presentation at Milan 2016 organised by AID

1. Agrarian Crisis in India and Way Forward
Milan 2016
AID, Seattle
G. V. Ramanjaneyulu

2. Crisis in Indian Agriculture
• Economic Crisis
– Increasing costs of cultivation and decreasing returns
– Reducing public support and increasing indebtedness
• Ecological Crisis
– Due to maximizing the output of a narrow range of species leading to monoculture of crops and
varieties,
– Capital depletion and massive additions of external inputs (e.g. energy, water, chemicals), and
– never caring about the externalities
• Socio-political crisis
– Increasing tenancy, land use shift
– Huge migration
• Climate Crisis
– Increased frequency of droughts, floods and cyclones
– Extreme temperatures

3. Source: NCRB 1995-2014
Total 305,926 in 20 years
http://www.agrariancrisis.in

4. Farmer
Market
Policy

5. People depending on Agriculture in India
49.93%
19.5%
52.78%
16.69%
43.35%
26.33%
37.82%
22.69%
35.24%
23.75%
31.65%
26.38%
24.64%
29.96%
69.43%
69.47% 69.68%
60.51%
58.99%
58.03%
54.6%
• People depending on agriculture has come down from 69.43% to 54.6% in last 60yrs
• For the first time the number of cultivators is lower than agriculture workers both in proportion and absolute numbers
• Between 2001-2011 about 86.10 lakh people have left farming in India which is about 2358/day
• In 2011 main cultivators (depending on farm income for more than 6 months) are only 95.8 m which is about 8% of Indian population)
(People in Million) (% of working population)
Source: Census of India 1951-2011 http://www.agrariancrisis.in

6. Where are the jobs?
• NSSO 66th
Round: From 2004-05 to 2009-10, only 2 million additional employment
was generated but 55 million were added to working age population!
Sector-wise employment (millions)
Sector 2004-05 2009-10 Difference
Agriculture 258.93 243.21 -15.71
Manufacturing 55.77 48.54 -7.23
Services 112.81 112.33 -0.48
NonManufacturing
(construction)
29.96 56.10 26.14
TOTAL 457.46 460.18 2.72

7. • 63% of all women
workers in India (74%
of rural female
workforce) is in
agriculture
• Only 13% of women
have access to land
• 35 million women
cultivators
enumerated by
census 2011

8. Changes in the percentage distribution of households and area owned by
category of household ownership holdings in 2012-13 over 2002-03
Category of holdings % of households % of area owned
2002-03
(59th
Round)
2012-13
(70th
Round)
2002-03
(59th
Round)
2012-13
(70th
Round)
Landless (<0.002 ha) 10.04 7.41 0.01 0.01
Marginal* (0.002-1.00 ha) 69.63 75.42 23.01 29.75
Small (1.00-2.00 ha) 10.81 10.00 20.38 23.54
Semi-medium (2.00-4.00 ha) 6.03 5.01 21.97 22.07
Medium (4.00-10.00 ha) 2.96 1.93 23.08 18.83
Large (> 10.00 ha) 0.53 0.24 11.55 5.81
Source: NSSO 59th
Round and 70th
Round
More than 81.83% of agricultural households today own less than 1.00 ha of land.

9. Land Holdings in India 1970-2011
Source: Indian Agriculture Census, 2011

10. Estimated Income and Expenditure of Farmers in India
Compiled from NSSO 59th
and 70th
Round
NSSO 59th Round (2003) NSSO 70th Round (2014)
Land
holding
Category Total Income
(Rs/month)
Expenditure
(Rs/Month)
% of total Total Income
(Rs/month)
Expenditure
(Rs/Month)
% of
total
<0.01 Landless 1380 2297
67.00%
4561 5108
81.83%0.01-0.4 Sub marginal 1633 2390 4152 5401
0.4-1.0 Marginal 1809 2672 5247 6020
1.0-2.0 Small 2493 3148 17.00% 7348 6457 10.00%
2.0-4.0 Semi-medium 3589 3685 10.00% 10730 7786 5.01%
4.0-10.0 Medium 5681 4626
6.00%
19637 10104 1.93%
>10.0 Large 9667 6418 41388 14447 0.24%
Total 2115 2770 6426 6223

