Be judicious in farm waiver, M S Swaminathan tells states

Lists out measures govt must take to tackle drought situation

Father of India’s Green Revolution and agricultural scientist Dr M S Swaminathan on Monday asked state governments to use better judgement while announcing blanket loan waivers to rescue farmers from debt.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Ambassadors of Goodwill programme at ICRISAT campus in Patancheru, Dr Swaminathan said loan waiver is a means to release farmers from debt burden.

“But one must see whether the quantum of the loan includes inputs that would help the farmer from taking further loans; inputs such as seed and fertiliser, which should be provided to farmers,”  Swaminathan said responding to queries on the announcement of farm loan waiver by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

He listed out measures governments must take to tackle the looming drought situation in the country. “Tamil Nadu has made water harvesting mandatory in that state,” he pointed out, adding that drought is not uncommon but it is imperative that governments are prepared to handle it. “Linking NREGA with farming is a good idea, while using drought resistant millets to provide nutritional security to the poor is also a good move,”  Swaminathan said.

“I am pained by the suicides of farmers in Telangana. They resort to suicide because of the crisis in cotton cultivation. In any country, farmers produce grain to help us live. If he takes his life, then there is something wrong with our agriculture,” he said, recommending using traditional knowledge systems to mitigate the impact of drought.

“In Haryana, farmers wait till it rains for ten days and then sow, so that crop won’t get dry. Similarly each farmer’s family apportions certain ration to the buffaloes they have along with their family members,” he said.

Batting for the use of Genomics in designing better crop varieties, Prof Swaminathan said that the same technology has been used in making vaccines without much resistance.  “If we take the case of GM cotton varieties, it’s a long term process as it’s a fight between the breeder and the pathogen. There could be many more resistant varieties to be developed in the future,” he pointed out.

ICRISAT Director General Dr William Dar said the dry land agricultural research institution has already handed a roadmap to the finance minister on drought mitigation before the Budget presentation. Many of the suggestions found in the roadmap have been taken up in the Budget to benefit farmers.

Taking rainwater harvesting on a war footing to conserve even small amount of monsoon rain, preparing the grounds for the next (Rabi) season, balanced fertiliser programme, a millets-dependent rather than serial-dependent crop scheme, and setting up a national level genome centre for agriculture are some of the suggestions ICRISAT had made.