Reform agriculture

FROM PLATE TO PLOUGH 2025 OFFERS A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY POLITICALLY FOR THE MODI GOVT TO OVERHAUL THE SYSTEM

- ASHOK GULATI

LET ME START by wishing readers of this column a very happy, peaceful, and prosperous new year.

What could I wish for Indian agriculture, a subject that has been my lifelong passion and commitment? My dream would be to see vibrant and sustainable agriculture which is climate-resilient, increases productivity, brings prosperity to peasants, and, above all, improves the real wages of farm workers who are literally at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

It is only by raising productivity that India can rein in food inflation, which has been playing spoilsport lately. Vegetable inflation, at 29% (and potato inflation of 67%) in November 2024, has humbled the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), not allowing it to reduce the repo rate. That is simply tragic.

The India Meteorological Department has made it clear that 2024 was the warmest year since 1901, and the temperatures were 0.9°C higher in 2024 than the long period average.

Earlier studies by scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research predicted that an increase in temperature by 1°C ran the risk of reducing wheat output by 5%. Wheat is likely to be the most impacted by heat spikes in February when grain formation is taking place.

Although the Prime Minister released 109 varieties of various crops (including wheat) that are supposed to be climate-resilient, the challenge of taking them from the scientists' labs to farmlands remains daunting. This is because the government's agri-extension network is the weakest link in the production system.

Agri-R&D as well as agri-extension need a major boost in the coming Budget if Indian agriculture is to be climate-resilient.