SOME PROBLEMS OF AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT
In this chapter we consider a number of problems of agricultural development most of which are linked to the question of agricultural research. Training and research are discussed in the concluding sections of the chapter; but most of the problems dealt with earlier, whether it be the supply of better seed and fertilisers, the protection of crops from pests, the improvement of agricultural implements, or the devising of better methods for conserving the moisture of the soil, depend for their solution on the successful application of scientific knowledge to the every day operations of the ordinary cultivator.
MINOR-IRRIGATION AND RAINFALL 2. A timely and adequate supply of water is absolutely essential for securing the maximum output from the land. In India nearly four-fifths of the cultivated area is dependent on rainfall which is seldom adequate and timely throughout the whole country. Annual failure of crops in different regions of, India is, therefore, a common feature of Indian Agriculture. The most effective way of increasing crop production in India is to provide through irrigation an additional source of water supply to cultivated land.
3. Irrigation is usually classified under two heads, major and minor. The area under major and minor irrigation works is 20.6 million and 26.4 million acres respectively. Another classification is based on the agency providing irrigation i.e. whether private or Government. While most of the canals are government owned, wells and tank, etc. are largely owned by private parties. The area under private and canal irrigation has varied as follows during the last 25 years in two of the principal States for which comparable figures are available :-
(in million acres)
Irrigation by Private
State average for canal
U.P. Madras U.P. Madras
1920-25 2.15 3.80 5.18 5.07
1925-30 2.61 3.95 4.98 4.69
1930-35 3.15 3.88 5.00 4.77
1935-40 3.63 3.91 5.40 4.41
1940-45 3.95 4.24 5.25 4.76
It will be seen that there has been practically no increase in private irrigation while the area under canal irrigation has increased by 83.71 and 11.6 per cent in U.P. and Madras respectively.
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4. The fact that during the last 2.5 years the area under private irrigation has remained more or less unchanged, indicates that future scope for individual investment in irrigation works is small; and this is likely to be still further diminished by reduction in the present size of holdings consequent on land reform legislation. Such works will in future have to be increasingly undertaken on a community basis with or without State assistance. We endorse, however, the recommendation of the G. M. F. Enquiry Committee that separate funds should be allotted for sinking of wells by small landholders.
5. Small and medium irrigation works have an important part to play in developing irrigation in the country. They have many obvious advantages. They provide a large amount of dispersed employment. They involve smaller outlay and can be executed in a comparatively shorter period. Being spread over the country, they confer wide- spread benefit, and it is, therefore, easier to mobilise public co- operation in their construction. In view of these advantages and their contribution to increase production, a special provision of Rs. 30 crores has been made in the Plan for minor irrigation schemes. We recommend that every State should carry out a systematic survey of the possibilities of undertaking such schemes, and formulate a programme of execution in an order of priority, so that their construction can be effected in a planned manner. An administrative arrangement under which a trained corps is available to execute such projects on condition that certain contributions hi labour and cash are provided by the local people would stimulate local competition for their execution. Such an arrangement is being adopted for the Community Projects and should be extended as and when the State can put in the field a suitable organisation for the purpose.
6. The question of maintaining these works in a proper state of repair has assumed importance, because the traditional systems in vogue have fallen into disuse. While legislation has been passed for the abolition of Zamindari, alternative arrangements have not been made for the repair of tanks which were under the zamindars' management. Frequently the beneficiaries of these works do not pay any water rate or other dues, and repairs are postponed, as responsibility for recovery of their cost cannot be fixed. In view of the large area irrigated by these works and the capital invested in them, we consider that the responsibility for their maintenance and repair should be unambiguously fixed and that the beneficiaries should be required to pay water rate in proportion to the advantage derived by them. The management of these works should vest in the irrigation department which should be made responsible for their annual maintenance and repair and should utilise village panchayats or cooperatives where they exist, as agencies for carrying out these repairs.
7. Since so much of the cultivated area depends entirely on rainfall, problems of dry farming should receive much more attention than they do at present. By preventing field run off and surface evaporation the moisture of the soil can be conserved and crops suc- cessfully raised under dry conditions. Research on this important matter has been conducted at Sholapur and Bijapur in Bombay, and at Rohtak in the Punjab. The experiments indicate that fair crop yields can be assured in a bad year and increased yield obtained in a
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normal year by following improved methods which include construction of bunds and embankments, production of soil mulch, proper weeding and hoeing and the use of drought resistant varieties of seed. There is scope for wider adoption of these practices by the cultivators. The difficulties experienced therein have to be studied by the extension staff and their solution found with the help of research.
