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Subject: Agriculture

  • What is Market Intervention Scheme (MIS)? How does it compare with MSP

    Fruit and vegetable farmers are facing major losses due to obstacles in harvesting and marketing their perishable produce. The Centre has now directed all the States and UTs to implement the Market Intervention Scheme to ensure remunerative prices for perishable crops.

    Market Intervention Scheme

    • MIS is a price support mechanism implemented on the request of State Governments for the procurement of perishable and horticultural commodities in the event of a fall in market prices.
    • It is implemented when there is at least a 10% increase in production or a 10% decrease in the ruling rates over the previous normal year.
    • MIS works in a similar fashion to Minimum Support Price based procurement mechanism for food grains but is an ad-hoc mechanism.
    • Its objective is to protect the growers of these horticultural/agricultural commodities from making distress sale in the event of the bumper crop.
    • Under MIS, support can be provided in some years, for a limited but defined period, in specified critical markets and by purchasing specified quantities. The initiative has to emerge from the concerned state.

    UPSC Prelims can ask a question on the difference between MSP and MIP. All the agricultural and horticultural commodities for which Minimum Support Price (MSP) are not fixed and are generally perishable in nature are covered under Market Intervention Scheme (MIS).

    Commodities covered

    • The MIS has been implemented in case of commodities like apples, garlic, oranges, grapes, mushrooms, clove, black pepper, pineapple, ginger, red-chillies, coriander seed, chicory, onions, potatoes, cabbage, mustard seed, castor seed, copra, palm oil etc.

    Remuneration under MIS

    • MIS provides remunerative prices to the farmers in case of glut in production and fall in prices.
    • Proposal of MIS is approved on the specific request of State/UT Government, if they are ready to bear 50% loss (25% in case of North-Eastern States), if any, incurred on its implementation.
    • Further, the extent of total amount of loss shared is restricted to 25% of the total procurement value which includes cost of the commodity procured plus permitted overhead expenses.

    Implementation of MIS

    1) Market Intervention Price (MIP)

    • The Department of Agriculture & Cooperation is implementing the scheme.
    • Under the MIS, a pre-determined quantity at a fixed MIP is procured by NAFED as the Central agency.
    • There are other agencies designated by the state government for a fixed period or till the prices are stabilized above the MIP whichever is earlier.
    • The area of operation is restricted to the concerned state only.

    2) Funds transfer

    • Under MIS, funds are not allocated to the States.
    • Instead, central share of losses as per the guidelines of MIS is released to the State Governments/UTs, for which MIS has been approved, based on specific proposals received from them.

    The last 2 heads that you just read, Renumeration & Implementation, they have a lot of information on which you can be quizzed by UPSC Prelims. Make a note of the agency, %age share, state vs. center responsibility

    Back2Basics: Minimum Support Price

    • Minimum support price (MSP) is one of the instruments of Agricultural Price Policy (APP).
    • The basic intent of announcing MSP before the sowing season is to help farmers take a sowing decision keeping in mind that if they are not able to get a reasonable price by selling in the market, at least they will be able to get the MSP.
    • In that sense, MSP is an assured or guaranteed price (insured price).

    For additional reading on MSP, navigate to:

    Price Support Mechanism under MSP Operations

  • Is e-NAM portal capable of supporting farmers?

    Context

    • The union government has launched new features in electronic agriculture market platform (e-NAM), to decongest wholesale markets amid coronavirus threat.
    • Whether these features would solve the problems of farmers is a matter of question.

    What is e-NAM?

    • eNAM platform is an online trading platform for agricultural commodities in India.
    • It was launched on April 14, 2016 as a pan-India electronic trade portal linking agricultural produce market committees (APMCs) across all states.
    • It facilitates farmers, traders and buyers with online trading in commodities.
    • It helps in better price discovery and provides facilities for smooth marketing of their produce.

    Trading on e-NAM

    • Over 90 commodities including staple food grains, vegetables and fruits are currently listed in its list of commodities available for trade.
    • The farmer needs to upload details of his produce and a photo of the harvest on the platform.
    • It actually provided for evaluation and grading of produce.

    Why farmers don’t prefer e-NAM?

