The heart-rending pictures and stories of migrant workers from Odisha trying to return home after the nationwide lockdown have made headlines both nationally and internationally. Apart from rehabilitating lakhs of returning migrant workers, the State should be addressing the core of the problem: why are these young people, in the first place, leaving the State for odd jobs in hotels, restaurants, agriculture and construction. For this trend to slow down or stop, agricultural sector, in which 60 per cent of the workforce is engaged, will have to play a key role.
Why are youth not interested in farming?
At present, agriculture is not an attractive career choice for majority of the youth because it does not provide a decent standard of living. If one has one hectare of land, then the person barely makes Rs 20,000 at the end of a rice crop in 5-6 months. Another angle to this story is that the farmers do not want their children to become farmers because it will be difficult to find a bride. Youth will consider farming as a profession only if it is portrayed as a business with decent income potential. It is high time we stopped depicting farmers as half-clothed men and women toiling in the field like animals.
Youth should be exposed to high-tech agriculture that involves robotics, ICT and nano technology. A vibrant and tech-savvy agricultural sector will not only attract youth to be part of it but will also take care of associated problems, including poverty eradication and overall development of the State.
Pathway to commercial agriculture
Not many states in India have more than 3 million hectares of fallow land in the rabi season and groundwater a few metres from the surface level. With land and water, Odisha holds the trump card for India’s future food and nutrition security. If not prudent, the State can easily fall into the same trap as Punjab and Haryana with high environmental degradation and depleted groundwater 30 years from now. These states are now facing increasing degradation due to excessive application of fertiliser and pesticide and rapid groundwater depletion, thanks to double monocropping of rice and wheat.
With the problems in traditional food baskets of India, the country will be looking more and more at Odisha and other eastern states to expand rice area in the rabi season to contribute to national food security. But this will require use of precious groundwater to produce water-guzzling rice crops in the rabi season (5,000 litre water is used to produce 1 kg of rice).
Odisha needs to be proactive in transforming rice-centric subsistence agriculture into a diversified farming business. To make this happen, the State needs its young minds, both men and women, driving this transformation. The State Government should start developing agriculture infrastructure, including irrigation, cold storage, market linkages, and mechanisation, among others, to enable farmers to take up high-value agriculture, including fruits and vegetables, highly nutritious and climate-resilient roots and tubers, floriculture, livestock, fisheries, and milk production.
To allow young farmers to expand their operations beyond their own small holdings, formalisation of land leasing agreements between landlords and tenants is needed.
The State should develop a fool-proof strategy for transforming its subsistence agriculture into high-flying commercial agriculture. Agriculture should be pride of our State and our farmers should proudly send their sons and daughters into farming without worrying that their profession will be reason for them remaining unmarried.
(The writer is Asia Regional Director of International Potato Centre)