Budgeting for peasants, planet

UNLESS POLICIES TRY TO GET THE AGRI-MARKETS RIGHT, OUR FARMERS WILL KEEP AGITATING FOR HIGHER PRICES

- ASHOK GULATI RITIKA JUNEJA Respectively distinguished professor and research fellow, ICRIER

HE PRE-BUDGET consultations are on. In the agri-space, what could be the possible suggestions for the FY26 Union Budget? We consider the premise that whatever policies and budgetary allocations the government makes, it must make agriculture more productive, competitive, and remunerative to peasants, and also benign to our planet's natural resources.

We know that climate change is challenging our production system. In India, temperatures have risen by 0.7°C compared to 1951, and precipitation (July-September) has fallen by 6%. This is increasing the risk to India's agri-production basket. Developing climate-resilient agriculture will need more resources for agri-R&D. It is currently less than 0.5% of agri-GDP, and needs to be doubled to at least 1% of agri-GDP.

It will also need to change farming practices to ensure soils have enough organic carbon and that they retain more moisture. While the recently launched National Mission on Natural Farming aims to promote sustainable agriculture, it cannot feed the growing population of India, which is likely to touch 1.67 billion by 2050. Nourishing soils through appropriate fertilisation, be it through bio-fertilisers or chemical fertilisers, is critical. But fertilisers have to be applied in right quantities and balances of macro nutrients like nitrogen (N), phosphate (P), and potash (K), and micronutrients like iron, zinc, boron, etc.