    • Lack of internet connectivity is another issue impeding progress.
    • Farmers feel more comfortable with physical trading rather than going online as they face issues with transportation for their produce.
    • Only 8.42 per cent of the total mandis are connected through the e-NAM platform.

    Issues with grading

    • There are no scientific sorting/grading facilities or quality testing machines.
    • The grading process makes farmers bring a sample of their produce that is evaluated and graded by agricultural assessors.
    • A report on the sample can be accessed by any buyer in any state before making the purchase, once graded by assessors.
    • The government realized the complexities allowed for gradation from a warehouse nearest to them and farmers need not commute to a mandi from remote areas.
    • It is, however, still not clear whether produce can be graded at the warehouse or not.

     

  • [pib] Biofortified Carrot ‘Madhuban Gajar’

     

    Madhuban Gajar

    • It is a biofortified carrot variety with high β-carotene and iron content developed by Shri Vallabhhai Vasrambhai Marvaniya, a farmer scientist from Junagadh district, Gujarat.
    • The variety is being cultivated in more than 1000 hectares of land in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh during the last three years.
    • It is a highly nutritious carrot variety developed through the selection method with higher β-carotene content (277.75 mg/kg) and iron content (276.7 mg/kg) dry basis.
    • It is used for various value-added products like carrot chips, juices, and pickles.
    • This carrot variety possesses a significantly higher root yield (74.2 t/ha) and plant biomass (275 gm per plant) as compared to check variety.

  • Farmers are at their wits’ end

    Context

    As global trade falls and supply disruptions persist, a prolonged lockdown will adversely affect food security.

    Fears of food crisis and impact of COVID-19 on agriculture

    • The COVID-19 pandemic has led to global concerns on the state of agriculture and food security.
    • Warning of food crisis: On the one hand, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned of a “food crisis” if countries do not protect vulnerable people from hunger and malnourishment.
    • On the other, farmers face a stalemate as they are unable to work on their land, earn remunerative prices and gain access to markets.

    We can try to understand the impact of COVID-19 on agriculture with three questions.

    • One, does the world have enough food to feed its people?
    • Two, is food available at affordable prices?
    • Three, how are farmers coping with the lockdown?

    Food stocks and prices in the world

    • Cereal stock in the world: According to the FAO, as on April 2, 2020, the total stock of cereals in the world was about 861 million tonnes. This translates to a stocks-to-use ratio (SUR) — i.e., the proportion of consumption available as stocks — of 30.7%.
    • The FAO considers this “comfortable”. The SURs for wheat, rice and coarse grains were 35.3%, 35.1% and 26.9%, respectively.
    • Variation among nations: World stocks are different from national stocks. About 52% of the global wheat stocks is held by China, and about 20% of the global rice stocks is held by India.
    • Rice importers may suffer: If the major holders of global stocks decide to turn precautionary and stop exporting, and if the lockdown is prolonged, countries dependent on rice imports will suffer.
    • Restriction on wheat export: Kazakhstan, a major wheat exporter, has banned exports. Russia, the largest wheat exporter, is expected to restrict its exports.
    • Restriction on rice export: Vietnam, the third-largest rice exporter, has stopped its exports, which will reduce the global rice exports by 15%.
    • If India and Thailand too ban exports, the world supply of rice will sharply fall.
    • In March 2020, the Philippines and the European Union, major rice importers, had inventories of rice enough to feed their populations for about three months.
    • Others, however, had inventories to hold on for about one month only. If the lockdown continues beyond a month, these countries will face food shortages.

    Stocks with India and output projections

    • India’s foodgrain output is projected to be about 292 MMT in 2019-20.
    • Stock with FCI: On March 1, 2020, the total stock of wheat and rice with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was 77.5 MT.
    • Buffer stock norms: The buffer norms for foodgrain stocks — i.e., operational stock plus strategic reserves — is 21.04 MT.
    • Similarly, for pulses, India had a stock of 2.25 MT in mid-March 2020.
    • In both cases, the rabi harvest is slated to arrive in April 2020, and the situation is expected to ease further.

