Highlights

CHENNAI: Agriculture scientist and Member of Parliament M.S. Swaminathan on Saturday called for setting up of a farmer’s income commission, similar to the Pay Commission for government employees, to ensure remuneration for farmers.
At an inter-disciplinary dialogue on ‘New Technologies: Attracting and Retaining Youth in Farming,’ Prof. Swaminathan said such a commission would help to attract youths to and retain them in farming.
He also called for extensive investment in improving the post-harvest infrastructure such as processing, value addition, storage and marketing. This, he said, would encourage more people to take to farming. Political commitment to farmer’s welfare would ensure food security.
To encourage farmers, the government should institute awards such as the national sovereignty saviour award, the genome saviour award, the breed saviour award and the defenders of ecological security awards.
Gavin Wall, Food and Agriculture Organisation Representative in India and Bhutan, said the future of agriculture depended on youth and children. They were vital and valuable partners in development. In 2004, half the world’s youth were living on less than two dollars a day, he said.
The International Labour Organisation had estimated that 93 per cent of the jobs available to youth were in informal economy. Their working and earning conditions were poor, he said. Only a few children from rural areas completed schooling. However, the curriculum was not relevant to their lifestyle. Policymakers were prejudiced against youth; they should take steps to recognise the capacities of the younger generation.
Risk mitigation issues such as change in climatic conditions and price crash should be looked into, Prakash Bakshi, Executive Director, National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development, said. Storage, transport and distribution of agriculture produce were taking place outside villages. If these activities were organised within villages, it would create jobs, he said.
Later in the evening, a public forum on ‘Youth and Shaping our Agricultural Destiny’ was organised under the auspices of The Hindu Media Resource Centre.
Speaking at the meeting, T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, said younger people were drifting away from science and farming. To amake them take up science as a profession, the Department of Science and Technology had launched the Scheme for Promoting Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research. Another programme, Scholarship for Higher Education, was also launched. Both were aimed at attracting children to natural sciences.
Analysing the farming sector from the social dimension was the need of the hour, said S.A.Patil, Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
About 40 years ago, those from the rural areas who got admission to a college never wanted to return to their village and take to farming. To change this mindset, the farming activities should be included in the school curriculum, he said. “We may have to go to the grassroots to popularise farming methods,” Dr. Patil said. The agricultural universities in the country should have an industrial approach to farming.

Source: The Hindu.