Address at the 4th Convocation of Rajendra Agricultural University

Food grain mission for Bihar

I am indeed delighted to participate in the fourth Convocation of the Rajendra Agricultural University. I congratulate the graduating students for their academic excellence. My greetings to the Vice Chancellor, professors, teachers and staff members of the University for shaping the students as scientists, technologists and researchers and above all as enlightened citizens of the country.

I was going through the Atlas of the Sustainability of Food Security 2004. I found that the rural food security atlas brings out l that the Punjab ? Haryana region which is today India?s bread basket could loose its production potential within a few decades if the current patterns of ground water extraction and pollution, soil salinization and monoculture of rice and wheat persists. We have to take action on these problems to keep sustainability of food production in these two states ?Punjab and Haryana. Simultaneously it is essential to see the potential of Bihar, which is now rated as 12 in the Indices of Sustainability of Food Security table in per capita food production. The fertile soil, water and hard working people can make Bihar the number one state in per capita food production. Towards this it is essential to mount a priority national programme on Food Grain Mission for Bihar. How do we achieve this mission?

Green Revolution

As you are aware, the First Green Revolution launched by great visionaries Shri C. Subramaniam and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan with the help of agricultural scientists, farmers and entrepreneurs, liberated India from the situation of what was called ?ship to mouth existence.? Through an effort of historical magnitude, India attained self-sufficiency in food and we can now export certain quantity of food-grains. As part of this first green revolution, the country has been able to produce over 200 million tonnes of food grains per year. But there are challenges ahead.

India has to now embark upon the Second Green Revolution which will enable it to further increase its productivity in the agricultural sector. By 2020 India would require to produce over 300 million tonnes in view of population growth. The increase in the production would have to surmount many impeding factors. The requirement of land for the increasing population as well as for greater afforestation and environmental preservation activities would force a situation whereby the present 170 million hectares of arable land would not be fully available. It might shrink to 100 million hectares by 2020. In addition, there will be shortage of water. Our agricultural scientists and technologists have to work for doubling the productivity of the available land with lesser area being available for cultivation with less water. The type of technologies needed would be in the areas of development of seeds that would ensure good yield even under constraints of water and land. The second green revolution is indeed a knowledge graduation from characterization of soil to the matching of the seed with the composition of the fertilizer, water management and evolving pre-harvesting techniques for such conditions. The domain of a farmer?s work would enlarge from grain production to food processing and marketing. While doing so, utmost care would have to be taken for various environmental and people related aspects leading to sustainable development. I would like to mention some of the areas in which we need to focus to realise the second green revolution.

Changes in employment ? agricultural produce to marketing

In 1980, the agriculture sector employed, in parts or in full, 76% of people of India. It reduced to 65% in 1994 and is expected to be 60% by 2012. It may further fall to 50% by the year 2020. This will happen for two reasons. The agriculture technology would assist the future farmers engaging lesser number of workers and simultaneous growth in the service sector and to some extent in agro-food processing and industrial sectors would be preferred by more people for employment. We must therefore assume in this period, lesser numbers of people will be available for farming. Many will be migrating to food processing and marketing. Hence, it is important for Rajendra Agricultural University faculty members to work in generating graduates who can spread and work for high productivity of wheat and paddy from what it is today and empower the farmers with the capability to take up food processing and food marketing. It is indeed a big mission. I would suggest Rajendra Agricultural University to set a trend in expanding the conventional role of the Indian farmer from a producer of the food to an entrepreneur engaged in processing and marketing of international standard farm products.

Soil upgradation

Over a period of time by continuous usage of fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, there is deterioration in the quality of soil particularly reduction of carbon content and increase of salinity. Rejuvenation of soil characteristics is an important area for the specialists to tackle, with specific emphasis on recovery of its nutritional value. More thrust need to be given on adopting methods such as multi-cropping, rotation of crops and organic farming. A farmer in Haldwani district of Uttaranchal has already exemplified adoption of unique organic farming techniques for increased and sustainable productivity. The University can play a major role in making the State a leader in organic farming.