11. Average Monthly income from different sources
Net receipts
Size of land
possessed
(ha)
wages/
salary
Cultivatio
n
Livestock Non farm
business
Total
income
Total
consumption
expenditure
Net
balance
Net investment
in productive
assets
<0.01 2902 30 1181 447 4561 5108 -547 55
0.01-0.40 2386 687 621 459 4152 5401 -1249 251
0.41-1.00 2011 2145 629 462 5247 6020 -773 540
1.01-2.00 1728 4209 818 593 7348 6457 891 422
2.01-4.00 1657 7359 1161 554 10730 7786 2944 746
4.01-10.00 2031 15243 1501 861 19637 10104 9533 1975
10.00+ 1311 35685 2622 1770 41388 14447 26941 6987
All sizes 2071 3081 763 512 6426 6223 203 513
Source: Key indicators of Situation of Agricultural Households in India, NSS 70th
Round

12. Credit access
• 2015: Farm Credit Rs.8.5 lakh crore (12.08 %) of the total bank credit
against 18% norm
• Rural farm credit gets only Rs.2.48 lac crore which equals only to 4.49 %
of bank credit while the remaining 6.03 per cent — more than half of
the farm credit — is apportioned by semi-urban, urban and
metropolitan farmers
• Small loans, of below Rs.2 lac limit, add up to Rs.2.81 lac core, that is 5
per cent of the total credit supplied by the banks. The small and
marginal farmers' share in this could naturally be much less than this 5
per cent

14. Proportion of agricultural households indebted
within each farm size class

16. Credit access
• 2015: Farm Credit Rs.8.50 lakh crore (12.07 %) of the total bank credit
(70.4 lakh crore) against 18% norm
• Rural farm credit gets only Rs.4.08 lakh crore which equals only to 48%
of agricultural credit (or 5.79% of total credit) while the rest — more
than half of the farm credit — is apportioned by semi-urban, urban and
metropolitan farmers
• Small loans, of below Rs.2 lakh limit, add up to Rs.2.81 lakh crore, that is
4.0 per cent of the total credit supplied by the banks. The small and
marginal farmers' share in this could naturally be much less than this 4
per cent

17. Commodity Variety Cost of cultivation (Rs/
quintal)
Recommended MSP
for 2015-16 season
(Rs/q)
MSP for 2015-16
season (Rs/q)
Increase over
previous year
(Rs/q)
Paddy Common 2,100 3,118 1410 50
Grade A 2,657 3,986 1450 50
Jowar Maldandi 3,740 1590 40
Bajra --- 3,206 1275 25
Maize --- 2,824 1325 15
Ragi --- 3,308 1650 100
Tur (Arhar) --- 6,840 10,216 4625 (includes
Rs.200/- Bonus)
275
Moong --- 8,878 4850 (includes
Rs.200/- Bonus)
250
Urad --- 7,595 4625 (includes
Rs.200/-Bonus)
275
Groundnut- --- 7,186 4030 30
Soyabean Yellow 4,735 2600 40
Sunflower --- 8,911 3800 50
Sesamum --- 6,798 10,198 4700 100
Nigerseed --- 3650 50
Cotton Long Staple 5,395 8,092 4100 50
Cost of Cultivations (Telangana) and Minimum Support Prices (MSP)
offered by the central govt during the year 2015-16

18. Production Pie
Paddy in Telangana 2015-16
Total cost Rs. 90,708.94/ha
Total yield 3.414 tons/ha
Cost of production Rs. 2,657/quintal

19. Consumer Pie
Rice in Telangana 2015-16
Retail Price Rs. 50.00/Kg
Recovery 70% of paddy

21. 2016-17 Budget allocations
Total: Rs. 19.78 lakh crore
Agriculture: Rs. 35,984 crore
(1.8%)

22. Way forward
Farmer
Market
Policy

23. What is needed….
• Ecological sustainability through
– Reducing risk in agriculture: cropping patterns, production practices
– Integrated farming systems integrating livestock, trees etc
– Agronomic innovations like high density plantation in cotton or SRI in paddy
– Building soil organic matter, mulches etc
– Conserving moisture and Rainwater harvesting
– Locally adopted crops and varieties-millets, pulses, oilseeds, vegetables….
– Contingence planning
– Moving away from agro-chemical use
• Economic sustainability
– Help them to get organised for production, marketing and entitlements
– Recast the support systems-research, extension, subsidies….
– Increase the investment-public and private to make farming viable

