HYDERABAD: Prof S Mahendra Dev, director and vice-chancellor of Indira Gandhi Institute of Development and Research (IGIDR) in Mumbai, on Thursday, said that the procurement, subsidies and water policies of India have been biased towards rice and wheat.
“As rice, wheat and sugarcane corner 75 to 80 per cent of the irrigated water, there’s a need for diversification of cropping patterns towards millets, pulses, oilseeds and horticulture. This would ensure equal distribution of water and help achieve sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture,” he said.
Delivering the 17th Waheeduddin Khan Memorial lecture on the topic ‘Beyond India @ 75: Growth Inclusion and Sustainability’ at the Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS) at Begumpet on Thursday, he spoke at length about the successes and failures in the economic and social development of India in the last 75 years of independence.
He felt that the narrative of Indian agriculture had to shift to more diversified high-value production with better remunerative prices and farm incomes. “It needs to be inclusive in terms of women and small farmers, must be nutrition-sensitive, environment friendly and sustainable,” he said.
Prof Dev said that small farmers required special support, public goods and links to input and output markets and that many technological and institutional innovations could enable them to increase incomes through diversification and benefit from value chains.