Agriculture with COVID-19
- a warning for a new Farm Policy -
Mohendro Nandeibam *
The Total ShutDown, being experienced today in the State, does not mean the shutdown of knowledge and common sense. It could be a new time for deep breathing and constructive thinking.
The nightmare of the dreadful COVID-19 makes it clear that man does not eat Guns and Coins. Man for all practical purposes under any situation needs foodstuff. Well, foodstuff is important and much more important is the way the foodstuff is planned, produced and made available within easy means and reach. This implies and underscores the fact for a sustainable food planning as comer stone of any development policy.
Very unfortunately even after 70 years of so called economic planning in the State, Manipur remains too weak to produce 7 lakh metric tonnes of food grains from 1,75,000 hectares of agri-land till to-day.
The issue of shortage remains largely unattended to with the result that the Food Corporation of India is our God Father. Perhaps, we could not irrigate both Land and Man equally.
The agrarian economy in the State is being managed by and large without a long term Agricultural Vision -- meaning hereby the farm sector is running without effective institutional parenting, while Manipur needs a Productivity Revolution of small farmers.
In the meantime, the Central Government is leaving no stone unturned to make One Economic India with unfettered flow of commodity, capital and people. Have we prepared and developed enough potential to face the unbridled onslaught of liberal economic system ? In immediate future Manipur may face a tough challenge of choice between National Ambition and Regional Aspiration.
Now the question before us; -- do we have, right now, a real beginning of Actual Development? Of course commendable beginning has been made in transport and communication, particularly in National Highways. Better infrastructure can lead to increased productivity, more technical change and stronger marketing interaction.
Normally this applies to the powerful and rich people with enough institutional backing. This may not necessarily apply to the assetless poor people. What we need is massive programme for empowering the poor to join the competition for distributive justice.
Create more economic opportunities, empower the poor and ensure security and safety against fluctuating shocks. Curiously while there are many works to be done, there are very few jobs. The weak relationship between job market and development policy, it appears, explains the gap. Now, job planning should be at the centrestage of any development intervention.
Actual Development, as a planned change in desired direction takes place only when we are empowered and strengthened with "greater capability", "wide range of alternative employment" and "freedom to earn betterment in the wellbeing". Hardly one we enjoy. Social capital is fairly low.
Professional backwardness is acute and disturbing. Individual efficiency is less. Structural stagnation is open. Farmers remain farmers for decades. Manipur is a classic example of imperfect market; a colonial market to sell in and not to buy from.
Vendor Markets; - some kind of market jungle, is operating without any established Rules of the Game threatening the SOPs. This is what we see today in Manipur. By and large one finds a demoralising outcome of the lack of Academic Citizenship.
Functional illiteracy looms large, although the literacy percentage is 80. Total Shut Down does not mean the shut down of knowledge and common sense. We have to respect wholeheartedly both Rule of Law and Roles of Law.
The Long Term Farm Policy should aim at redefining . Agriculture for Development in terms of profitable agri-enterprise and agri-business, secure livelihood and potential provider of environmental services-not as a mere means of subsistance and survival of the poor only.
Only fire fighting is not enough at the cost of long term foundation of rural economy. Otherwise we may face a highly tantalizing future in all manifestations.
* Mohendro Nandeibam wrote this article for The Sangai Express
The writer was Professor of Economics, Manipur University.
This article was webcasted on August 04 2021.
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