Prime Minister Modi’s major speech on agriculture
It is nice to see that the Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi made an impressive speech on India’s agriculture sector and India’s Food Processing sector. Many things the PM touched and we welcome his observations.
The PM said how India’s potential in the agriculture sector is such that we can produce diverse crops, from grains to fruits and vegetables to many other specialised crops of such historical importance like spices, tea, coffee and many other rare spices that changed the very course of India’s history. The coming of Vascoda Gama to other colonial past is now we consider India’s traditional strength in the Indian agriculture sector.
The PM said that private sector must invest in contract farming to strengthen our base to become a strong player in the food processing sector.
Yes, this is a timely call.
There are many issues here, we all know. Agriculture &Industry Survey, singlehandedly, has been fighting for a place in the sun, so to say!
What does this call for the private sector to invest in contract farming mean, finally. Is it a call for the big corporates, or MNCs?
Or, it is a call for millions of our farmers, big, medium and small and even tiny farmers who are traditionally engaged in this segment?
We want to emphasise here, rather in some unpleasant manner, that unless you make investments in agriculture easy for the traditional farmers, it is going to be a call for some new distortions already that had led to over the years of our own Freedom that deprived the traditional farmers all their freedoms. Is there any incentive today to invest in farming activities?
This is of course an unpleasant question.
We like to submit to the attention of the Central government, no less the State governments as well that we have to relax the current rigidities that have crept into the various anti-progressive views of what the countryside is going through.
The per capita land parcels is becoming more and more unviable.
So, relax the regressive land reform laws.’
Make a ceiling a viable proposition. At least for the traditional big farmers you must allow a minimum of 100 acres. For specific high tech farming businesses you must still allow more acreage. Also make tenancy laws and other restrictive acts out of date!
Please allow the rural countryside a liveable place for new generation youngsters to live and invest and start contract farming and other rural businesses.
So, let us be clear about one thing. Don’t allow entry to MNCs and even Indian big corporates to buy our hundreds of acres of lands as a gift.
Once you allow the big corporate there would be chaos in the countryside.
So, let the PM realise that no big corp0rates would enter the countryside with co-opting farmers as shareholders.
Monopoly enterprises, please forbid entry into the small farmers intensive crops farming.
Yes, the secondary processing industries may be allowed investments.
One Amul co-op brought glory to India. So let Indians innovate and let Indian farmers learn to investment run co-ops on commercial basis.
Any MNC in food processing might ruin the nutrition basis of foods. Pepsi and Coco cola have been proving how ruinous is the entry of MNC food giants and the health of the people, including in America.
So, any wise food policy must go beyond investments and 2,000 number of participants,200 companies and 30 countries must not lull us to give up on the health impact of some of the American foods! MOU’s worth 11 billion dollars shouldn’t let the hon’ble Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal into any missteps.(Photo of Harsimrat Kaur Badal).