CHANGING TRENDS OF VEGETABLE CULTIVATION IN WEST BENGAL, INDIA DURING POST-INDEPENDENCE. T.K.Maity1and D.

Basu2 1 Deparment of Vegetable Crops 2 Department of Agricultural Extension

Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (SAU), Mohanpur 741252, West Bengal, India. E-mail: prof_tapanmaity@rediffmail.com / drtapanmaity@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract West Bengal, the gate way to South East Asia emerged as the topmost productive state of India in respect of Vegetables over the years. Since independent India tries to overcome the colonial hang over of poor productivity in the eastern states and scientific cultivation of vegetable was introduced through Applied Nutritional Programme in collaboration with UNICEF, FAO and WHO in villages under Community Development Blocks with an intention of promoting nutrition rather than earning profit. But the farmers adopted the intervention as a profiteering venture instead of health improvement agenda considering the growing demand and adapting the technology as survival techniques for maintaining livelihood with a depleting land base due to population pressure. Innovation proneness with bare necessity acted as drivers for this transition of changing focuses of growing vegetables in spite of cereals in high and medium lands .This change gained support by assured irrigation through installation of minor irrigation initiatives coupled with quality input support at doorsteps. The public and private extension mechanisms were instrumental in this silent revolution, often termed as Golden Revolution. The effect was phenomenal in terms of larger area coverage under vegetable, encroachment of vegetable crop in non-traditional areas, introduction of new crops, growing of same crops over the years in different season, staggered sowing, placing vegetable in non-traditional cropping sequences, innovations for raising cropping intensity by applying intercropping, mixed cropping, relay cropping, multilayered cropping, allay cropping etc. Although the production faced occasional gluts, but the achievements, mostly farmers driven can be recognized in terms of employment generation in cultivation, marketing and food processing; food vis-a-vis nutritional security. On the other hand the system suffers from fixed rotation of crops, high disease pest burden, indiscriminate use of pesticides and consequent pollution which requires attention at all levels. Key words: Vegetable production, crop diversification, cropping system INTRODUCTION The role of vegetables in a country like India where large segments of our population are suffering from malnutrition and undernutrition needs hardly any emphasis. Vegetables are rich and comparatively cheaper source of vitamins and minerals. According to the studies of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi and National Institute of Hyderabad, meager intake of vegetables, low cost protective foods, is largely responsible for malnutrition among the majority of Indian population. Vegetables not only have great potential in improving health of our countrymen, but are also capable of economically empowering them and raising countrys GDP. The present average consumption in our country is only about half of the requirement. Hence it is obvious that the vegetable production is to be increased manifold.

Global Scenario in Vegetable Production The horticulture sector (i.e., fruits and vegetables combined) has been the fastest growing food sector in the world. Its production has increased from 495 million tons in 1970 to 1,379 million tons in 2004. Although cereal, livestock, and fish production each increased by approximately100 percent during this period, the horticultural sectors production increased by 178 percent (Ali, 2008). Among the horticultural sub-sectors, vegetable production increased at the fastest rate, especially during the later period, 1995-2004. It has grown at an annual average rate of 3.6 percent for the last thirty-five years (1970-2004), from 255 million tons in 1970 to 876 million tons in 2004. Although the growth in the vegetable sector in developing countries was high, almost equal to the highest growing livestock sector in these countries, expansion in this sector was exceptionally high in China, especially during 1995-2004. Production growth in horticulture in developed countries was small during the overall period, and was even negative for fruits in the later period. This created a space for developing country production, especially in China. During 1970-2004, about 52 percent of the increase in global horticultural production came from China, 40 percent came from all other developing countries, and the remaining 8 percent came from developed countries, suggesting that the Horticulture Revolution is benefiting developing countries more than developed, especially China. Present status of vegetable production in India Total vegetable production in India before independence was only 15 million tones and since independence for decades the growth rate was stabilized nearly 0.5%.The impetus on vegetable research and policy intervention to promote vegetable crops witnessed a sudden increased growth rate of 2.5%. a hike of five times in the last decade giving total annual production of over 101 million tonnes during 2004-05 (Table 1).Presently India is the second largest producer of vegetables sharing 11.5% world production of vegetables. However, the overall productivity of 15.1 tonnes per hectare is far below the potential productivity of different vegetable crops. In fine, vegetable production in India is not keeping pace with the rising demand for the increasing population which is expected to be about 1.20 billion in the year 2020 and 1.52 billion in 2050. In the present economic growth, demand of vegetables will be around 128 million tonnes by the end of Eleventh Five Year Plan period of the country and 160 million tonnes by 2020-21. Present status of vegetable production in West Bengal West Bengal is the leader in the country and accounts for 17.84%of the countrys total production of vegetables including potato (Table 2). The States unique location in the heart of the Gangetic Delta and being bestowed with six agro climatic zones gives it to a natural advantage in agriculture and horticulture. A pool of progressive farmers and small farm holdings are the added features that have brought the State to the forefront in production of a number of horticultural crops amongst which vegetable crops is an important one. Keen interest by different giant corporate houses of India for network based retail selling of vegetables in the State which may open a new horizon in marketing and supply chain management of the highly perishable product like vegetables is also a testimony of development of vegetable farming sector in the State. Changing Scenario: Transformation of Rice-based Farming Systems to Vegetablebased Farming Systems There is a gradual but definite movement out of subsistence food crop production, generally in a monoculture system, to a diversified market-oriented production system with the growth of the economy. The process of diversification out of staple food

