Prabhakar K Deshmukh, commissioner of agriculture, government of Maharashtra, succinctly summed up the current status of Indian agriculture: "income levels are not good. Peace and security not ensured. The economic status of the farmer continues to be poor. Skills needed to be upgraded. The focus should be on sustainable, profitable agriculture."

Deshmukh's prescription: an integrated farming system with close integration of crop production with animal husbandry. In this integrated approach the needs are carefully analysed from the stage of planting to harvesting. Technology and other farm inputs are provided. Soil analysis and correction, quality seeds and adequate financing are organised, in close cooperation with agriculture universities, financial institutions, government and the farmers. The approach is crystallised to :
1. move from mono cropping to multiple cropping
2. engage in agro related activities like poultry, dairy, sericulture… Around a dozen such activities have been identified.
3. include service activities . These cover spraying, harvesting…
4. leave two of these activities to women. They will be provided proper training.

Ensuring income security…

The integrated programme will also train one member of a family to go for technical education and training that will enable him/her to go for wage employment or self-employment. This has been designed to ensure one stable income, of around Rs.4000-5000 per month, that will help the family carry through lean periods. The crop cycle, as is known, involves a few months of no income and all expenditure until the harvest; thus sustenance of the family can be taken care of through such employment.

The government of Maharashtra has initiated a pilot project in which three persons from each village are selected for such intense training.

Five thousand farmers each owning 2 - 7 acres have been selected, to practise the integrated farming system as a pilot scheme.

In one such project implemented in the Pune district, a few thousand villagers were given training; 42 per cent of these were women. A cost of around Rs.4000-5000 was incurred per person on training these. Persons selected are trained:
1. for 15 days in entrepreneurship
2. for 45 days on practical training in industry
3. 6000 for wage employment or self-employment. Next year their number will increase to 15,000.

A welcome feature of this approach is the care taken to impart skills. Adequate funding and technology inputs have been provided.

Deshmukh attributed the success of western Maharashtra in agriculture to such integrated approach with focus on dairying, poultry… The scope for training and empowering women appears immense.

And opportunities are expanding. Deshmukh cited the instance of the vast spread of mobile telephony providing for a lot of employment: “phone repair and maintenance provide opportunities for earning over Rs.4000 per month,” he pointed out.
What are the immediate concerns? Deshmukh pointed to the increasing cost of cultivation; particularly the cost of inputs like fertilizers.

Soil health mission…

Deshmukh referred to setting up a soil health mmission that will focus on effective use of fertilizers and on integrated nutrient management. These are designed to achieve a ten per cent reduction in fertilizer consumption; which means a lot of money: fertilizer subsidy at present is a humongous Rs.120,000 crore per year; a ten per cent saving can mean Rs.12,000 crore. Soil health will also be ensured by optimising the use of fertilizers.

A cluster-based approach is to be adopted for horticulture. Deshmukh explained: "more than eighty per cent of the farmers own less than 2 acres of land each. We will endeavour to bring 100-200 farmers into a cluster, transfer technology and production methodo-logies. Details of these can be taught to all the members of this cluster by experts. Groups of farmers will be persuaded to work together, trained and provided inputs in time.

Deshmukh referred to his experiment meeting with success in increasing sugarcane yields from the average of 40-50 tonnes to 100 tonnes per acre. Similar efforts are being made to raise a variety of horticultural crops like banana, pomegranate, mango… Such an effort has improved productivity and thus overall production. As a logical step, infrastructure for marketing the produce is also taken care of. There is also focus on quality grading, packaging… Farmers are also assured timely supply of inputs and taught the intricacies through demonstrations.

Surveillance of pest and disease

Such an integrated approach also helps in pest and disease surveillance and control. Deshmukh narrated a rather sad experience: "I visited a village in Vidharbha that was devastated by a locust attack. All the toil of several months came to naught by this locust invasion. The picture of a widow with four young children, with tears in her eyes, is still haunting me. We are working on better schemes for surveillance and control of pests."

Deshmukh attributed the visitation of locusts to factors like changes in climate: "in June last we had a long dry spell which resulted in frogs dying or going for hibernation. These frogs eat the gross hoppers and help control pest attacks."

Such visitation by pests is devastating. “The soybean crop in Chandrapur and Nagpur suffered a major pest attack that affected more than two lakh hectares. Crops worth more than Rs.400 crore were lost,” said Deshmukh.

Deshmukh underscored the need for a strong pest and disease surveillance system and explained the steps taken: "we have formed 90 teams for the 90 sub-divisional offices (SDO). Each SDO will cover 3-4 blocks. These are given training in pest and disease control. Expert teams would regularly visit farms. These will be provided with PCs, internet connectivity and software to collect and transmit information. A couple of persons in each village will also transmit reports directly to the agriculture commissioner. The concerned agriculture university is also actively involved. Specialist teams will inspect each village and look for larvae and pest attacks and devise measures to tackle these. Information will be broadcast through radio and other mass media. Sufficient incentives will be provided to ensure reliable and effective control. This is the primary job for the SDO and 25 per cent weightage of his performance will be decided on this. Initially two lakh hectares will be covered with an investment of Rs.100 crore."

Deshmukh said that the task is daunting. The number of pests and diseases have been on the increase and their occurrence erratic and unpredictable. The state is also coordinating work on these areas with AP and Punjab. A special software is being developed, he said.

SHGs, agri-tourism…

Rural development activities allied to agriculture are also part of this exercise. The self-help group (SHG) concept is put to good use: "there are 15,000 SHGs in Pune. Their own savings exceed Rs.15,000 crore. Thus they are able to leverage bank loans on a sound base," said the commissioner.

Agri tourism is another focus area. Deshmukh pointed to the rich facilities provided at Baramati to attract tourists to spend their weekends amidst salubrious farm lands.

Deshmukh earlier served for four years as the district collector of Pune. He received the prime minister's award for his innovative experiment that helped improve the quality of primary education in the 17,000 odd schools in Pune district. The most interesting feature of this programme is the success in galvanizing the local community to support schools in their vicinity and to be actively involved in quality improvement programmes.

Land ownership is a critical issue. The limitations imposed by the Land Ceiling Act, the fragmented nature of land holdings and the difficulty of agglomerating these into a large, viable units, have contributed to the stagnation in food production. In the last twelve years, average annual production of food crops remained stagnant - between 200 and 215 million tonnes. The integrated farming system induces the farmers to scale up farming activity without offending the sensitive issue of farm ownership, with the promise of bringing about high productivity and high quality. This approach does breathe a lot of new life. Maharashtra, which has brought about a veritable revolution in horticulture, hopefully will again lead through this innovative approach.