Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXV No. 8, August 1-15, 2015
Best practices demonstrated in Padappai
by S. Viswanathan
(Continued from last fortnight)
In a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November 2005, I requested his leading a movement to focus on doubling food production. He deputed Montek Singh Ahluwalia, then deputy chairman, Planning Commission, to attend a demonstration and meeting in Tamil Nadu. Ahluwalia and 40 dignitaries from different segments assembled in Padappai.
Balan organised a demonstration of simple techniques like the formation of ridges and furrows with a tractor and planting over the ridges. This ensured water and fertilisers fed through the furrows to reach the roots effectively and the care bestowed in raising seedlings and in elegantly transplanting these to the ridges.
The visitors were impressed. The delegation shifted to a hotel and discussed follow-up action over the next three hours. The Agriculture Consultancy Management Foundation was formed. Balan provided on lease, at no cost, six acres of land to experiment on productivity improvement techniques.
ACMF organised several meetings with experts from the universities of Wisconsin and Purdue in the US. Then Union Agriculture Secretary P.K. Mishra, and other decision-makers visited the demo farms. Anand Mahindra lent a 60 HP tractor. Tata Chemicals and Tata Rallis funded a soil test lab.
Initially at Padappai and later at Somangalam on land leased by Stree Seva Mandir, we continued with our experiments. At Padappai we demonstrated to the representatives from Mitsubishi/Mahindra the effective method of optimising the use of rice planters.
In close cooperation with Rallis India we experimented with techniques of raising black gram. Corn yields increased to around 5000 kg per acre. We dispensed with transplantation for paddy and raised seedlings through direct seeding to good yields.
We crystallised our experience through Krishi Shashti, a six-point plan to increase productivity.
At the base of this mission lies the effective use of science, technology and management. Our universities, research institutions and other bodies have created a wealth of information on improved productivity. These need to be effectively reached to the farmers. And the first step towards that is to agglomerate land to viable sizes that will lend for developing agriculture as a profitable business to use science, technology and management. Presently, the sizes are so small that agriculture graduates do not work on these farms. Mark it, a two-acre farm hardly generates annual income of around Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 100,000 per annum, making it hardly remunerative for the owner. This does not generate sufficient incomes to attract an agriculture graduate a remuneration of hardly offering Rs. 10,000 per month. Thus, there is an urgent need to work on agglomeration of small land-holdings. Punjab and Rajasthan have amended the APMC Acts that provide for leasing land without alienating ownership for 15 years. Such amendments need to be made in other States and effectively implemented.
ACMF has suggested utilising the vast academic resources available with engineering, agricultural and science colleges spread through the country. ISRO can train faculty and students of such colleges in rural and semi-urban areas who in turn can convey this information to the farmers in surrounding villages. The help of IT companies can be taken to evolve simple software to reach the information through GPS systems for display in the community centres/schools in villages. The recent plan to build broadband connectivity to around 250,000 villages in the country can be a good platform for this effort.
We need the systems and mechanism to spread best practices in one part of the country to others. And use effectively the invaluable work done by our research scientists over the years. A quantum jump in food production is feasible by 2025. – (Courtesy: Industrial Economist)
(Concluded)