8. The Meteorological Department has five Regional Forecasting Centres in India which issue weather bulletins daily for farmers. The bulletin is ready by noon, but it is broadcast by the All-India Radio in the Villagers' Programmes in the evening, so that the villagers can listen to it. The Director of Agricultural Meteorology receives check reports from government farms comparing the forecasts with the weather actually experienced. A periodical assessment of these returns shows that the forecasts have a very high degree of accuracy.
9. No steps have yet been taken to ascertain how these forecasts can be used to secure better timing of agricultural operations. The Agricultural Experimental Stations which verify the forecasts could be utilised for this purpose. This will involve some of them being equipped with radio sets to enable them to take full advantage of the forecasts. It is necessary that this should be done as it has yet to be established that the knowledge provided by weather forecasts can be utilised for the better timing of agricultural operations and so for obtaining increased production. It is only after this is established that the forecasts can be passed on to the cultivators and they can be advised to use them to guide their agricultural operations.
Simultaneously with this, each State might select an area where communications can be so arranged that it is possible for the weather forecast to reach the cultivator the same day that it is issued. Observations could then be made how this knowledge helps the farmer in timing his agricultural operations. Many States have community radio sets in blocks of villages and we suggest that abeginning should be made in any such area where this can be organised.
IMPROVED SEED-PRODUCTION AND SUPPLY 10. One of the most outstanding achievements of modern agriculture is the production of improved varieties of seed for different crops. The cultivator is generally well aware of the importance of using good seed. Good cultivators are known to preserve their own seed. Certain varieties of seed have spread by themselves without special departmental efforts; and if improved seed is not making such headway as it should, the cause must be sought in some defect in the seed or elsewhere than in the apathy of the cultivators.
11. The mechanism for the production and distribution of pure seed is generally the same in all the States. A variety is bred and nucleus seed is produced on government farms. It is then multiplied in two or three stages with two or three classes of cultivators, usually known as A, B & C. The seed from government farms is handed first for multiplication to `A' class cultivators. The seed multiplied is then made over for further multiplication to `B' class cultivators after which it is distributed. In some States, however, there is a third stage of multiplication. It is noticed that the larger the number of intermediate stages, the less
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the purity of the seed available for distribution. Failure to rogue properly, mixture with other grains and bad storage are some of the causes of the loss of purity and viability.
12. The scope for securing increased production from the use of improved seed is very considerable. We are not satisfied with the progress achieved so far, and feel convinced that there is much room for improvement in the system of multiplication and distribution. Some States have adopted legislation making the use of improved seed obligatory. In the case of crops liable to cross-fertilization, such a course is essential, but where soils differ considerably and require to be planted with different varieties of the same crop, compulsion would be possible only if pure seed of each variety is available. A strong public opinion has necessarily to be built up before legislation can be made effective.
13. In some States the collection and distribution of pure seed was handed over to co-operatives, but the results have not been altogether satisfactory. In the Punjab, where pure seed is collected along with other grains in the course of monopoly procurement, there have been complaints of seed deterioration. We consider that the multiplication and distribution of pure seed should be decentralised as far as possible, so that nucleus seed can be made to reach every single village or a group of villages. This will need a large number of seed farms operated by or under the close supervision of the Agricultural Department. Such farms, if large enough, can also be used for other experimental work. We recommend the location of one such farm in each block of a Community Project i.e. one for every group of about 100 villages. These farms can supply pure seed to the surrounding villages, and the duty of multiplying that seed and making it available for local distribution should be cast on holders of large farms.
14. Pedigree seed, issued for cultivation in a particular area, has to be renewed every four or five years to keep up its quality. This is the present experience of the Agricultural Departments, but scientific explanation for it is lacking. There is need to obtain accurate information as to what exactly happens under the cultivator's field conditions which leads to the deterioration of sound seed. Gradually the responsibility of the Agricultural Department for the supply of pure seed will devolve on registered seed supply agencies, and this information would be useful in arranging this transfer.
15. Experience has shown that pure seed of commercial crops, like sugarcane, groundnut, cotton, etc., spreads much faster than the seed of food crops. This may be partly due to the greater attention paid to these crops in the past, and to the work of specialised agen- cies created for their development. The supply of pure seed for food crops improved somewhat in the past few years, when considerable stress was laid on their propagation as part of the G. M. F. campaign. In spite of this, the progress has not been very great. It may be that there is special difficulty in maintaining the purity of the seed of crops which are widely consumed as food. The question requires further examination.
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16. The Agricultural Departments should guard against the tendency to issue new varieties of seed for adoption by cultivators without full and complete trials conclusively establishing their superiority over those in use. In such cases, carefully docketed information on the experience of various growers of the new variety should be available. Frequent changes of seed-particularly if it is not fully tried--may shake the confidence of the cultivators and add to the difficulties of extension workers.
