Relevance: GS-3: Issues of Food Security;

Key Phrases: comparative advantage; infant industry argument; Agri R&D; Amrit Kaal; invest at least 1% of its agri-GDP in agri-R&D;

Context

• The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has emphasised the need for India to be Atma nirbhar. This is true for various sectors - defence, agriculture and scientific achievements.
• For India to be successful in Amrit Kaal (next 25 years) it is imperative that it is self-reliant not just in missiles (defence equipment) but also in meals (food).
• As a former PM had said "Jai jawan, jai kisan, Jai Vigyan", focusing on science and scientists is critical for attaining self-reliance.

Key Highlights

• Self-reliance in food does not mean that we have to produce everything ourselves at home, irrespective of the cost.
  • Its true meaning lies in specialising in commodities in which we have a comparative advantage, export them, and import those in which we don't have a significant comparative advantage.
  • Infant industry argument - Initial protection may be allowed to those industries which are greenfield, but only to some extent. The principle of comparative advantage must be followed
  • But one should not aspire to be self-sufficient behind high tariff walls. That would only breed inefficient and high-cost structures that cannot compete globally.

Attaining Comparative Advantage

• In the area of agriculture and food, it is the efforts and resources that a country puts in
  • Agri-research and development (agri-R&D),
  • Its extension from lab to land,
  • Investing in irrigation to boost yields,
  • Efficiency in marketing and
  • Processing the produce, and taking it from farmers' fields to consumers' table or export destinations.

Status of Agri-R&D

• Agri R&D raises total factor productivity and makes agriculture more competitive globally.
  • Basic R&D to develop “miracle seeds" can be done outside the country which could be worked on by domestic labs and scaled up for adoption at farmers' fields.
  • The Green Revolution was such a case.
• For India to be fully self-reliant in food, it must invest at least 1% of its agri-GDP in agri-R&D.
  • But the budgets of both the Union government and the states put together reveal that this expenditure on agri-R&D and education hovers around 0.6% of agri-GDP, with a roughly equal share of the Centre and all states put together.
• India has achieved self-reliance in agriculture by producing a reasonably large amount of food, and also being a net exporter of agri-produce.
  • India imports 55-60% of Edible oil requirements, which is a concern
• The Economic Survey (2021-22) explicitly highlighted the correlation between spending on agri-R&D and agricultural growth.
  • For every rupee spent on
    • Agri-R&D yields much better returns (11.2), compared to
    • Fertiliser subsidy (0.88),
    • Power subsidy (0.79), etc.
  • Yet, the competitive populism in Indian democracy leads to suboptimal choices in the allocation of scarce resources.
    • More on safety nets like food subsidy and MGNREGA or on income support and subsidies for farmers, but very little for agri-R&D.

Challenge

• Budgetary expenditure (FY 23) is heavily tilted towards safety nets and subsidies.
  • India cannot develop cutting-edge technologies to attain competitiveness at a global level.

Way Forward

• Private sector come forward and help India attain supremacy in agri-R&D and
  • Global and local companies like Bayer, Syngenta, MAHYCO, Jain Irrigation, and Mahindra and Mahindra spend a considerable amount of their turnover on R&D programmes and developing high-tech inputs.
  • The USP of these companies is that they develop technology that increases productivity while addressing the current challenges of
    • Limited net sown area,
    • Depleting water resources,
    • Vulnerability to climate change, and
    • The need to produce nutrient-rich food.
• The need of the hour is to focus on increasing expenditure on agri R& D and other development projects, which can aid in the sustainable growth of the agriculture sector.
• India's budget allocations in the agri-food space should thrive on creating "more from less".
  • The financing should focus on altering the current atmosphere of a high incidence of hunger and malnutrition, keep a check on the mismanagement of natural resources and mitigate climate change issues.
• Build long-term sustainable solutions that have an aggressive approach to implementing relevant policies and developing new ones.
• The government should come out with policies that incentivise private companies to expand their R&D programmes and invest more financial resources on development projects, which have the potential to overcome the challenges of the current agrarian setup of India.

Source: Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. How can India become Self-Reliant? Answer from the perspective of boosting Agri R&D.