Incoming corporate wave in food systems will threaten farmers and consumers: Report - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Incoming corporate wave in food systems will threaten farmers and consumers: Report.

This will trigger massive shift of rural dwellers to urban areas, exacerbate land and resource grabs by corporations.

An incoming ‘corporate tidal wave’ in the food industry as well as farming may threaten the interests of millions of farmers and consumers alike, a recent report has cautioned. This may trigger a massive shift of rural dwellers to urban areas, exacerbate land and resource grabs by corporations and make supply chains more susceptible to pandemics and climate change.

The report, released March 30, 2021, analysed ‘business-as-usual’ food systems and how it may evolve over the next quarter century (by 2045) as corporations and governments respond to environmental breakdown, social dislocation, geopolitical reconfiguration and a vast pipeline of technological possibilities.

The scenario will mean handing the keys of the food system over to big data, technology and e-commerce platforms, which may exacerbate food insecurity and further environmental degradation, the report said.

The report was released by International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES) and ETC group (Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration).

The study warned of specific threats to farming and food security if agribusiness plans come to fruition:

• Artificial intelligence is re-engineering ecosystems, and robotic tractors and drones are being rolled out as fast as digital infrastructures allow. Millions of rural dwellers will be forced to migrate to urban areas.

• Data on food is a valuable strategic asset. Peasants, whose land acquires a new value now that it is more readily accessible to robotic farm equipment, are vulnerable to fresh land grabs. The report cautioned that a new wave of land, ocean and resource grabs is imminent.

• Powerful corporations and major governments are now moving to control food supplies across vast economic corridors. Long, complex global supply chains will be more vulnerable to pandemics, climate change and critical ‘chokepoints’.

• ‘Hyper-nudging’ is on the rise. This means data from everyday transactions (digital wallets to automated food services) is getting increasingly combined with information harvested online to manipulate people’s eating habits.

“The keys of the food system are being handed over to data platforms, private equity firms, and e-commerce giants. This is the dystopian future of food and the planet, unless civil society fights back,” warned Pat Mooney, lead author of the study.

The authors stressed on the ‘Long Food Movement’ for the next 25 years — a series of strategies that could boost post-COVID-19 pandemic resilience, slash agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions by 75 per cent, and shift $4 trillion from the industrial food chain to food sovereignty and agroecology.

The report added: “This includes $720 billion in subsidies going to big commodity production, and as much as $1.6 trillion in healthcare savings from a crackdown on junk food. The sum total of these actions could cut 75 per cent of food system emissions.”

Some of the key strategies include:

• Diverting funds from major commodity subsidies, research expenditures and ‘niche’ budget lines to small-scale food producers.

• Supporting short supply chains and territorial markets: By 2045, as much as 50 per cent of food would be sourced from local and regional supply chains. Up to 80 per cent of wealthier populations can go flexitarian.

• Levying taxes on junk food, toxins, carbon dioxide emissions and the revenues of multinationals.

• Adopting emergency food security measures that supersede trade and intellectual property rules.

• Ensuring that famine, malnutrition and environmental degradation are considered criminal violations that can be internationally prosecuted. (Source: downtoearth)

The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Incoming corporate wave in food systems will threaten farmers and consumers: Report.

Biometric authentication to benefit farmers: Centre - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Biometric authentication to benefit farmers: Centre.

It will aid in tracking end use beneficiary: Piyush Goyal.

In a bid to cut out middleman and ensure greater transparency in the procurement of farm produce, the Centre is encouraging States to deploy biometric authentication of farmers.

The practice, already adopted in Uttar Pradesh and set to be rolled out in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha this year, will aid in tracking the end use beneficiary, Food Minister Piyush Goyal said at a press conference on Thursday.

Online payments

The initiative comes at a time when farmers are agitating for a legal guarantee that all their crops will be procured at a minimum support price (MSP), and demanding the repeal of three farm reform laws that they believe will weaken the current system of procurement at State-run markets. In States such as Punjab and Haryana, where the agitation has been strongest, middlemen who act as commission agents or arhitiyas are a key part of the procurement process at these mandis.

The Centre had already taken steps to roll out online payments to farmers who sell their produce to the government, said Food Ministry Additional Secretary Edwin Kulbhushan Majhi. It had directed the State governments of Haryana and Punjab to ensure payments in e-mode from the upcoming season, and was expecting all States to follow suit this year.

