, ITC Limited, a large Indian company began an initiative called e-Choupal in Madhya Pradesh. Internet kiosks were set up in villages, where farmers were provided with prices offered to them in local markets and prices offered by ITC for soybean. The farmer had the choice to either sell his produce to ITC or in the local market. The result of this initiative was immediate increases in soybean price. It also resulted into minimization in price dispersion across the market. The farmers were benefitted with increased competition amongst their buyers, whereas ITC was benefitted by low transport costs and elimination of intermediaries from the supply chain.

Economic Scenario: The economy of Central and Western India largely depends on the agriculture sector. More than 80 percent of the people in this region depend on agriculture sector for their livehood, directly or indirectly. The agriculture sector contributes around 45 percent to the Madhya pradeshs economy. The region also gets its revenue from forest products. Various kinds of forest products range from teak wood, salwood to bamboos. The per capita income of Maharashtra is $1660 in 2010 which is much higher than national average of $1219. But this high per capita is of the result of IT revolution and Mumbai being financial capital of India. Remaining Maharashtra still has per capita income lower than national average, which directly reflects the plight of farmers in the region. Gujarats State Domestic Product (SDP) has been rising continuously in past few years. From 1994 to 2002, SDP has grown at an average rate of 12.4 percent per annum. The per capita GDP of Gujarat is 2.5 times of the average GDP of the country. The rural economy of Gujarat is majorly dependent on animal husbandry. Gujarat alone produced 6.09 million milk and 385 million eggs in the year 200203.

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http:// http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-13/pune/32662680_1_farmer-suicidesbt-cotton-lakh-bales www.thehindu.com/opinion/columns/sainath/article995824.ece