Food Security: The Challenges of Agricultural Management in India

Abstract

Historically, Indian rulers were able to ensure that adverse weather conditions – such as periodic drought – did not lead to famines. This was done by husbanding water and other resources through wise practices. However, this system was thrown out of equilibrium during the age of European imperialism, because the new rulers had mercantile agendas, and because they used techniques that had an adverse impact on the land and on the people.Today’s prevailing western-style agricultural management is based on intensive cultivation that degrades the land, wastes water, depends heavily on fossil fuels without adequate use of organic matter, and makes indiscriminate use of newly evolved high yielding varieties, all of which are unsustainable.The UN World Summit on Food Security which was held in Rome on November 16th to 18th 2009 said that the fact that there are one billion hungry people in the world was “our tragic achievement in these modern days.” Particularly appalling from an Indian point of view is that a large proportion of these hungry people, perhaps as many as 40%, are probably Indians. The Summit further suggested that the “gravity of the current food crisis is the result of 20 years of under-investment in agriculture and neglect of the poor.” Here too, India is guilty as charged: despite rhetoric, agriculture has been the Cinderella in the Indian policy-maker's agenda since independence.India has proved Malthus wrong by achieving a record four-fold grain output in a span of five decades, yet, paradoxically, a majority of its rural population faces hunger and malnutrition. If India applies sound long-term management principles and makes the right political decisions, it may well gain food security and become the greatest agricultural power. India has a competitive advantage in agriculture because of genetic diversity, the proportion of arable land, and age-old practices honed through millennia of experience.India has a long history of remarkably good agricultural practices. A number of staple foods, including rice, not to mention livestock, are believed to have been domesticated in India. Some of the earliest agricultural settlements in the world (ca. 7000 BCE) have been discovered at Mehrgarh at the foot of the Bolan Pass in Baluchistan (now part of Pakistan).Contrary to popular belief based on colonial-era stereotypes and the enduring current misery, India was not a land of starving millions throughout history. It was only after 1750 that India became impoverished, in synchronicity with the growing prosperity of Britain. Among other things, the British destroyed the existing water-management system, expropriating it and diverting it towards cash crops and away from food crops – this was to lead directly to famine.India suffers periodic and punishing droughts due to the El Nino phenomenon. Roughly once every twelve to fifteen years, India suffers from erratic and below-average monsoons, as in 2009. Since El Nino-related trouble was anticipated, Indian society adapted through the centuries – the kings and other local rulers built up stockpiles, evolved mechanisms of employment and cash payment in times of drought-induced stress, and thereby avoided famine. The result of proper management is starkly evident from the data: during the imperial era of 200 years, there were 31 major famines, as compared to only 17 in the preceding 2,000 years.Finally, India has great genetic diversity. Major crops enjoy variety: for instance, some fifty different types of rice were grown in Kerala in the 19th century CE. Some of this is natural variation based on the different climatic and soil conditions. But a great deal of it must be carefully tended variation based on observation, experimentation, and cross-breeding over millennia.Unfortunately, this diversity is in peril and India is on a path that mirrors the dangerous monoculture of the United States. Experts have pointed out the problems of the current system of agricultural management in that country, which, while productive in the short term, is not sustainable long-term. Besides, a single pest, such as the potato blight that caused the Irish famine of the 1840s, could wipe out much of American agriculture, typified by mile after mile of monoculture corn in the prairie. This offers a window of opportunity for India to offer its own differentiated, organic, high-genetic-diversity products, much as France has been able to brand itself as a high-value-added producer.There are risks in this approach: the subsidies offered to farmers in developed countries, and possible water shortages, as well as the effects of global warming.Still, India has the potential to be the world’s largest and most diverse food producer. There is no good reason why India cannot use its comparative advantage in agriculture and increase its trading and strategic clout. All that is needed is vision, leadership and management. We explore some steps that can turn India into a breadbasket for the world, and, not incidentally, offer full food security to its own citizens.