Only three Indians find a place in TIME magazine's 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century. Professor M S Swaminathan is one of them. The other two being Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore. A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan is considered the architect of the Green Revolution. His advocacy of sustainable agriculture leading to an ever-green revolution makes him an acknowledged world leader in the field of sustainable food security.
Professor Swaminathan has won many awards including the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership in 1971, the Albert Einstein World Science Award in 1986, and the first World Food Prize in 1987. Recently, the Union government appointed him as the head of the National Commission on Farmers.
Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
How big is the crisis facing Indian agriculture?
The nature of crisis varies from region to region. In the dry farming areas, there is a crisis of water and high rates of interest from money lenders. These farmers are not perceived to be credit worthy under the present system. Indian agriculture is in a crisis because the second and third generational problems were not addressed to the extent they should have been. Academicians and politicians knew these problems all along. But in the quest for urban boom, agriculture was not given adequate attention.
Is the situation changing?
Today there is widespread appreciation that farmers were bypassed in our nation's road to progress. We can ignore these people only at our peril ‘not just for food security, but also for the security of the country at large. For example, the recruits for the People's War Group in Andhra Pradesh are mainly poor and unemployed youth. We have to realise that there is a cry for change and attention, which we have to recognise without any delay.
What are the factors responsible for farmers committing suicide?
This can be due to many reasons. We will have to analyse each case separately. Many studies indicate that several of these suicides were related to debt burden and a sense of hopelessness.
What do you think went wrong since the Green Revolution?
Green Revolution was a term coined in 1968 when we achieved a quantum jump in food production. For the first time in the 1970s and 1980s, our growth rate of food production went above the population growth rate. But the challenge now is to look for ways that will sustain, deepen and expand this revolution. We must also look at the problems of ecology and work towards an ever-green revolution.
We have no more land available for agriculture. Therefore, we must produce more and more from less land and even less water. We must also extend the benefits of the ever-green revolution to dry areas, hill areas and coastal areas. (Nearly 20 per cent of our population lives in coastal areas.)
Farmers need three things: credit, water, and assured market. Depending upon how well these three pillars are developed, the nature of crisis will be circumscribed by these parameters. We must address these issues with the farmers. If we listen to them, we will understand that they know the problems and they will also tell you the solution.
Have farm subsidies contributed to this crisis?
I don't think so. A major portion of subsidy goes to fertiliser and food. Today the agricultural sector is crying for investment. I am not in favour of any perverse subsidy, but I will not recommend that we must take away the money meant for agriculture. Suppose I have to give Rs 200 crores for free electricity, I will use that money for constructing roads and godowns in rural areas and improve trade literacy and marketing infrastructure. Many things can be done with the same amounts of money. We must remove subsidy and divert the money to need-based services, which may vary from region to region.
What would you suggest to the government about subsidy?
The policy of appeasement like free electricity to farmers is adding to the problem. This policy will be detrimental to our future generations. It is just not sustainable. Of course, some subsidy may be needed -- like in the dry farming areas of Rajasthan where farmers are not able to pay for electricity. So there is a difference between trade-distorting subsidy or ecology-distorting subsidy and life-supporting subsidy. What we need is a life-supporting subsidy. This could be in the form of insurance -- both for the farmer as well as for his crops. Life insurance for farmers must be subsidised because only the private health sector is growing today. The public health system is breaking down. And health cost is going up in this country. Therefore, we must work towards low-transaction, corruption-free credit system, which is linked to health and crop insurance. Already a beginning has been made in the form of Kisan Cards and the SBI Life. This is the first step. But we must deepen and widen it.
We need to also think of a long-term policy because 50 per cent of our population is below 21 and over 70 per cent of them live in rural areas. Do we want them to migrate to town and urban slums? Or should we create infrastructure for them to take up farm and non-farm employment in the rural areas?
How critical is the water situation in India?
Exactly 60 years ago, I joined the Agricultural College in Coimbatore. At that time we were alarmed that the water table was going down to 10-15 metres. But now it has gone down to 1,000 metres. How much can we keep digging? When I was in the Planning Commission in 1980, I along with Manmohan Singh and Mohammed Fazal made water as the first priority in the Sixth Five Year Plan. But over the years, more and more irrigation has come under groundwater and our policy of free electricity has sucked every drop.
What policy changes would you prescribe to reverse the paradox of food insecurity amidst plenty?
We have come to a stage where we can have a food guarantee scheme. My concept is a combination of employment guarantee and food for work. The Maharashtra employment generation scheme is a good model. Food as a currency is very powerful because the needy can get food for their stomachs and farmers can market more if they produce more. The paradox of poverty amid plenty can be done away with imaginative food guarantee schemes. I hope that by August 15, 2007, when we complete 60 years of Independence, we will overcome this paradox.
Do you think it is time to take a re-look at pesticides?
The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) -- set up after the Centre for Science and Environment found pesticides in soft drinks -- has clearly recommended that we must look at our standards for pesticides in food and drinking water. We still use pesticides that have long-term residual toxicity. This is affecting our food chain. I hope the government will start looking at the recommendations of the JPC and take follow up action. We must not just revise standards, but we also set up more monitoring laboratories.
Do you think enough efforts have gone into what you call "monsoon management"?
I think we have not been pro-active. For some reason our agricultural administration has remained very archaic. Monsoon management means alternative cropping system. The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has come up with alternative crops depending on water availability. But what's the use of having these models only on paper. These must be put to use.
We must have a system of administration that is highly professional. But we hear about officers being transferred almost every other day. For example, an agricultural commissioner is suddenly transferred to a museum. In a country like China, even cabinet ministers are thorough professionals. In fact, two Chinese ministers have been awarded the World Food Prize. We need such professionalism. Unfortunately we have a system of administration where generalists are occupying technical posts.
We must also look at agricultural management, of which monsoon management is an integral part. I suggest that we train a male and female member of every panchayat as monsoon managers.
What steps do you think we must take to bridge the numerous divides that exist in India?
If we can bridge the agricultural divide in a country where 70 percent people live in rural areas, then we would be closer to bridging the nutritional, gender, technological and digital divides. We must simplify our rules on radio so that every community or panchayat can have its own radio. This will go a long way in making information location-specific and in giving market and trade-related news.
What safeguards would you prescribe as we experiment with biotechnology?
The reason why the Americans are not afraid of genetically modified (GM) food is that they have immense faith in their Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environment Protection Agency (EPA). If someone falls sick as a result of consuming GM corn, the fine is US $2-3 billion in the courts. We have recommended a national biotechnology regulatory authority that is professionally managed. We must work towards regulatory mechanisms that people can trust.
It is wrong to condemn or decry a new technology. We must study the use of the technology case by case. There cannot be any generalisations. We have recommended that the health and environmental safety must be the bottom line for any food security system.
What does the India's agricultural future look like?
The Green Revolution gave us self-confidence. Now we must shape our agricultural destiny. Because our future will depend on agriculture.
(New Indian Express, June 27, 2004)
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