Ajit Singh’s call for productivity and intensive farming.

Do they know the ground reality of agriculture?

Who speaks for farmers? How committed is the government for the agri sector?

At the second International Congress on Plant Physiology, the President said this. The agri minister said this. What about the Prime Minister and his distinguished Cabinet colleagues? The Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Finance Minister and the Agri Minister and in an indirect way the Food Minister are all the senior politicians and ministers who have the authority and moral responsibility to give agriculture its due priority in the scheme of things.

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But no credible agri export strategy is visible!

Surplus onion and potato production and fall in prices!

This `annual ritual’ gives us an idea of how horticulture sector is capable of over producing and prices crashing! Indian horticulture cries for attention. What we need is not extension of horticrops. Nor crop productivity. What we need is to improve quality in every way. Instead of expanding production, we need assured market for specific crops. Quality production, quality packaging, brand building and States-specific export agencies to attend to crops specific to their regions could add more to the incomes of farmers. A beginning has already been made in India by the government identifying about 40 agri-export zones all over the country through which horticultural produce such as mangoes, gherkins, rose onions, lichees and so on.

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Take initiatives to do more than mere lending.

Bankers are back in the news. For the obvious reason they think that with the Securitization Bill they can recover the NPAs easily. Some of the high profile banks, notably ICICI have attached industrial properties.

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