Time to Get Aggro on Agri R&D

Emphasising the path of science-led growth, Indian agriculture has undergone a tremendous change from subsistence to full-fledged commercial activity. Today, for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, agriculture remains the most trusted wheel for lifting millions out of poverty and arresting inequalities.

 

The resilience of India’s agriculture production has been an outcome of synergy between the scientific fraternity in the National Agricultural Research System (NARS), comprising the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), state agricultural universities (SAUs) etc, and farmers to promote ‘green methods’. Constant technological improvements have led to four times increase in food grain production, six times in horticultural crops, nine times in fish and 27 times in eggs since 1951.

 

More than 5,000 ecologically sustainable crop varieties and hundreds of animal breeds have been developed for maintaining a resilient food system by ICAR institutions. With advancement in mobile technologies, the reach of disease and pest surveillance mechanisms to farms has effectively reduced crop losses.

 

To address malnutrition, several bio-fortified crop varieties have been released recently. Conservation of nearly one million diverse plant and animal genetic resources has maintained India’s tag of a biologically diverse country.

 

Diligent efforts have been made to empower women in agriculture. The share of operational holdings cultivated by women has increased from 11.7% in 2005-06 to 13.9% in 2015-16, according to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). In the last decade, the compound annual growth rate of patents filed in the agricultural sectors in India was 12.5% — higher than the global growth rate of 11%. This indicates the underrated strength of Indian R&D in agriculture.

 

Even though exports have been less than the potential, particular varieties like Pusa basmati rice and Darjeeling tea have created their own market in the west. Reportedly, there are efforts to leverage 57 memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with countries and organisations to implement the ambitious 2018 agricultural export policy aiming to double exports from $30 billion to $60 billion by 2022.

 

Agricultural R&D, however, still has a long way to go, moving away from ‘business as usual’ activities. It needs to develop an end-to-end package of interventions and strategic policy support, tailored to local needs of particular crops and agroecologies. This calls for invigorating the scientific temper, focusing on problem-solving as part of the human resources capacity, and fostering R&D funding.

 

Since the Ninth Five-Year Plan (1997-2002), efforts have been made to enhance R&D spending to 1% of agricultural GDP by the end of each Plan period. This target, however, has not been fulfilled till date due to ‘a tight fiscal situation’.

 

Spending on agricultural R&D in India still hovers around 0.40% of agricultural GDP (about Rs 8,000 crore only in 2019-20), while most other countries spend more than 1%.

 

About 80% of R&D funding goes to paying salaries and other expenditure, leaving little to conduct comprehensive mission-mode research ventures. Such minuscule levels of investment in R&D impedes the ability of science and technology (S&T) research to tackle multiple challenges that include yield gaps, changing consumer preferences, declining resources capacity, the geopolitical situation, and the adverse impact of climate change leading to farm distress.

 

Although agriculture is a state subject, most of the reforms and policies often miss to hit the ground due to various reasons. Budgetary allocation should explicitly recognise the expenditure on agricultural R&D as one of the prime areas for both environmental and livelihood sustainability. There is no dearth of innovations and palliatives to address farm distress.

 

It’s time the agriculture sector has along-term strategy focusing on food systems within each agro-climatic region per se, instead of a generalised food production strategy. The cornerstone of success in bringing about a more vibrant agricultural sector lies in upping agricultural R&D spending to at least 1% of agricultural GDP, thereby charting a trajectory of higher and inclusive growth, and making the national plan of doubling farmers’ income in the near future possible.