There have been successful experiments carried out by TIFAC team in Bihar, where per hectare output of wheat has been tripled by farmers in collaboration with agricultural scientists through scientific methods. Such experiments can be replicated in many parts of our country, carefully tailored to local conditions. The earnings of the participating farmers have remarkably improved. This is a crucial socio-economic need. Access to food will need enhancement of purchasing power of the rural and urban population. This can only come out of employment generation through entrepreneurship and through increase in the incomes of existing farmers by techniques adopted by the TIFAC team briefly mentioned above. This model could be studied by the faculty members of Rajendra Agricultural University for replication in other areas of Bihar.

Quality of Seeds

Rajendra Agricultural University has to concentrate on the Science and Technology of seeds production. You have to improve the quality of the seeds for enabling farming in areas where the soil has salinity and the environmental temperature gradient is high. This should be achieved through production of salinity tolerant and temperature tolerant seeds. In addition, seeds also have to be resistant to the stress induced by the residual effect of the pesticides and insecticides. Universities and research organizations have to lay more emphasis on developing and leading to production of the seeds which require less water, to the farmers for achieving increased productivity even in critical environmental conditions.

Water management

Geography is very closely linked to quality of life in our vast country. Wherever there are people enduring economic hardships there is also problem of excess or low availability of water. We need to develop proper agricultural technologies and water conservation methodologies that can help enhance agriculture productivity and lift the people above the poverty line even under limited flood conditions. Solutions may be just beyond agriculture alone spanning to animal husbandry, poultry, agro processing and other related activities.

Our agriculture is still dependent on timely arrival and intensity of monsoon. It is high time that we have an overall water management plan for conservation of water, preparation of water shed schemes, rainwater harvesting and recharging of ground water. These measures will help prevent loss of a crop by using the harvested water for nursery development and delaying transplantation in case of late arrival of monsoon. This University, with its vast human resource potential, can popularize the water management techniques in distant parts of the State and elsewhere in the country in collaboration with Ministry of Water Resources.

Agro-processing and waste management

The changing life-styles of the modern generation are giving rise to demand for processed food. For example, special type of corn is required for making corn flakes and unique potato crop for making wafers. The agro-processing industry has to take into account the retention of the nutritional value and safeguarding against possible side effects of additives and preservatives. In addition the agriculture and agro-processing industry in India have to master many new standards and perceptions for cleanliness, generally described as phyto-sanitary requirements. The University can extend their support to agro-processing sector through research and application of innovative technologies. Management of agricultural waste is another important area which can turn out to be a source for revenue generation. Farmers can realize better value from the agricultural residue by paying special attention to its usage into organic farming and making value added products out of it before disposal. Agricultural waste should be put to use by developing appropriate and cost-effective technologies such as generation of biogas, production of vermi-compost and paper for example.

Role of Information Technology

Information Technology should be used for maintaining an updated and enriched database of region specific agricultural information and timely dissemination of the information pertaining to soil enrichment, seed selection, actions relating to arrival of monsoon, etc., to the farmers. In addition, information regarding agricultural product preferences - both national and international, demand-supply status in respect of different products and the current price should be made available on-line to the farmers for taking timely decisions on crop product diversification strategies and positioning of the same in right market to get optimum revenue. The University can extend their support to the district and panchayat level institutions to take a lead in central acquisition of the latest information using IT as a tool and making it available to the farmers in their native language. It should be used by networking agricultural universities to generate data bank for at least 20-years. The data-bank should provide information on seed management, water management, treatment for typical diseases, and above all annual output, distribution and market dynamics.

Tele-consultancy

The Rajendra Agricultural University should be connected to other universities of excellence in the country and also farming centres through tele-education. The students of these universities should have a collaborative tele-education network for interacting with renowned scholars in various specializations. Tele-education will provide knowledge connectivity and will facilitate the creation of a knowledge society, leading to enhanced wealth generation for national development. In order to bring about a vibrant educational and research atmosphere, we need to initiate research programmes in collaboration with various scientific and research institutions in the country in the core competence area of the university. This networking will provide larger exposure to the students and the faculty of the university and enable enhanced employment and research opportunities. The University in coordination with local institutions can consider extending tele-consultancy services in agriculture and related fields, to the farmers, thereby ensuring timely dissemination of appropriate information. I understand that this university is engaged in the research work of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. The people of the region can get benefit of the successful results of such projects through tele-consultancy facility in the area of herbal plants. The university can suggest to the farmers to go for suitable plantation in between the main crops. This will enrich the soil and also farmers will get incremental income. Now I would like to discuss with you a model rural development concept.

