This document discusses the issues facing smallholder agriculture in India since the Green Revolution. It outlines how the Green Revolution led to monocropping, high external input usage, and viewed farms as factories. This has led to increasing farmer debt, suicide rates, and environmental degradation. The number of cultivators is declining and average landholding sizes are shrinking. Institutional credit to agriculture is declining and many farmers lack access. There is a need to shift away from unsustainable industrial models to more integrated, ecological farming systems suited to local conditions.

1. Sustaining Small Holder Agriculture in India
Ramanjaneyulu
Centre for Sustainable Agriculture
…caring for those who feed the nation
Andhra Pradesh Maharashtra Punjab

2. Green Revolution Paradigm
• Synergy between technology and public policy
• Nation’s self sufficiency as goal
• Public Sector playing major role
• Public extension
• Irrigation playing major role
• Technology transfer public to private
• Free technology
• Input intensive
• Controlled markets
• Public Distribution System

3. Green Revolution
• is based on maximizing the output of a narrow range
of species leading to monoculture of crops and
varieties
• is based on capital depletion and massive additions of
external inputs (e.g. water, chemicals)
• High energy consuming: fossil fuel, chemical fertilizers,
chemicals, processing, storage, transport
• views the farm as a factory with “inputs” (such as
pesticides, feed, fertilizer, and fuel) and “outputs”
(grain, cotton, chicken, and so forth)
• never cared about the externalities

4. 0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Farmers suicides in India
No. of suicides
Source: NCRB 1995-2010
Total 270,940 in 17 years
• an annual average of 14,462 in six years, from 1995 to 2000
• a yearly average of 16,743 in 11 years between 2001 and 2011
• around 46 farmers’ suicides each day, on average or nearly one every half-hour
since 2001
• Farmers Suicide Rate is 16.3% compared to 11.1 % among rest of Indians (47%
higher)

5. • two-thirds of the suicides are
occurring in half-a-dozen
States that account for just
about one-third of the
country’s population
State Farmer Suicides Difference
1995-2002 2003-2010
Andhra Pradesh 1590 2301 +711
Karnataka 2259 2123 -136
MP+Chhattisgarh 2304 2829 +525
Maharashtra 2508 3802 +1294
Source: NCRB Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India Reports 1995-2010

6. Post Green Revolution: dominant paradigm
 Proprietary technologies
 GM intensive
 Monoculture-monopoly
 Decreasing role of public research and extension
• Realignment of links in the trade
• Free markets: Shift from spot markets to specialized wholesalers to
guarantee q and q leading to new intermediaries and logistics
• Contract farming-Preference for limited transactions
• Rise of private standards-Quality, safety not common for internal trade

7. What do Census-2011 say
• Cultivators are 118.7 million (24.6%)
and Agricultural Labourers are 144.3
(30.0%)
• Proportion of cultivators reduced from
31.7 % and agriculture workers
increased from 26.5% in 2001
• Main cultivators only 95.8 million (< 8
per cent of the population) down from
103 million in 2001 and 110 million in
1991.
• 15 million farmers (‘Main’ cultivators)
fewer than there were in 1991 and
over 7.7 million less since 2001
• Agriculture workers numbers
increased from 63.4 m to 86.1 m
between 2001-11
• On average about 2,035 farmers losing
‘Main Cultivator’ status every single
day for the last 20 years

8. Where are they going?
• From 2004-05 to 2009-10, only 2 million additional employment
was generated but 55 million were added to working age
population!
• 25.1 million people lost their self-employment
• Increase in the number of casual workers by 21.9 million, while
growth in the number of regular workers nearly halved between
2004-05 and 2009-10, compared with the previous 5 year period.
Sector 2004-05 2009-10 Difference
Agriculture 258.93 243.21 -15.71
Manufacturing 55.77 48.54 -7.23
Services 112.81 112.33 -0.48
Non-Manufacturing
(construction)
29.96 56.10 26.14
TOTAL 457.46 460.18 2.72
Sector-wise unemployment (millions)

