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Farm earnings may go down further in West Bengal

ROHIT KHANNA
Posted online: Sunday , December 23, 2007 at 2258 hrs

KolkataThirty years after land reforms—the flagship programme of the Left Front government in West Bengal—farmers face
uncertainty as their earnings may go down to less than Rs 1,500 per month.

Though the Left Front government pursued land reforms after capturing power in 1977, the state is facing a situation wherein
the increase in population dependent on the same quantum of land is ringing a warning bell. Moreso, as net cropped area is
unlikely to be stretched further.

It was competition between two political rivals, the LF and Congress, that helped motivate gram panchayat officials to
implement land reforms during the first half of LF rule. While benefiting over 30 lakh families, land reforms also helped raise
food production. Between 1980-81 and 1990-91, the average annual rise in food production was 7.1% against the national
average of 3.15%. Gross state domestic product from agriculture over the period 1993-94 to 2003-04 grew at an average
annual rate of 3.64%, higher than the national average of 1.53%.

Although land reforms addressed the problem of acute poverty to an extent, today 54% of the state’s farmers earn Rs 1,500 per
month or even less, according to a recent KPMG-CII study. With the growth in population, these earnings are likely to go down.
However, ownership distribution of land in West Bengal is the most equitable in the country, with small and marginal farmers
owning

84% of total agricultural land against 43% in the rest of India, the study adds.

But smaller landholdings have restricted the scope for utilisation of farm machinery, adding to low productivity. In an article
published in party organ, People’s Democracy, CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu says, “Given the small size of land holding, farmers
were finding it difficult to depend on agriculture on a sustained basis. And that was evident in the sale of their land even before
the Tata project acquisition took place.”

If a small and marginal landowner in West Bengal grows two crops of rice, then with an average yield of 2.5 tonne per hectare
and an average land holding of 0.64 hectare, he might earn a little over Rs 2,000, says the KPMG-CII study. After the input
costs are deducted, he is left with barely anything to subsist on.

The net cropped area in West Bengal is already close to 100% of the cultivable land in most districts and cannot be increased
any further. West Bengal is way below the largest producer states in almost every important crop.

While the state’s rice yield is 2.5 tonne per hectare, Punjab and Haryana record more than 3.8 tonne per ha. Boro rice
production has greatly increased in all districts since 1980-81 but has been stagnant or declining everywhere from 1998-99 to
2002-03.

Meanwhile, the working population of the state is estimated to rise by an additional 70 lakh by 2011, 1.7 crore by 2016 and 2
crore by 2021. For incomes to grow, the report says, a significant portion of the workforce has to be gradually shifted out of
agriculture and the average size of land holding has to be increased.

With input costs rising, the alternative lies in increasing productivity through high-yielding hybrid varieties, better crop mix and by
gradual reduction in the population directly dependent on agriculture, says the report.

Small farmers could overcome the problem of smaller land holdings by organising themselves into cooperatives, similar to US
fruit growers, it adds. And the first step towards this would be to have a contract farming policy, the report suggests.

http://www.financialexpress.com/printer/news/253503/ 1/21/2008