“We would like all payments released by the Central government to farmers, that we are able to track them online. There should not be any intermediaries, farmers should not be given cheques to be encashed. The money should go directly into the farmers’ accounts,” said Mr. Majhi.

Faster process

The next step was the biometric authentication scheme that U.P. had already rolled out. “The entire process of procurement has to be made faster. Once you have data of farmers available, and once they are bio-authenticated, the entire details are digitally available to the procurement machinery, the kind of crop he’s cultivating, the kind of landholding he has, all the details are available,” said Mr. Majhi.

This initiative reduced the need for extensive paperwork, prevented leakages and speeded up the process of procurement, with payment settlement being completed within 72 hours, he said, adding efficiency and greater cost-effectiveness to the system.

“The other advantage is that the farmer gets a receipt for his goods, showing the quantity and the MSP price, so nobody can cheat the farmer. He gets the full fair price,” said Mr. Goyal. He did not respond to a query whether bio authentication would be mandatory for farmers to participate in the procurement process.

“States are welcoming it, it is easier for the farmer, the farmer doesn’t have to depend on the middleman or the arhitiyas,” added Mr. Majhi.

With regard to the Economic Survey’s recommendation for a hike in the subsidised prices of rice and wheat sold at ration shops, Mr. Goyal said it was not under consideration at the moment. “At present, there is no such proposal in the Ministry to increase the prices of products given under the [National] Food Security Act. It continues to be ₹3, ₹2 and ₹1 for rice, wheat and coarse grain [respectively],” he said.

The Economic Survey had urged that prices be hiked in order to reduce the burgeoning food subsidy bill. (Source: The Hindu)

The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Biometric authentication to benefit farmers: Centre.

Steps taken to promote entrepreneurship in North-Eastern Region - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Steps taken to promote entrepreneurship in North-Eastern Region.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Government has initiated and implemented several initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in North-Eastern Region. In a statement laid in the Lok Sabha today, he said, steps have been taken for improvement in enabling environment and vibrant ecosystem to enable entrepreneurs to tap the potential of the region.

Important connectivity projects for capital rail, air and road connectivity will be completed in the next two to three years. Development of Inland Waterways- National Waterways 2 and National Waterways 16 will provide connectivity to Haldia through Indo-Bangladesh Protocol Route and greatly benefit the eco-system by reducing cost.

Bamboo which has the potential to change the NE economy has got a boost with setting up of bio-refinery at Numaligarh, Assam; Bamboo Industrial Park at Dima Hasao, Assam; with reduced imports following enhancement of import duty to 25% on bamboo sticks for Agarbattis and amendment in Indian Forest Act, 1927.

The institutional framework for promotion of entrepreneurship is provided by several institutes in NER like Indian Institute of Entrpreneurship (IIE), Guwahati; three Indian Institutes of Information Technology(IIIT) in NER, Institutes of Hotel Management at Guwahati and Shillong, Film and Television Institute at Jollang-Rakap (Jote), Arunachal Pradesh, and National Institute of Design (NID), Jorhat, Assam. These institutes provide opportunity for skilling and nurturing young creative talent and design aspirants from North East Region and boost entrepreneurship. Further, KrishiUdaan Scheme to evacuate local produce, 586 Van DhanVikasKendras and Zoram Mega Food Park etc. will boost entrepreneurship, trade and commerce. In Assam and Meghalaya, the PMYUVA Pilot is being implemented in selected Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), Polytechnics, Pradhan MantriKaushal Kendra (PMKKs) centres and Jan SikshanSansthan (JSS). Under PMYUVA, 25 project institutes have been selected for the pilot project on Entrepreneurship Development in Assam and Meghalaya.

Entrepreneurs in NER have also been benefitted under various credit related schemes. Under Stand Up India Scheme, 3,449 loan accounts of SC/ST/Women beneficiaries were sanctioned for Rs. 714.83 crore and under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, a total of 1,07,26,209 loan accounts were sanctioned for Rs 48,868 crore in the 8 North Eastern States. Under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme 24,455 units were set up and employment for 1,95,640 persons was generated from 2017-18 to 31.12.2020; under Credit Guarantee Trust Fund of Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE), an amount of Rs.4684.55 crore was approved towards 98569 guarantees. An amount of Rs.21.26 crore was settled for 83393 beneficiaries under Interest Subvention Scheme for Incremental Credit to MSME since its inception in November, 2018.

The Start-up India Initiatives aims at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting innovation by creating and enabling eco-system. Under this, 408 startups have been recognized in the NER.