9. Lives not better….66th
NSSO survey says
• Per capita expenditure of urban India was 88% higher than rural India
• Average MPCE in 2009-10 to be Rs. 1054 and Rs. 1984 in rural India and
urban India respectively
• Top 10% of India’s rural population having an average MPCE (Rs. 2517) 5.6
times that of the poorest 10% (Rs. 453)
• Top 10% of urban population having a 9.8 times higher average MPCE (Rs.
5863) compared that of the bottom 10% (Rs. 599)
• Considering the average rural MPCE value of Rs. 1054 in isolation would
be partially misleading. The rural MPCE median of Rs. 895 (about Rs. 30
per day) implies that half the rural population had MPCE below this level.
• 40% of the rural population had MPCE below Rs. 800 while 60% had MPCE
below Rs. 1000
• Compared to the rural median MPCE (Rs. 895), the urban median MPCE
level was 1.68 times higher at Rs. 1502 with 30% of the urban population
having MPCE above Rs. 2100 and 20% having MPCE above Rs. 2600.

10. Income and Expenditure of farmers
Land
holding
Category Total
Income
(Rs/month)
Expenditure
(Rs/month)
Percent of
farmers
<0.01 Landless 1380 2297 36 %
0.01-0.4 Sub marginal 1633 2390
0.4-1.0 Marginal 1809 2672 31 %
1.0-2.0 Small 2493 3148 17 %
2.0-4.0 Semi-medium 3589 3685 10 %
4.0-10.0 Medium 5681 4626 6 %
>10.0 Large 9667 6418
Total 2115 2770 All
farmers
Source: Report “On Conditions Of Work And Promotion Of Livelihoods In The Unorganised Sector” Arjun Sen
Gupta Committee, 2007
•Income per ha in Karnataka from Rs.8809 to Rs.5671
•Income per ha in Maharashtra from Rs.4194 to Rs.3047

11. Smaller holdings
• Between 1960-61 and 2003, the total number of
operational holdings increased from 50.77 million
to 101.27 million.
• During the same period, the total operated area
declined from 133.46 million hectares to 107.65
million hectares.
• Thus average operated area declined from 2.63
hectares to 1.06 hectares.
(NSSO, Some Aspects of Operational Land Holdings
in India, various issues, 2003)

12. Reducing institutional credit
• The share of agricultural credit in total bank lending nearly doubled
from around 10% in the mid-1970s to about 18% in the late 1980s.
• The share of agricultural credit in total bank lending declined from
the peak of 18% in the late 1980s to about 11% in 2005, the decline
has continued since then.
• Rural branches of commercial banks has declined from 51.2% in
March 1996 to 45.7% in March 2005.
• Data also shows that the share of agricultural credit cornered by
farm sizes of more than 5 acres has increased
• Tenancy is informal and tenant farmers do not get access to credit
(GOI, 2007).

13. Year Share in total agricultural Credit (%)
Direct Finance Indirect Finance Total
1985 83.2 16.8 100.0
1990 86.8 13.2 100.0
2000 84.5 15.5 100.0
2005 76.1 23.9 100.0
2006 72.1 27.9 100.0
2007 74.5 25.5 100.0
2008 77.5 22.5 100.0
2009 77.1 22.9 100.0
2010 76.1 23.9 100.0
Source: Basic Statistical Returns’ Reserve Bank of India, Various Issues
Shares of direct and indirect finance to agriculture in total credit to agriculture
from scheduled commercial banks, India, 1985 to 2009 in per cent

