7.

Sustainable Urbanization

4. Agriculture, Rural
Development and Food Security
From a nation dependent on food imports to feed its population, India today
is not only self-sufficient in grain production, but also has a substantial
reserve. The progress made in agriculture during the last four decades has
been one of the biggest success stories of independent India. Agriculture
and allied activities constitute the single largest contributor (almost 33 per
cent) to the Gross Domestic Product. About two-thirds of the work force in
the country depends on agriculture as a means of livelihood.
Despite these impressive gains, India, at present, finds itself in the midst of
a paradoxical situation: On the one hand there are record food grain stocks
standing at an all-time high (62 million tonnes against
an annual requirement of around 20 million tonnes for
ensuring food security), and on the other hand, over 200
million of Indias population is underfed, and millions
are undernourished. The challenge is to bridge this gap.
In a scenario of shrinking land and depleting water
resources, the challenge of the new millennium is to
increase biological yields to feed the ever-growing
population without destroying the ecological
foundation. It is thus importantnot to package this
challenge as a demand or imposition of society on
farmers, for which farmers would bear the cost, but as
a necessity and methodology to also sustain their
welfare and incomes.
India has the potential to meet these challenges. This
potential can be realized through policy and
infrastructure support from the government and by strengthening proactive
synergies among the various sectors that play influential roles in the field
of agriculture and rural development. The National Policy on Agriculture
seeks to actualize the vast untapped growth potential of Indian agriculture,
strengthen rural infrastructure to support faster agricultural development,
promote value addition, accelerate the growth of agro-business, create
employment in rural areas, secure a fair standard of living for the
farmers and agricultural workers and their families, discourage
migration to urban areas and face the challenges arising out of
economic liberalization and globalization.
The following are suggestions towards achieving sustainable agriculture,
rural development and food security. They provide a reference for actions
to be undertaken by the various stakeholders in this area.

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Sustainable Development: Learnings and Perspectives from India

Learnings and Perspectives

Source: Statistical Outline of India, 2001-2002, Tata Services Limited

4.1 Promote Sustainable Agriculture and Rural

Development
Agriculture is directly linked to very many facets of sustainable development,
including poverty eradication, sustainable consumption and production,
management of natural resources, energy, freshwater, health, education,
trade and market access, as well as technology transfer and capacity
building. Agriculture is an integral part of the general development system,
serving the system as a whole, and
being served by it. If the effects of
other sections of the development
Cereals
Food grains
systems reduce sustainability,
Oilseeds
then sustainability of agriculture
Pulses
is also affected. A sustainable
Sugarcane
system should be resilient, and
able to withstand shocks and
failures of parts of its systems
without the whole collapsing, and
without small shocks leading to a
spiral of unsustainability.

1980-81

1990-91

1999-00

50

Agriculture centres on integrated

use of natural resources such as
soil, water, climate and biological
Agricultural production
diversity. The integration of
agriculture with other aspects of
land management and ecosystem conservation is essential in order to
promote both environmental sustainability and agricultural production.

100

150
200
(Million tonnes)

250

300

350

Natural resources have to be accessible to the poor, which in the farm

sector means secure rights to land, water and genetic resources. For this,
there is a need to develop public-private partnerships.
Policies for land and water resource management, biodiversity protection,
infrastructure investment, strategy on institutional market reforms,
reduction of tariffs and phasing out of possible commodity control are
integral to achieving sustainable agriculture.
Sustainability should be seen in the context of different agro-climatic
zones as well of as the country as a whole. Suitable technologies should be
developed and indicators for sustainable agriculture should be identified
for both.

28

It is essential to provide funding for integrated rural development plans,

programmes and strategies, at national and regional levels, with particular
emphasis on investment in economic and social infrastructure in rural areas,
enterprise development, human resource development, and capacity building
for local governance.