North East Development Finance Institution(NEDFI) has extended financial assistance to 6844 no. of projects with total sanctions and disbursement of Rs.5487.92 Cr. & Rs.4222.64 Cr. respectively, facilitating capital formation of around Rs.15922 Cr. during 1995 to 2020.The North East Venture Fund (NEVF), the first dedicated Venture Fund for NE has approved investments worth Rs 59.52 Crore in 29 ventures across sectors including healthcare, mobility, IT &ITeS, food processing/food tech, adventure tourism, agri-allied services and handicraft.

Under North East Industrial Development Scheme (NEIDS), 2017, 202 units have been registered.

Organizations such as North East Handicrafts & Handloom Corporation (NEHHDC),Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED), Khadi and Village Industries Commission(KVIC) have launched E- Commerce portals i.e. www.purbashree.com, www.tribesindia.com, ekhadiindia.com which enable entrepreneurs including from North East to reach out to a wider market. The organizations like NEHHDC and TRIFED are also supporting the marketing of NE products through other e-commerce platforms. (Source: pib)

The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Steps taken to promote entrepreneurship in North-Eastern Region.

How will Centre double farmers’ income by next year? Union Budget 2021-22 has no answer - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

How will Centre double farmers’ income by next year? Union Budget 2021-22 has no answer.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set the ambitious target in 2016.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman made a brief mention in her budget speech of the Centre’s plan to double farmers’ income, the deadline for which is 2022.

The target was announced on February 28, 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had said that by the time India celebrated its 75th Independence Day in 2022, farmers’ income would have doubled.

The Union Budget 2021-22 presented on February 1, 2021, was the penultimate budget before the deadline but the plan to achieve this ambitious target was not outlined in the document.

“Six years are going to end in 2022 and we haven’t heard from the government in the budget on how it plans to do this. There was no report card of current income levels of the farmers and nothing at all to show how to achieve this target,” said Kiran Kumar Vissa, national group member, All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee.

A report by the standing committee on agriculture submitted to Parliament on March 3, 2020 said that the Union government has asked all departments to work towards doubling farmer income. As part of the initiative, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Delhi, has prepared plans for each state and sent them for implementation. But there are no details on how states should work or how the government will analyse the progress.

In 2017, ICAR had decided to adopt and develop two villages as models in each district of the country, the report said, so that state governments can follow the schemes and practices and frame its own policies to double farmer incomes in other villages. Down To Earth had earlier reached out to these villages and found that there is no progress.

Amid extreme rural distress, experts have time and again called this plan unrealistic. Is the government indicating that it was merely sloganeering and the target is not an achievable? The current budget also does not inspire confidence in even increasing farmer incomes if not doubling.

Budget 2021-22 announced a 10 per cent increase in farm credit and higher allocations for fisheries, farmer produce organisations, aajeevika (rural livelihood mission) and recapitalisation of regional rural banks.

"Other than that, there is only stagnation or decline in many other scheme allocations like for crop insurance, interest subvention subsidy and even PM-KISAN (a direct benefit transfer scheme for farmers). Even MIS and PSS has much lower allocation than last year as only half of last year’s allocation was spent,” said Sukhpal Singh, professor, Centre for Management in Agriculture, IIM Ahmedabad.

“The only promise on the agri market front is more agricultural produce market committees (APMC) being planned to be linked to eNam (a national trading platform for agricultural products) and allowing APMCs to access agriculture infrastructure finds as loans. Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojna also has lower allocation than last year. It looks more like an interim budget,” he added.

In the budget speech, Sitharaman shared the procurement data of wheat and paddy and highlighted that the procurement has significantly gone up compared to 2013-14 and that the number of farmers benefitting from this has also increased. But these are just two crops which are procured from few states like Punjab, Haryana, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh.

She also made a major announcement towards increasing agriculture credit target to Rs 16.5 lakh crore. (Source: downtoearth)

The above Article can also be read using the link below:

How will Centre double farmers’ income by next year? Union Budget 2021-22 has no answer.

Launch of NCDC model for cooperatives as Modern banking unit will bring about financial inclusion of farmers in remote villages - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Launch of NCDC model for cooperatives as Modern banking unit will bring about financial inclusion of farmers in remote villages.

There is no minimum and maximum limit of financial assistance under this model devised by National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC).