production is triggered by rapid technological change in agricultural production, improved rural infrastructure, and diversification in food demand patterns. The need to provision the rapidly growing cities of Asia also acts as a trigger for the transformation of food production systems. Declining profitability of rice cultivation, acts as a further incentive for seeking alternative means of sustaining incomes. In fact, a recent FAO/World Bank study on farming systems and poverty has suggested that diversification is the single most important source of poverty reduction for small farmers in South and Southeast Asia. Yet, in almost all South and Southeast Asian countries, agricultural policies and institutions have favored self-sufficiency in cereals and the inertia in this system would act as a strong disincentive for diversification unless drastic changes in policies and institutions are adopted. An example of this is the fact that the share of cereals in the value of agricultural output has generally remained unchanged in South Asia as a whole. In general, the export prospects are unlikely to affect a majority of farmers even if some specialized production for niche export markets were to take place. Such production would be on a limited scale at least with respect to the total agricultural population. Therefore, the dynamics would largely be driven by the domestic demand. The FAO-World Bank Study (2001) characterized developing country agriculture in terms of eleven broad farming systems. The three most important systems described in the study are all rice-based farming systems; these are the tropical lowland rice system; the rice-wheat system; and the rainfed uplands. They account for about 80 % of the agricultural population and some 50 % of the total agricultural area in Asia. The tropical lowland and the rice-wheat systems are the dominant sources of rice supply in Asia, these systems witnessed rapid productivity growth during the Green Revolution and their productivity continues to be high in the post-green revolution period. Yet, the pressure to diversify out of rice is also the greatest in these systems, primarily because of low returns to rice relative to high value alternatives such as vegetables. The potential for diversification out of cereal production depends on both physical and economic factors. The feasibility and cost of substituting other crops vary across the three farming systems: lowland rice, rice-wheat and rainfed uplands. Each of these systems presents different rainy and dry season profiles and requires different levels of physical and human capital investment to switch from rice to non-rice crops and vice versa. The flexibility of farmers to respond to the changing relative prices and relative profitability in their crop choice decision-making can be described in terms of the level of investments (both corporal and human capital) required in switching from rice to non-rice crops and vice versa. Flexibility is low, during the rainy season, for the tropical lowlands and the rice-wheat zone, because the drainage costs for growing non-rice crops can be prohibitive Farmers choice: Farmers in their production decisions considered a number of aspects (attributes) of crops. Family food security was the dominant crop choice criterion for most farmers, and commercial profitability only became relevant once this was satisfied. Thus rice was almost universally grown in the first planting season, followed by various market crops in the second and third planting seasons. The major constraints perceived by farmers were the limited availability of capital and irrigation water. In the second and third planting seasons, farmland was allocated for secondary crops typically in the same way as the previous year. If changes did occur, aspects relevant to choice of a particular crop included water and capital availability, the farmers knowledge of the crops agronomic requirements, labor supply at critical husbandry times, market demand, and