    Price fluctuation of food in the world

    • Fall in demand and supply and price fluctuation: There is always an element of uncertainty on how prices will behave if both demand and supply fall together.
    • Prices in different markets fluctuate considerably given differences in the extent of production, stocks, arrivals and supply disruptions.
    • According to the FAO, the world food price index fell by 4.3% and world cereal price index fell by 1.9% between February and March 2020 due to the weakening demand for food and the sharp fall in maize prices owing to poor demand for biofuels.
    • Price rise in Western economies: Retail prices of rice and wheat have been rising in the Western economies in March 2020.
    • The major reasons identified are panic buying by households, export restrictions by countries and continuing supply chain disruptions.
    • Retail prices of beef and eggs have also been rising.

    Demand and price fluctuation in India

    • WPI and CPI for food in India were rising from mid-2019 onwards, reflecting a rise in vegetable prices, especially onion prices.
    • January and February 2020 saw a moderate fall in these indices, but vegetable prices have remained high.
    • If food prices rise due to the lockdown, it will be on top of an already rising price curve.
    • However, unlike in the West, food prices in India have not risen after the lockdown.
    • While supplies have declined, demand has fallen too. This is because there has been a sharp fall in the consumption of foodgrains and vegetables. Similarly, the consumption of milk has fallen by 10-12%.

    The crisis in the harvesting and marketing of the crops

    Harvesting and marketing of crops are in crisis across India, because of-

    • Disruptions in the procurement of foodgrains by government agencies.
    • Disruptions in the collection of harvests from the farms by traders.
    • Shortage of workers to harvest the rabi crops.
    • Shortage of truck drivers.
    • Blockades in the transport of commodities.
    • Limited operations of APMC mandis; and
    • Shutdowns in the retail markets.

    Conclusion

    The world and India have adequate food stocks. But as global trade shrinks and supply disruptions persist, a prolonged lockdown will adversely affect food security in many countries. Concurrently, farmers face acute labour shortages, falling farmgate prices and lack of access to input/output markets. It is unclear who is benefiting, but farmers, workers and the poor are at their wits’ end.

  • Opportunity in the Covid-19 crisis

    Context

    Coronavirus pandemic offers a trigger to fundamentally strengthen the Indian economy, and protect the vulnerable. This requires cooperation between the Centre and states.

    Opportunity to do things good for the medium term

    • Minimising the impact on the vulnerable: The current crisis is so terrible in its toll of life and livelihoods that the need of the hour must be minimising the health, humanitarian and economic costs, especially for the most vulnerable.
    • Rising expenditure may force hard choices: Rising public expenditures to help tens of millions of workers and their families alongside plummeting resources will inevitably force hard choices.
    • Appropriately, much of the policy discussion and the government’s first response have focussed on addressing the immediate imperatives.

    This crisis is also an opportunity to do things that are not only good for now but for the medium term as well. Few are discussed below.

    1. Revamp macro-fiscal framework

    • Massive fiscal expenditure may require: If the pandemic follows the exponential trajectory seen in other countries, the crisis is going to entail massive fiscal expenditures, perhaps up to 4-5 per cent of GDP, much more than what the government has announced.
    • Macro-fiscal targets have to be exceeded: Consequently, the basic macro-fiscal framework — for example, the Centre’s FRBM target of 3.5 per cent of GDP, and the revenue and deficit estimates for 2020-21 — has been fundamentally overtaken by events.
    • Allow states to exceed deficit targets: The Centre should immediately announce that even the states will be allowed to exceed their fiscal responsibility legislation targets because they will be in the front line of taking action against the pandemic.
    • Opportunity to review the FRBM: The crisis is an opportunity to revisit the entire framework.
    • The focus on unattainable targets, the fact that the FRBM has been honoured only in the breach, and the consequences in terms of loss in budgetary integrity and transparency need serious review, even overhaul.
    • Once the crisis ebbs, India might be looking at overall deficits well in excess of 10 per cent and debt levels much greater than those today. If the starting point is going to be so different, the old goals and targets won’t retain meaning.

