The volume in your hands: ‘Glimpses of Indian Agriculture ‘is not a technical manual on agriculture. It is not a detailed statistical account of a commodity, or group of commodities. It is not a review of the institutions engaged in agricultural research in the country. It is not a policy document with clear ‘guidelines’ on how to address issues in Indian agriculture. It does not follow a systematic pattern, and often meanders along the thought patterns of its individual authors. It is not written for an academic audience, and is not peer reviewed. Yet, it is perhaps more useful for both the lay reader, and the policy mandarin than any of the ‘manuals/policy documents’ mentioned above. The document captures ‘glimpses’ of agriculture across the length and breadth of the country – from the cymbidiums in Sikkim to tapioca in Kerala, mushrooms in Punjab to paddy in West Bengal, protected cultivation in Dehradun to RKVY interventions in Gujarat and Rajasthan.
What is a ‘glimpse’? A ‘glimpse’ is an ‘observation of a fleeting moment’. By its very nature, it is impressionistic, and its value is in the recall. Yet, it conveys through its episodic and anecdotal reference, a reality which cannot be captured in a scholarly work, or Performa based inspection report. Each individual has his/her own way of capturing these fleeting moments: some chose to intervene in it, others ‘absorb’ it for later reflection. Even as the perspectives vary, they help the ‘reader’ in assimilating the myriad diversity of Indian agriculture which fourteen officers of the Department of Agriculture have observed in their tour notes , or grassroots diaries over the last two years.
The first eleven ‘notes’ are from the intrepid traveler Dr Gorakh Singh, India’s Horticulture Commissioner who has logged more kilometers, and gathered more Flying returns than any other contributor. In his own , inimitable style, Dr Singh records his tours to Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim and Meghalaya where he interacted with farmers, scientists, horticulture officials, directors, secretaries and ministers of horticulture. Always one to call a ‘spade a spade’, he extends positive strokes, as well as his displeasure when the occasion so warrants. His favourite themes : canopy management, pruning strategy, planting material, nursery accreditation, rejuvenation of senile orchards, protected cultivation, High Density plantation are the recurrent theme. Dr Singh’s reputation and expertise on guava, mango, litchi, banana, citrus and vegetable cultivation is legion, and he holds forth on these during his ‘lecture demonstrations’.
The next set of ‘glimpses’ are penned by Joint Secretary Subhash C Garg, who is currently heading the RKVY and Trade divisions at the DAC. His Bangalore tour takes him to the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research which is working on all major fruits of the country, but with a special focus on mango, sapota and papaya. ICAR was also establishing a specialized research centre on grapes and pomegranates at the IIHR. The institute has also developed eighty five varieties across twenty five vegetables, including hybrids fro tomato, chillies, watermelon, brinjal and onion. The signature hybrid is ‘Arka Manik ‘: a watermelon variety which is now spread over 2 lakh hectares, and growing. Interventions in horticulture make a real improvement in the incomes of farmers, especially if they are grown in peri-urban areas, where marketing is not a real issue. However, he also notes that even though Karnataka has become a global sourcing hub for gherkins, the institute had not initiated any research on gherkins.
Garg notes with satisfaction the success of the Institute in managing its IPRs. The Technology Management unit of the IIHR had been able to generate an annual income of nearly two crores in the current year, and this could be an exemplar for other ICAR institutions.
His next trip takes him to Kerala, where he visits the central Tuber Crops Research Institute, which deals with crops which are not very well known in the food lexicon, especially in North India. The mandate crop is cassava, which is more popularly known as ‘tapioca’ in South; but the institute also works on sweet potato, yams, taro (aravi), arrow root etc. Of these, cassava is most important, especially as it as an excellent source of starch, and has found commercial applications as well. Tamil Nadu has over a hundred factories which use cassava as the basic raw material for chips, sago, sabu dana, thickeners and commercial starch. In Africa and the Caribbean islands, it is a principal cereal crop, and is an important part of the daily diet of many people. The major contribution of this Centre has been to reduce the cropping period from 12 months, to six to eight months, besides higher productivity. This augurs well for the farmers , whose only request is that sufficient quantities of good quality planting material is provided to them, a challenge which the Institute has to gear up to.
Sanjeev ‘IT’ Gupta is the DAC’s nodal point for IT and extension. Passionate as he is about IT, his Rajasthan tour notes reflect his ‘systems’ approach, and his quest to streamline data entry at the grassroots, to installation of hardware at the Block headquarters, development of applications at the local level, and the establishment of a robust Data Centre at the state. There is a reference to IT on each page of his report, but that does not take away from the fact that he has also looked at micro nutrients, water management, soil testing and selection of beneficiaries as well. His next tour takes him to CRIJAF (Central Research Institute for Jute and Allied Fibres) at Barrackpore where he looks at initiatives like the development of new varieties, weed management, farm mechanization and microbial retting. Jute is again receiving global attention as an ecologically sustainable packing material, and therefore after years of neglect, it is back on the research, development and commercial agenda.