24. Insitu water harvesting with grid locking, trenches and farm ponds
• 1 mm of rainfall in area gives
10,000 lit of water
• Most of it runs out of the farm
• Leaving 30% to evaporation
loss we can harvest 70,000 lit
• Even a conservative estimate
of half is conserved 2,50,500
lit/acre per acre in 5 cm rain
fall area is possible
• On farm conservation through
grid locking ridges and furrows
• Trenches to take the excess
flow with locking for every 10
mt
• Farm pond

25. 25
Changing to multiple cropping systems

26. 26Switching over to ecological farming practices

27. Millets for health and diversity

28. Farmer Producer Organisations
Producer Co-op-1
Farmer Group B
Organic Stores
•Healthy food
•Affordable Price
•Max share to farmers Organic Store
Mobile Store
Direct to Home
Producer Co-op-2
Other farmers and
farmers groups
Farmer Group A
Farmer Group C
Sahaja Aharam
Producer Company
•Capacity building
•Institutional building
•Investment support
•Brand building
•Quality Management
•Fair Trade
Market place
Direct to resellers
Whole sale to
traders
Bulk buyers
Processing units
Seeds
Bioinputs
No. of Farmers: 5000
Organic: 2500 (1000 ICS certified, 1500 PGS certified)
Cooperatives 30

30. On wheels
exhibitions In stores
online

31. Creating Livelihoods
Sericulture
Backyard Poultry
Honey Production
• Developing Livelihoods Plan
• Building the capacities
• Green Enterprises for Bioinputs
• Providing linkages
For diversifying incomes and assets
Composting
Azolla
Decentralised
cotton spinning and
weaving

32. Awards and Recognitions
• 2014: Best Rural Innovation Award for Non Pesticidal
Management in Bihar Rural Innovation Forum
• 2014: Best Rural Innovation Award for ‘Community
Managed Sustainable Agriculture’ in Maharashtra
Rural Innovation Forum
• 2012: Best Green Enterprises award by Hivos for NPM
scalingup in AP
• 2010: Krishi Gourav Award for Enebavi
• 2008: TV9 ‘Navya’ Award for effective campaign
• 2005: World Bank Development Market Place Award

33. Punukula,
the first pesticides-free village

34. Yenabavi -Organic Village
• Entire village (55 farmers’ 228 acres) organic for last five years
• Most of the inputs internalised into farming
• Land Productivity increased, crop yields maintained
• In SRI paddy 44 bags were also recorded
• Recently awarded Krishi Gaurav Award by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Trust for their
role in promoting organic farming
• More than 30 thousand farmers visited the village in last three years

35. Dorli, a village got back to farming
• Farmers suicides, indebtedness forced
farmers to quit farming in 2005
• Village put up for sale in protest
• Today all farmers are back and could reduce
their external input use by about 80%

36. • First, made use of locally adapted resource
conserving technologies.
• Second, in all there has been coordinated action by
groups or communities at local level.
• Third, there have been supportive external (or non-
local) government and/or non-governmental
institutions working in partnership with farmers.
• Fourth, a favorable public policy
Common features of successful models

37. Economic policies with focus on income security to farmers
• Balancing act between
– Costs of cultivation
– Prices
– Costs of living
– Support/subsidies
• New ways of supporting in terms of
– Increasing access to productive resources
– Increasing institutional support: credit, insurance, extension
– Price compensations
– Farmers own resources and labour
– Ecosystem services

38. Policy support
• Reduce risk in agriculture
– Suitable cropping patterns, crops and varieties
– Integrated farming
– Protective irrigation
– Natural resource management
• All policies should be brought under one umbrella which can ensure
income security to producers
• Farmers income commission to balance between costs of cultivation,
costs of living, public support and prices
• Increase budgetary allocations to 20% at state level and 10% at national
level

39. CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
http://www.csa-india.org
http://www.sahajaaharam.in
http://www.krishi.tv
http://www.agrariancrisis.in
Ph. 040-27017735, mobile : 09000699702
csa@csa-india.org, ramoo.csa@gmail.com
Facebook: ramoo.agripage
Donate: http://www.csa-india.org/donate