DHARMASHASTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERCITY, JABALPUR

2018-19

PROJECT WORK IN LAW AND ECONOMICS

TOPIC:- PROBLEMS & PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURAL
SECTOR IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA
YEAR- 2ND
SEMESTER- 4TH

Submitted By:- Submitted To:-

Sanidhya Kshirsagar Ms. Isha Wadhwa
Asst. Professor For Economics

BAL/089/18 Ms.Nabeela Siddiqui

Research-cum Teaching Asst.

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 Acknowledgement
The success and the final outcome of this project required a lot of guidance and
assistance from many people and I am extremely privileged to have got this all
along the completion of my project. All that I have done is only due to the
supervision and assistance and I would not forget to thank them.

I respect and thank Mrs Isha Wadhwa Mam for providing me an opportunity to do
this project work and giving us all the support and guidance which made me
complete the work duly .I am extremely thankful to Ms. Nabeela Mam for
providing such a nice support and guidance although she had been very busy.

I am also thankful to all my friends who helped me out and other teaching staff
which helped me in successfully completing our project work. Also, I would like to
extend our sincere esteems to all staff for their timely support

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Index
PROBLEMS....................................................................................................................................4
PROSPECTS:-.................................................................................................................................4
One of the ways to solve the economic det of the farmers..........................................................5
Income support to Farmers......................................................................................................6
Enhanced investments in agricultural research and education:...............................................6
Targeting Subsidies.................................................................................................................6
Promotion of organic farming and agro-ecological approach:................................................6
Farmer Suicides...............................................................................................................................7
Lack of Modern Technology.......................................................................................................7
Some of the modern techniques are:........................................................................................7
Advantages of tissue culture:-.................................................................................................8
Modern Vehicular agriculture:-.......................................................................................................8
Solar powered electric tractors....................................................................................................8
Solar or wind charging.................................................................................................................8
Biomass........................................................................................................................................8
Weed control................................................................................................................................8
Water Woes.................................................................................................................................9
Aquaculture and Aquaponics.....................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11

News Article

.Cooperative farming: Cooperative farming is a method wherein farmers pool their resources in
certain areas of agricultural activity for mutual benefit...............................................................5
Enhanced investments in agricultural research and education:.......................................................6
Income support to Farmers..............................................................................................................6

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PROBLEMS:-
1) Small-Landholding of Farmers
2) Econimic Debt of the Farmers
3) Farmer Suicides
4) Lack of Modern Technology
5) Water woes

PROSPECTS:-
Small and marginal holdings have an adverse impact on efficient farming thereby impacting the
economic prosperity of the farmer. Difficulty in access to agricultural credit is a prominent
drawback related to small farm holdings.

Research suggests that only 14% of marginal and 27% of small holdings were able to get credit
from institutional sources whereas about 33% of medium and 29% of large farmers could avail
institutional credit in India.

The average per capita operational size of land holding in India is 1.33 ha, which is far below the
world average of 3.7 ha per person, Over 80% of the land holdings in India are classified as
small and marginal land holdings with the farm size of less than 2 ha. This implies that over 80%
of the farmers in India hold just 39% of the total cultivated land. Maximum numbers of small
and marginal holdings exist in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and
Maharashtra. Small holdings also have drawbacks in finding access to infrastructure facilities
such as on-farm pack houses, grading areas and other related facilities.

With increasing urbanization and industrial demand, and subsequent pressure on the availability
of cultivable land, the scope for expansion of the area available for cultivation is limited.
Solutions

1.Cooperative farming: Cooperative farming is a method wherein farmers pool their

resources in certain areas of agricultural activity for mutual benefit.

Broadly cooperative societies are divided into two types based on the nature of activity. One, for
offering agricultural services and the other for agricultural production by sharing production
resources like land, water, machinery and implements. Majority of cooperative societies in the
world today belong to service cooperatives which are further distinguished by three models viz.,
supply cooperatives, marketing cooperatives and credit cooperatives.1
1
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/agri-business/Consolidation-ndash-A-critical-enabler-for-
efficient-farming/article20243690.ece

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a.Supply cooperatives deal with providing critical agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilizers,
pesticides, micro nutrients and farm machinery

b.Marketing cooperatives handle operations like harvesting, packing, distribution, sales and
marketing of farm produce and also livestock and related products.

c.Credit cooperatives are established mainly to take care of the working capital and investment
requirements of the farmers.

