currentAffairs Infrastructure

So far, 281 major/medium projects have been funded under Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) of which, 121 projects are reported as completed, 5 projects have been deferred by the State Governments and remaining 155 are ongoing by the various State Governments. Apart from above, so far 10808 surface water Minor Irrigation Schemes of various States have been funded under AIBP of which, 7898 schemes are reported as completed and remaining schemes are ongoing by various State governments.

Current Affairs economy

In addition to seven Central Government Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and 12 State/Private Sector SEZs set up prior to the enactment of SEZ Act, 2005, formal approval has been accorded to 576 proposals out of which 358 SEZs have been notified.  A total of 114 SEZs are already exporting. Further details about these SEZs including sector, location etc. are available on the website www.sezindia.nic.in.

Current Affairs agriculture

The total cultivated land during the year 2007-08 was 155.7 million hectare (Mha) whereas the net irrigated area was 62.3 Mha and gross irrigated area was 87.2 Mha, as per information provided by the Ministry of Agriculture. The irrigation potential created up to 2007-08 has been reported as 104.4 Mha.

The total Plan expenditure for major, medium and minor irrigation projects and command area development works during the IX Plan X Plan were about Rs. 63,049 crores and Rs. 1,00,106 crores respectively and irrigation potential created during the IX Plan and X Plan were about 7.69 Mha and 8.82 Mha respectively.

Agriculture sector is vital for the food security of the country. It is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58% of the work-force. While the global economy had been reeling under recession and our farmers had been facing vagaries of weather, the average growth rate of agriculture sector was more than 4% during the four years preceding the last one. A record level of food-grain production of 234.47 million tonnes was achieved in the year 2008-09. The adverse impact of an unprecedented drought in Kharif, 2010 on food grain production was minimized due to timely action taken by the Central and State Governments. The severity of the drought last year can be gauged from the fact that in the last major drought during the year 2002-03, there was a deficit of 19% rainfall whereas during last year, rainfall was deficient by 23%. The corresponding production figures for wheat and rice were 71.82 (Rice) and 65.76 (Wheat) MT in 2002-03 and 89.31(Rice) and 80.98 (Wheat) in 2009-10 respectively.

Government is implementing credit linked back-ended capital investment subsidy scheme of Construction/Renovation of Rural Godown with the objective of creating scientific storage capacity with allied facilities in rural areas to meet out various requirements of farmers for storing farm produce, processed farm produce, agricultural inputs etc.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched a pilot project on augmenting productivity of lead crops and activities through adoption of sustainable agricultural practices.

The project aims at improving farmer’s income by improving productivity of lead crops/activities through adoption of appropriate technologies, reduction in costs and better price for the produce by way of value addition.  In the identified villages, the project will focus on selected location specific lead crops/activities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fruit crops, dairy, silvi-pasture, etc.

Agriculture sector is vital for the food security of the country. It is the principal source of livelihood for more than 58% of the work-force. While the global economy had been reeling under recession and our farmers had been facing vagaries of weather, the average growth rate of agriculture sector was more than 4% during the four years preceding the last one. A record level of food-grain production of 234.47 million tonnes was achieved in the year 2008-09. The adverse impact of an unprecedented drought in Kharif, 2010 on food grain production was minimized due to timely action taken by the Central and State Governments. The severity of the drought last year can be gauged from the fact that in the last major drought during the year 2002-03, there was a deficit of 19% rainfall whereas during last year, rainfall was deficient by 23%. The corresponding production figures for wheat and rice were 71.82 (Rice) and 65.76 (Wheat) MT in 2002-03 and 89.31(Rice) and 80.98 (Wheat) in 2009-10 respectively.

Even as the Government pins its hopes on a good rabi crop and a good monsoon next year to contain food price inflation, the huge wastage fruits and vegetables worth Rs 30,000 crore annually due to a highly fragmented supply chain & cold chain infrastructure, stares it in the face.

To stimulate the growth of the food processing sector and minimize waste, FICCI has suggested immediate policy interventions by way of a 16-point package of measures to streamline and augment the entire agri supply chain, clogged as it is with several intermediaries including farm processors, distributors, and retailers.

Following a hike in the prices of petrol, diesel, gas, milk prices have also gone up. Between January 2007 and March 2010 the price of milk rose seven times in Delhi. In last one year, prices increased from Rs 17 to Rs 22 a litre. Earlier it was pulses which became expensive and now even milk is becoming difficult. On a year-on-year basis, the inflation in milk has been 21.12 per cent.

Though  India is  the world”s largest milk producer, the demand is projected to grow sharply in the coming years. At present there is gap of 1.8 million tonne between the demand and current milk supply. This demands an average incremental increase in milk production of 5 million tonne per year as against the annual increase of 3.2 million during the last 15 years.

Shri Sharad Pawar, the Minister of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has  urged the States to priortise agriculture and give it equal weightage with other sectors of economy. Addressing the 55th National Development Council meeting,  Shri Pawar also urged the States to ensure adequate input for enhancing agricultural growth and productivity, proper pricing of power and introduction of modern technology for scientific utilisation of our scarce water resources, balanced use of fertilizers, seed replacement programmes and support to use of bio-technology which has tremendous promise for raising agricultural productivity.