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Radha Mohan Singh has said that National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) besides being responsible for training, awareness and evaluation programmes of employees working in the cooperative sector also facilitates the same for other stakeholders in the cooperative sector in the country. The main objective of the NCCT is to facilitate the human resource development in the cooperatives in the country. The Minister was addressing 2nd Governing Council meeting of National Council for Cooperative Training (NCCT) and launch of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC’s) model for cooperatives as Modern banking Unit today.

He said that VAMNICOM (Vaikunth Mehta National Institute of Cooperative Management) at the national level and five regional cooperative management institutes in Bengaluru, Chandigarh,
Gandhinagar, Kalyani and Patna at the regional level and 14 cooperative management institutes in various parts of the country meet training requirements of senior and middle employees working in cooperative departments and organizations. The council has trained 46203 participants in 1340 programs by its various training units till December 2018.
Shri Singh added that the government is giving special emphasis on the rapid socio-economic development of the North Eastern States and Sikkim. NCCT is playing a vital role in the development of human resources in co-operatives in the North Eastern States. The training requirements of North Eastern Region are being met by the cooperative training institutes in Guwahati, Imphal and Regional cooperative Institute in Kalyani.
The Minister also launched the National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)’s model for Cooperatives as Modern Banking Units with an aim to strengthen cooperative banks at various levels and bring about financial inclusion of farmers in the remote villages of the country.He said that Modi government’s objective behind the Primary Agricultural Credit Co-operative Societies (PACS) computerization project is to provide a robust IT platform leading to automation of all activities of the PACS. For this, NCDC has taken a comprehensive step for strengthening of cooperative as Modern Banking Units.
The model includes upgradation and new setup of IT and related infrastructure such as Data Centre, Enterprise Network and Security, Core Banking Solutions (CBS), ATMs, POS, e-Lobby, etc. It also includes assistance to cooperatives in capacity development through its dedicated Laxmanrao Inamdar National Academy for Co-operative Research & Development. (Source:pib)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

Launch of NCDC model for cooperatives as Modern banking unit will bring about financial inclusion of farmers in remote villages.

How farmers in India are adapting to climate change in India - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

How farmers in India are adapting to climate change in India.

Farmers in India are using both intra-crop and inter-crop adaptations to tide over the grave impact of climate change on agriculture in India.

Climate change has the potential to hurt everyone, but one particularly vulnerable group is farmers. Agriculture, especially in India, depends on favourable weather conditions; so climate change-induced temperature rises can significantly hurt farm productivity. Consequently, a farmer’s ability to adapt to temperature changes becomes crucial.
In a new paper presented at the North East Universities Development Consortium, Vis Taraz of Smith College quantifies the effect of climate change on Indian agriculture and analyses the ability of Indian farmers to adapt to temperature changes.

Combining data on agricultural yields from 286 Indian districts from 1979 to 2011 with daily district-level weather data, Taraz shows that higher temperatures hurt farm yields significantly. She reveals that having one additional day where temperature averages 27-30 degrees reduces yields by around 1% compared to days with temperatures of 12-15 degrees.
She also finds that yield losses are about 50% lower in hotter districts than colder districts, suggesting that farmers in hotter districts are better at adapting to temperature changes.
Farmers can adapt to temperature changes in two ways. They can practise intra-crop adaptation, where they adjust their agriculture practices to make their crops more heat-resistant. One example of this would be investments in irrigation which protect against both excessive heat and droughts.
Or farmers could practise inter-crop adaptation where they simply plant more heat-resistant crops, such as sorghum or maize, or switch to crops that grow in the cooler parts of the year (such as wheat). Taraz finds evidence of both types of adaptation in India. However, this adaptation occurs only up to a certain extent.
When temperatures rise above 30 degrees, they inflict significant damage to crops and adaptation becomes very expensive, even in areas that experience high temperatures regularly.
According to Taraz, the immediate policy implication for both the Indian government and the private sector is to implement the policies and develop the technology that allow farmers to better adapt to higher temperatures. (Source:Livemint)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

How farmers in India are adapting to climate change in India.

How the govt’s goal of doubling farmers’ incomes is shaping up - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

How the govt’s goal of doubling farmers’ incomes is shaping up.

Despite several steps taken by the government, it is not possible to double farm incomes by 2022, due to the dismal agriculture growth rates in recent past, say agriculture economists.