    2. Remake finance and adopt a data-driven lending model

    • Going into the crisis, India’s corporate and financial sector were under severe stress — the so-called Four Balance Sheet problem.
    • This crisis will, unfortunately, add consumers and small and medium enterprises to that This will be an extremely hard — but critical — problem to address.
    • A takeover of bad loans will be unavoidable: To allow banks to revert to normalcy, a largescale takeover of their bad loans will be unavoidable not least because the current bankruptcy process will be severely inadequate.
    • Opt for the tech. driven lending model: This crisis opens the door for the new lending model proposed by Nandan Nilekani i.e. technology-driven lending.
    • What is Technology-driven lending? It uses data rather than collateral, allowing the 10 million-odd businesses with deep digital footprints (for example, based on GST invoices), to get loans from the thriving ecosystem of new financial players.

    3. Complete JAM

    • One of the major achievements of the government was to create the plumbing — Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, and Mobile (JAM) — to augment weak state capacity.
    • How JAM is proving helpful in this crisis? The state could now make cash transfers swiftly, with reduced leakages, whether as income support, scholarships or pensions, and potentially eventually implementing a Universal Basic Income.
    • In the current crisis, it is proving to be an important part of the social safety net that is helping to cushion the most adversely affected groups.
    • JAM is not complete yet: But the JAM plumbing is still incomplete because there is a “last mile problem”.
    • Not all those with bank accounts can access money either because of difficult geography or because bank functionaries give incomplete or misleading information.
    • Opportunity to fix the shortcomings: This crisis is an opportunity not just to leverage JAM to enhance cash transfers, but to empower citizens. This will require the government to identify remaining weaknesses on a war footing and fix them.

    4. Re-shape Indian agriculture

    • Need to create one market for agriculture: The need to preserve supply chains in agriculture in times of crisis reinforces the need to create one market for agriculture across India.
    • This requires eliminating legislation like the Essential Commodities Act and the panoply of resulting restrictions.
    • Phase-out subsidies and opt for DBT: Second, the crisis has shown the possibilities created by JAM and direct transfers.
    • Phasing out in cycles: Building on PM-Kisan and various state-level schemes, pernicious subsidies, especially for fertilisers and power, could be phased out over 5-6 crop cycles.
    • This could be done through small but frequent increases in fertiliser prices (the technique used to eliminate fuel subsidies).

    5. Focus on Make in India

    • The critical source for almost all the essential Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) used to manufacture drugs, the ability also to fight death, is largely made in China.
    • India was once a major producer of such APIs but lost ground to China.
    • Frame intelligent industrial policy: The crisis should be the opportunity to go on war footing to do intelligent industrial policy — incentives, regulatory help, trade policy — that would resurrect India’s manufacturing capability.
    • Previous Make in India attempts have shown lackadaisical results.
    • Focus on the pharmaceutical sector: The crisis creates the momentum to focus the effort on one sector, pharmaceuticals. As a result, the ability to save lives could be Made in India, again.

    6. Establish migrants as full citizens

    • Need to change the place-based benefits to person-based benefits: The plight of migrant workers reinforces the need to move from immobile place-based benefits to mobile person-based benefits, which is possible as the JAM infrastructure is strengthened.
    • Portability of benefits: This will require portability of benefits, including access to the PDS, Ujjwala and Ayushman Bharat.
    • The crisis has highlighted the travails of migrant labour and their second-class status.
    • The large gap between the organised and unorganised sector worker: It reflects a broader chasm between the few securely employed in the organised sector and the vast majority subject to the vicissitudes of the unorganised sector.
    • Differences not just in the levels of income but in their volatility as well as differential access to social insurance (healthcare, pensions) distinguish these two classes.

    7. Upgrade Health

    • Weakest state capacity in health and education: State capacity over 70 years in India has been weakest in the areas of education and health.
    • The COVID-19 pandemic must lead to a serious strengthening of the health infrastructure for dealing with pandemics.
    • Set up an apex institution on the lines of US’s CDC: To start with, India needs an apex institution like the US’ Centers for Disease Control with a network across all the states.
    • They should invest in disease surveillance systems, set up diagnostics labs, be able to gather real-time data and analyse them etc.
    • The Taiwan model, which has been so successful in this pandemic, could be studied.
    • More fundamentally, the crisis is a wake-up call to address India’s severe limitations in the provision of basic health.
    • Focus on basic public health: Creating tertiary health facilities must be subservient to strengthening basic public health and early childhood care.

