Experts’ Speak - Protect Our Livelihood
Convergence of SHGs, Farmers Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Co-operatives will lead to better bargaining power of farmers in terms of bulk procurement of inputs at a discounted price, economies of scale in transportation and warehousing, access to low cost institutional finance, farm mechanisation (drones for monitoring of crops and spraying of fertilisers and plant protection chemicals, etc.), aggregation in selling of agri-produce at remunerative prices. 
Over the last six years, farmers paid a premium of about Rs. 25, 186 crore but received claims worth Rs. 1,25,662 core (as on Oct 31, 2022). There can't be a better deal than this for farmers. Still, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana, Jharkhand and West Bengal opted out of the scheme citing 'financial constraints'. Punjab persistently opposed and never implemented the scheme [PM-Fasal Bima Yojana]. Now is the time for them to think and join this PM-FBY. “We need innovations in technologies, products, institutions and policies for more diversified high-value agriculture that is also planet friendly. On the question of doubling farmers’ income, we must realise it is going to take time. It can be done by increasing productivity through better seeds and better irrigation.” The FM has announced an Agri-Focused Accelerator Fund. She also talked of creating digital public infrastructure for agriculture as an open-source, open-standard and interoperable public good... These are steps in the right direction but we have to see how much funds are allocated under these schemes. “Agriculture 4.0, a considerably more advanced variant of precision farming, has the potential to transform the traditional farming industry. It refers to the use of the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, artificial intelligence, and robotics, to extend, accelerate, and improve the efficiency of activities throughout the entire production chain.” Nutritional advantages apart, millets are hardy and drought-resistant crops. This has to do with their short duration (70-100) days, against 115-150 days for rice and wheat), lower water requirement (350-500 mm versus 600-1,250 mm) and ability to grow even on poor soils and in hilly terrain. However, millets are not the first choice either of consumers or of farmers. The rice area in India has shown a mild shift, both temporally and spatially — from the rain-fed eastern belt to the drier north-west, served by controlled irrigation — despite a declining trend of rainfall observed in both the regions. The shift is part of the broader changes in land use. The agriculture for tomorrow is going to be science-based, and the winners will be those who adopt it and develop it further today. Innovation is the name of the game, and “Jai Anusandhan” is a good slogan given by PM Modi. But it will have meaning only when the government goes ahead with not just GM Mustard but also fast-tracks Ht Bt cotton, Bt Brinjal, and even GM soya and corn. While agriculture gets severely impacted by climate change, it also leads to almost 28 per cent of the global greenhouse gas (CHG) emissions thus contributing to global warming. So, it is time to invest not only in climate adaption strategies but also re-work our policies that can mitigate GHG emissions for agriculture. The net zero carbon target seems an ambitious one. Though a bit late, it can serve humanity well, if sincerely implemented and this planet can still feed more than 10 billion people. It is this science of precision farming that can give us “more from less”. The innovations and developments in GIS (Geographical Information System), AIML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning), which can use enormous data to bring about precision in farming, use of sensors, drones, doves, and LEOs (low earth orbits), space technologies, cloud computing, are all bursting out to provide the basis for a revolutionary epoch. Drips, hydroponics, and aeroponics, vertical farming, are all available for mankind to get much more with very little exploitation of the planet’s natural resource endowment