Agriculture, Rural Development

7. Sustainable
and Food
Urbanization
Security

An efficient credit policy regime with the required rural banking and
credit system will play a major role in the future. The government should
encourage investment in vital agriculture infrastructure, credit linkages,
and use of new and appropriate techniques towards this end.
More than 70 per cent of the countrys agriculture is under small and
marginal farmers with limited resources. A nationwide crop insurance
scheme will provide such farmers the needed confidence to invest and gain
from technological advances in agriculture.
The focus on accelerated food grains production on a sustainable basis
and free trade in grains, as well as on rural employment opportunities will
lead to faster economic growth and give purchasing power to the people,
which in turn would help increase household food security.
Concerted efforts should be made at national, regional and local levels to
pool, distil and evaluate traditional practices, knowledge and wisdom and
to harness them for sustainable agricultural growth.
It should be recognized that information is a critical input for agricultural
development. It is as important as other key inputs including credit, seeds,
nutrients and water. Information can be efficiently converted into
economically rewarding opportunities.
It is critical to recognize that the challenge to world agriculture is both
technological (requiring the development of new, high productivity,
environmentally sustainable production systems), and political (requiring
policies that do not discriminate against rural areas in general, and
agriculture in particular).

4.2 Promote Equitable Distribution and Access

A positive right to life would imply that the State provides to each and every
person, adequate food and other basic necessities, and that it ensures a
healthy environment, so that people may live and grow in dignity. The most
important challenge in the 1980s and 1990s was physical access to food.
In this millennium, the challenge is economic and ecological access to food.
A transition from chemical and machinery-intensive technologies to
ecological farming technologies is required towards providing sustained
physical access to food.
Environmental access involves on the one hand, attention to soil health
care, water harvesting and management, conservation of forests and
biodiversity, and on the other hand to sanitation, environmental hygiene,
primary health care and primary education.
Emphasis on economic access underlines the need for promoting
sustainable livelihoods through multiple income-earning opportunities.
It is important to increase food availability in areas where it is
produced, thus reducing transport costs and excessive dependence
on international markets.

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Sustainable Development: Learnings and Perspectives from India

Shift from existing expensive, inefficient and ineffective institutional

arrangements, to decentralized management systems of food storage and
distribution will improve delivery, reduce handling and transport costs, and
reduce corruption, thereby bringing down the issue price substantially.
Procurement of grain can be decentralized through creation of food grain
banks in each village/block of the district, from where people can get
subsidized foodgrains (including locally grown coarse cereals) through
food coupons.

4.3 Secure Food Security for All

Food security is a physical, environmental, economic and social issue. It
involves not just production, but access; not just output but process; not
just technology but policy; not just global balance but also national
conditions; not just national figures but household realities; not just rural
but urban consumption; and not just quantity of food but also quality.
The concept of food security should be broadened to make it holistic so
as to mean every individual has the physical, economic and environmental
access to a balanced diet that includes the necessary macro and micro
nutrients and safe drinking water, sanitation, environmental hygiene,
primary health care and education so as to lead a healthy and
productive life.
Issues of food security are part of a bigger whole. Sustainable land and
water management must be seen as directly linked to food security.
Population growth, environmental sustainability,
poverty reduction, agricultural production,
distribution, marketing, credit and many other factors
also need to be recognized as part of this whole.
The major challenge is to produce additional food
while conserving depleting natural resources. It is
also to provide physical, economic and ecological
access to food and nutrition security at the
household level.
Food security must focus on a diversified food
basket, not food grains alone. Broad-based food
security systems are not dependent on two-three
species but on over 100 species that are
underutilized. This will also prevent locally
adapted grains from becoming extinct.

30

Nutrition security must be given integrated attention by emphasizing

horticulture, animal husbandry, fishery, millets, pulses and several other
resources for which India is traditionally known. There is need for investment
in science and technology that will promote diversification.
Food security must not be based on market, but rather on self-reliance

Agriculture, Rural Development

7. Sustainable
and Food
Urbanization
Security

and sufficiency. The approach should be one of moving from food security
to food sovereignty.
The elimination of hunger and malnutrition is not just a food problem. It
is linked to poverty and population growth. Rising food output is essential
but so are the slowing of population growth and maintaining the
ecological balance.
Food banks at grass root levels should be well maintained.

4.4 Strengthen Extension and Capacity Building

Mechanisms
In the 21st century, it is increasingly necessary, and increasingly feasible to
take a whole systems approach to organized, positive change in rural places.
For extension, that means helping farming people toward sustainably
increasing productivityparticularly in the small-mixed farming systems in
rain-fed areas, in upland areas, and in other places which have been
neglected. It also demands measuring success in terms of the consumption
of rural people, as well as of their production. And that, in turn, will
require agricultural extension systems which help farm men and women
organize themselves in ways which empower themto lead agricultural
extension and to exert enough power and influence over agricultural research
systems so that they generate useful, practical information which fits the
needs and interests of those farming people.

