Input Subsidy in Indian Agriculture and Sustainability

By Afsel CK

Social media post in a local farmer’s club group to encourage farmers to avail free electricity from Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) made me think about environmental governance from a social justice perspective. The infographics highlighted two schemes — (1) Subsidised tariff on Agriculture Connection for Irrigation(no farm area restriction) and (2) Free Electricity for farmers having land between 0.3 acres and 5 acres. I responded to the infographics in the group stating that “The scheme needs to be reviewed by the Government as it encourages farmers to ‘waste’ both electricity and water”.

The quick emotional response from a sincere farmer flashed on my mobile screen “Never! You may think like that…however the one who is in the agriculture field knows about it the best”. There were supports and appreciations from his fellow farmers following his response in the form of thumbs-ups. Knowing the CPM political allegiance of the farmers, I tried to further provoke them stating that farmers should try to come out of the American imported green revolution ‘input intensive trap’, if farmers are concerned about and love the environment. Immediate response from the farmer was “why are you driving a car instead of using a bicycle”.

One of the CPM local leaders in the group responded angrily to me stating that those having some money may see all support to poor farmers as unnecessary expenditure just like criticizing farmer’s protest happening in Delhi on the Republic Day(2021). Another response from the farmers’ side was that why do you build a concrete house instead you may consider staying in a hut as in the case of olden days. To have a meaningful discussion, I responded to the earlier question of the farmer appreciating him for suggesting to use a bicycle instead of driving a car.The farmer responded to me stating that by availing these schemes, farmers can plant 500 bananas in place of 100 banas and make the farming profitable which is important for the sustainability of farmers.

This made me think deep about the policy and its impact on the sustainability of the farmers as well as the sustainability of the environment. For a full-time farmer, the farming will be sustainable if and only if the net expenditure is less than the net income to have a decent living and continue to feed the population around. For that to achieve, the taxpayers contribution is shared to minimize the expenditure from the farmer’s pocket and thereby make the farming process ‘sustainable for the farmer’ (The power subsidy bills in the four southern States and Punjab are at least ₹33,000 crore. India is the largest user of groundwater at 251 billion cubic meters, exceeding the combined withdrawal by China and the U.S.The subsidy for chemical fertilisers in the 2020 union budget was around Rs 80,000 crore.)

When I planted bananas in my small farm with the help of a local farmer, who helped me to select the plant variety and apply organic manures as I was very particular about the health and wellbeing of my family and environment. The timeline approximately forecasted for the first harvest was 9–12 months from planting. To our disappointment, even after 15 months there was no trace of harvest from the banana we planted and hence decided to take advice from the agriculture extension officer of our locality. Agriculture officer asked one question — Are you going to sell the produce in the market or are you going to consume it yourself? I said I am planning to consume myself and share with neighbourhood and family members. Agriculture officer candidly advised me not to use synthetic fertilizers and apply micro nutrients. After applying micronutrients as per the advice of the agriculture extension officer, my patient wait for the next half year did not yield any result. I approached the agriculture office to share my experience. To my surprise, a new extension officer is waiting for me to offer his expert advice. Previous officer was transferred to another location and the new officer is posted in our locality. I shared my experience with the new face of bureaucracy patiently and the person on the other end also responded with utmost patience and offered me to visit the farm to ‘observe’ what happened. I was happy to get such a wonderful response from the new officer and when the officer visited the farm, he suggested why don’t you apply some synthetic fertilizers (NPK). When I expressed my concerns regarding my reservations on using synthetic fertilizers, he tried to convince and console me stating that as we are not using pesticides it will not impact ‘our health’. I remember buying those synthetic fertilizers suggested and waiting for monsoon to arrive so that I can rely on rainwater for irrigation. Within the next six months, we could find the result of synthetic fertilizers application in the form of bananas.

Above experience portrays the quick result of the input intensive farming technique which may sustain the farmer to make some profit using the subsidy on synthetic fertilizers and electricity to irrigate the farm. However the question we need to ponder is the sustainability of the environment. What happens to the health of the soil? What if the synthetic fertilizers mix with drinking water? The impact of electricity consumed on the environment and water table depletion due to heavy irrigation requirements due to the synthetic fertilizer application.

“What is clear is that a great deal depends on ‘governance’, which we define here in a broad sense as political processes and institutions. In both intentional and less intended ways, governance shapes how scientific and technological processes are directed, how environmental and health issues are defined and addressed, and how social consequences become distributed. They shape — and are shaped by — the interactions between people, technology and environment, and how these dynamics unfold over time.They are central to addressing particular problems around water, health or agriculture, and to the formulation and implementation of policy, plans, management and regulation. Political relationships are also part and parcel of processes of contestation over social, technological and environmental values and priorities, and how these are resolved in whose favour. In short, to understand how and why social-technological-ecological dynamics unfold in particular ways, and their implications for sustainability, poverty reduction and social justice, then we need to understand the governance processes involved.”

How can we think of a model to have sustainable farming for farmers as well as for the environment at the same time by redirecting heavy agriculture input subsidies to support both farmers and environment.