suitability for family consumption. If after this process there were still some choices available then crops were considered on the trade-off between profit and risk. In relation to risk, most farmers were risk-avoiders, a result of previous experience of lack of capital and crop failures. Demand led crop vis--vis cropping system: At a glance, the transition from subsistence to market-oriented cash crop farming seems successful. It is true that cash cropping has increased the household incomes of small farmers. However, farmers are now facing marketing and other technical problems for cash crops. Because of the initial success, large numbers of rural communities transformed their cultivated fields into fields of vegetable/fruit/flower crops, and this process is now continuing in adjoining areas. In order to retain the comparative advantages of the agroclimatic zones and to harness the potential of micro agro ecological niches, new opportunities for alternative cash crops have to be explored. So far efforts have focused mainly on introducing crops from similar agroclimatic zones. Not much effort has gone into exploring and harnessing local plant resources and indigenous crops for the development of cash crops. Market that governs: West Bengal experience Farmers crop choice often attributed a number of factors and market is leading one. Farmers are shifting from monoculture of cereal-based crops to diversified crops of commercial values such as vegetables, fruits, spices, oilseeds, etc. to feed the demand of existing market at local, national and international level. Irrespective of farming situations (leaving some extreme condition) farmers are trying to manipulate the land resources, climatic conditions and their existing skills for growing some crops, which will fetch a better market. Market often acts as a pivotal force behind the area coverage of particular crop in the next season. It is market, which compels the farmers to grow a particular variety, which is in demand. An example of changing trend of cropping pattern at different land situation may be explained through the following trend diagram drawn in a village, Ghoraghacha of New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal (50 km away from Kolkata). If we observe the transformation of crop and varietal choice over years/decades it simply will expose farmers demand for livelihood as a strong incentive for this transformation. Land per family is diminishing steadily with the population growth and subsequent encroachment of highlands for domestic purposes (Table 3). Market led Crop Diversification in West Bengal - Some Cases Farmers of 24 Paraganas (South), West Bengal are growing vegetables after manipulating their bunds by widening it through land shaping. Thus they have over come the low land situations, which is unsuitable for growing commercial vegetable crops over the years. Kolkata metropolitan market has transformed the adjacent areas of monocrop rice belt to vegetable growing area during the passed decade. In Nadia and 24 Paraganas (North) districts of West Bengal, farmers are growing vegetables specially the in their highland on commercial basis to supply quality vegetables in and across the states. In the last few years the spread is remarkable as it engulfs the traditional area of transplanted autumn rice/vegetables (highland irrigated), winter rice/Jute (medium land irrigated). In some blocks of Purulia Districts (red and laterite zone rainfed drier part), West Bengal Vegetable cultivation was initiated on commercial basis in the rainy season to feed the Tatanagar market of Jharkhand State. Like wise, Green Maize/baby corn at Diara / char lands of lower Ganges were attributed for ready consumption by urban and semi urban consumers after roasting at wide scale.

In North Bengal, especially in Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri Districts diversification in rabi crops with vegetables and potato is worth mentioning as they feed not only the local population but also the lower Assam. The efforts of the farmers are well supported by some cold storage and well knitted transport system. Mostly the transformations are true for medium and high land situations. Better manageability in terms of drainage, and other associated factors facilitates the farmers for shifting to number of crop/ intercrop/mixed crops etc. In a study in New Alluvial Zone, specifically in Recent Alluvial Flood Plain Situations total numbers of seventy indigenous cropping systems were observed and majority of them are in medium and highland situations. Farmers are always experimenting with their land, weather conditions and other valuable resources to adjust with the domestic and market demands. Intensification of cropping system in a small piece of land for livelihood sustenance with the support of modern inputs including irrigation water often remains as the major strategy for survival. Utilization of family labour even ignoring so-called gender division of labour facilitates the process of growing high value crop. Farmers are seen developing their own seed sharing mechanism along with informal network over a geographical space for making a particular micro agro ecological niche into a small homogeneous pocket for some specific crop/crops. Initially the marketing infrastructure is absent at the local level and gradually the traders and the government interventions creep in for establishing a formal market structure. The stories of Madanpur, Bankura and Burdwan vegetable market stand in conformity with the generalization highlighted above. The harsh reality: Our small and marginal farmers are concerned about the market demand at the local level and the middlemen often keep them ignorant to a great extent purposively about the outer world. So in the truest sense although the market plays a vital role in crop diversification, the farmers are not in a position to reap the benefit of opening of markets. Barring a few they remain as puppets of the few traders who control the bazaar. Much word is said about marketing infrastructure, export potentials, export zones, schemes for promotion of high value crop at higher levels, but the information is not percolated to the ultimate users, the farmers. Again, in a state where vegetable production and area coverage are the highest in India, absence of any growers association exposes the weakness of our farming community to raise and place their demands for information and other privileges before Government in this regard. They are at large are ignorant about quality parameters for national and international markets, schemes and subsidies meant for them and their areas, techniques for value addition and profit maximization as evident from interaction forums and often they are lured by the rosy pictures of export rather than the hard realities to produce quality products and processing them. Crop diversification often conceptualized as recommendations to solve farmers woes is often misleading to a great extent as people resist changes; they try to evade risk and failure; they are the best analyst about their strength, weakness, opportunities and threats. They analyze the changing perspectives of the market demand and their competitors and choose a particular cropping strategy. So mere prescriptions of crop diversification with some input support for the short term will be an abortive attempt in this regard rather a convergent research, extension and policy interventions are sought for achieve sustained benefits. The effect was phenomenal in terms of larger area coverage under vegetable, encroachment of vegetable crop in non-traditional areas, introduction new crops, growing of same crops over the years in different season, staggered sowing, placing vegetable in