PURA Concept

The country is poised towards execution of PURA (Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas) for bridging the rural urban divide and achieving balanced socio-economic development in 4130 rural clusters across the country in the next five years. The northeastern states, other special category states and backward areas, identified by the planning commission would get priority under the scheme.

Economic Connectivity for PURA

Providing Urban facilities in Rural Areas (PURA) consisting of four connectivities: physical, electronic, knowledge and there by leading to economic connectivity to enhance the prosperity of clusters of villages in the rural areas. The economic connectivity will generate a market and the production establishments for servicing the market. The PURA has all the dimensions to become a business enterprise, which has global dimensions but operating in every nook and

corner of our country. The PURA entrepreneur has to have the skill for evolving a business plan with banks and also create infrastructural support such as educational institutions, health centres and small scale industries, transportation services, tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance services in the region integrating with the governmental rural development schemes such as road, communication and transport and also with national and global markets to sell the products and services.

PURA Enterprise

The small and medium industrial enterprises in India have experience in managing industries of different types in various regions. This sector is widespread in the country and is a promising candidate for taking the leadership and managing the PURA complexes in an integrated way. Also major businesses in India with wide spread rural services have an experience of maintaining large rural-urban networks. PURA enterprises can undertake management of schools, health care units, vocational training centres, chilling plants, silos and building a market, building of local industrial / ICT parks, tourism services, banking system and the regional business or industrial units. A new management style has to emerge for managing such type of PURA enterprises. This new PURA enterprise needs partnership from the bank, educational institutions, Government and the private entrepreneurs. The management system should have the flexibility to be competitive and the country has to experiment several models depending on local needs. The University may introduce suitable changes in their syllabus and curriculum for enabling agricultural graduates to participate in establishing and maintaining self-sustaining PURA complexes in their region.

Business Plan for PURA

Each PURA depending upon the region will cost between Rs.100-200 crores. After initial short term employment during construction etc., we may have to plan for initiating actions for providing regular employment opportunities for 3000 employees. If the industrial/ICT parks are marketed well, they can generate employment opportunities in service and support sector for about 10000 people. This is one way of reducing the employment gap leading to upliftment of the 260 million people living below the poverty line and also to provide better jobs for many millions who are technically above poverty line, but poor by many other standards.

In brief, we should generate the business plan for PURA and evolve methodologies for creating a model that would:

? create a data base of core competencies and comparative advantages in the chosen region.

? estimate the cost of implementing PURA

? measures of quantitatively establishing the economic prosperity of people before and after PURA is implemented

? economic returns and self sustainability

? marketing methods for making the PURA self-sustaining and to attract investments.

? identify key business persons, public persons and others who can manage PURA successfully and also bring in investments.

I am sure many among you can develop such a business plan that will attract business enterprises towards investing in PURA and make PURA a socially relevant and economically feasible enterprise for Bihar.

Concluding remarks

In India, a large number of people earn their livelihood from agriculture and farming. Agricultural universities have to do research to reinforce the efforts of farmers for enabling enhancement of per hectare productivity and graduating to food processing near large farms and also marketing their products. Simultaneously, they should network with multiple universities to enhance cost-effective, long life storage methods and evolve a scheme for stabilized cost structure, so that high volume production does not bring the farmer to despair. Also, they should facilitate farmers to produce grains, vegetable and fruits meeting international standards. As you all know, today any farm product when it is exported, a certification is required in terms of its nutrient value and that it is free of chemicals. This aspect has to be focused right from development of seed to final product acceptable in the international market.

I would like to greet Rajendra Agricultural University for their contribution in various agricultural missions and now I am sure, the graduating students will be the pioneers in contributing to the ?Foodgrain mission for Bihar? and make Bihar the number one State in grain productivity.

May God bless you!