    8. Build a National Solidarity Fund

    • The severe downturn in economic activity ahead will savagely hit the informal poor.
    • How would the Solidarity fund be set up? The government should consider a Solidarity Fund with a one-time annual contribution coming from the wealthy and the employees in the organised sector.
    • Contribution to the fund: This contribution can take the form of taxes or elimination of middle-class subsidies identified in the Economic Survey of 2016.
    • The wealthy could contribute via a wealth tax with thresholds set by property values say above Rs 5 crore.
    • Salaried employees in the public and private sectors could contribute via a small, progressive tax on salaries and pensions.
    • Middle-class subsidies that could be eliminated include interest and tax deductions for small savers, favourable taxation of gold and other luxuries.
    • Wealth taxes and elimination of subsidies for the rich should, in any event, be part of the long-run reform agenda to reduce growing inequality.

    Conclusion

    These examples illustrate how the crisis can be converted to an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen the Indian economy, and protect the vulnerable. A common thread to many of these actions — indeed prerequisites for their success — is cooperation between the Centre and states. Central direction combined with flexibility and nimbleness in the states and local bodies is India’s way through the crisis and beyond.

  • Amid the Lockdown, How can we efficiently manage our Agriculture and Livestock sector

    Context

    Amid lockdown, we need an action plan to manage our agriculture, livestock sectors.

    Need for an immediate action plan to manage the agriculture and livestock sector

    • The country produces around 52 crore litres of milk daily.
    • There are also 80 crore-odd live poultry, both broilers and layers, at any given time, supplying meat and eggs to consumers.
    • Link with the other producers: These birds and animals, in turn, support the livelihoods of poultry and dairy farmers, as well as those producing maize, soybean, mustard, groundnut, cotton and other coarse grains that are ingredients for livestock feed.
    • It is the government’s responsibility to ensure that farmers are able to keep their animals alive and market the crop that has been, or will be, harvested during the lockdown period.
    • We need an immediate action plan to manage our agriculture and livestock sectors in the interest of both producers and consumers.

    Issue of implementation

    • Ensuring free movements: The first thing is to ensure free movement of farm produce, livestock feed and veterinary medicines.
    • Implementing the already taken decision: It is obvious that not all issues can be addressed overnight. But the minimum the government can do is to ensure ground-level implementation of already-taken decisions.
    • The problem of implementation: Many essential services, for instance, were kept out of the purview of the lockdown. Food, feed and agricultural inputs have been specifically notified as essential services.
    • But there are several problems at the level of implementation that are coming to notice.
    • The Centre has issued various directives/notifications, many of them brief and general in nature.
    • Many of these have either not reached the local authorities and police personnel or are not clearly worded. As a result, the smooth movement of essential items has been affected.
    • There are also reports of conflict between the police and citizens, including people involved in the transportation and delivery of food as well as inputs to farms.
    • Why good food supply line matters? The government must do to ensure that people don’t go hungry and the measures it must take to make sure people don’t crowd a few outlets, increasing the chances of the virus spreading.
    • The government has announced that the beneficiaries of the public distribution system can avail three months’ ration at one go.
    • The challenge of delivery: The challenge is to ensure that fair price shops deliver the provisions in an orderly manner and their supply lines remain intact.

    Issue of poultry and maize farmers

    • Sharp fall in poultry items: In such times, prices of essential food items are known to shoot up. But in India, prices of food items like chicken meat and eggs have registered a sharp fall.
    • In Delhi’s Gazipur Mandi, for example, the price of broiler chicken has fallen from Rs 55/kg in January 2020 to Rs 24/kg in March.
    • This has also pushed the maize prices down as poultry is largely fed packaged maize.
    • The government may have to think of compensating poultry and maize farmers in due course.

