Agencies/New Delhi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday urged farmers to boost lentils and oilseeds output to cut expensive imports but skirted the issue of rural distress that has turned peasants against his one-year-old government.
There has been an increase in suicides by farmers after untimely rains and hailstorms damaged crops and weak prices hit farm income in the countryside, home to 70% of Indians.
“We spend a lot of money to import lentils and (edible) oils and we must resolve to raise production so that we become self-sufficient in the next 10 years,” Modi said after launching DD Kisan, a TV channel for farmers.
India, among the world’s leading producers of grain, cotton and sugar, imports edible oils and lentils at an annual cost of about $10bn and $2bn respectively. Vegetable oils are its No3 import item after crude oil and gold.
Modi said that to take India forward, the villages will first have to be taken forward.
“The farming community is a big one. And, if we have to take India forward, we will have to take the villages forward,” he said.
The prime minister said agriculture should be the focus to take the villages forward.
Modi, who is trying to boost investment in industry that would create new jobs outside agriculture, said farmers should increase productivity so that they can prosper even as the average size of farms shrinks due to a growing population.
“Our average farm productivity comes to two tonnes per hectare against the global average of three tonnes a hectare and we must strive to reach the global level,” he advised.
India’s near 250mn tonnes of grain output pales in comparison with rival China, which produces nearly 600mn tonnes despite having a lower farm area and smaller average land holdings.
To overcome the problem, Modi has asked scientists to work closely with farmers to introduce high-yielding crop varieties. India is also flirting with the idea of adopting genetically modified (GM) technology to raise productivity.
Scientists have already completed final trials of a GM variety of mustard and will submit a report to the government in a month.
Modi’s clarion call cut little ice with farmers.
“It’s a pity Modi asks us to raise production and productivity but refuses to address the issue of agrarian distress and farmers’ suicides,” said Dharmendra Kumar, a farmer from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“Please remind Modi about his election promise of paying 50% profit over farmers’ cost of cultivation,” Kumar said when told about Modi’s speech.
In Karnal, Haryana, Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah said the government has decided to launch the Pradhan Mantri Irrigation Scheme to increase area under irrigation up to 14% across the country in the next five years.
He said soil health cards on the model of Gujarat and
Madhya Pradesh would be adopted.
The scheme of soil health cards has been successfully implemented in these states to better understand the use of nutrients, fertilisers and improve productivity of soil.
Both the states have achieved 14% agricultural growth rate.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is given a traditional plough by farmers representatives during the launch of DD Kisan, Doordarshan’s channel dedicated e
