March 26, 2023
TO: Dr. Sukhpal Singh
Honorable Convener,
Agri Policy Committee, Chandigarh.
Cc: Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice Chancellor, PAU
From: PAGRI – Punjab Agricultural Rejuvenation Initiative
Subject: Agricultural Policy Recommendations for Punjab from Pagri
Dear Sukhpal Singhji,
Pagri is a nonprofit organization based in USA that is trying to help small farmers in Punjab. The following is a description ofhigh-level considerations and a list of our specific recommendations, which we urge you to include in your policy.
High level Considerations
These considerations cover the ground water crisis, revival of the agrarian economy and transitioning out of the box for the farmer-controlled marketing of agricultural produce and processed goods.
The groundwater issue is directly related to Punjab’s survival.
While prosperity is important, survival should receive the priority.Once Punjab’s ground water is depleted, Punjab will turn into a desert with accompanying mass migration. It is time for our leadership to draw the attention to this issue and begin to solve this problem by putting a proper plan into action for restoration of the water table and its cleanliness, rather than leave it for the next government.
While we would like to see Punjab prosper especially through an agricultural revival, Punjab’s survival is even more important and needs the maximum attention. The uranium and arsenic levels that come with low ground table and its pollution with poisonous agricultural chemicals has led to the large incidence of cancer, which is a major health issue afflicting our people. Punjab has become the cancer capital of India. We urge your committee and the Government of Punjab to pay the maximum attention to this and save the people of Punjab from this looming disaster by restoring Punjab’s water table and improving the cleanliness of this resource.
The practice of providing free electricity for electoral benefit and improper timing for the release of water, is encouraging water puddling andhigh water consumption and should be brought to an end.
Punjab needs to reverse the resource degradation in terms of water, soil and biological resources, and revise agricultural practices and subsidiesso as to reduce the use of water in agriculture, with better use of canal water, decreased use of ground water and the recharging of ground water during monsoon season through water sources whose cleanliness is assured. Funds used to provide electricity and water subsidies should be wholly or partially diverted to other urgent agricultural tasks.It is a matter of survival.
Punjab is still primarily an agrarian society. Agriculture is the backbone of Punjab. Other economy sectors can be built around it. Hence, the agricultural policy should aim at the revival of the agrarian economy so as to build a strong agricultural base that can supportother sectors.
There is certainly a need for balanced growth of all stakeholders: which include rural producers and urban consumers. A major re-industrialization of Punjab based on agricultural processing of clean and healthy food will help this revival and lead to fair and balanced addition to their incomes if this process is based on democratic farmer-based organizations and businesses and is not dominated by big financial interests. Most of the population of Punjab is landless, small and marginal farmers and they need preferential treatment in your agricultural policy. The focus on medium and large farmers should focus on transformations of their practices, diversification of their crops away from wheat and rice monocultures, reductions in their water use and reductions in the use of chemical fertilizers and poisonous chemicals that poison the ground water.
Specifically, Punjab should aim at a rejuvenated agriculture, revived rural economy, conserved water, and healthy rural and urban populations.In terms of agricultural revival, the policy initiatives should aim at a combination of helping improve the earnings of small farmers through integrated farming methods, improving the rural economy with more food processing opportunities, transitioning away from producing rice in all regions except where basmati is of high quality and is grown without the water puddling methods and the use of rice residues as mulch (rather than burning it), a transition away from wheat-rice monocultures to crop diversification, better and cleaner food for the consuming population through increased organic farming and restoring variety in terms of crops for the local population, better extension work for lower cost agriculture environmentally favorable agriculture with decreased chemical residues on crops, improve environmental conditions in terms of reduction in poisonous chemicals (thus decreasing the high incidence of cancer) and helping ecosystem revivals (trees, forests and wetlands), investment in farmer based food processing organizations and corporations, better farmer support through price supports and food processing to mop up surpluses and with more effective crop insurance, breaking the corporate stranglehold on agricultural inputs, and farmer based food storage and processing to utilize the seasonal surpluses.
At this time in Punjab’s history, in terms of markets we need to think out of the box:Direct water, electricity and other subsidies need to be re-oriented towards the above objectives. Besides thinking out of the box and making distinct departures from the past, to improve the agrarian economy of Punjab as a whole, the agricultural policy committee needs more domain experts from key areas such as value chain experts for different commodities and those who have updated knowledge and experience on food processing, export market, cold chain, quality certification, organic certification and above all who can map the potential for products from Punjab to the local, regional and global markets.
Let us take up each of these high-level considerations in detail.
Specific Policy Proposals
- Ensuring Punjab’s Survival – Restoring and Cleaning its Ground Water
The practice of providing free electricity and water for electoral benefit and timing its release for water puddling techniques of rice growing and the high consumption of groundwaterby wheat monocultures should be brought to an end. Punjab needs to reverse the resource degradation in terms of water, soil and biological resources, and revising agricultural practices and subsidiesso as to reduce the use of water in agriculture, with better use of canal water, decreased use of ground water and the recharging of ground water during the monsoon season through water sources whose cleanliness is assured. Funds used to provide electricity and water subsidies should be wholly or partially diverted to other urgent agricultural tasks. It is a matter of Punjab’s survival.
- Increasing the Incomes of Small Farmers:Rather than increase the incomes of large Agri-business, agricultural policy should aim at directly increasing the incomes of small farmers through integrated farming with subsidies for direct additions of poultry of indigenous varieties, cattle, goats, fisheries, diversified crops and fruit trees. Funding should be provided to set up local mandis and food stalls so that they can better sell their fresh produce and locally processed food and other agriculturally based products, with links to food processing organizations (FPOs).