    Suggestions for improving the implementation issue

    • Issue a single notification: The Centre must issue a single notification relating to food items in a standard format and uniform language so that all ambiguities are removed.
    • This needs to be finalised after consultations with the stakeholders and the state governments can release it to officials working at the grassroots.
    • The focus should be to address the problems arising from restrictions on the transport — between and within states — of agri-produce and inputs related to them.
    • Invoke the ESMA: Another suggestion is that the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA) be invoked for the delivery of all essential services relating to food to prevent disruption of supplies.
    • Home delivery option: Home (street) delivery of these provisions, to avoid crowding, is a good option.
    • Roping in civil society: This is also an occasion to rope in civil society. NGOs, resident welfare associations, religious organisations and paramilitary forces can be engaged for orderly and safe distribution of food — both pre-cooked and fresh.
    • NGOs with experience in food preparation and distribution, such as Akshaya Patra, could guide local authorities.
    • People involved in this endeavour should be provided with safety gears.
    • The challenge of supplying perishables: These perishables-like fruits, vegetables and milk- must be sold in a packaged form in mobile vans. The weekly markets need to be temporarily suspended lest they spread the virus.
    • Vegetable vendors can work with civil society organisations as well as e-commerce players to do this job in a safe manner.
    • Retail distribution lines: Retail distribution lines need to be seamlessly linked to wholesale supply lines.
    • How to manage rabi season procurement? Procurement operations for rabi crops are around the corner.
    • Training and safety measures: The FCI and other procuring agencies need to be trained about safety measures and supplied safety gear.
    • Providing incentives to farmers for staggered selling: Farmers could be given Rs 50/quintal per month as an incentive to stagger bringing their produce to the market — say after May 10.
    • They will also need to be screened, given training and equipped with safety gear.

    Suggestions to prevent post-lockdown chaos

    • What will happen after the lockdown ends? Many plants are now shut or working at low capacity utilisation. Consumption by hotels and other institutions, too, is low. Nor is any export or import happening. But once the lockdown ends, there will be a rush to procure raw material, trucks and rail rakes.
    • Smooth recovery: Smooth recovery from the lockdown is as important as managing supplies during the lockdown.
    • Here are a few suggestions to ensure that the common man does not have to suffer hardships during and after the lockdown:
    • First– Place all food items, agri-inputs, packaging material and transport services under ESMA for a six-month period to prevent profiteering.
    • The MRP that was applicable in February should remain till October.
    • In the case of farm produce, it helps that we are looking at a bumper crop, which makes it all the more necessary to ensure its smooth marketing.
    • Second-Suspend APMC (agricultural produce market committee) laws for the next six months.
    • Traders with APMC licence are bound to act as cartels during rush hour, which will hurt both farmers and consumers.
    • Third-ESMA should apply to all utilities and transport services. State governments can make exemptions on a case to case basis: These exemptions should be subject to public scrutiny under the Right to Information Act.
    • The government should announce the above measures well in advance.

    Conclusion

    The government must start planning now to prevent post-lockdown chaos, especially profiteering in the event of shortages. Smooth recovery from the lockdown is as important as managing supplies during the lockdown.

     

  • A smarter supply line

    Context

    The government must ensure that people don’t go hungry and take measures to make sure that people don’t crowd a few outlets, increasing the chances of the virus spreading.

    Need for the package to compensate losses

    • Welfare package: The government has announced relief measures. Last week, the Finance Minister announced a welfare package of Rs 1.7 lakh crore.
    • This is too small to cope with the onslaught of the virus.
    • How much a comprehensive package would cost? A package to compensate all losses, including business losses, should amount to at least Rs 5 to 6 lakh crore, if not more.
    • How will the government find funds for this package?
    • Funds accrued as a result of oil price crash: The windfall gains that have accrued to it as a result of the crash in crude oil prices could come in handy.
    • Diver all the subsidies and development funds: The government could divert all subsidies and some development funds to fund this package and ask the country’s corporate leaders to help with funds.
    • Issue clarion call for voluntary donation: The prime minister could even issue a clarion call to those with a fixed income (say above Rs 50,000/month) to voluntarily donate at least 10 per cent of their salaries to fund the battle against the virus.

