Challenges in Agriculture Mr. Jay Singh, Managing Director CLAAS Agricultural Machinery Pvt. Ltd
griculture, the backbone of the
Indian economy and the primary occupation of over 50% citizens, has seen limited improvements in the past few decades. Over the years, the manufacturing and services sectors have flourished, but the agriculture sector has remained stagnant. This indicates that the benefits of development of these sectors have not trickled down to all sections of the society. In the recent past, the challenges have multiplied. From continuous droughts to increasing incidence of farmer suicides, the list of problems go on to include increasing debts, slow implementation of schemes and increasing demand for food grains. The sector is further pressurized by reduction in available manual labour, as youth migrate to urban areas in search of better opportunities. With the Governments vision of doubling farmers income by 2020, agriculture has received new impetus through campaigns such as Make in India and Skill India.
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As the Government launches many more
initiatives, especially keeping technology at the core of it, farmers are also supporting and cooperating in embracing such technologies. E-mandis, online retail stores, soil health cards and e-banking are some of these initiatives. However, as manual labour reduces, farmers must look at investing more in farm mechanization, which is cost and effort effective in the long run. Manual labour is expected to further reduce by 26% in 2050, highlighting the urgent need to invest in various machines that solve specific purposes on the farms. Farm mechanization is not a new concept. Ministry of Agriculture shares that about 40% of the total agricultural land is mechanized. Although the extent of mechanization at various stages varies, the trend indicates that adoption of mechanized solutions at all stages would slowly gain momentum and hence is expected to bring about a much needed revolution in the country. Conversations around the need for mechanization in the country have seen a rise
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because there is a requirement for
increase in productivity, which cannot be met through current practices. According to the World Bank, India has the second largest agricultural land in the world with 60.3% of land used in agriculture. However, with the simultaneous increase in population and demand for food, we must utilize this land to feed everyone. Hence, mechanization is the way forward which shall enable farmers to increase productivity of their land, and make it cost effective as well. Today, the revolution that we are witnessing, is not only going to bring about progress for the farmers but is going to change the face of agriculture. With the introduction of custom hiring centres, farmers are finding ways to afford machines and become progressive. What started off as a one-off centre, has today, become a promising model with the potential to accelerate the growth of a sector which has seen negligible growth till date. The growth of rental operators has been advantageous
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as well. On one hand, it has helped
reduce dependence on manual labour, thereby ensuring cost and time effectiveness and improvement in yield; on the other hand it is leading to an entrepreneurial wave in the nation, and farmers are seen moving towards not only purchasing machinery to use on their farms but also to rent it out to small and marginal farmers, ensuring maximum utilization, better access, and development for the community as a whole. While avenues are opening up, some challenges retain. A major challenge in adoption of mechanization in India is the small land holdings. Although with a
change in perceptions, farmers are
now willing to adopt mechanization, they are apprehensive as the small size of landholdings does not allow them to utilize the machine to its full potential. The custom hiring centres help eliminate this apprehension by providing machinery on a rent-out basis, which reduces the investment required and yet makes technology accessible. Not just small and marginal farmers, but rental operators themselves are exploring new avenues, and reaping benefits, and becoming entrepreneurs in their own way. Just like any new model that is in its initial phase, the custom hiring model is not free from its share of challenges. One of the biggest challenges they face is that of taxation, while migrating from one city or state to another. The implementation of GST might prove to be a solution to this challenge, since it would ensure a uniform tax across cities and states, which will reduce the additional tax burden and make this model even more lucrative.
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Another aspect which is expected
to give a boost to this exemplary model is the initiatives being taken up by the government to generate awareness amongst farmers about various schemes available at their disposal. With the development of various portals and applications, we must inform and educate the farmers about farm equipment and machinery, other than tractors, which are used in various stages of production. Balers, transplanters, foragers or harvesters are to name a few. At present, the farm equipment sector is dominated by tractors, the annual market size of which is currently, 600,000 to 700,000 units. Though threshers are the second largest equipment sold, it lags behind at only 100,000 units a year. Each machine has its own role to play in the field, and these numbers highlight the urgency to educate the farmers about the options they can choose from. Contrary to normal perception, tractor is not a multipurpose solution to all farming needs. To ensure efficiency and optimum time utilization, other machines must be used for specific activities. For instance, a forager can help increase the yield of cattle by 1-2 kg per day per cow, thus improving productivity and income for a dairy farmer. But, unfortunately, a large number of dairy farmers are not aware of this. This shows lack of awareness is
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detrimental and must be addressed.
It is encouraging to note that we are embracing technology, and mechanization in agriculture is expected to enjoy a growth rate of 10% by 2018. It would be interesting to see if efforts towards educating farmers, and custom hiring centers can encourage adoption of more machines than just tractors. With the Make in India initiative, research and development in the sector is being prioritized and innovative solutions such as precision farming are being explored. This can play a pivotal role in changing the way we look at the
Indian agricultural scenario. These
initiatives can provide a boost to the Indian farmer and can result in positive outcomes for the economy as a whole. The farm economy holds a lot of untapped potential which, if explored, would lead to the development of the most crucial sector in the economy. With over 50% of the population dependent on agricultural sector, we need to expedite these efforts. To conclude, there is a need to spread awareness amongst farmers about the innovative, mechanized solutions available today, benefits of adopting sustainable practices and the initiatives that are being undertaken to ensure accessibility. Once we are able to achieve this, the Governments vision of doubling farmers income would become a reality, India would become a selfreliant nation, in terms of food production and a large section of the society which has been neglected would prosper. n www.agriculturetoday.in