What we need is
food sovereignity.
We reject food
security based on
the market.
Rather, it should
be based on selfreliance and
sufficiency.
Vinod Raina
Multi-stakeholder
Consultation

Agricultural extension must focus on increasing production and

productivity of food and fiber in an economically and environmentally
sustainable way. It must be done in a way which does not destroy rural
livelihoods and rural communities.
Extension activities should promote more comprehensive rural education
and extension programmes directed particularly at rural poor, with major
emphasis on efforts to reduce illiteracy, particularly among women and girls.
It is important to organize education, extension and information, and
skill empowerment on the basis of intensification, diversification and value
addition of farming systems.
Partnerships aimed at strengthening the knowledge base, and improving
the dissemination of information, such as farm-to-farm technical assistance
programmes, can help strengthen agri-extension. Public-private partnerships
could be envisaged in basic sustainable agricultural techniques.
Sustainable agriculture demonstration plots should be set up in research
stations, demonstration centres, seed production centers, farmers training
centres etc., of government, cooperative and non-government agencies.
The system should support a new agricultural extension system that
could meet the needs of information-hungry farmers, especially educated
youth and women engaged in farming, and would empower them with new
techniques and skills that foster sustainable agriculture.

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Sustainable Development: Learnings and Perspectives from India

4.5 Promote Awareness and Education Activities

National policies and planning should recognize that public awareness can
play an important role in establishing a firm basis for sustainable
agricultural resource conservation and use. Public awareness should be
considered in the development of all national programme activities.
National strategies should identify objectives and strategies for public
awareness, define target audiences, partners and tools for public outreach.
Governments should recognize and encourage the work of NGOs in raising
public awareness.
Short-term and long-term courses specializing in sustainable agriculture
should be run in agricultural universities. A separate curriculum for this
subject should be developed for the regular graduate and postgraduate
courses also.
There is generally public apprehension about the possible consequences
of agricultural biotechnology. It is important to organize public information
programmes and public discussions that would help share relevant work
of agricultural and biological scientists with the public.

4.6 Ensure Appropriate Application of Research,

Science and Technology
Scientific and technological development is not enough in itself. It is critical
to make sure that sustainability and poverty reduction remain the guiding
principles, and that we use our resources, harness our
intellect, and direct our knowledge to benefit the poor,
the hungry and the marginalized.
The impact of agricultural research is decisive. Such
research should, wherever possible, be coupled with onfarm activities in order that the context and purpose of
the work are fully appreciated. Research should assist
in the monitoring, evaluation, and improvement of onfarm efforts.
Research should be undertaken in a participatory and
collaborative manner to foster interaction and
cooperation between rural people and research
institutions. Other institutions must be involved
appropriately whenever necessary.
A comprehensive area-specific database of natural resources should be
developed and made available for agriculture planning, implementation,
research and extension. Existing data and information should be assembled,
verified, and put in a usable and easily accessible form.

32

Well-designed information technology packages should be developed, that

could help serve as a market information network; weather, pest and disease

Agriculture, Rural Development

7. Sustainable
and Food
Urbanization
Security

monitoring system; and could be a storehouse of various current farming

technologies and practices.
Modern information technology should be used to reach the unreached.
Educated youth must be attracted to and retained in farming through
spreading science-based precision farming techniques, which are
intellectually stimulating and economically rewarding.
Training and capacity building should be undertaken in areas such as
taxonomy, population biology, ethnobotany, and eco-regional and agroecological surveying. Specific research priorities need to be determined
separately for each region.
Additional research is necessary to develop drought tolerant, pest and
disease-resistant crops, biological pest management, nitrogen fixation, more
effective use of locally available organic materials, inter-cropping systems,
and perennial crops, including agroforestry.
Farming systems need to be designed so as to achieve the triple goals of
more food, more income and more livelihoods per hectare of land. For this,
it would be fruitful to harness the tools of eco-technologies resulting from a
blend of traditional knowledge with frontier technologies. Such tools include
biotechnology, information and communication technology, GIS mapping,
space technology, renewable energy technologies (solar, wind, biomass,
biogas), and management and marketing technologies.
The revolution in biotechnology has both promises and problems.
Biotechnology should be judiciously used so as to support the mission of
environmental protection, poverty reduction and food security. But the
adoption of every new technology must be accompanied by a precautionary
package. In the case of biotechnology, biosafety and biosurviellance must
be considered as important factors.
Food should originate from efficient and environmentally benign
production technologies that conserve and enhance the natural resource
base of crop and animal husbandry, forestry, inland and marine fisheries.