India has a robust and effective Panchayati Raj system that is an institutional forum for
undertaking developmental projects. Pilot studies of collective farming, structured and monitored
by the Panchayats can be undertaken at various gram and zila parishad levels

2.Contract Farming and Collaborative Farming initiatives: Though contract farming

does not directly help in preventing fragmentation, the need of contractual requirements can be a
tool for farmers to collaborate for joint cultivation.

For example, farmers could plough their pooled farm lands with tractors (instead of animals) as
most of the contracts are designed for raising a specific variety of the same crop. This would help
the farmers also to reduce input costs and, ipso facto, have better price realization.

3.Corporate farming: Large corporate and MNCs that are into agricultural supply chain often
try to integrate and consolidate their product supply chains to have better control on costs and
ensure supply security. We see examples of companies taking over large parcels of land across
the globe to cultivate and produce food and non-food crops. Similar models should be allowed
and encouraged in India, which will increase farm productivity and bring in desired efficiencies.

One of the ways to solve the economic det of the farmers

Empirical evidences and studies have clearly established the fact that it is not the majority in the
lower rungs of farming community, who benefitted from such waiver schemes. As per available
statistics, small and marginal farmers (owning arable lands of 2 hectares or less) amongst the 14
crores farm households in India constitute about 86% with an average land holding size of 1.15
hectares (2016 data). NABARD All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey (NAFIS) 2016-17
reveals that only 43.5 % agricultural households borrowed any money in the previous year
(2015-16) from some source or the other. Out of these, 60.4% agricultural households borrowed
from institutional sources and 30.3% of the agricultural households borrowed from informal
sources. The All India Debt and Investment survey (AIDIS) 70th round (2017) too reveals that
institutional credit (cooperative societies/Banks; Commercial Banks) from amongst the total
borrowers in agriculture is only 64%.

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Income support to Farmers
Income/investment support to farmers has recently been tried by few state governments.
The Rythu Bandhu scheme of Telangana and KALIA (Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and
Income Augmentation) of Odisha are setting trends through direct government payments to the
farmers. The Odisha model seems to be an improved version that addresses the needs of even
lessee farmers and has incorporated a package of other services like insurance products and
exclusion criteria of non-poor farmers. Prima-facie, income-support to farmers, if implemented
with transparency, seem to be a good alternative to the Loan-waiver proposition.

Enhanced investments in agricultural research and education:

Evidence-based research has shown that it is prudent to raise investments in agricultural R&D so
as to reap benefits in future. In a changing climate, challenges to the agriculture sector has
increased. To counter all such adverse impacts, it is advisable to spend more on research and
innovation in agriculture sector (present level of expenditure is only 0.3% of agricultural GDP).
A recent study has pointed out that marginal returns on investment in agricultural R&D,
irrigation and roads are 5 to 10 times higher than on input subsidies like fertilizers, power, etc.
(ICRIER, 2018).

Targeting Subsidies
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of the subsidies, wherever possible, will lead to prevention of
leakages, thus making precious resources available for benefit of needy farmers. A farmer
wanting to irrigate his/her crop fields needs water and not, free power. Balancing all these
dynamics will need great amount of political will and not just freebies that mostly drain out
resources with plethora of alternative usages. Productive investments in agriculture sector would
be rewarding for the economy in the long run

Promotion of organic farming and agro-ecological approach:

Growing awareness amongst consumers in upper middle class and urban dwellers is a positive
development in creation of demand for organic produce. Integrated nutrient and pest
management, conservation agriculture, etc. have been gaining momentum in recent years. Low
external input sustainable agriculture using the eco-system services is expected to make the agri-
food value chain more robust. Reducing cost of inputs and ensuring proper price for produce
obviously would lead to enhanced farm income and thus, expected to reduce agrarian distress.2

Farmer Suicides
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has confirmed, in the National Crime Records Bureau’s
accidental deaths and suicides in India report released on Friday, that 11,379 farmers died by
suicide in India in 2016. This translates into 948 suicides every month, or 31 suicides every day.
2
https://www.icrisat.org/few-alternative-thoughts-to-farm-loan-waivers/

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In July 2018, the government had told the Lok Sabha that 11,370 farmers committed suicide in
India in 2016. But, it had said that the data was provisional and the NCRB was yet to release a
final report.