nontraditional cropping sequences, innovations for raising cropping intensity by applying intercropping, mixed cropping , relay cropping, multilayered cropping, allay cropping etc. Although the production faced occasional gluts, and the achievements, mostly farmers driven can be recognized in terms of employment generation in cultivation, marketing and food processing; food vis-a-vis nutritional security. On the other hand the system suffers from fixed rotation of crops, high disease pest burden, indiscriminate use of pesticides and consequent pollution which requires attention at all levels. Literature Cited Ali, M. (2008) Horticulture Revolution for the Poor: Nature, Challenges and Opportunities, Background Paper for the World Development Report 2008. Anonymous (1980) Nutritive Value of Indian Foods, National Institute of Nutrition Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India. Anonymous (2005) Horticulture Database, National Horticulture Board, India. Anonymous (2006) Annual Report Dept. of FPI and Horticulture, Govt. of West Bengal, India. Website: Food and Agricultural Organization. 2002. www.fao.org Table 1: Top ten states in present area, production and productivity of vegetables including potato. State Area Production State Productivity (000ha) (000ton) (t/ha) West Bengal 1189.00 18106.00 Tamil Nadu 28.88 Uttar Pradesh 840.90 15792.40 Kerala 23.14 Bihar 816.60 13349.10 Uttar Pradesh 18.78 Orissa 655.90 8045.60 Chandigarh 17.00 Tamil Nadu 215.30 6218.30 Punjab 16.88 Gujarat 331.50 4867.90 Pondicherry 16.60 Karnataka 367.20 4382.90 Bihar 16.35 Maharashtra 372.20 4044.40 West Bengal 15.23 Andhra Pradesh 254.40 3461.90 Jharkhand 15.18 Jharkhand 223.60 3394.90 Gujarat 14.68 All India 6755.60 101433.50 Average 15.01 Source: National Horticulture Board, Horticulture Database, 2005. Table 2: Area, production and productivity of vegetables excluding potato in West Bengal during last five years. Year Area (000ha) Production (000ton) 2001-02 838.79 10252.96 2002-03 874.87 10635.95 2003-04 859.86 10918.85 2004-05 868.41 10996.62 2005-06 889.41 11556.74 Per cent increase + 6.03 + 11.28 during the decade Source: Dept. of FPI and Horticulture, Govt. of West Bengal. Productivity (t/ha) 12.22 12.15 12.70 12.66 12.99 + 5.92

Table 3: Changing Trend of Cropping Pattern at Ghoraghacha, Nadia Season Low land
Prekharif -

70-80 Decades Medium High land land

Autumn Paddy Jute Winter paddy, Black gram Mustard (local variety) Pulses Autumn Paddy Jute Winter Paddy,

Low land
-Fallow

80-90 Decades Medium High land land

Jute Autumn Paddy Winter Paddy, Autumn Paddy, Jute some vegetables Vegetables, winter Paddy Pulses veg.

Low land
Autumn Paddy

90 Onwards Medium High land land

Vegetables Vegetables

Kharif

Winter Paddy,

Winter Paddy,

Vegetables

Vegetables, fruit crop

Rabi

Summer paddy

Pulses

Summer paddy

Mustard, Summer paddy

Summer paddy

Veg. Pulses fruit crops

Veg. Fruit crop