The present situation, marked by the return of thousands of migrant labourers and those doing menial jobs in urban areas to their native villages, has brought to focus their uncertain future. But agriculture experts feel this is the appropriate time to revive the rural economy through the rejuvenation of agriculture and allied sectors by attracting a sizeable number of such persons.
“A section of labourers and those doing menial jobs will be willing to stay back as the tough situation is likely to have made them understand the uncertainties and problems involved in city life. But they stay in villages only if they get the confidence that agriculture and allied sectors can get them remunerative incomes,” said C. Aswath, principal scientist and head of the Floriculture and Medicinal Plants division of the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research.
But it is definitely possible to ensure that they get similar or greater incomes from agriculture and allied sectors, he said. Dr. Aswath has helped several small and marginal farmers earn remunerative incomes through floriculture. According to him, the need of the hour is to turn farming into a remunerative occupation and a profitable business venture through organised efforts, including convergence of technology, collection of accurate data, and linking of farmers with scientists as well as markets.
Need for system
“We must begin with proper data collection and analysis with respect to agriculture and allied sectors. Also, there should be a system of crop regulation, at least for major cash crops such as tomato, onion, potato and chilli, under which farmers have to register with the authorities concerned and provide exact information on the extent of cultivation. After registering, the government should compensate if there is a crash in price by declaring minimum support prices,” he said.
Under such a system, as the government will know the exact quantum of crops sown, it will be easy to plan in advance for their marketing, he added.
“We must have a centralised server dedicated to data with respect to agriculture and allied sectors,” he said, pointing out that mere analysis of data can help experts recognise trends of crop production and market behaviour.
In addition to this, efforts should be made to set up processing units for value addition to crops, and care should be taken to increase cold storage potential, Mr. Aswath said.
He also stressed the need for convergence of farmers, scientists, industry persons and consumers to bail out farmers in times of crisis. Pointing out that some farmers have removed rose plants from their fields on being unable to find markets for them, he said it was possible to supply dried petals to food industries in such cases.
T.N. Prakash Kammaradi, agri economist and former chairman of Karnataka Agriculture Prices Commission, said there are two kinds of labourers/people who have returned to villages. “One category is those who have farm land. The other is landless persons. We must think of ways to provide gainful and dignified employment to the landless in rural areas. We must promote the use of machinery and reduce drudgery. Also, use the services of skilled persons in repairing the machines,” he said.
Role of startups
Agri startups have a crucial role to play if a sizeable chunk of the workforce that has returned to villages has to remain back to revive the rural economy, said Mr. Kammaradi.
Stressing the need for using innovative concepts, he said, “For example, we can think of having an aggregator service for tractors, just like the Ola and Uber taxis. The intention is to not only best use the already available tractors in a cluster of village, but also provide employment to drivers who have returned from cities.”
Similarly, the startups can help in linking a group of farmers in a village or cluster of villages with an apartment complex in Bengaluru or localities in nearby towns for direct purchase of produce. “In fact, the apartments can give space for farmers to keep their fresh produce,” he added.