    Focus on supply lines of food and ways to achieve it

    • Why good food supply line matters? The government must do to ensure that people don’t go hungry and the measures it must take to make sure people don’t crowd a few outlets, increasing the chances of the virus spreading.
    • The government has announced that the beneficiaries of the public distribution system can avail three months’ ration at one go.
    • The challenge of delivery: The challenge is to ensure that fair price shops deliver the provisions in an orderly manner and their supply lines remain intact.
    • Home delivery option: Home (street) delivery of these provisions, to avoid crowding, is a good option.
    • Roping in civil society: This is also an occasion to rope in civil society. NGOs, resident welfare associations, religious organisations and paramilitary forces can be engaged for orderly and safe distribution of food — both pre-cooked and fresh.
    • NGOs with experience in food preparation and distribution, such as Akshaya Patra, could guide local authorities.
    • People involved in this endeavour should be provided with safety gears.
    • The challenge of supplying perishables:  These perishables-like fruits, vegetables and milk- must be sold in a packaged form in mobile vans. The weekly markets need to be temporarily suspended lest they spread the virus.
    • Vegetable vendors can work with civil society organisations as well as e-commerce players to do this job in a safe manner.
    • Retail distribution lines: Retail distribution lines need to be seamlessly linked to wholesale supply lines.
    • Buffer stocks: The government godowns are overflowing with wheat and rice — about 77 million metric tonnes (MMT) on March 1, against a buffer stock norm of 21.4 MMT on April 1.
    • How to manage rabi season procurement? Procurement operations for rabi crops are around the corner.
    • Training and safety measures: The FCI and other procuring agencies need to be trained about safety measures and supplied safety gear.
    • Providing incentives to farmers for staggered selling: Farmers could be given Rs 50/quintal per month as an incentive to stagger bringing their produce to the market — say after May 10.
    • They will also need to be screened, given training and equipped with safety gear.

    Challenge of mandi operations for fresh produce in large mandis

    • This pertains to mandi operations for fresh produce in large APMC mandis like Azadpur in Delhi and Vashi near Mumbai.
    • These mandis are usually overflowing with fruits and vegetables and the labour force at these centres usually handles the produce without safety gears.
    • The challenge of screening and providing safety kits to these workers is doubly daunting. The country is not fully prepared in this respect.
    • The safety of workers in mandis — and other workers who handle agricultural produce — should be accorded as much priority as the safety of frontline health warriors.
    • Suspend the APMC Act: We should also use this opportunity to suspend the APMC Act and encourage NGOs, civil society and corporate houses to directly procure from farmers.

    Issue of poultry and maize farmers

    • Sharp fall in poultry items: In such times, prices of essential food items are known to shoot up. But in India, prices of food items like chicken meat and eggs have registered a sharp fall.
    • In Delhi’s Gazipur Mandi, for example, the price of broiler chicken has fallen from Rs 55/kg in January 2020 to Rs 24/kg in March.
    • This has also pushed the maize prices down as poultry is largely fed packaged maize.
    • The government may have to think of compensating poultry and maize farmers in due course.

    Conclusion

    When things settle, it will be worth knowing how the virus spread from Wuhan to Iran, Italy, Washington, India and other parts of the world. Which organisation or nation failed to blow the whistle and alert the world in time? Was it China’s failure? Or that of WHO? Or was it the failure of all governments around the world to respond quickly to the outbreak? We need better global governance for pandemics to avert the next crisis.

  • Ahead: bumper crop, multiple challenges

    This is perhaps the first time ever that India is facing a national disaster or a war-like situation amidst plentiful supplies of food even as a bumper Rabi crop beckons.

    Bumper yield in crisis

    • Farmers are currently about to harvest —if they haven’t already.
    • Given the surplus and extended monsoon rains, which helped recharge ground water and fill up reservoirs, superabundant produce is round the corner.
    • This comes even as there is demand destruction from the shutting down of HORECA (hotels, restaurants and catering) and other institutional segment businesses following the nationwide lockdown.
    • It raises the possibility of a crisis similar to the one three years ago that followed demonetization. But the scale, it is feared, could be bigger.
    • The post-demonetization rabi crop, also a bumper one, was at least harvested and marketed even if it didn’t fetch a good price.

    The real challenge

    • The food and civil supplies departments in states will ultimately ensure that the terminal markets in these centres major cities receive their required daily flow of produce anyhow.
    • The problem will be in the remote towns and the rural hinterlands that are serviced through upcountry APMCs.
    • The grocers there are at the greatest risk of running out of stocks if the lockdown continues without inter-state movement restrictions in agricultural commodities being removed.

