Agriculture: India
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Cultivable land
Cultivable land continues to shrink
Vishwa Mohan TNN
New Delhi: Cultivable land in India continues to shrink. It may not pose an immediate problem for the nation’s food security but its long-term effect could be disastrous with the country needing more and more foodgrains to support its growing population.
Latest data from the agriculture ministry shows that as many as 20 states reported decrease in cultivable land to the extent of 790,000 hectares in four years from 2007-08 to 2010-11. The decrease is mainly attributed to diversion of cultivable land for non-agricultural purposes, including construction, industries and other development activities.
Since such diversion is inevitable, the government had in its National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy (NRRP), 2007 recommended several measures to keep a tab on ever-decreasing cultivable land in the country.
But the data, shared by the agriculture ministry in response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, shows that only five states have taken some steps to increase the areas under cultivation and three others (Assam, Goa and Sikkim) have adhered to the policy of not tinkering with land which can be used for farming.
Gujarat is the only big state which increased the area of cultivable land during four years from 2007-08 to 2010-11. Manipur, Mizoram, Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are the other states which reported increase.
Haryana showed the sharpest decline in area under cultivation. The small state reported decrease of 65,000 hectares of agricultural land between 2007-08 and 2010-11.
Since land falls under the purview of states as per the seventh Schedule of the Constitution, it is for states to bring in suitable policy to prevent diversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes. The Centre had under its 2007 policy advised states to allow development projects to come up on wastelands.
Under NRRP, states were advised that acquisition of agricultural land for nonagricultural use should be kept to the minimum, multicropped land should be avoided to the extent possible for such purposes and acquisition of irrigated land, if unavoidable, may be kept to the minimum.
But it seems most states have not followed the norms, leading to overall decrease of nearly 406,000 hectares of cultivable land in the country during the four-year period.
Organic farming in India: 2010-14
The government under a national programme promotes organic farming, ongoing projects and financial outlays that had gone into the process in the past four years does not appear to be enough to match the rising demand of chemical fertilizer-free and pesticide-free food products. Organic farming involves an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity in a sustainable manner. Farmers do not use chemical fertilizer and pesticides in such farm practices. Although the government has devised a number of plans to promote organic farming in the country, the extent of financial support under a national programme is quite less. It was just Rs 129.91 crore in 2010-11 under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) - a key national programme - to promote organic farming. Though the amount was increased for the purpose to Rs 311.31 crore in 2011-12, it fell down to Rs 143.81 crore in 2013-14. The amount is quite less if one compares it with the total amount (Rs 9968.72 crore in 2013-14) allocated by the Centre to the RKVY for overall promotion of agriculture. Financial assistance is provided through state governments for organic village adoption for manure management and biological nitrogen harvesting, promotion of organic input production on farmer's field and promotion of certification for area under organic farming for export purposes
