Events make Breaking News ….processes do not, because it is difficult to capture them, especially if they take place in a spatial domain which is not close to the National Highway or metalled roads. Thus the price of onions makes headline news, but interventions to create value chains in this commodity by setting up farmers groups and scientific farm level storage does not! The denial of a Chinese visa to an Arunachal officer evokes editorial comment, but ‘off- season- vegetables’ in Lower Subansiri district by the Ziro Women Farmers club does not find a mention anywhere! Panelists on Food Inflation talk about the higher share of dairy products, but are blissfully unaware of innovations like hostels for milch cattle to address issues of scale, scope, habitat and ecology. Disruption in the supply of milk to urban centres makes it to page one, but fodder development and bovine health does not feature on the radar screen of the mainstream media.
The volume in your hand is an attempt to address issues and processes which would normally not make it to newspaper columns. Yet their impact on transforming the lives of people is perhaps much higher than what the papers generally report. When agriculture was not doing well, there was no dearth of reports. Now that interventions on account of the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (National Agricultural Development Programme ) popularly known by the acronym RKVY have arrested the decline, and created a virtuous cycle, it is important to acknowledge the innovative interventions and the positive outcomes .
A word about the RKVY. Launched in 2007 after deliberations in the NDC, the main agenda was to ensure capitalization of Indian agriculture and ensure an aggregate growth rate of at least 4% from agriculture and allied sectors. It was felt that agricultural development strategy should be reoriented to meet the needs of farmers and called upon state and central governments to evolve solutions to rejuvenate agriculture. The resolution stated that the scheme would incentivize states to draw up plans for their agriculture sector more comprehensively taking into consideration, agro-climatic conditions, natural resource and technology issues. In addition, efforts would be directed towards integrating livestock, poultry and fisheries more fully into the overall agrarian scenario. States were advised to prepare comprehensive agriculture development plans from the districts as well as the state after extensive consultation with all stakeholders to reflect the ‘felt needs’, the ‘market potential’ , the agro-climatic conditions and the institutional support available in the region. Chief Secretaries of states were entrusted the responsibility of chairing the State level sanction Committees which had secretaries, vice chancellors and technical experts as members. Proposals have ranged from farm mechanization to bee- keeping, from micro irrigation to support for GAP, hostels for cows and infrastructure for cymbidiums, study tour of farmers and electronic auction platforms. In recent times, RKVY has also addressed special needs –like Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India, the National Vegetable Initiative for Urban clusters, Sixty Thousand pulses villages in rain fed areas, National Missions on Nutri cereals , Fodder Development, Oil Palm , protein Supplements and saffron.
Whether or not the programme has been a success can be judged from the selection of ‘success stories’ that follow. Large tracts in Arunachal have moved from Jhuming to terrace cultivation and many villages have taken up Off Season Vegetables (OSVs) which has transformed their lives. RKVY has also supported the construction of sixty marketing stalls along the highway. This has also led to the integration of Arunachal’s economy with that of Assam which is where most of these vegetables are marketed. The success story from Assam is on increasing cropping initiatives by providing assured irrigation. Water users associations have been formed under RKVY to cover water- shed command areas. This has ensured multiple cropping, thereby increasing doubling incomes and livelihoods. In fact, it strengthens the postulate that wherever there is water, poverty will dissipate by itself.
Andhra Pradesh decided to focus on infrastructure for seed farm mechanization and vegetable cultivation to improve the incomes of farmers. All these interventions are based on the felt needs of the farmers, especially in the context of climate change and scarcity of farm labour. While Bihar’s success in doubling its rice production is well known under the BGREI initiative is well known and documented, another high-light of the state is its tryst with organic farming. The success of first organic village Pothia in Samstipur was an inspiration for the agriculture department to utilize RKVY funds for supporting one such bio-village in each of the 38 districts of Bihar.
Chhattisgarh is a new state with predominance of marginal farmers, many of whom are living in tribal hamlets. Goats are important source of basic and supplementary incomes to the farmers and RKVY took up a major campaign to vaccinate 90% of the total goat population against the peste-des-petits ruminants (PPR) among the livestock of Chhattisgarh. This has led to significant reduction in mortality among the goats. The point to note is that these innovative steps could not have been undertaken but for the flexible approach encouraged under the RKVY.
Amongst the four success stories from Gujarat, the most innovative is the establishment of an animal hostel for the milch cattle. Established at a cost of nearly six crores, it has a capacity to house one thousand cattle in thirty six sheds. The hostel has elevated water storage, an underground sump, a biogas plants, fodder cultivation plots, vermi-compost units and has a unique system of biometric based animal identification. The hostel is managed by the Akodara milk Cooperative Society.