14. Credit limit size class of
loans (Rs)
Share of amount outstanding in total out standing (%)
1990 2000 2005 2010
Less than 2 lakh 82.6 67.6 51.9 44.3
2 lakh to 10 lakh 4.3 11.7 17.9 22.6
10 lakh to 1 crore 7.6 6.6 6.4 6.4
1 crore to 10 crore 4.2 6.7 8.0 6.3
10 crore to 25 crore
1.3
1.7 3.3 2.7
Above 25 crore 5.7 12.6 17.7
100 100 100 100
Source: ‘Basic Statistical Returns’, Reserve Bank of India, Various Issues
Distribution of amount outstanding under total agricultural advances by
scheduled commercial banks, by credit limit size-classes of loans, 1990 to 2010,
in per cent

15. • Not adequate
• Not accessible-
crops, region,
tenant farmers
• Interest
subvention who
benefits?
• How to increase
coverage?
Year Rural + semi-
urban
branches
Only rural
branches
Urban+
metropolitan
branches
Only
metropolitan
branches
All branches
All India
1990 85.1 55.5 14.9 4.0 100.0
1994 83.4 54.6 16.6 5.6 100.0
1995 83.7 52.7 16.3 7.3 100.0
2005 69.3 43.0 30.7 19.0 100.0
2006 62.4 37.1 37.6 23.8 100.0
2008 66.0 38.4 34.0 20.0 100.0
Maharashtra
1990 82.4 59.7 17.6 - 100.0
1994 76.8 52.9 23.2 - 100.0
1995 70.5 46.5 29.5 - 100.0
2005 41.8 26.1 58.2 48.5 100.0
2006 31.6 18.4 68.4 61.3 100.0
2008 42.4 25.7 57.6 48.3 100.0
Share of agriculture credit from different bank branches
1990-2008 (in %)

16. Insurance
• Inadequate coverage: crops, people, regions
• Problems in settling claims
• Claims not covering the loss
• Completely becoming a business model
• How do we increase the coverage and make it
workable to reduce risks

17. subsidies
• On decline….
• Input based hence benefits only the suppliers
• Specific inputs hence drives particular
technologies and models of agriculture
• Farmers own resources, labour never
supported

18. Unremunerative prices
• MSP determination is faulty and unscientific.
• Governments keep the prices low to ensure cheap
labor and cheap inputs, and food security for poor
• Minimum Support Prices are announced for 25
commodities but market intervention only for rice,
wheat, cotton
• Agricultural prices don’t account for living costs of rural
families. Rising inflation has double impact on farmers
with increasing living costs & decreasing incomes
• Removal of quantitative restrictions and allowing
cheaper imports
• Restrictions on exports on certain crops depressing local
market prices

19. State governments irresponsible
MSPs recommended for 2013-14 (Rs/q)
Crop Announced
MSP (Rs/q)
2011-12
Announced
MSP (Rs/q)
2012-13
Recommended
MSP (Rs/q)
2013-14
Announced
MSP (Rs/q)
2013-14
Paddy 1110 1280 2811 1310
Blackgram 3300 4300 7295 4500
Soybean 1650 2200 4382 2500
Groundnut 2700 3700 8019 4000
Sunflower 2800 3700 7412 3700
Sesame 3400 4200 7847 4500
Ragi 1050 1500 2925
Maize 980 1175 2100 1310
Jowar 1000 1520 2862
Redgram 3850 7277 4300
Greengram 4300 7287 4300
Government of Andhra Pradesh

20. Monoculturing crops, varieties, genes, trees animals
• Today Cotton, Maize, Paddy are the only crops whose
area increasing..globally only 3 crops supply 60% of
food
• Within crops 80% of the production comes from few
genetic backgrounds
• Increasing area under hybrid crops in areas not
suitable like rainfed areas, hill regions
• 99 % of the cotton with bt genes to fight four major
pests..several others in pipeline
• Promotion of water intensive orchards in rainfed areas
• Promotion of cross bred animals, buffaloes in rainfed
areas

21. GM crops and foods
• Key issues
• Relevance of GM crops
• Biosafety issues
• IPRs andMarket monopoly
• Conflicts of interests and scandals
• Studies on NPM vs/Bt cotton
• Documentary evidences on Violations of regulations
in field trials,
• Illegal GM food crop field trials
• First reports on Bronze wilt, Tobacco Streak Virus,
Mealybug
• Evidences on sheep death
• Studies on Environmental Risk Assessment and Socio
Economic Impacts
• Contamination
• IPRs
http://www.indiagminfo.org

