Speaking about the need to increase food production to feed the growing population, India’s representative from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Dr Peter Kenmore, on Monday said that this has to be done in a sustainable manner and by crop intensification.
He was delivering the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s (Nabard) 30th anniversary lecture on “Future of Global Agriculture: Challenges and Opportunities for India”.
Praising certain measures adopted by the eastern states, Dr Kenmore pointed out that introduction of Green Revolution in the eastern states has led to an increase rice production. “Jharkhand has almost doubled rice production, while Bihar has registered a 60 per cent growth,” he informed.
Moreover, Dr Kenmore said that the Andhra Pradesh’s module on optimal utilisation of groundwater will be implemented in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the 12th Five-Year Plan.
Under the AP Farm and Groundwater Programme, village women are trained to measure groundwater, and based on their inputs, the community chooses the crop to be cultivated in the rabi season. “In 2008-09, when groundwater level was not high, the villagers decided to grow sunflower rather than plant paddy, and reaped a huge economic benefit,” he said.
FAO experts stressed the need to develop sustainable farming techniques to prevent land degradation, salinisation of irrigated areas, over extraction of groundwater, building up pest resistance and the erosion of biodiversity. “We need to invest in smart farming techniques,” he said, and observed that even after full irrigation potential is achieved, more than half of India’s farmlands will continue to remain rain-fed.
Optimum utilisation of groundwater holds the key. “Many communities will run out of groundwater if they make a wrong choice crops for cultivation,” he said.