The term 'Green Revolution' was firstly used by the American scientist William Gaud to denote higher productivity by the more efficient functioning of green plants.
The genesis was that green plants are integral to our life, as only green plants can make food from sunlight. Farmers who cultivate such plants and provide us with the necessary food, are also integral to our society and therefore, it is the onerous
responsibility of the society to ensure well being of the farmers.
After green revolution, there has been significant growth in production in our country. India has been self sufficient in food grains for a number of years.
But, the green revolution suffered from the following:
Green revolution has primarily been focused on paddy, wheat, maize, jowar and bajra only. As a result, while the productivity of food grains and coarse grains improved significantly, there has not been much headway in pulses and oilseeds.
As a result, the import of food grains, which was to the tune of 10 million MT in 60s has been arrested, but we continue to import huge quantity of pulses and edible oils. In terms of price, pulses and edible oils are costlier than food grains, and hence, the net impact on the exchequer is even higher.
The benefits of green revolution have been witnessed in select North Indian states like Punjab, Haryana, UP and MP, which implies that the growth was lop sided. Green revolution have not benefited as much to the farmers of other states.
As a result of better quality of seeds, the productivity increased during 70s. But, unfortunately, during last 10 years, production and productivity have remained stagnant or even tended to go down.
It implies that though green revolution has been able to significantly increase production at that point of time, it has not been able to maintain the pace of growth to match with the growing demand, increase in population and so, during 2006, we witnessed a mismatch between demand and supply, particularly in case of wheat and pulses.
India has emerged as a leading producer in a number of agricultural commodities. In a number of commodities, we are the leading exporter and have the largest market share in world trade.
Still, the first image of farmers that come to our mind is that of a poor chap living miserably in villages without having sufficient money to fulfill his necessities and social obligations, resorting to borrowing from the local money lenders for his needs for fertilizer, seeds, etc. as well as for rituals like marriage and other functions, repaying the debt out of his expected crops and in this process never coming out of such debt trap.
If the crop fails, overdue debt traps him completely, which sometimes leads to suicide, because he does not want to face the wrath of local money lenders. As a result, lot of news relating to farmers' suicide keep on appearing in Newspapers.
The present system of agriculture marketing, which is regulated under State APMC Act, was based on providing an organized market place, where farmers of nearby area can sell their produce and realize money under the supervision and administration of local APMCs.
APMC set up as an autonomous body constituted by representatives from farmers, traders and other stake holders, is expected to protect the interests of all stake holders. The intention of law was good, but apparently, its benefits have mainly been cornered by the licensed commission agents and traders.
Theoretically, the commission agent operates in a free market environment. The grower voluntarily consigns his produce to a commission agent who then auctions it on grower's behalf, retaining only the legal specified commission. The auction system is intended to ensure the farmer the highest ruling price for the variety and quality of produce consigned.
In practice, the system works somewhat differently. Most large commission agents operate extensively in production areas. Working through sub-agents, they compel the grower to supply produce by financing his production and other requirements. The price ultimately realized by auction is then "adjusted" to deduct the loan principal and disguised interest, the latter generally exceeding the statutory limits.
In order to ensure proper price realization by the farmer, structural reforms are necessary in the area of agricultural marketing and marketing infrastructure. The green revolution focusing on productivity will not be able to achieve the desired results in isolation.
Rather, it will be driven by the application of powerful new technologies that make it possible to incorporate farmers, large and small, into formal agribusiness networks, on a fair and equitable basis.
A practical approach to achieve this target is to develop a national level, electronic, institutionalized, spot exchange for agricultural produce, where farmers can sell their produce on one side and the end users can buy such produce on the other side, while the settlement responsibility will be undertaken by the exchange. In this case, local traders will not be able to influence the price of farm produce, rather prices will be discovered through interaction of large number of end users.
This will reduce the cost of intermediation, bring efficiency in the agricultural marketing process and create a common Indian market. Farmers will become equal partners in "farm to fork" and "farm to fashion" value chains. This is the model of inclusive growth, in which both rural and urban mass will share the success. This will increase farmers' realization without increasing the consumer paid price. Increase in farmers' income will trigger a chain reaction in revolutionizing rural economy.
The next generation may term this revolution as 'evergreen revolution', as it would consistently protect farmers' interest in the growth process.
Anjani Sinha is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of National Spot Exchange Limited