23. GM foods

24. Do you
remember I was
this small when
we first met!
Pests and pesticides contribute to the major economic and ecological problems affecting the
farmers, crops and their living environment
• Pesticide induced pest problem
• Pesticide resistance
• Pesticide poisoning (acute and chronic)
• Pesticide and ecological problems
• IPM > IRM

25. (‘000 crore)
2008
2012

28. Life in queues 2011

29. Life in queues 2012

30. Depleting natural resources
• Increasing dark zones due
to groundwater depletion
• 30 % of soils are reported
to be saline by the recent
study by ministry of
environment

31. Ecological Foot Prints
Each ha of paddy yields @ 30 bags/acre and 75
kg/bag
5625 kg/ha grain
In terms of rice 70 % milling 3938 kg/ha
Water requirement 2000 mm (2 m) crop water
requirement x10000 sq m.
20000 cu m water
Which is equal to 5.078
cu.m/kg rice (5078 litres/kg
rice)
Each family consuming monthly 30
kg rice
152340 Litres of water per
month per family
This is equivalent to
Each family consumes water
directly at around
@ 300 litres/day and for 30
days
9000 litres
Water consumption by way of
rice is
16.93 times higher than the
water we consume directly

32. BUSINESS AS USUAL IS NOT AN OPTION
We are what we eat
and
Food is only as safe as it is grown

33. What is needed….
• Integrated farming systems integrating livestock,
trees etc
• Agronomic innovations like high density
plantation in cotton or SRI in paddy
• Building soil organic matter, mulches etc
• Conserving moisture and Rainwater harvesting
• Locally adopted crops and varieties-millets,
pulses, oilseeds, vegetables….
• Contingence planning
• Moving away from agro-chemical use

34. 34
Changing to multiple cropping systems

35. 35Switching over to ecological farming practices

36. Millets in our diet
Grain P Mg Ca Fe Zn Cu Mn Mo Cr
Sorghum 352 171 15 4.2 2.5 0.44 1.15 0.06 0.017
Pearl millet 379 137 46 8.0 3.1 1.06 1.15 0.07 0.023
Finger millet 320 137 398 3.9 2.3 0.47 5.49 0.10 0.028
Foxtail millet
Whole 422 81 38 5.3 2.9 1.60 0.85 - 0.070
Dehulled 360 68 21 2.8 2.4 1.40 0.60 - 0.030
Common millet
Whole 281 117 23 4.0 2.4 5.80 1.20 - 0.040
Dehulled 156 78 8 0.8 1.4 1.60 0.60 - 0.020
Little millet
Whole 251 133 12 13.9 3.5 1.60 1.03 - 0.240
Dehulled 220 139 13 9.3 3.7 1.00 0.68 - 0.180
Barnyard millet
Whole 340 82 21 9.2 2.6 1.30 1.33 - 0.140
Dehulled 267 39 28 5.0 3.0 0.60 0.96 - 0.090
Kodo millet
Whole 215 166 31 3.6 1.5 5.80 2.90 - 0.080
Dehulled 161 82 20 0.5 0.7 1.60 1.10 - 0.020

37. Punukula,
the first pesticides-free village

38. Yenabavi -Organic Village
• Entire village (55 households’ 228 acres) organic for last five
years
• Most of the inputs internalised into farming
• Land Productivity increased, crop yields maintained
• In SRI paddy 44 bags were also recorded
• Recently awarded Krishi Gaurav Award by Baba Ramdev’s
Patanjali Trust for their role in promoting organic farming
• More than 30 thousand farmers visited the village in last
three years

