Showing posts with label Problems in Agriculture. Show all posts

Food Security in Bangladesh

Posted by Unknown in , , , , on Sunday, 27 January 2013

Food security plays an important role in social and political stability of a country. But sustaining agricultural growth and food security is a challenge for the present day world, especially for developing countries.
Climate change and disasters aggravate the risk further. International organisations are warning about hunger and food insecurity risks in many countries. In this context, the Bangladesh government is considering the issue with utmost priority because Bangladesh is one of the most disaster prone countries of the world.

The disaster-hit people need emergency food assistance, as their capacity to access to markets falls drastically. Increasing population, poverty (31.5% of the population is still poor), decreasing availability of land resources and seasonal umemployment in agriculture sector compound the problems. Thus, ensuring food security and effective disaster management are the two enormous challenges for the government.
The country saw unprecedented agricultural growth during the Awami League government in 1996-2001. This was possible due to pragmatic plans and effective implementation by the then government of Sheikh Hasina. The country became cereal surplus for the first time in 1999-2000. Food grain production rose from 19 million MT in 1996 to 26.9 million MT in 2000-2001.

That, a rise of about 8 million MT in five years, was almost equal to the achievements in the previous 25 years (1971-1996). Agricultural growth was 8.10% and 6.18 % in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 respectively. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was awarded the prestigious CERES Award by FAO for the country’s unprecedented success in agriculture production and food management.But the growth trend did not sustain during BNP’s regime in 2001-2006.
They did not fulfil their commitments to the people and there was severe mismanagement in procurement and distribution of agricultural inputs like fertilizers, seeds, diesel etc.

The average agricultural growth came down below 3.5%. The BNP government did not buildup sufficient public stock to face any food crisis. Consequently, the country’s food security fell to an all-time critical level in 2007 and 2008, compounded by the global food crisis during the rule of the caretaker government.
International prices of rice price rose from $301 per MT in 2006-07 to $665 per MT in 2008-09. This, along with other failures, resulted in domestic price increase of Tk.35-50 per kilogram. Wheat price also increased similarly during this period. In this situation, the present government took office on January 9, 2009 with the pledge to bring down the prices to an acceptable level. Pledge and renewed focus on food securityThe present government had to start with the residual shocks and impacts of the 2007-08 food crisis.

In addition to this, cyclone Aila hit south-west Bangladesh on May 25, 2009. It caused huge damage in agriculture production and water infrastructure along the coastline.

The government, therefore, opted for augmenting production and took up massive programmes. It halved the prices of non-urea fertilizers, made quality seeds available, increased subsidy on inputs including diesel, and eased the credit provisions.

Thus, agriculture production growth bounced back from 3.5% to 4.5%. In the last two years, the growth increased further. The government has also maintained conducive output prices for the farmers.

Market monitoring has also been strengthened to procure food grain after harvest. International support for improving food securityAfter assumption of office, the present government launched the National Food Policy Action Plan (2008-2015) and initiated formulation of the Country Investment Plan for Food Security (2011-2015). This plan consists of 12 programmes for improving availability of, access to, and utilisation of food with an involvement of $7.8 billion, of which $5 billion need to be mobilised.

The Asia-Pacific Food Security Investment Forum held in Manila in July 2010 and the 36th session of the Committee on World Food Security held in Rome in October 2010 honoured Bangladesh as a “showcase country” for this unique policy planning framework. This Plan has thus opened the window for international support for food security in the country.Initiative for enhancing access to food for the poorDelivering food to the poor through the Public Food Distribution System (PFDS) is the main strategy for ensuring food security for the poor.
The government has taken initiatives to enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social safety-net programmes. As a result, the overall distribution under PFDS in 2010-2011 stood at over 2.29 million MT as compared to 1.25 million MT in 2005-06.

