Opinion Growing technology

Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme events in ways that are outside the realm of experience. So farmer subsidies,debt waivers,relief measures and so on may provide immediate help but may not necessarily be sustainable,particularly if droughts and floods concomitantly become more frequent and severe.

Does India lack the capability to bring in world-class agricultural technologies? Are our farmers not smart enough to adopt new technologies,or are we not providing an enabling environment?

One of the key inputs to higher productivity is seed innovation. While seed constitutes up to 10 per cent of the input cost,it can improve up to 40 per cent of the crop yield. Take the example of cotton farmers who continue to get value from adopting biotech-improved,insect-protected cotton seed (commonly known as Bt cotton). Today,over four million cotton farmers cultivate Bt cotton seeds,gaining higher yields and more savings in pesticides — resulting in higher income and access to a lifestyle that perhaps they had earlier only dreamt of. Today,India is the second largest producer of cotton in the world; once an importer,it is now the second largest exporter. This is the power of technology. Imagine,if we had failed to adopt this technology,the impact of declining global cotton prices on the poor farmer!

Today,India is investing millions and making remarkable progress in space research,nuclear power research and pharma bio-technology. But why not in agriculture,the backbone of its economy? While the Department of Biotechnology was established way back in 1986,the total R&D budget only witnessed a significant increase in the 11th Five Year Plan (Rs 6,400 crore). And even then,the allocation for agriculture bio-tech is smaller than for pharma.

Other places are trying to pick up the slack. Approximately 24 universities,37 research institutions and 45 companies are investing in researching about 30 crops. They’re researching traits related to tolerance to insects,fungal/ bacterial/ viral diseases; drought; nutritional factors,salinity and alkalinity,and so on. Drought-tolerant traits are being added to crops to decrease demands for irrigation and increase productivity in dry conditions. Scientists at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) are field testing Sahabhagi Dhan,a drought-tolerant variety of rice which does not display drought stress or curls leaves when there is no water.

Globally,other drought-tolerant crops are expected to be commercially available within the next few years,and regulatory application has already been made for a drought-tolerant corn. Investment is also being channelled towards the development of crops that can survive in highly saline soils or very hot conditions. Indian farmers need more of these technologies to address food security and other issues in situations arising due to climate change.

But even if there’s research,is the present-day regulatory regime creating an enabling environment for developing and commercialising new technologies? Are public sector institutes well-equipped to develop world-class high-yielding technologies,and when will the farmers eventually get access to these crops? Even if the government wants the best for the farmers,does commercialisation work best in public sector institutions,or should we encourage more public-private partnerships?

The Union Budget this year made agriculture a key focus. While it announced some good news for the fertiliser industry,there is still a long way to go for the seed industry. While arable land cannot be increased,knowing the way that climate change is affecting supply of water,we need to build more check dams,bunds and reservoirs to ensure that water is used efficiently and harvested,not just for irrigation,but also for charging the water table. This will come to our rescue in times of droughts. We should re-look at the existing germplasm to choose and develop varieties that are more water efficient. A fresh look at technologies,which were once discarded (maybe due to lack of proper equipment),such as conservation tillage farming,etc,may help in maintaining soil moisture and reduce water run-off.

We need to move away from a debt-relief-centric to a more proactive and inclusive growth approach. There is an urgent need to create better market linkages,better facilities in post-harvest storage,easy access to credit,removal of controls,a strong risk mitigation system,and,most importantly,to introduce agricultural and rural reforms,like those in the IT,chemical,and pharma industries.

The writer is at TERI in New Delhi express@expressindia.com