That final report of accidental deaths and suicides in India has now been released. It was last
released in 2015.

The number of farmer suicides has shown a decline as per government data, coming down to
11,379 in 2016 from 12,360 in 2014 and 12,602 in 2015. For 2016, the NCRB has not released
information for the cause of farmer suicides3.

loans are clearly not the only source of farmer distress. While “indebtedness” has been rising as a
cause of farmer suicides since the government began measuring them separately in 2014, the
most commonly cited causes of suicide in India historically have been “family problems” or
“illness.” The latter especially has seldom received enough policy attention in the past decades.
Access to healthcare, as well as to rural infrastructure, obviously plays a role in determining how
optimistic and secur ..
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Lack of Modern Technology

There are several modern and sustainable ways of doing productive farming; ways that will be
beneficial to both farmers and consumers. Many biotechnologists and agricutural researchers
come up with effective ideas to improve agricultural practices. However, their solutions and
findings remain restricted to journals and other publications that are far from the reach of
uneducated or local farmers.

Some of the modern techniques are:

1. Genetic manipulation:-It involves genetically modified seeds that are resistant to variety
of diseases and extreme weather conditions and still give a good yield. Also there is
tissue culture which refers to fragments of tissue plant introduced in new artificial
environment where they continue to function and grow. The tissue culture is very good
for ornamental plants like dahlia and orchids.

Advantages of tissue culture:-

i. It is a very fast technique. Thousands of plantlets can be grown within few weeks.
ii. The new plants are disease free
iii. They can produce weather resistant crops throughout the year

3
https://thewire.in/agriculture/farmer-suicides-data
4
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/high-debt-isnt-driving-indian-farmers-to-
suicide/articleshow/67224230.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

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 2. Stopping Intensive tillage:- tillage has all along been contributing negatively to soil
quality. Since tillage fractures the soil, it disrupts soil structure, accelerating surface
runoff and soil erosion. Tillage also reduces crop residue, which help cushion the force of
pounding raindrops.

Without crop residue, soil particles become more easily dislodged, being moved or 'splashed'
away. This process is only the beginning of the problem. Splashed particles clog soil pores,
effectively sealing off the soil's surface, resulting in poor water infiltration.

Modern Vehicular agriculture:-

Solar powered electric tractors

Solar or wind charging

Charging from a solar system is being used by at least one model at the moment. Solar charging
could be an increasing option on large farms where the trend is to install solar PV for other
purposes. This approach would favour the multiple battery system. Most farms have extensive
shedding; offering the perfect platform for large scale solar power systems.

Biomass
A study several years ago showed that using biomass to generate electricity was more efficient
than using it to produce liquid fuels. There are a large number of small biomass gasifiers on the
market and it is common practice to use these to generate electricity on farms. This offers a
symbiotic process for the farmer wanting to convert to electric vehicles.

Weed control
Weed control ranks among the top challenges for farmers and the biggest pest control issue.
Among different classes of pesticides, herbicide use dwarfs all others including insecticide use.
Nobody wants to spray herbicides, but nobody wants to see weeds sucking up all the water and
nutrients intended for the crops either [4].

There are several weed-eating robots on the market, some entirely solar powered and others
relying on battery storage. The robots detect the presence of weeds and eliminate them either by
a controlled dose of herbicide, mechanical removal, or mechanical destruction (crushing).

Modern agricultural crops techniques have many benefits but may also have adverse impacts if
used aggressively. Too much of tillage and excessive use of fertilizers can degrade the quality of
land and crops.

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Drones- the breakthrough in  agriculture/ farming:

The government of India has announced its support for use of agricultural drones that are already
popular in the West. Drones are unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with sensors and thermal
cameras that can fly over fields and monitor the condition of the crops. These aerial vehicles can
give farmers accurate information about the condition of the soil, crops, excessive dampness or
erosion, pest related problems etc. in real time. This way, the need for manual inspection of
crops, spread across several acres of land, is eliminated. Drones can help spot flaws in the fields
at the earliest, giving farmers the chance to correct the problem before it is too late, thanks to its
integrated GIS mapping and crop health imaging systems. It can help farmers determine where
more irrigation is needed and where water supply has to be restricted.

Water Woes
Most of the Agricultural Problems and solutions are interlinked with water . Since there is just
2.5% of total worlds freshwater resources in India and 17% of pop we require the urgent need for
various things to solve water crisis in India.

