HYDERABAD: At a time when farmers across the country are in distress owing to multiple factors like climate change or extensive crop losses, doubling the income of farmers by 2022 appears a tall order.
Speaking at a gathering of bureaucrats and scientists at a two-day national workshop being organised by the Centre for Good Governance and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, principal secretary to Chief Minister S Narsing Rao said that unless the farm produce was exported, he did not see the any substantial development.
“The country is more or less self-sufficient in food production and the population growth is at 1.2 to 1.3 per cent. Any growth for farmers should come from incremental income initiatives and the key is exports,” he said. Pitching for a seamless institutional mechanism, he said governments think that farmers should be the custodians of consumers’ interests and not the state itself. “Liberal exports of farm produce at competitive levels is required for substantial increase in their income,” he stressed.
Former agriculture secretary to the Union government, Mohan Kanda, said that production and productivity were not true measures of agricultural growth. “They are for the consumers. We need to know if the farmers are making any money. The government has to shift from retail syndrome to wholesale,” he noted.
State agriculture secretary C Parthasarathi stressed the need for intensification and diversification of agriculture with increasing investment. “Value addition post-harvest is not given much attention.
A lot of research and development is required for mechanisation of small farms,” he said. According to him, the rising input cost in agriculture is mainly due to increase in wages and the same could be addressed through mechanisation. He also detailed various initiatives taken by the state, namely, farm loan waiver, crop capital assistance, investment in micro-irrigation projects, crop colonies and e-trading.