Y.S. RANA :
CHANDIGARH—Vegetable prices are on fire and household budgets are in a tizzy and it has become rituals. It leads to spiralling of cost of living along with cost of food. Policy wonks will turn around and tell you that agricultural production is hitting the high notes year after year but no one dare to tread where the real problem lies.
Net sown area in India in 1970 was 140 million hectares or around 46.20 per cent. Agriculture’s contribution to GDP was a healthy 41 per cent. Over the time, there has been massive erosion in agriculture land. In 2009 net sown area has grown to a meagre 142 million hectares (increase of just two million hectares) but its contribution to GDP down to 17 per cent.
India’s population in 1970 was 54.62 crore which has now grown exponentially to a staggering 130 crore. It means net are sown remains the same over a 50-yearwhile the mouths to feed have increased over 80 crore. Experts sy that the growth rate of land under sowing has been abysmal which was at one level causing less production of agriculture products.
Indian agriculture is a well-documented story of statistical deception and even aberration. Since 1951 compounded annual growth rate for rice is a paltry 2.12 per cent, for wheat it is 2.25 per cent, for bajra 2.26 per cent for sugarcane 1.24 per cent.
India is the world’s second largest importer of vegetable oil worth a record $ 11.13 billion in 2012-13. The story is the same for pulses where it is world’s number one importer and consumer. Our traditional palate comprises much more than rice and wheat and here is when the real shortcomings are.
India the world’s largest producer of milk and second largest producer of vegetables and fruits is also one of the biggest vegetables and fruits wasters in the world. The problem is aggravated due to lack of sufficient storage facilities and marketing. As per official records, only 10 per cent of fruits and vegetables produce use cold storage facilities and around 18 per cent of fruits and vegetables produce worth Rs 113 billion go to drain annually.
According to ASSOCHAM up to 2017 the cold chain industry was expected to grow at around 25.8 per cent to reach Rs 64 billion. But the industry has been facing rise in land cost, power shortage and expensive power. While Himachal Pradesh has present capacity of cold storage only 0.20 lakh metric tonne compared to Haryana 3.93 lakh metric tonne. On the other, Himachal Pradesh needs 4.87 lakh metric tonne cold storage capacity and Haryana 8.04 lakh matric tonne. Only Punjab has 1027 lakh matric tonne excess cold storage capacity. India needs to go down to the last grain along with stringent population control measures to ward off hunger.