    How to transport produce

    • This time, there are doubts being raised even on that.
    • The simple reason for it is: Will farmers, labourers and machines (combines, threshers and tractor trolleys) be able to move freely to harvest the produce and take it to the mandis?
    • The UP government has issued a direction to all district administrations and law-enforcement authorities to exempt all services, including labour, that are involved in agricultural production, processing and marketing from the current lockdown provisions.
    • Other states, too, may follow. But the question remains of the directives being implemented on the ground.

    Will there be workers?

    • At the second stage comes the mandis, where marketing of the crop would happen.
    • Here again, there is a possibility of shortage of labour (the people who do unloading, cleaning, bagging and reloading of the grain that is auctioned or sold) and even gunny bags.
    • Further, it would be necessary to prevent crowding, and maintain social distancing.

    Possible alternatives

    • One way out could be to allow entry only to a limited number of farmers, who may be issued SMS alerts informing them about the date and time to bring their crop.
    • Each farmer can also be given a maximum quantity — say, one tractor-trolley load of 30-40 quintals — that may be brought in a single day.
    • The permission for the next trolley load will be only after other farmers have got their turn to sell.
    • All this will obviously delay the process of marketing, raising the prospect of panic sales.
    • This could be avoided if the government were to give a clear-cut assurance — at least in respect of crop where there is MSP-based procurement — that it will continue buying till the last grain is offered.

    Safer places than APMC

    • Besides, the marketing of produce needn’t be limited to the APMC (agricultural produce market committee) mandi yard.
    • Any flour or dal mill, and even primary school premises can be designated as an APMC marketing area.
    • The objective should be to ensure that the farmer’s produce gets marketed without resulting in overcrowding.

    Way forward

    • The risk of shortages today is really not in the metros or state capitals.
    • Once marketing is done, the crop has to move beyond the mandi.
    • This is probably the right time to dismantle all inter-state and intra-state movement restrictions in farm produce.
    • Free movement is necessary for the context of both a bumper crop and the ongoing lockdown.

  • MSP for Minor Forest Produce Scheme

    The Union government’s ‘mechanism for the marketing of minor forest produce (MFP) through minimum support price (MSP) and development of value chain for MFP’ scheme can offer respite to forest-dependent labourers in the wake of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, according to experts.

    About MSP for MFP Scheme

    • The scheme, launched by the Centre in August 2013, provides fair price for MFP collected by tribals through MSP.
    • It is designed as a social safety net for improvement of livelihood of MFP gatherers by providing them fair price for the MFPs they collect.
    • MFP comprises all non-timber forest produce of plant origin such as bamboo, brush wood, stumps, cane, tussar, cocoons, honey, wax, lac, tendu or kendu leaves, medicinal plants and herbs, roots, tubers, etc, according to the Forest Rights Act, 2006.
    • The Scheme was been implemented in eight States having Schedule areas as listed in the Fifth Schedule of the constitution of India.
    • From November 2016, the scheme is applicable in all States.

    Issues in implementation

    • Almost 60-70 per cent income of forest dwellers depends on collection and sale of MFP, according to the tribal affairs ministry.
    • However, the scheme has not been activated because in most cases, states have not given their 25 per cent share.

  • [pib] Bio-fortified wheat variety- MACS 4028

    Scientists from Agharkar Research Institute (ARI), Pune, an autonomous institute under the Department of Science & Technology have developed a biofortified durum wheat variety MACS 4028, which shows the high protein content.

     MACS 4028

    • MACS 4028 is a semi-dwarf variety, which matures in 102 days and has shown the superior and stable yielding ability of 19.3 quintals per hectare.
    • It is resistant to stem rust, leaf rust, foliar aphids, root aphids, and brown wheat mite.
    • It has a high protein content of about 14.7%, better nutritional quality having zinc 40.3 ppm, and iron content of 40.3ppm and 46.1ppm respectively, good milling quality and overall acceptability.
    • The MACS 4028 variety is also included by the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) programme for  UNICEF to alleviate malnutrition.

    Back2Basics

    Biofortification is the idea of breeding crops to increase their nutritional value. This can be done either through conventional selective breeding, or through genetic engineering.