Monsoon is one of the most important factors that determine the fate of millions of farmers every year, it can decide the contribution of Agriculture in GDP, it determines whether many of the marginal farmers will be able to feed their families and this phenomenon has been going on for centuries. The Indian Meteorological Department has predicted a good monsoon this year and we need to have a good monsoon now more than over.
The Indian Farmers face difficulties every season like bad weather, crop failure, late payment from Mandis, locust attacks, and many more but seldom have these factors all come at a single time. The pandemic has certainly taken a toll on agriculture with farmers being unable to sell their crops due to lockdown and many states facing problems due to the unavailability of labourers. The locust attacks deemed to be one of the worst in years and cyclones Amphan and Nisarga have added to the woes as the next crop cycle approaches.
The Monsoon is expected to be good this year and IMD expects the rainfall to be 102% of it Lomg Period Average. If this indeed happens, and the crop is good there needs to be a revamp of Indian Agriculture for the future.
The government should now promote diversification of crops as a necessity and not a luxury. Fruit and Vegetable farming should be brought to larger areas. The NITI Aaayog in its 2017 report on Doubling Farmers Income has said that staple crops occupy 77% of the total or Gross Cropped Area.but contributed only 41%of the total output of the crop sector which is the almost same value of Output contributed by High-Value Crops which occupied only 19% of the total area. So an increase in Fruit and Vegetable production will certainly help the farmers in increasing their income. Another issue that the report highlighted was the efficient use of agricultural land during the sowing season as the second crop of the season only occupies 38.9% of the net sown area with as much as 60% of the agricultural; land remaining unused for half of the productive period. It advocated for better Irrigation facilities to increase crop intensity by schemes such as “Pradhan Mantri Krisi Sinchai Yojana”.
The government recent schemes like the 500 crore impetus to Bee Farming and promotion of oilseeds production after the oilseed pact with Malaysia ended should be implemented on a pan India scale as the key to doubling farmers' income is not only through agriculture but also through allied activities.
These changes have been thought out over the years but a good monsoon could be the start of a new Agricultural Revolution in India and its time we had one. The pandemic has shown us the worst conditions that one can express and steps need to be taken to prepare the farmers better for the future.
