The private sector should step in and take the initiative to bring in more investment to address the issues plaguing agriculture, without waiting for government support. This was the broad consensus which emerged from a discussion on Indian agriculture at the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum in New Delhi.
A few participants said that the private sector does not take the risk to enter the agriculture sector due to low returns and over-regulation by the government. They observed that a better policy environment, where the government allows the open market to flourish and limits its role to just regulation, would be a great enabler for growth in agriculture.
Monsanto India chairman Sekhar Natarajan said "farmers have to be benefitted, otherwise they will shift to other products." He was pointing to the growth which his company has witnessed in India by focusing on the success of farmers through quality seeds.
Citing a Monsanto project in Gujarat, where the company is working with tribal farmers in partnership with an NGO and the state government, he said "within three years the productivity of crops in that area has doubled and incomes have risen threefold."
Natarajan emphasised that more such initiatives should come from the private sector, without waiting for government support.
Kushal Pal Singh, vice-president of the National Institute of Agriculture, said that organised retail is biased towards consumers' interests rather than farmers, as its objective is to provide 'best products at the cheapest prices'. "How can farmers get better prices from such retail chains, when they talk about the lowest price," he asked.
Singh observed that India needs agri business projects which partner with farmers on a long-term basis. Commenting on water use efficiency in the context of India facing a poor monsoon this year, Margaret Catley-Carlson of Sweden's Global Water Partnership said, "there is no alternative to water, while other agricultural inputs can be created. So there must be more concern for water."
