Global agriculture situation: Miles to go

Where is the journey towards feeding the world population at a reasonable price? Food prices are going up on a continuous basis - demonstrations as well as social unrests have badly affected a number of capital cities. Time is ripe for dealing firmly with the disarray in agricultural sector.
If the current trend is of any indication, the food and agricultural policy itself is in disarray. The symptoms of such a disarray are not far to seek - incoherent/ inadequate response to exploding food prices; slow down in agricultural productivity; water problems ; a disorderly response to continuously disturbing energy prices; rapid concentration in multinational agri-business without adequate institutional innovation aimed at properly guiding them; lack of progress in addressing scarcity; widespread nutritional problems [ hunger/ obesity/ chronic diseases] plus agriculture related health hazards [a vein influenza, etc.] and adverse impact on climatic fluctuations.
In fact the overall situation on food front has been- in the recent past especially - far from being satisfactory with food prices soaring high all over the globe.
Underinvestment in areas related to food, nutrition/agriculture [research/infrastructure/rural institution] create, among other things, spill-over effect/global impacts. It is high time that sincere collaborative programmes are resumed among the countries in order to adequately address opportunities and challenges.
The ongoing situation calls for a big push to farm investment, especially keeping in view the plight of the entire developing nations. Though 60 per cent of South Asian countries are still dependent on this sector, yet the growth rate of this sector in particular leaves a lot to be desired. In the entire developing world this is the reality arising out mainly from inadequate investment, rural infrastructure, research and development, and diversification in favour of high value crops.
Side by side, non-availability of quality and cost-effective inputs, low efficiency of inputs used and fast deteriorating soil health and water resources remain as the critical concerns. Agriculture requires a big push to realize the much coveted high growth rate vis-à-vis food security. We are really entering into a difficult stage globally and nationally in agriculture. In Sri Lanka 32 per cent of the country's food requirements is met simply by imports for which the annual expenditure is 100 billion Sri Lankan rupees. Dwindling food stocks and rising prices reflect the reality- the real concern, which, in turn, must be given top priority. Among other things, tackling the threat of climate change and reducing yield gap are the crying needs. In many of the current analyses it is being pointed out that Thailand has become a beneficiary of this upward trend in food prices as this country produces surplus food grains. But the trend has hardly benefited the farmers - their plight remains more or less same and it is the traders who are gaining most out of the prices received.
Back home - are we not the victim of our own negligence? We are still considered to be the largest reservoir of poverty in the world, with 30 million people, as per the national poverty line definition, and well above 80 million people are surviving on less than $2.0 per day.
Neglecting agriculture triggers heavy immediate and future loss. The huge upcoming population in the workable category, in turn, is one of the rare assets that could give rich dividends exactly in the same way as China gained in the previous years.
The real challenge on the way to make agriculture an instrument of development, comes from outside agriculture - i.e., managing the political risks (political economy of agricultural policies and simultaneously strengthening governance for implementation of these policies). The crucial need is there to share the ideas, experiences and expertise, setting up of a common seed bank, joint research centre, surveillance and early warning system between the nations. Investment and regional cooperation in research and development must be at the top of regional meets be it north or south. Building up partnership with the scientists and research bodies have now become crucial than ever before. And then comes the matter of rapid technological innovation.
The reality should not be denied as well. So far as fast emerging economies like India are concerned, the fact remains that the ongoing trend is steadily moving ahead in terms of registering quicker growth in agricultural productivity. Good growth and modern farm practices and inclusive technologies are being implemented in order to foster the rural growth process. It is also a fact that cellular technologies, wireless communication networks as well as GIS based agro-software technologies are reaching rural India to disseminate vital information and updates on weather, farming technologies, fertilisers, livestock, commodity prices as well as stock markets. Still, a huge number of villages do not have access to advanced farming technologies and interactive communication networks, not to speck of the pace of rural electrification and availability of clean drinking water. Is it not the appropriate time to broaden the sight and look at vital aspects - re-identifying policy dimensions and initiative; capacity building through PPP, individual initiatives and joint ventures; boosting agri-business and agri-marketing; GIS mapping and harvesting trends; mitigating climatic change hazards; precision farming - optimum utilization of resources; lending heavily on most modern agri-practices; micro-finance and micro credit and attaching top importance to food security?
Obviously the responsibilities are to be shouldered not only by banks [who have been duly responding to Government's call for bolstering  the credit flow to this sector], but also government departments, NGOs, commodity exchanges; agri-marketing and State marketing Board and of course the Extension Departments of various States. Time is ripe for a more well-knit coordinated actions so as to : initiate inter-sectoral-linkages; progressive decision making, information sharing and performance improvement; capacity building; creating more opportunities for partnership building, development reorganization and capacity enhancement for the rural stakeholders.
But one has to clearly remember that the failure rate is never looked into. It is better to remember that under a comprehensive environment two and two do not always make four. Expected loss call for making provisions along with keeping the wolf at bay (read unexpected loss). Potato cultivation is better financed when food-processing activities extend friendly hands. It is not to be forgotten that the under-privileged section is bearing the burnt of climate change as they are neither equipped enough to prefigure meteorological changes nor do they have the capacity to mitigate the impact caused and no specific early warning system to forecast natural disasters [earthquake in China, floods in Rajasthan, etc.]
Needless to say that more delay means more damage - no planning is better than wrong planning. Time has come when this myopic tendency is done way with. A non-traditional approach is also experienced when the ongoing process is supplemented steadily. Fast creation of self-help-groups mean very little if corrective/supportive measures are not taken to resist the same from breaking down.
Regarding the optimum utilisation of other vital resources - as the estimates stand now: farmers would  in fact require 25 per cent more water by 2025 as compared to today's level for producing food gains for domestic population. The water availability for agricultural purposes would go down by 10 to 12 per cent of what is available now if remedial measures are not taken at the earliest. Rightly, the recently concluded Bangkok Conference referred to boosting renewable energy, combating wide-scale deforestation and improving the drives for energy efficiency so that the very issue of climate change could be tackled to the extent practicable.
The writer, a Management Economist, is attached to the West Bengal State University, India.
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