- Transition in Rice Growing Practices: In the short term, rice agriculture should transition away from the water puddling technique of growing rice to techniques like direct seeding, with use of the rice straw as mulch (instead of burning it) and then sowing the wheat in the same field without tillage. Eliminating the puddling technique of growing rice will greatly reduce water use, while reducing the incidence of fungus diseases resulting from water immersion and reduce the probable rejection of rice supplies in national and international markets, because of fungicide residues.
- Reduction in Punjab’s Rice Agriculture, the remaining role for Basmati and Crop Diversification: Basmati rice production should only be encouraged in the five districts (Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Tarn and Firozepur) where the basmati has been given a high-quality index because of which it fetches a high price, and that also ONLY without water puddling and with the direct seeding of rice methods. Ravi fed canal water should be released to coincide with these alternative practices and not synchronized with the water puddling method. For the rest of Punjab, a combination of programs, plans and subsidies should be put in place to help the farmers transition out of rice and out of wheat to the growing of alternative grains and crops that use less water and are favored for consumption by the local population. In this regard, we urge the announcement of MSP (minimum support prices) for at least 18 other crops to encourage farmers to switch to these crops.
- Switch from Monoculture Varieties to Desi Varieties for Wheat:For these, extension practices should be put in place that teach farmers to use less of the high yielding hybrid varieties of green revolution agriculture (currently procured in Mandis and large traders for food procurement) and transition into desi varieties of wheat that are more disease proof and more nutritious and which Punjabi consumers clearly prefer to eat. With proper knowledge and training farmers can achieve high yields with these also, especially by use of mulch from previous crops. Mandi structures should be restructured to implement this change into crop variety diversification and by reducing the taxes on farmers.
- Reduction in Use of Chemicals and transition slowlyto methods like organic farming and the Integrated Farming Model:Both to clean up Punjab’s environment and improve the health of its population, Punjab should transition slowly over from chemical green revolution type agriculture to types that reduce the needs for these chemicals into integrated farming that includes poultry, livestock and fishery and encourages transitions to more organic farming modes. This will do more to increase the incomes of small farmers than other ways. Quality and organic produce certifications should be improved with direct measurement of chemical residue parameters in Mandisand establish classification and grading system accordingly. This is especially needed to avoid residues of fungicides on crops, both to improve human health and to meet export requirements. At the same time, we need a program to educate the consuming public about the health benefits of eating organic food and so that they should be willing to pay higher prices for it – which would also help small organic farmers financially.
- Transition to a lower cost agriculture: Agriculture techniques should transition to a reduction in the use of expensive chemicals, feed, diesel, and water and which require high levels of tillage This means a massive increase of compost, cow manure, biological pesticides, and the use of organic methods of controlling unwanted insects and plants. The aim of this should be to reduce input costs for farmers and hence increase their incomes. To address the labor shortage issue, a program should be started that promotes the production and use of smaller implements that are used by small farmers and technical and financial support arranged accordingly.
- Major Increase in Investments in Food Processing and Related Organizations: Agricultural policy needs to break from the past in supporting the increased investment in the formation and operation of farmer-based Food processing Organizations (FPOs) and related infrastructure. In the Union Budget in 2018-19, special focus was given to FPOs and infrastructure creation by the Government of India. Maharashtra Government has launched SMART (State of Maharashtra Agriculture and Village Transformation) with an outlay of nearly Rs. 1,600 crores. Similarly, Haryana has launched CCDP (Crop Cluster Development Program) with Rs. 510 Crore to create infrastructure like Cold Chain and Processing Facilities at the FPO level, with up to 90% Grant in Aid support to FPOs. Orissa and Karnataka governments have similar programs. Now Punjab needs to redirect its subsidies and that which it receives from the central government to announce such programs in its state budget, otherwise Punjab will fall further behind.
- Greater Education and Encouragement for Food Processing Companies: State officials should be better educated on the advantages of Food processing Companies and how they are better than cooperative societies. Especially ina state like Punjabwhere we require good governance and a professionally managed model for farmers with least political and government interference, there is a need to propagate the Producer Company model among the farmers and educate them about some vibrant models of this type already working in some parts of North India. Farmers and their supporters should get entrepreneurship training on starting, operating and productively managing such corporations.
- We fully support the reforms and programs proposed by Mr.Harpreet Singh Bhatti relating to food processing and diversification in his letter to you dated March 1, 2023.
- Entrepreneurship, Cooperatives, FPO and Marketing for small Farmers: Organic produce is a big market opportunity, which is why Pagri is emphasizingthe development of organic farming and the marketing of organic produce. To achieve this goal, small farmers need to take control of marketing under their purview. This will be possible, only if next generation of farmers are trained in entrepreneurship and agricultural processing.Also, we urge the encouragement of women’s self-help groups to supplement the incomes of small farmers. Women can contribute to development of village based primary agro-processing in a big way. This will utilize the spare time of our women folk at home and add to their family incomes. This will be possible, only if next generation of farmers and women self-help groups are trained in entrepreneurship and in agricultural processing of organic products.
We hope that you will include the major recommendations above in your Agricultural Policy document. Thanking you.
Sincerely
Dr. Harinder Singh Lamba Mr. Lal Singh
Secretary, Pagri, 1432 Scott St 15056 Moorings Lane
El Cerrito, California 94530, USA OakForest, Illinois 60542, USA
hlamba101@gmail.com (708)359-0665
Phone: (630)215-4648 www.pagri.org
Cc:
Dr. Satbir Singh Gosal, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University
Kuldeep Singh Sra, Pagri Treasurer