Focus on horticulture
The policies and budget must focus on to expand opportunities for employment outside agriculture. The need is for agglomeration of land holdings that would help focus on productivity through mechanisation and scientific farming.
MRK Panneerselvam, Tamil Nadu Minister of Agriculture, presented for the first time a separate budget of Rs 34,000 crore for agriculture and allied sectors. For quite a few years the Paattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) has been demanding such a budget. An estimated 40 per cent of the state’s workers are engaged as farm workers and around 58 per cent of the households are estimated to be dependant on agriculture and allied activities. This is not peculiar to Tamil Nadu. The important factor of the large number of votes commanded by these segments is a vital factor in the attention paid to this sector.
Tamil Nadu – not a major agriculture state
Tamil Nadu with an average annual foodgrain production of around 10 million tonnes accounts for just around 3 per cent of India’s foodgrain production. The state has not been the top producer of any major agri commodity. Due to lack of focus, even its once big thrust on sugarcane has been lost. In the years of poor rainfall, sugar production had dropped to as low as 8 lakh tonnes (2019-20) from the peak production of 24 lakh tonnes (2011-12). The other water-intensive crop, rice, has also been having little scope for sustained high production.
The reasons are obvious: lack of focus on the selection of crops. Also, the state has not been endowed with a large perennial river and has been dependant on monsoons which have been erratic in recent years. Over-exploitation of ground water has been causing serious problems especially due to the continued focus on water-intensive crops like rice and sugarcane.
 It is worth adopting the successful model of other states like Gujarat in constructing check dams across rivers to store and conserve water. There is welcome attention to this now. The priority provided by the Gujarat government under Narendra Modi as chief minister ensured water supply to all its 18,000 plus villages. This helped the state provide not just drinking water but also achieve spectacular growth in the production of cotton, groundnut…
From food crops to Horticulture crops
Tamil Nadu has the reputation as a large producer of horticulture crops, especially vegetables, banana and mango. Policy can be focused on corn, pulses and oilseeds, fruits and vegetables which do not demand much water and have ready markets.
In recent years Tamil Nadu farmers have excelled in the production of fruits and vegetables, milk and allied products. The state can focus on processing the produce to high value items and help increase farm prosperity.
The average farm holding in Tamil Nadu is just around two acres. Such a small holding does not lend to scientific farming for handsome returns. There is a strong case for agglomerating land holdings with suitable policies and incentives. The Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) is a good concept. Unfortunately, the progress made so far has been too modest to make an impact.
The budget proposes to bring an additional 11.75 lakh hectares of barren land under cultivation. But in the context of high prices of land, there has been the propensity to sell such land for non-agricultural purposes. Just look at the very high rate of urbanisation of Tamil Nadu!
In spite of the large numbers dependant on agriculture, there are widespread shortages of agriculture labour. There has been reluctance on the part of youth to stick to the village and engage in agriculture and allied activities. The policies should be oriented to expand opportunities for employment outside agriculture.  – SV