Accordingly, the allocation to safety-net as percent of GDP increased from its earlier 1.6% to 2.5-2.6% in recent years.
Muhammad Abdur Razzaque

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Rejuvenating India’s Agriculture Sector

Posted by Unknown in , , on Friday, 25 January 2013

(The Economic Times) Rejuvenating India's agriculture sector, which provides livelihood to nearly 60% of the workforce, needs to be made central to the inclusive growth endeavour. India's current policies for the agriculture sector are geared towards short-term solutions and revenue expenditure rather than long-term capital investment solutions. The dependence on subsidies squeezes government spends on critical infrastructure, technology and credit, in the absence of which farmers use inefficient methods of cultivation. 
The need for increasing agricultural productivity through technology infusion and market-led interventions is gaining urgency. It is well-acknowledged that every rupee of contribution to GDP from farming is twice as effective as other interventions in alleviating rural poverty. Agriculture is an indirect growth driver, as a growth rate of 4% in agriculture translates into robust demand for other sectors. 
High agriculture growth also helps mute food inflation. Yields per hectare of foodgrains, fruits and vegetables in India are far below global averages. Our rice yields are one-third of China's, and about half of Vietnam's and Indonesia's. Even India's most productive states lag global averages. For example, Punjab's yield of rice in 2010 was 3.8 tonnes per hectare against the global average of 4.3 tonnes. The average yield for apples in India (J&K ) is about 11 tonnes per acre compared to the US, New Zealand, Israel or China, where yields range 30-70 tonnes per acre. 
This pattern is typical of most of our farm commodities such as pulses and edible oilseeds whose demand has been rising faster than supply, adding to food inflation. Substantial hikes in Minimum Support Price for rice and wheat have distorted production patterns, resulting in loss of benefits of crop diversification and inadequate focus on cash crops. Lack of infrastructure , post-harvest linkages and technology further results in losses across the supply chain. For example, gross capital formation in agriculture and allied sectors has been below 3% for years. The experience of other economies at similar stages of development is instructive. 
Brazil, China, and several south-east Asian countries have leveraged technology and instituted trade-friendly policies to bring in greater private sector investments into agriculture. In India, where 80% of landholdings are of less than two acres, it is essential to find economically viable solutions to improve farmer incomes. Technologies for energy saving , environment protection, and satellite mapping need to be infused into the sector. All this would require high investments . Such investments can be attracted from the private sector, which has largely remained outside the effort on agricultural capital expenditure . Legal and policy interventions could help augment private investments. For example, the Agriculture Produce Market Committees Act has yet to be revisited in many states. 
Supply chain infrastructure creation such as warehousing , cold storage and rural roads, would also bring in private funds. The private sector is capable of large-scale technology infusion. Precision farming , which leverages IT for matching inputs and provides real-time information on soil, has been deployed to good use by the Argentine group Los Grobos in an outsourcing structure . No-till farming is used in place of ploughing in some countries, leaving residue of the last crop to enrich the soil. Such new-age farming methods , if propagated, can transform production and yields. So, it is essential to raise public research in agriculture. Part of Brazil's success in the sector owes to its high expenditure on agricultural research at 1.7% of its GDP, higher than in China. 
Investment in R&D and sciencebased technologies would greatly benefit India as well, which has 14 agri-climatic zones and potentially wide range of agri produce. Private investment into agriculture R&D must be encouraged through incentives such as tax breaks and availability of land and infrastructure. Finally , trade-led agricultural development must be considered . While self-sufficiency has been the primary objective for the agriculture policy, export of agri-produce to other markets must be explored. For example, countries such as Mexico and the Philippines have taken lead positions in export of mangoes, one of India's trademark fruits. Agricultural tariffs need rethinking in this context. 
As the Indian economy expands , better productivity through technology infusion and introduction of global best practices will ensure better quality and prices for consumers . Also, Indian agriculture will be able to meet to the changing needs of today's consumer and this will give a major fillip to farmers to diversify to high value cash crops. But most importantly, the true winner will be the farmer, in particular the small and marginal farmer, who will be able to improve his income through better productivity and be an equal partner in India's growth.

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