17. Attention has often been drawn to the saving which can be effected by a reduction in seed-rate but no systematic attempt has been made in any compact area to introduce sowing with a low seed- rate. The practice of treating the seed with a suitable fungicide before sowing requires to be introduced. The advantages of this practice are not widely known and deserve to be demonstrated.
18. We recommend the appointment by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research of a Standing Committee of Plant Breeders and Extension Workers to review every year the technical and administrative aspects of the multiplication and spread of improved varieties of seed and to make recommendations in the light of the review.
MANURES AND FERTILISERS 19. Manures and fertilisers play the same part in relation to the soil as food in relation to the body. just as a well-nourished body is capable of the maximum effort, a well nourished soil will have the best fertility.
20. The quality of the soil varies greatly in a country of the size of India. A systematic survey of the soils of India has not yet been carried out, though it is generally known that Indian soils are deficient in organic matter, nitrogen and phosphates. Soil samples have been analysed in different areas, but their correlation into a soil-survey for the whole country has not been undertaken. Field experiments have been conducted in various regions to determine the response of crops to various combinations of organic and inorganic manures, but in most cases crops responses and soil analysis have not been linked up. A very little work in connection with the effects of trace-elements in the soil has been done hitherto. It is now proposed to undertake a programme, designed to correlate soils, manurial trials and crop responses over the whole country. A beginning will be made with the Community Project areas and other selected areas in each State. A systematic study of the effect of trace elements in soils is also being made. Assistance under the T. C. A. has greatly facilitated this work.
21. Organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash are the chief constituents which must be supplied to the soil. Nitrogen is of the first importance in crop production. The soil has a mechanism by which it absorbs nitrogen from the atmosphere and makes it available to living beings in the form of grain and fodder; men and cattle derive energy from the consumption of these and the nitrogen taken from the soil is returned to it in the form of organic manures like farmyard manure, green manure, oilcakes, composts of various kinds, bone-meal and various types of chemical fertilizers, thus completing the nitrogen cycle.
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Next in importance is phosphate. Plants absorb phosphates from the soil which are returned to it through animal and human excreta and through decayed plants and their ashes and the bones of dead animals.
Indian soils, while deficient in nitrogen and phosphates, are generally rich in potash. Lack of potash does not, therefore, present a serious problem at present but it is one that should be watched.
22. Manures may be classified into two categories--(a) organic manures and (b) inorganic manures. Organic manures may further be sub-divided into (i) bulky organic manures; (ii) concentrated organic manures. Bulky organic manures include farmyard manure, compost manure, nightsoil and green manure, while concentrated manures are oil cakes, bonemeal, dried blood, horns and hoofs, etc. Tropical soils often lack humus. The addition of bulky organic manures like farmyard manure, which is a by-product in farming by bullocks, helps the soil by increasing its water holding capacity, improving soil aeration, and by changing the plant nutrients through slow decomposition into forms readily available to plants. There are other advantages in the use of organic manures namely (a) steadiness in yield over a period of time (b) benefit to the succeeding crops by their residual effects, and (c) ability to withstand unfavourable weather conditions.
23. On the basis of the 1951 livestock census the total production of fresh dung is estimated at 800 million tons ; however, all this valuable manure does not go back to the land. A large part of it--which may amount to nearly 50 per cent is used as fuel by cultivators. The dung which is now burnt can be saved for agriculture if suitable supplies of fuel are made available. We have recommended in the chapter on Forests the creation of village plantations and popularising the use of coke.
The above estimates do not relate to cattle urine which is rich in nitrogen but mostly goes to waste. Conservation of cattle urine should be an item of extension work in all States and increasing attention should be paid to the conservation of this useful source of manure.
24. Human excreta and urine are very important sources of nitrogen, phosphorous and organic matter. Their maximum utilisation occurs in China and Japan but in those countries they are applied in a raw uncomposted form, and harmful bacteria find their way to the crop and affect the health of those who consume it. This is avoided in India, where such manure is almost invariably applied after proper composting.
25. In urban areas, where the night soil is removed by sweepers, it is usually composted with refuse, and the manure is sold to the cultivators. Most State Governments have passed legislation making it obligatory on Municipalities and Notified Area Committees to dispose of night soil in this way, and a steady improvement in the amount of urban compost is noticeable.
Lakh tons
1946-47 2.89
1947-48 3.80
1948-49 5.17
1949-50 9.23
1950-51 10.53
1951-52 13.50
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