How India can help its small farmers grow

India is home to 1.2 billion people, of which almost half depend on agriculture for their livelihood and sustenance. The majority of farmers are poor, even though food prices are rising alongside demand. Despite many efforts and the new Food Security Bill, the problem remains largely unsolved.

The solution is multifaceted. To increase productivity, reduce post-harvest losses and meet consumer demand, farmers need to access technology and information; also infrastructure such as waterworks, roads and storage facilities; and markets and financial solutions such as credit and insurance. This requires the collaboration of various stakeholders, from governments, businesses and NGOs to farming and academia.

Around the world, efforts are going on to develop such partnerships, including one in Maharashtra catalysed by the World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture (NVA) initiative in 2011. Recognizing the need and the opportunity, the Maharashtra government and private sector agreed to develop the Maharashtra Public-Private Partnership for Integrated Agriculture Development (PPP-IAD) and set a target to reach a million farmers by 2015. Since then, the partnership has launched 30 value-chain projects, which are engaging nearly 500,000 farmers.

Maharashtra is making significant investments in its own agriculture. It is the first state to use the national government’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) and to match the investment by the private sector across the state’s value chains.

Currently, there are 30 projects working on 15 crop value chains including maize, soybeans, pulses, cotton, onion, rice, tomato, potato, vegetables, banana, pomegranate, grape, orange, cashew nut and sugarcane. All projects are co-led by private-sector and government project leaders and are overseen by the CEO-level steering committee.

The partnership has generated many positive achievements to date, and shown results including enhanced productivity, reduced post-harvest loss and less use of natural resources, especially water. Some specific examples are:

• Pulses: Farmers increased their productivity by 30-65% and developed farmer groups.
• Maize: Farmer productivity has been increased to 24-30 QTL/acre based on better input application and farm management.
• White onion: Farmers increased their yields from 7 MT/acre to 10 MT/acre, while also reducing water usage by 40-50%, fertilizer use by 30% and labour costs by 20-30%.
• Soybeans: The projects increased grain storage capacity by developing silos; took over 2,300 soil samples and distributed the results; and established a sales platform for farmers through Spot Exchange Web.

UPL, a crop protection, chemicals and seeds company, is co-leading the maize partnership project, which is providing farmers with the right kind of inputs, such as seeds, fertilizers and knowledge about appropriate farming practices, such as increasing crop volume by spacing the plants more efficiently. Regular advice on extension services by project partners has contributed to the adoption of best practices. Innovative extension models such as UNIMART, MFAS (Mobile Farm Advisory Services) of Monsanto India Ltd and hotline technical guidance by PHI Seeds Ltd has been appreciated and embraced by farmers at large.

All in all, over a three-year period, public-private partnerships have proved capable of mobilizing investment in India’s agricultural development, while focusing benefits on the smallholder farmers who need it most. The partnership approach piloted in Maharashtra has the potential to be applied elsewhere in India, as well as in other countries in Asia and Africa that are heavily populated by smallholder farmers and face similar challenges. We encourage other states and countries to adapt it to their needs, to expand the benefits to farmers across India and the world.

More on Indian agriculture
India must tackle its food waste
Can we put an ATM in every village?
Six ways to improve Indian farms
How India can support small farmers

Authors: Dr Sudhir Kumar Goel is additional chief secretary of agriculture, Government of Maharashtra; and Jaidev Shroff is the chief executive officer of UPL. 

Image: An Indian farmer works in her paddy field near the international border in India. REUTERS/Amit Gupta