'Farm land should not be diverted to SEZ'

New Delhi, Oct 5: The National Commission on Farmers (NCF) headed by Dr M S Swaminathan has recommended that fertile farm lands should not be diverted to Special Economic Zones(SEZs) and other non-agricultural purposes and amending of existing Land Acquisition Act in farmers' favour with provision for allocating land for landless farm labourers.

Releasing the final NCF's report here today, Dr Swaminathan said the government should for the first time frame a 'Policy for Farmers' instead of policies for farming to ensure the economic viability of farming aiming at enhancing the net income of farmers.

With rising agrarian crisis, about 1.5 lakh farmers had committed suicide in the country since 1995 and rural economic distress continued unabated since the government taking several steps to enahance the credit flow to the farm sector and reduction in interest rates.

To make the agriculture a viable profession, the report titled, "Serving Farmers and Saving Farming" said the foodgrtains should not be procured on Minimum Support Price (MSP) but on market price which should be above the MSP or 'at least 50 per cent more than weighed average cost of production'. And, the MSP should be extended to more crops like millets and pulses. At present 22 crops are presently covered under it.

The bottom line in India's trade policies in agriculture should be economic well-being and livelihood security of agricultural families. For this, the creation of the proposed India Trade Organisation (ITO) is must, the report said.

Of the 89.35 million farm households, 43.42 million are in debt with Andhra Pradesh farmers topping the indebtedness percentage at 82 per cent to be followed by Tamil Nadu at 74.5 per cent and Punjab at 65.4 per cent.

And, about 66 per cent of all the farm households own operational holding of less than one hectare (2.5 acres).

The Commission opposed the government's present policy of building of country's food security with the imported foodgrains and said it should be based on 'home-grown' foodgrains barring few exceptions in the case of natural calamity. For increasing foodgrain production, vast untapped reservoir available in other than Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, should be harnessed in states like Bihar, Assam and West Bengal.

The draft policy of the Commission, submitted to Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar yesterday also recommended an autonomous and statutory status for the Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) to fix 'remunerative price' of at least 25 crops including wheat, rice, sugarcane, oilseeds and pulses. While computing the cost of input the farmer should be considered as a skilled labour and depreciation of machinery and farm tools also be taken into account.

Other steps suggested by the Commission include lowering of interest rates to 4 per cent on farm loans, creating of National Bank for Farmers and devising an exclusive policy for irrigation as 'water for agriculture' ensuring more investment in water conservation and groundwater development.

For maintaining the country's GDP rate above 8 per cent, agriculure should grow at 4 per cent with its dairy component at 8 per cent, Dr Swaminathan said.

The Commission curriculum of agricultural and Animal Science Universities should be reformed to attract and retain the youths in farming. And for this purpose, a major integrated 'on farm and non-farm' employment strategy has to be framed for the rural areas, the report added.

UNI