Women
employment and
income
generation must
be given focus to
solve the
problem of
household food
security.
Involvement of
farmers in
technological
development will
help in increasing
food production.
S. Bisaliah
Multi-stakeholder
Consultation

4.7 Recognizing the Value of Agricultural Biodiversity

While a small number of species provides a large proportion of global food
needs, hundreds of other species are utilized at a local level, either through
cultivation or harvesting. These under-utilized species contribute
substantially to household food and livelihood security. They are often
managed or harvested by women. Knowledge concerning the uses and
management of these species is likewise often localized and specialized.
Many under-utilized plants have potential for more widespread use, and
their promotion could contribute to food security, agricultural diversification,
and income generation, particularly in areas where the cultivation of major
crops is economically marginal.
It is vital to recognize the intrinsic value of biological diversity and of its
ecological, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, and aesthetic

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Sustainable Development: Learnings and Perspectives from India

importance. This diversity is being lost in the fields and other ecosystems
of virtually all countries.
High priority needs to be given to safeguarding as much existing unique
and valuable diversity as possible in ex-situ collections of plant genetic
resources for food and agriculture, and also through in-situ conservation in
their natural habitats.
Goal-oriented, economically efficient and sustainable system of in-situ
and ex-situ conservation needs to be developed.
Cooperation among national programmes and international institutions
to sustain in-situ and ex-situ conservation efforts needs to be developed
and strengthened. It must be recognized that states have sovereign rights
over their own plant and animal genetic resources for food and agriculture.
A time-bound programme to list, catalogue and classify the countrys
vast agro-biodiversity with special focus on conserving indigenous breeds
and species, must be initiated.
Agriculture diversity registers should be formed for local and regional
varieties. Agriculture policies should be formulated based on these registers.

4.8 Relook at Agriculture and Related Policies

It is critical to develop and strengthen appropriate policies and legislative
measures to create an enabling environment for sustainable agriculture
and rural development. Such an environment would promote access by the
poor to land, water resources and other agricultural inputs; land tenure
modifications that recognize and protect indigenous and common property
resource management systems, and also build local capacities for better
management of natural resources.
Governments should consider, and as appropriate, adopt policies in
extension, training, pricing, input distribution, infrastructure development,
credit and taxation, which serve as incentives for crop diversification and
the creation of markets for biodiverse food crops, including standards for labeling
of foods, which allow the highlighting of use of non-standard crop varieties.
Policies should stress on land reforms, input and output pricing,
investments in irrigation, infrastructure and insurance, legislation for
biodiversity, geographic appellation, varietal protection and farmers rights.
Well-defined and enforceable land rights, legal security of tenure and
equal access to land, water and other natural and biological resources,
need to be assured, in particular for indigenous communities, women and
disadvantaged people living in poverty.
It must be recognized that states have sovereign rights over their plant
genetic resources for food and agriculture, while also confirming our common
and individual responsibilities in respect of these resources.

34

Coordination is needed to provide national programmes with information

on these issues and to assess the impact of international developments in

Agriculture, Rural Development

7. Sustainable
and Food
Urbanization
Security

these fields on the conservation and exchange of plant genetic resources,

and to incorporate new research developments, as appropriate, into national
systems and practices.
Effective regulatory mechanisms and safeguards need to be universally
installed so that the impacts of biotechnologies are both productive and benign.
Development of agro-ecology-relevant technologies based on an
understanding of local agriculture and resource management practices need
to be supported and promoted.
Chemicals and pesticides banned in developed countries should not be
dumped into developing countries in the name of liberalization, globalization
and industrialization.
When patenting a variety or item of research, the area of origin should
get due credit and benefit of the patent.
Before releasing a new variety, including genetically modified varieties in
the market, the following parameters should be considered for a variety of
agro-climatic zones: Impact on soil productivity; hazardous residual effect;
health hazards; adverse effects on other crops; adverse effects on other
agricultural practices; threat to the indigenous varieties; impact on other
professions; and impact on flora and fauna.

