Executive Interviews: Interview with Amitabha Sadangi on Social Entrepreneurship
May 2010 - By Syed Abdul Samad and P.Girija

Amitabha Sadangi
Founder CEO, International Development Enterprises India (IDEI)

Indian Agriculture: Starving for Schemes or Technology

• Despite the fact that majority of the Indian population thrives on agriculture, what, according to you, can be the prime reasons for the slow development of this sector? Is the government to be blamed for this state of affairs?
  Somewhere along the plane of development, agriculture, as a sector, did get neglected, got sidelined as a result of which today we have the agricultural sector contributing only about 18% to the GDP. This figure is dismal when compared to the fact that 75% of India’s population living in the rural areas is engaged in agricultural activities. While the reasons of the current state are complex and an analysis would map many stakeholders responsible, however, on the whole it is the government and its policies which are primarily responsible for this state of affairs. Given the fact that today about 250 million farmers are small holders, somewhere the need to identify them, their needs and, therefore, designing and implementing policies to nurture them were not felt important enough and so this situation.

• Where does India stand in terms of agricultural produce and output in contrast to other nations? Where do we lag behind them?
  In terms of agricultural produce, the Green Revolution definitely helped us in building food stocks. However, it had its own de-merits and the key are deteriorating water quality and soil management. This has had serious repercussions on crop produce. The last few years witnessed India becoming an importer of cereal (wheat), oil seeds and vegetables; when compared to other SAARC countries.

  With regard to output, due to the lack of adequate facilities for processing foods, only 12% gets processed and about 30% gets wasted (a figure that is highest in the world). While there are proposals to develop these, these are still in the pipeline.

• The rich farmers in the country continue to grow rich, whereas the poor farmers are unable to get their due? Bearing in mind the recent increase in farmers’ suicides, what do you think went wrong?
  This is true and primarily the result of various policies implemented during the famous ‘green revolution’. That phase was marked by landmark developments resulting in landmark yield as well, but in the hindsight it has a major role to play in where we are today. The policies and subsidies targeted large farmers (whether by design or naturally is anyone’s guess!) who using it to their advantage made more money, thereby, increasing the wealth disparity among farmer groups. The affordability, need, desire and interest of smallholder farmers were never safeguarded. Mechanized techniques for large fields, expensive hybrid seeds, fertilizers, pesticides in considerable volumes (as is available in the market) are not a response to the needs of smallholder farmers. They need affordable technology like our treadle pump or drip that can produce yields in quantities that would be enough for them to sell in the markets and make money. Additionally, lack of

  knowledge vis-à-vis crop production also goes against the smallholder farmers. For example, farmers in Maharashtra – a water scarce region, grow sugarcane – a high water demanding crop and at the end make little money because it is not a cash crop (that would earn more money from the market). Therefore, I strongly critique the Governments approach of direct subsidies to farmers and find it a major contributor to the issues as they exist today.

• What has or is going wrong regarding agriculture in India? Is it on the input front (facilities and technology) or the output front (market and prices)?
  Like I said before, this is a multilayered problem. So the issues do not lie at one end but in the entire spectrum of things. So, yes, there are issues in the input side – which include information and availability of suitable and affordable technologies for irrigation, quantity and price of seeds, fertilizers, etc., available in the market, knowledge about crops and, most importantly, availability of credit. On the output front, the existing models are obsolete. Basically, there are no vibrant models that allow the smallholder farmers to connect with the markets directly.

  The system has allowed moneylenders and middlemen to grow and become ever so powerful that the markets cannot do without them. Their presence lowers the negotiating power of the smallholder farmers and keeps them trapped in the cycle of poverty.

• To what extent are each of the following responsible for the unsatisfactory agricultural situation in India – scattered land holdings, subsistence, irrigation systems in the country, government policies controlling the irrigation systems, allocation of water and various other facilities like electricity and use of technology, etc.?
  In my opinion, unsatisfactory situation in India can be attributed primarily to the absence of focused development of the smallholder farmers. No efforts are being made towards researching and developing technologies for this most important and largest category of farmers.

Irrigation System in India

• India is a land of so many rivers. Despite this, nations where rivers are less manage to produce more than what we do. Your comments on the same.
  Simply because we do not have storage capacities!

• How far is drip irrigation successful in India? How does it help save cost?
  One half of India is water scarce and drip irrigation is the answer to their woes. The concept of drip itself is revolutionary and definitely reduces water requirement for irrigation and, therefore, expenditure; by providing the water drop-by-drop directly to the root of the plant reduces wastage due to evaporation or run off. However, commercialized drips available in the market are far too expensive for an average smallholder farmer and the desire to purchase one either pushes the farmers further to the periphery or adds on to their existing frustrations. In order to empower smallholder farmers, IDEI works on the marketbased approach and provides ‘lowcost’ drip irrigation to them while promising good quality product. IDEI has taken the entire concept of drip to the next level and enabled small farmers to save cost and afford irrigation technologies.