Tapping the latent strength of agriculture

As European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Dacian Ciolos said, greater emphasis has to be given to two factors for modernising agriculture. These are innovation and youth. Young farmers naturally bring innovative and progressive ideas in line with the society. The farmers must be able to make a comfortable living from their work and the society must be made more aware of the value of their dedication and commitment.
This is agriculture. Adequate emphasis is still awaited in many developing economies in spite of the very fact that for food one cannot go on depending on others! We have still a long way to go - as the asking rate is much more. Let us come to food security and sustainable agricultural systems. By 2050, the global population will surpass 9 billion people, and demand for agricultural products is expected to double.
Agriculture has to equip itself to respond to changing requirements. But whither farm sector? Some silver-lining should not lead us to arrive at complacency.
Feeding a population of 9 billion in 2050 through the ongoing practices? The answer is very clear. Tinkering around the existing process can yield a success - to some extent only - as the interests are crisscrossed. Is it not a fact that the world needs a new vision for the farm sector -   delivering food security, environmental sustainability and economic opportunity through agriculture?  This calls for producing more food with fewer resources, while reinvigorating rural economies, and the same can only be achieved through collaboration, investment and innovation among all stakeholders - big, medium and small.
Undoubtedly, the issue of food security and nutrition involve many dimensions including food availability, affordability, nutritional quality and safety, access to and cost of finance to farmers, public expenditure in agriculture, research and development, and private sector investment in agriculture. However, international assistance alone could not fulfill the objectives, which were even more pressing now as Afro-Asia's role was expanding in the global economy. At the same time, engagement of decentralised levels for their roles and contributions to the growth and development of the agriculture sector and rural livelihoods was crucial to the success of such programmes.
Global cooperation can go a long way in arresting the downfall in least developed food-nutrition-deficient countries. Exchange of technology is one of such areas of cooperation. Technology the countries like India and China use to grow and process tropical fruit may contribute to developing Africa's agriculture. For example: the Noni fruit, though foul-smelling, has been found to be effective in reducing blood sugar levels and treating some forms of cancer. Market potentialities of Noni can be assessed. Agricultural demonstration centres and training programmes can be arranged on a regular basis.
What is more, the farm sector is also now expected to be a foreign exchange spinner. The reality is that economies of many developing countries still depend, to a high degree, on the production of a handful of commodities destined principally for export [banana, sugar, natural rubber and tropical beverages like tea, coffee and cocoa]. It has also been a reality that the distinction between export crops and those for the domestic market is not always neat, either across or even within the developing countries. Sugar is the export crop par excellence for Mauritius and Cuba but a major import for Egypt, Indonesia and several other countries; vegetable oils and oilseeds (specifically palm oil and soybean) are major and rapidly growing export crops for several countries (including Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina and Brazil), but are heavily imported by other countries (India and China).  
So, the farm sector continues to bear the load - the food and raw materials supplier, employment giver and, at the same time, foreign exchange earner. Though the potentialities are immense, a number of grey areas would continue to exist blocking the road to future progress. That is why time has arrived when a renovated thinking is essential. Multi-dimensional role calls for reversible flow --- high interaction between the sectors.
It is high time to specialise in ventures, business development and marketing in the ever-expanding agriculture hi-tech field. Such services have to include planning, priority setting, performance and quality control of marketing processes. The nature of such activities is to be comprehensive - from the management level through marketing performance and sales. Collaboration arrangement offers businesses opportunity to excel in marketing and expand sales while significantly lowering international marketing expenses. These call for, in turn, preparation of business plans, market surveys, locating and sorting information for decision-making, preparing for business trips and fund-raising from public and private sources --- of course by managing low budgets with time constraints and limited resources. Heavy investment in agriculture would go a long way in boosting food production and ensuring nutrition for the people.
Side by side, the environmental issues must be addressed - the present concern is that the additional production that meets world demand will be 'unsustainable', involving deepening levels of environmental damage that will undermine the natural resource base.  So far as the developed countries are concerned, these fears relate mainly to the increased use of chemical inputs. Past increases led to serious problems of water and air pollution, and so would the future ones unless counter-measures are taken.  In future also, around 80 per cent of increased crop production in developing countries will have to come from intensification: higher yields, increased multiple cropping and shorter fallow periods. Undoubtedly, the overuse of pesticides and other chemical inputs is a big problem, especially in some high-potential areas. The fact remains that increasing production in the developing world entails environmental risks emanating from extensive farming and ranching systems (soil erosion, soil mining and deforestation, leading to declining yields and desertification). In intensive irrigated farming systems, the major risks are also there (salinisation, water logging plus water scarcities). It is also a fact that some methods for increasing and sustaining crop production, while minimising environmental damage are already located and practised. Such methods need to be researched, devised and extended for all environments, backed by appropriate policies that will encourage their rapid spread also.
Better not to forget where we are standing now. Nearly one billion people - one out of six globally - lack access to adequate food and nutrition. Side by side, the world's agricultural systems will be increasingly challenged by water scarcity, climate change and volatility, raising the risk of production shortfalls.
Dr B K Mukhopadhyay is a                     management economist.                      [email protected]