• Foodgrain Production in 2009-10 Stands at 218.2 million tonnesWheat, Pulses achieve Record production;Oilseed production Plummets
• Fourth advance Estimates of Crop Production Released

As per the fourth advance estimates of crop productions released , total foodgrain production in 2009-10 is likely to be 218.2 million tonne, slightly up from the third advance estimates issued in May.

The central Government announced  Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for Kharif crops, 2010-11 on June 8, 2010.

But the announcement of MSP does not take into account the increase in input costs especially the increase in prices of urea and fertilisers like MOP and DAP as well as increase in petrol and diesel prices. Farmers have been forced to pay extremely high prices for DAP and MOP after the decontrol of prices under the Nutrient Based Subsidy Regime. The MSP announced does not provide any additional incentive to the farmers to cultivate the crops.

India’s agricultural production should increase at a rate fast enough to ensure food security for national growing population. Equally importantly, growth in India cannot be truly inclusive if it does not benefit the farmers; especially those who are small and marginal. Investment in the agricultural sector needs to increase, a larger area needs to be covered under irrigation, agricultural markets need to be reformed and farmers need to be provided remunerative prices for their produce and better quality seeds and inputs. Sustained efforts have to be made to prevent degradation of land and water resources. To increase production it is a need to increase the farm yields also, because the scope for increasing the area under cultivation and under irrigation is rather limited. Yields must go up particularly in those parts of India where they have lagged behind compared to other parts of the country. All must endeavor to raise India’s agricultural growth rate from around 2 per cent per annum to 4 per cent.

National Horticulture Board (NHB) provides back-ended capital investment subsidy to the eligible organizations for creation/ modernization/ expansion of cold storage/ Controlled Atmosphere Storage @ 25% of the project cost. A total number of 2221 cold storages with capacity of 92.23 lakh MT have been approved so far with eligible subsidy of Rs. 614.86 crore.

Under National Horticulture Mission (NHM) scheme, financial assistance is provided for the development of post harvest management including for cold storages and cold chain component. Subsidy @ 40% (for general areas) and 55% (for hilly and tribal areas) of capital cost of the project is available for both public and private sector enterprises. The subsidy for the private sector is credit linked and back-ended.

The Government has fixed the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for Kharif Crops of 2010-11 season. The MSP of Paddy (Common) has been fixed at Rs. 1000 per quintal and of Paddy (Grade A) at Rs. 1030 per quintal, which represents an increase of Rs. 50 per quintal over the last year’s MSPs.

The MSPs of Jowar (Hybrid), Bajra and Maize each have been raised by Rs. 40 per quintal and fixed at Rs.880 per quintal. The MSP of Jowar (Maldandi) has also been raised by Rs. 40 per quintal over the last year’s MSP and fixed at Rs. 900 per quintal. The MSP of Ragi has been fixed at Rs.965 per quintal – raising it by Rs. 50 per quintal over the last year’s MSP.

In India, of the total cultivated area of around 140.30 million hectares only 60.86 million is irrigated and remaining 79.44 million hectares is rain-fed. Rain-fed crops account for 48 percent area under food crops and 68 percent of the area under non-food crops. Irrigated land accounts for nearly 55 percent of food production while rain-fed contributes just about 45 percent. Rain-fed farming is risk prone and is characterized by low levels of productivity and low input use but if managed properly, rain-fed areas have the potential to contribute a larger share to agricultural production.

Data received from States reveal that sowing of kharif crops has begun. Rice has been sown in 3.37  lakh ha compared to last year’s coverage of 3.61.

The cropped areas this year and last year for major kharif crops as on 28^th May, 2010 are as follows:

As per assessment study conducted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on the impact of climate change, a rise in temperature reduces crop duration, increases crop respiration rates, affects the equilibrium between crops and pests, hastens nutrient mineralization in soils, decreases fertilizer use efficiencies, and increases evapo-transpiration.

Increase in carbon dioxide, however, is beneficial for several crops such as wheat, rice, legumes and oilseeds. Crops such as maize, jowar, bajra and sugarcane do not benefit from increased carbon dioxide. 

Utsa Patnaik ,    Centre for Economic Studies and Planning

Jawaharlal Nehru University,    New Delhi  110 067

Introduction

The idea that the advanced country holds up a mirror of its own future to the developing country, is not true with regard to the fate of the peasantry. The third world peasantry including tribal communities, will not disappear but will resist successfully the attacks upon their  livelihood and assets under the present neo-liberal dispensation.  Petty production did disappear as agricultural relations were capitalistically transformed in today’s advanced countries in the course of their 19^th and 20^th century industrialization. A striking fact however is that  the large scale capitalist agriculture which developed there was never able to  meet the wage –goods, raw materials and energy needs of industrialization or diversify Northern consumption baskets,  and this remains as true today as it was in the past. The advanced capitalist world today is again out to acquire control over the superior productive capacity of tropical lands and obtain access to the mineral and energy resources of developing countries.