ENCOURAGING public-private venture to develop farming could help obtain six to eight per cent growth of agriculture sector, a longstanding objective of the government. Against this, average annual growth in the agriculture sector during last four years has been around four per cent.

Through joint venture, the contribution of agriculture to gross domestic product, which at present is about 22 per cent, could also be increased significantly. Moreover, investment in irrigation and livestock could help improve the lot of small farmers who constitute majority of farming community.

Setting up of agriculture-related ginning and threshing mills, fertiliser plants, canning factories, dairy product plants is a viable option in farming area that needs public-private participation. However, private sector would not find it viable unless there are sound communication facilities, good roads and access to energy resources like gas and electricity.

The Punjab government, keeping in view the economic benefits of agriculture, is providing land levelling laser technology to growers and taking steps to modernise agriculture tool industry involving public and private sectors.

Despite abundant soil and water resources, the country is still unable to attain autarky in food. For most of years during its history, the country imported wheat to meet its requirements. Besides this, billion of rupees are being spent on import of edible oil. Irony is that despite having world’s largest canal irrigation system, the farmers in barani areas are still depending on the seasonal June-September monsoon rains for cultivating crops.

About 9-10 million hectares are to be brought under cultivation that is lying barren because of lack of irrigation. Rainfall below normal and persistent drought-like conditions in the past has caused tremendous losses to crops and returns to farmers. Low rainfall also contributed to reduced flow in rivers that hampered the supply of water for irrigation. Among others, water shortage owing to huge water losses due to seepage and percolation during conveyance and distribution is contributing to low farm productivity.

Dwindling land and water resources, low yield of major crops, incurring nutrient losses, ill-trained farm labour, strained infrastructure, wasteful irrigation methods, obsolete and traditional farming techniques, lopsided marketing system and above all implications of the WTO regime are main issues and challenges facing our agriculture sector. The daunting task of tackling all these issues and managing agriculture in the future cannot be adequately addressed by the public sector alone.

Combined strength of the multi-agency system in which the private corporate sector, farmers’ organisations, cooperatives, non-governmental organisations, professionals, self-help groups, input dealers and suppliers, media and information technology could help arrest divergent issues confronting our agriculture sector.

Farming is largely a subsistent. Infusion of modern management practices in farm sector to boost productivity is important to enable farmers to move from subsistence farming to market-driving farming that requires changes in crop selection, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, transportation and adoption of new technologies.

Adoption of new technology at farm level is also important to convert farmers’ work into capital and to enhance returns on farming considerably. Subsistence farmers with small land holding cultivate land for sustenance. New technology will enable them to produce surplus to earn money. New technology would give farmers more choice and help them plan cultivation in a demand rather than supply-driven environment. Modern techniques for plant protection measures are required for effective control of diseases, insects and pests to avoid crop losses.

Public-private investment to arrest a decline in farm sector and spur economic growth is crucial. In the forthcoming budget, it is desirable to offer massive incentives to the farm sector to boost output. Farming community has serious concerns at the neglect of agriculture by different governments and the private sector in the past decades. There is a strong need of accelerating the rate of growth of agriculture sector. Unfortunately, there has been a deceleration in the growth of this sector in the past decades.

Public- private investment could be helpful in arresting numerous problems of irrigation system that are massive water losses due to seepage, percolation, poor conveyance and distributive efficiency and extremely low application irrigation efficiency. The current irrigation methods including flood irrigation, basin irrigation, furrow irrigation etc. are labour intensive, wasteful of water and require improvement in infrastructure. The farmers are unaware of the new technologies for efficient irrigation methods like drip-irrigation and micro-irrigation. Availability of implements and new technology will have profound impact in improving irrigation efficiency. In this direction, micro-loans can enable farmers to purchase implements and new technology.

For identification and development of innovative approaches for environmentally responsible agriculture, joint efforts of local farmers, regional and national policy makers, extension agents, funding organisations, and the scientific community are required. Such kind of coordination will develop better understanding of farming issues, informed decision-making and better adoption of modern practices vital for boosting productivity. Modern farm and post-harvest practices improve product quality and profitability.

Drawbacks in the marketing system are yet to be removed. The farmers are not making real profits on their produce due to lopsided marketing system. Lack of direct market access for farmers due to heavy involvement of state-run buying agencies has also stymied growth of agriculture sector. There is a need of market-oriented reforms for broad based sustained growth in farm productivity. Market infrastructure is inadequate for easy transport of inputs from market to farms and farm produce back to market.

Livestock farming has not been taken as a business. The role of private sector along with public sector is critical for making livestock farming profit-generating enterprise with special emphasis on the promotion of commercial dairy farming.

Livestock sector is exposed to a number of problems including livestock management, breeding, feeding, health, marketing, education and training of livestock holders through efficient livestock extension services. Focus should be on increased productivity of livestock population, bull production and breed farming. Re-organisation of old livestock farming research centres and establishment of new ones is imperative for developing livestock sub-sector on scientific lines.