Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on the inaugural session of three-day Global Summit on Agriculture at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar with his his counterpart in Gujarat Narendra Modi on Monday.
Gandhinagar/Chandigarh, September 9, 2013: The Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today announced to host the next ‘Global Summit on Agriculture’ in Punjab during February, 2014.
Badal demanded that the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) should be declared as statutory authority to enable it to function with full autonomy for making recommendations with regard to hike in the MSP of various crops so that the farmers could get remunerative prices of their produce. At present, the CACP was merely a recommendatory authority which was working under the direct influence of Ministry of Agriculture, GoI and the final say for the fixation of MSP lies with the GoI on the further recommendations of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.
Addressing the delegates, progressive farmers, agriculture scientists and experts from across the world on the inaugural session of three-day Global Summit on Agriculture at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, the Chief Minister lauded the efforts of his counterpart in Gujarat Narendra Modi for organising this global summit on agriculture to highlight and find tangible solutions to the problems of farmers and agriculture in the country. He said it is indeed a very noble initiative for which Modi deserved all applause for this. Badal said that agriculture was the oldest source of livelihood in the world as majority of the population in the developing countries and sizeable chunk of the poor throughout the world depend on agriculture. In India also 53% of the population was still dependant on agriculture. He appreciated the Indian Farmers have an impressive long-term record of taking the country out of serious food shortages despite rapid population increase. This was achieved through the farmers' hard work and sacrifices.
Underlining the need to encourage the Inter-State collaboration amongst the Industries and entrepreneurs in agri-business, Badal believed that there should also be an inter-state collaboration for the promotion of agriculture development in the country. He said our government has introduced a new investment promotion policy and therefore he invited all the entrepreneurs and farmers to make huge investments in Punjab. He assured of all possible help and support on behalf of the Punjab Government, to the interested entrepreneurs looking for lucrative opportunities in the agro-processing industry.
Highly appreciating this summit, Badal said he would not only be eagerly waiting to receive the recommendations of the summit but also follow-up them meticulously. He said the summit would prove to be a milestone in setting up new parameters for the farmers to maximise their profits by adopting emerging farm practices on scientific lines adding he hoped this platform would offer some concrete solutions to the problems confronted by our farmers in order to improve their economic lot. He said such a forum must encourage inter-state exchange of farmers, experts, agriculture scientists, agriculture extension workers for better understanding and sharing of experience in the latest practices and innovations in farming.
Badal said that he represented a State, which was known as the ‘Granary of India’ with just 1.5% of the total area of the country, it provides about 50% of food grains procured by Government of India to ensure food security. He said that Punjab’s farmers have a record of pulling the country out of the era of food shortages. But in the process, they have sacrificed their vital natural resources: water and soil fertility, which resulted in the reduction of their farm income substantially. He pointed out consequently; the agriculture crisis in Punjab was very acute. He mentioned our farmers were under heavy debt of Rs.30, 000 Crore, every farming family on an average was under a debt of Rs.2.71 lac. Thus, we needed major investments in diversification and had already asked for a package of Rs.5000 Cr. for the green revolution states from GoI , but it has provided only Rs.500 Cr. which is too little and insufficient.
Dwelling on the agriculture crisis in the country, Mr. Badal said that the farmers were grappling with serious crisis which was becoming more and more grave with each passing day. He attributed growth in agriculture not keeping pace with other sectors of economy as a major factor. He said earlier the share of agriculture in the national income was 60% with the same percentage of population dependant on it. Now, the share has declined to 13.7% whereas the dependant population continues to be nearly the same. Thus, the increase in the national income has bypassed the farmer. He further said that the small and marginal farmers who comprise 83% of the total farmers were the hardest hit by this crisis. Badal bemoaned with declining incomes of farmers, the debts of the farmers were on rise consistently compelling farmers to commit suicides. Putting on record, Badal said that of 2,71,000 suicides reported in the country till 2011, 4700 farmers and agricultural labourers have committed suicides in Punjab.
Citing the main cause for agricultural crisis as the anti-farmer policies of the Government of India, Badal said that though agriculture was the State subject but all major policies and decisions on agriculture were governed by Centre including the determination of prices of major inputs and agricultural produce. Badal lamented that while the input prices have been surging regularly, the market price for agriculture crops have not risen proportionately. As a result, the gap between the farmers input cost and income has been rising continuously, rendering most of the farmers poor.
The Chief Minister said that there were worldwide upswing agricultural subsidies to sustain agriculture but the case was just opposite in India. The States which give input subsidies to the farmers were severely condemned for their pro-farmer policies. There was a wide gap between the cost of production and the income of the farmers. Today 83% of the farmers own up to 5 acres only. The GoI has not made adequate investments in agricultural research and development and mechanisation. Diversification, said Badal was the major need of the hour, has not received the necessary government support, specially the progressive states. Agro-industries, including fruit, vegetables and food processing, have not been developed to create better markets and value additions.
Putting forth a slew of suggestions during the deliberations in the summit, Badal said that the lopsided policies of GoI should be changed to ensure profitable level of income to the farmers. The farmers should be given greater input subsidy and support for agriculture infrastructure development and mechanization. Remunerative market prices should be given not only for wheat and paddy but also for other crops. The first step towards this was the acceptance of the Dr. Swaminathan formula of fixing MSP which covers cost of production plus a margin of 50% to the farmers. As further growth in agriculture would be possible only with new technology, the Government of India should invest heavily in Research and Development in agriculture and allied sectors, added Badal.
Earlier, the Chief Minister also visited the various stalls at the exhibition put up by the organisers of summit and interacted with the progressive farmers from different states and abroad besides he also evinced keen interest in the latest agriculture machinery and farm equipments displayed there.
The Chief Minister was accompanied by his Advisor on Media and National Affairs Harcharan Bains, Principal Secretary SK Sandhu, Financial Commissioner Development Suresh Kumar and Director Agriculture Dr. Mangal Singh Sandhu.