Every year after Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) when I
visit India, my home country, the first drastic change I notice is the food
inflation rate. In New Delhi if you send an SMS to a restaurant for home
delivery service, you may get your order in less than 20 minutes, which goes to
show that there are plenty of food options available. At the same time,
however, you will notice the numerous beggars on the streets. There is thus
something visibly wrong that led me to ask myself whether it is possible for us
to directly connect the agriculture field to people in need?
There is a fundamental rule in business management: If you
want your business to profit then you should do something essential for all
human beings. Yet why is it that the IT sector is so thriving while food farming,
an elemental need in life, is not profitable and that in last 15 years over
200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India?
Agriculture scientists worldwide emphasize the fact that at
the current growth rate, the world population may reach 9 billion by 2050 and
that to meet the increase in demand we must elevate production levels. However,
current statistics show that while today’s world population amounts to 6.7
billion, we produce enough food for 11.5 billion people, almost double than required.
The main reasons for such a lurid problem has to do with problematic trade and
economic policies. As a result, farmers are committing suicide, much of the
public is suffering from food inflation rates and the majority of profits are taken
by middle-men. What we need then is just a proper food chain supply and that
constitutes a huge business opportunity for Israeli agritech companies.
To overcome these problems the Indian government is planning
to bring a food security bill for poor people, as well as FDI (Foreign Direct
Investment) to improve the food chain supply for the common man before next
year’s election. There are big debates taking place about the implementation of
such a critical bill in this time frame.
Although a national food security bill provides food to poor
people on subsidized rates after having bumper crops yields, no one knows what
economic, political and social impact it will have. For example, instead of
bringing down food prices, this seems to have had the opposite effect. The bill
has been criticized for low food entitlements and inadequate attention to
nutrition. Moreover, if a small farmer could get food grain for as little as
Rs.1 per kg, as proposed in the Food Security Bill, what incentive would s/he
have to grow her/his own? And what would happen in a bad crop year or
successive bad years? Currently, production and availability of food grain for
implementing the Food Security Bill does not appear to be an issue since on
average one third of the food grain production every year is wasted due to lack
of proper storage facility. We have had bumper crops every year — 259.32
million tons in 2012-13 — and have enormous buffer stocks. Ever since Brazil
launched the Zero Hunger Programme in 2001, it has pulled out 30-40 million
people from poverty. Brazil promises to eradicate hunger by 2015 whereas in the
Indian National Food Security Bill there is no such specific goal being doled
out. To me, it seems that while Brazil's
Zero Hunger was time-bound and aimed at making hunger history, India's Food Security
Bill is simply targeted at the 2014 elections.
At the same time FDI is going to open doors for US firms like
Wal-Mart and Tesco. The government justification is that this will improve food
chain supply, provide warehouse and especially cold storage facilities, thus
having control over food inflation rates and giving the public the choice to
buy from cheaper outlets. But at the same time, an influx of foreign actors would
have a strong impact on unemployed people who work in small businesses for
their daily survival and have no job security. Farmers, in addition, would not have
the right to demand minimum support price (MSP) since these companies may buy
goods from other countries and then sell them in India. Even though the
government claims that it has placed safety nets in place, e.g. outlets would
be open only in those cities where the population is over 1 million (currently
53 cities) and foreign firms would have to buy at least 30% of their products
from the Indian market, these rules have yet to be accepted by the foreign
companies with which the government is in negotiation.
In such circumstances start-up countries like Israel have much
to offer India. To quote former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, “In an age where community involvement and
partnership with civil society are increasingly being recognized as
indispensable, there is clearly a growing potential for cooperative development
and renewal worldwide”. India should thus consider adopting Kibbutz-like agriculture
practice to minimize transportation and storage problem, which will then lead
to further price control by removing the involevement of middlemen.
Land is a productive asset, but for many farmers who lack
scientific agricultural practice, it is in the hands of unproductive people. Moreover,
water and agriculture are inextricable. Thus , it is important to know how to
exploit water for irrigation with minimal effort. Presently in India most farmers
use underground water for irrigation and depend on diesel or electricity to
pump it, which brings financial burden to poor farmers. In this context, there are
many agricultural tools and methods that Israel can share with India, whilst at
the same time getting access to Indian biodiversity – 45,000 plant species which
can bring even further improved plant varieties through molecular breeding practices.
With the changing global climate, post-harvest damage has
become very challenging throughout the world. During the rainy season (Monsoon)
in India the price of vegetables like tomatoes and onions is very high. Bringing
in options such as processed tomato purees and onion paste could present
solutions in such cases. Here we should not forget that Israel exports
vegetable products to the whole of Europe with minimal post harvest damage.
Several other small innovative applications like grain
cocoon, biological pest control, and protected cultivation under greenhouses
could also be very useful to solve India’s food security problem. Furthermore,
dairy and fish farms, which stem off the agricultural branch may also benefit
from Israel’s significant technological expertise.
Dr. Akhilesh Kumar is a Postdoctorate Fellow at The Volcani
Center (Ministry of Agriculture and Research Organization) and a Fellow of the Israel
Asia Center
No comments:
Post a Comment