One of the most revolutionary method is Inter- Linking of Rivers!

It involves linking of all the major rivers with each other and minor with major ones and if
implemented properly could solve major water woes. As a lot of rivers floods in the rainy season
and dry in the summer season we could use the extra water to replenish small rivers and
DESTROY RAVINES AND REPLENISH GROUNDWATER. This will result in reduced water
wastage .

The replenished sources will lease a new life to farmers and allow them to irrigate more better
reducing there economic woes. Also the rivers of south India are rain fed and dry up very fast
which result in disputes FOR EX Kaveri water dispute between TN and Karnataka. So thereby
lining them with the perennial North Indian Rivers will provide major boost to the economy of
SOUTH Indian Agriculture.

Another method is Canal Linkage with the Rivers Canal made in the semi-arid and dry region
could increase the agriculture land for the farmers and can do wonders in agriculture for the
people there

Aquaculture and Aquaponics5

One of the very best ways to fight water scarcity is the construction of articficial Ponds and
Tanks by the Farmers in a Small part of their Farmland which would be used to fill up during the
5
https://www.agrifarming.in/modern-farming-methods-techniques https://www.agrifarming.in/modern-farming-
methods-techniques

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Rainy season or by some canal. If the Farmholding are small they some farmers can collectively
own a big tank for everyone’s use. Supplied by Rainwater harvesting they can remain filled up
throughout the year round and provide water for irrigation.

Simultaneously just as domestic animals liked cows and poultry animals are reared for food and
other purposes this tanks and ponds can be used for aquaculture that can be used commercial
purposes increasing the farmers income and providing additional monetary incentive to the cash
stripped poor farmers of India. Already the demand of Fish is rising which could be easily met
by the use of Aquaculture by Indian Farmers.

Also just like cash crops exotic fishes could be breeded out for selling purposes also is good
earning way for the farmers.

What is aquaponics?…a resilient farming system that provides wellness and better nutrition.

Aquaponics is a form of agriculture that combines raising fish in tanks (recirculating

aquaculture) with soilless plant culture (hydroponics).  In aquaponics, the nutrient-rich water
from raising fish provides a natural fertilizer for the plants and the plants help to purify the water
for the fish.  Aquaponics can be used to sustainably raise fresh fish and vegetables for a family,
to feed a village or to generate profit in a commercial farming venture, year ‘round, in any
climate.6

Aquaponics is a completely natural process that mimics all lakes, ponds, rivers and waterways on
Earth. The only input into an aquaponics system is fish food. The fish eat the food and excrete
waste, which is converted by beneficial bacteria to nutrients that the plants can use. In
consuming these nutrients, the plants help to purify the water. You cannot use herbicides,
pesticides or other harsh chemicals in an aquaponics system, making the fish and plants healthful
and safe to eat.

Benefits are:-

1. All natural fertilizer source from fish waste.

2. No reliance on mined and manufactured fertilizers.
3. Efficient, sustainable and highly productive.
4. Produce is free of pesticides and herbicides.
5. Fish are free of growth hormones and antibiotics.
6. Allows continuous production of food.
7. Produces both a protein and vegetable crop.
8. Integrated system is sustainable and earth-friendly.
9. Eliminating soil eliminates soil borne diseases7.

6
https://aquaponics.com/aquaponics-information/
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https://www.agrifarming.in/modern-farming-methods-techniques

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Speaking about the poor quality of Seeds can be solved by the various scientific technologies
that now abound the markets by would require the will and incentives of the government to make
it available to the farmers and also to raise awareness. However investement in this would be far
better than proving cash benefits to the farmers because it will make them self sufficient and less
dependant upon the natural circumstances.

Organic Farming is already increasing in India which should be tremendously boosted by the
government as it’s both environment friendly and under the economic means of farmers,
prevents the soil from being affected by chemical fertilizers and therby maintaining its natural
humus and fertility.

Conclusion
Hence I would like to conclude by that if the corporate farming, adacne technolical methods and
Water management techniques are introduced it could well end the economic problems of
agriculture and farmers as individuals in the nation.

References
1. https://www.Thewire.in

2.Economic Politiclal Weekly

3.Twitter

4. https://www.livemint.com

5. www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy

6. https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/aquaculture

7. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/

And other News articles websites

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