39. Community Managed Sustainable
Agriculture in Andhra Pradesh
Basic Principles
 Regenerative, ecologically sound practices
 Organized action by communities in
planning, implementing and managing the
program
 Govt/ngos playing facilitating agency role
2004-05 started with 225 acres in one dist and
reached 7 lakh acres in 2007-08 in 18 dist. World
Bank says this is a good tool for poverty
eradication and now promoted as part of NRLM
With 50 % development expenditure one can
double the incomes of the farmers
A national program called Mahila Krishi
Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) is launched
based on this experiencce

40. 0.225 25
200 700
1300
2000
2800
3500 3600
0.1 15
80
300
600
1000
1500 1600 1770
2135 1997
1394 1541 1381
1015
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
Acerage ('000acres) Farmers ('000) Pesticide use (MT Active Ingradient)
Farmers and area covered under CMSA
http://65.19.149.140/pilots/cmsanew/index.html

41. Distinguished visitors
Dr. V L Chopra,
Member Planning Commission
Jairam Ramesh,
Honble Minister for
Commerce
T. Nandakumar
Secretary Agriculture
GOI

42. States/UTs 2004-05 2005-06 2006-072007-08 2008-09 2009-10kg/ha
2000-01
kg/ha
2009-10
Punjab 6900 5610 5975 6080 5760 5810 0.98 0.82
Haryana 4520 4560 4600 4390 4288 4070 0.84 0.68
Andhra
Pradesh 2135 1997 1394 1541 1381 1015 0.34 0.09
Maharastra 3030 3198 3193 3050 2400 4639 0.17 0.24
Tamil Nadu 2466 2211 3940 2048 2317 2335 0.32 0.45
Gujarat 2900 2700 2670 2660 2650 2750 0.30 0.29
Kerala 360 571 545 780 272.69 631 0.31 0.26
Karnataka 2200 1638 1362 1588 1675 1647 0.17 0.14
Status of pesticide utilization in different states**
**Source: http://ppqs.gov.in/IpmPesticides.htm MT of active ingredient

43. Average Reduction in costs and net
additional income for different crops
Crops Reduction in cost
due to NPM (Rs)
Reduction in costs due to use
of organic fertilisers/manures
(Rs)
Net additional
income (Rs)
Paddy 940 1450 5590
Maize 1319 2357 5676
Cotton 1733 1968 5676
Chillies 1733 1968 7701
Groundnut 1021 3462 10483
Vegetables 1400 390 3790
3rd Party Evaluation of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) : Community Managed
Organic Farming implemented by SERP
Evaluation Team
Prof. R. Ratnakar, Director, Dr. M. Surya Mani, Professor, EXTENSION EDUCATION
INSTITUTE, (Southern Region), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India

44. Dorli, Maharashtra
• CSA started working in Dorli cluster
from 2006
• Today farmers are back to farming and
managing
• Started a seed producer company

45. Sahaja Aharam Community Marketing
Producer Co-op-1
Farmer Group B
Consumer Co-op
•Healthy food
•Affordable Price
•Max share to farmers Organic Store
Mobile Store
Direct to Home
Producer Co-op-2
Other farmers and
farmers groups
Farmer Group A
Farmer Group C
Sahaja Aharam
Cooperative Federation
•Capacity building
•Institutional building
•Investment support
•Brand building
•Qualtiy Management
•Fair Trade
Market place
Direct to
resellers
Whole sale to
traders
Bulk buyers
Organic Store
Processing units
Seed market
Yet to estiblish
Marketing
Agency
Value Chain
Fund

47. COOPERATIVE MELA

48. So…what can be done
• Support farmers to switch to ecological
farming
• Help them to get organised for production,
marketing and entitlements
• Recast the support systems-research,
extension, subsidies….
• Increase the investment-public and private to
make farming viable

49. www.csa-india.org
www.krishi.tv
www.agrariancrisis.in
Facebook: ramoo.agripage
Twitter: ramanjaneyuluGV
Email: ramoo.csa@gmail.com
Phone: 040-27017735, 09000699702