In February 2016, the Narendra Modi government in New Delhi set itself a formidable target: to double farmer incomes by 2022. The announcement was made as a crippling drought year (2015-16) neared its end. But there was bad news around the corner: normal rains meant consecutive years of bountiful harvests in 2016-17 and 2017-18, which in turn precipitated an unprecedented fall in farm gate prices, denting farm incomes. This forced the government to step up purchases from farmers at support prices. There were payment delays to farmers like Gyan Singh. In addition, the government faced the wrath of those who had missed the bus, having to sell in wholesale markets at prices that were 20-30% lower than MSP.
Targets and strategies
In April 2016, the centre set up an inter-ministerial committee to suggest ways to double farmer incomes. The committee clarified that the target is to double the incomes of farm households in real terms (or inflation adjusted) between 2015-16 and 2022-23, or within just seven years. Since then, the committee has submitted 13 volumes on status and strategies for different aspects of the farm sector—from marketing and value addition to risk management and sustainability. On 17 September, the committee submitted its 14th and final report to the government.
“The strategy for doubling farmers’ income encompasses higher productivity at cost efficiency and enabling the farmer to capture maximum value on every grain, every drop and every ounce of his produce,” explains Ashok Dalwai, chairman of the inter-ministerial committee. Dalwai added that the income approach to agriculture is a new paradigm as production-based growth rate estimates do not reflect the true health of the sector.
Among the top recommendations of the committee is to improve value realization from farmers with an understanding that there is an inverse relationship between farm incomes and production: prices and incomes tend to fall with higher levels of production.
The committee noted in its very first report that “the success of production as of now amounts to half success, and is therefore not sustainable. Recent agitations of farmers (June-July 2017) in certain parts of the country demanding higher prices on their produce following record output or scenes of farmers dumping tractor loads of tomatoes and onions onto the roads or emptying canisters of milk into drains exemplify neglect of other half segment of agriculture.”
To improve post-production value-addition, the committee suggested pooling of land and aggregation of farmers’ produce to give growers better bargaining power in the market. Alongside, it recommended a move from a supply push to a demand pull cropping pattern, where farmers would grow what India’s and world’s changing consumer preferences demanded—by shifting, for instance, from grains to horticulture and diversifying into livestock and fisheries.
The committee has also suggested creating a new market infrastructure by replacing existing marketing laws which are restrictive and where cartels of traders determine prices opaquely. To maximize their earnings potential, it suggested “upgrading and harmonizing agri-logistics, agro-processing and marketing.”
Steps so far
The government has set the ball rolling by initiating several steps. In April 2016, it launched an electronic national agriculture market or eNAM to facilitate online trade to give more choice of buyers to farmers. This was followed by a revamped crop insurance scheme launched in the kharif season of 2016 which promised reduced premiums and higher coverage of risks. In April 2017, the centre rolled out a new agriculture marketing Act and urged states to adopt it for making wholesale markets more competitive and transparent.
In May this year, the government finalized a Model Contract Farming Act to integrate farmers with bulk purchasers and agro-industries.
In the budget this year, the centre announced it will set MSP for crops so that farmers can get at least 50% returns over the cost of production, and rolled out a new scheme, Operation Green TOP, to set up value chains for the most commonly consumed horticulture products—tomatoes, onions and potatoes.
To ensure that farmers receive the promised MSP—for oilseeds and pulses—the government also launched a scheme, PM-AASHA in September which involves a mix of direct procurement, reimbursement of losses to farmers when they sell at prices lower than MSP, and encouraging private participation in MSP-based procurement.
Expert view
Despite several steps taken by the government, many are sceptical. Agriculture economists point to the fact that it is not possible to double farm incomes by 2022, due to the dismal agriculture growth rates in recent past.
“Doubling of farmers’ incomes by 2022-23 was expressed as his ‘dream’ by the Honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2016. Given that only five years are left, and so far agriculture growth has been just 2.5% per annum in the first four years of Modi government, what would be needed is almost 13% growth in real incomes of farmers in remaining years. This is not feasible with existing set of policies,” said Ashok Gulati, agriculture chair professor at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations.
Farmer leaders say the new schemes launched by the government are yet to show results on ground.
“Two-and-a-half years have passed by but what we have so far is a report with no prospective landmarks, prioritisation strategy or resource plan,” said Yogendra Yadav, founder-member of Jai Kisan Andolan, a farmer’s body. “The reality that farmers are now selling their kharif harvest of pulses, oilseeds and coarse grains at less than MSP after all the promises and schemes shows a lack of seriousness.”(Source: Livemint)


The above Article can also be read using the link below:

How the govt’s goal of doubling farmers’ incomes is shaping up.