4.9 Create Favourable Economic Climate

Agriculture has become a relatively unrewarding profession due to generally
unfavourable price regimes and low value addition, causing abandoning of
farming and increasing migration from rural areas. The situation is likely
to be exacerbated further in the wake of integration of agricultural trade
into the global system, unless immediate corrective measures are taken. A
favourable economic environment and supportive public management
system are the key pillars for the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
Capital inadequacy, lack of infrastructural support and demand side
constraints such as controls on movement, storage and sale of agricultural
products, etc. affect the economic viability of agriculture sector. These issues
need urgent attention.

Agriculture must
help produce not
only more food,
but also more
income and
livelihood
opportunities.
M S Swaminathan

Increasing capital formation and farmers own investments by removal

of distortions in the incentive regime for agriculture, improving the
terms of trade with manufacturing sectors and bringing about external
and domestic market reforms, backed by rationalization of domestic
tax structure, will help to create a favourable economic environment
for agriculture.
Agriculture-dependent countries like India should have a certain degree
of autonomy and flexibility in determining the domestic agricultural policies
so as to improve productivity, enhance income levels, reduce vulnerability
to market fluctuations, ensuring stability of prices, etc.
Creating a level playing field in the global marketplace will provide the

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Sustainable Development: Learnings and Perspectives from India

necessary incentives and leeway for farmers, especially the small ones to
adopt environmentally friendly farming practices, and help in avoiding, their
desperate acts of survival at the expense of sustainable development, due
to distortions in international trade.
In the context of globalization of the food market, farmers in developing
countries need to improve access to their own local markets. A marketplus rather than a pure market approach for the agricultural sector would
be effective in addressing the wide range of issues associated with
production, pricing, food distribution and access.
At international forums, developing countries like India should have the
necessary flexibility to pursue legitimate non-trade concerns with regard to
international markets. Such countries should seek reforms in global
agricultural policies relating to price, subsidies, trade and technology
transfer, and respect for IPRs of local communities.
International agreements should allow room for the domestic
agricultural sector to meet challenges of maintaining the livelihood of
the large agriculture-dependent population, and production of sufficient
food to meet domestic needs.
Agricultural food processing industries with
international health standards should be promoted
locally.
Biomass based entrepreneurship should be promoted
to generate wealth at the rural level.
Civil society groups should use benchmarks and
sustainability indicators to monitor performance of food
processors, retailers and food service companies,
especially regarding fair terms of trade.

4.10 Ensure Participation at All Levels, and Protection

of Rights
National programmes are increasingly confronted with policy, legal and
institutional issues related to ownership, intellectual property rights,
exchange, transfer and trade in agricultural resources. Participatory
processes and involvement of various stakeholders can help find answers
to such concerns. Towards this it is crucial to develop a framework for a
unified national programme to enhance the diverse efforts within the country
to tackle such issues.
Programmes and policies for food and agriculture activities should involve
public and private institutions and companies, non-governmental
organizations, communities and individuals from the agriculture,
environment and development sectors.

36

The role of indigenous and local communities in conserving, collecting,

improving and sustainably using plant genetic resources for food and

Agriculture, Rural Development

7. Sustainable
and Food
Urbanization
Security

agriculture must be acknowledged. Local, community-level initiatives and

participation in proposing programmes need to be encouraged.
Gender concerns in agriculture need to be mainstreamed. Appropriate
structural, functional and institutional measures to empower women and
build their capabilities and improve their access to inputs, technologies
and other farming resources need to be strengthened.
The need for equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of traditional
knowledge, innovations and practices relevant to the use and conservation
of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture must be recognized.
Nutrition security must be placed high on the agenda for development
plans and programmes at all levelsvillage, block, district and state.
Institutions that will design and monitor locality-specific interventions must
be developed.

Bearer of all things, hoard of treasures rare, sustaining

Mother Earth, the golden breasted...Impart to us those
vitalizing forces that come O Earth, from deep within
your body. Whatever I dig up of you, O Earth may you of
that quick replenishment.
Atharva Veda

37