FAO Council Side Event, 21st November 2006

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FAO Council Side Event, 21st November 2006
Science for Agricultural and Rural Development
Policies An Indian Perspective
P.K. Aggarwal Indian Agricultural Research
Institute New Delhi, India pramodag_at_vsnl.com
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Progress in rural development in last 40 years

• Food production increased from 65 to 210 million
  tons
• Land saved - more than 50 million ha
• Calorie intake increased from 1900 to 2500
  Kcal/capita/day
• Poverty decreased in rural areas from 55 (in
  1973) to 26 (in 1998)
• Human development index improved from 0.41 (in
  1972) to 0.60 (in 2002)

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Food Security in South Asia Science triggered
policy changes

• Technology- varieties, fertilizers
• Policy- assured markets, support prices,
  subsidies
• Infrastructure- irrigation, power and roads
• Institutions- credits, seed sector, agric
  research and extension

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Changing Importance of Indian Agriculture
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Demographic changes in India
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Agriculture remains important for (rural)
development

• Largest land and water user
• Important for livelihood security of large rural
  population, despite migration to urban areas
• Key for even urban food security
• National GDP growth target of 9-10.
  Agricultures role crucial leads to industrial
  growth

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Indian Agriculture Additional Challenges

• Increasing demand for (quality) food
• Increasing competition for land, water
• Increasing employment pressure
• Increasing pressure to enhance profitability
• Increasing environmental concerns
• Increasing globalization
• Increasing interest in biofuels

Trade-offs among these goals
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National Agriculture Policy

• To attain
• Growth rate of 4 per annum
• Growth based on efficiency and conservation of
  resources
• Growth with equity across farmers and regions
• Growth that is demand driven national and
  international
• Growth that is sustainable

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Policy challenges

• Public investment and credit in agriculture
• Rural infrastructure
• Market economy
• Knowledge management

Dr Manmohan Singh, PM of India
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Science and agricultural policy

• Policy demands are now more complex food,
  income, employment, environment
• Wide diversity in climate, soils, production
  resources, demands among regions Need for an
  integrated yet regionally differentiated strategy
  to attain the goals of agriculture policy

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Knowledge management in agriculture Need to
understand the big picture
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Science-policy interface

• Has helped scientists to see the big picture
• Policy makers need more ground-truth
• Stakeholders concerns/ interests/ limitations
  need consideration
• Policy greater interest in short-term than
  long-term
• Using these approaches can lead to policy impact,
  e.g. production outlooks, early warning systems,
  crop insurance