Part 2
In spite of being one of the smallest States (1.3% of total area) of India, Haryana has a prominent place in the dairy map of the country. Haryana possesses 2.5% of the bovine population of the country but produces more than 5 % of the nation’s total milk production. The RKVY has supported the Murrah Breeders Association to take care of the superior buffaloes and male progeny for ‘in- situ’ preservation of the Murrah Germplasm Bank. It is expected that the scheme will contribute significantly to the genetic improvement of buffaloes in the country. Both Haryana and Punjab have leveraged RKVY funds for laying Under Ground Pipe Lines (UGPLs) from canals for farmers in the tail- end of the irrigation command area, and those suffering from poor quality water especially in areas affected by salinity and sodicity.
Himachal Pradesh has taken up an innovative programme of Mobile Sheep Dips. These light weight structures are made of high grade steel and can be easily towed behind a jeep. The objective is to ensure that sheep can be dipped in water at least thrice a year to rid them of parasites like ticks, lice and mite. This intervention will prevent losses both in terms of wool and meat among the sheep flock of the State. The point to note here is that such an intervention could have never been thought of in the precincts of Krishi Bhawan or the Yojana Bhawan.
Jharkhand has taken up ran water harvesting and check dams alongwith bore wells and drip irrigation system in a big way. RKVY has supported the participatory community in management through Pani Panchayats and these interventions have doubled the cropping intensity in the command areas.
Kashmir is well known for its saffron, apples, walnuts and cherries. However, the Gandarbal area of J&K has made a name for the cultivation of Sahibi and Hussaini which mature in August when grapes are not available in the other parts of the country. The RKVY has changed the crop cultivation scenario by providing canopy management structures to replace the traditionally wooden structures thereby improving the quality of produce, plant health and enabling women who harvest the fruit without additional support. This has also enabled women to do the plucking of the grapes without any additional support: therefore among other things, it is also a gender friendly intervention by RKVY.
In keeping with its reputation as the country’s leading IT state, Karnataka has taken up electronic auction in APMC markets under RKVY thereby ensuring greater transparency in transactions, and better returns to farmers.
Kerala has found a solution to the problem faced by the outmigration of 1.2 million workers’ to the Gulf which left large tracts of agricultural lands without plough. RKVY helped the formation of a Food Security Army to address this issue. The FSA recruited over two thousand people, provided them training in all aspects of farm equipment and agronomic practices and organized them into agro machinery operation service centres. The FSA provides its services for different agricultural operations on the farmer’s fields. This has enhanced incomes of FSA members as also that of the farm owners. This is a fine example of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”.
Madhya Pradesh used RKVY to upgrade its Kisan Call Centres while Maharashtra established scientific onion storage on the farmer’s field to ensure that distress sale of onion is avoided during the peak production season. Both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh has also utilized RKVY funds for water harvesting and micro irrigation as well.
In Orissa RKVY funds were leveraged to improve livelihood of tribal’s through production and value addition to indigenous tuber crops, pineapples and organic spices by linking it to the Orissa Tribal Empowerment Livelihood Project (OTELP). This intervention has revived the traditional crops like Elephant Foot Yam and Cassava which is preferred in the preparation of temple food over potato, cauliflower and tomato, which are considered to be of foreign origin.
Sikkim has taken up pig farming in a big way under RKVY as the State was not self-sufficient in its requirement of Pork and bacon .To address issues of reproduction health of cattle, especially cows and buffaloes, Tamil Nadu introduced the Oestrus Synchronization Technology (OST) to induce heat, thereby improving the conception rate. It also ensures that animal can be given Artificial Insemination (AI) at a pre determined time to ensure higher conception rate.
Tripura is known for quality pineapples, mostly the Queen & Kew varieties. Under RKVY pineapple production in Tripura has been staggered in ensuring that that a situation is avoided and pineapple is available for at least eight months in a year and productivity levels are raised from 15 to 20 MT per hectare.
Uttar Pradesh is known as the sugar belt of the country and its landscape is with both in sugar mills and Gur manufacturing units. However, farmers often complained about lower realization from the sugar cane crop. To address this issue as also to enhance production of pulses RKVY undertook the inter-cropping of pulses with spring sown sugarcane in 265 Blocks of 30 selected districts.
Last but not the least West Bengal’s initiatives of sperm sexing at the frozen semen lab of at Haringhata farm to ensure that only female calves are produced. This state-of-art assisted reproductive technology for pre-determination of bovine sex is expected to enhance creation of assets for enhancement of the rural economy by producing desired female dairy calves in rural areas, which will ultimately augment the milk production, create employment generation in rural areas, and improve livelihood of the rural population of West Bengal.