Agriculture infrastructures in Manipur (November 19)
A concrete strategy to strengthen called in the Tenth Plan
By Dr. N. Mohendro Singh

Agriculture sector has to make a lasting sense in the development process of the North-East under a new environment of strong and sustained temptation to produce "Exportable Surplus". At the moment the North East remains visibly paged with the burden of food-deficit to the extent of Rs. 2500 crores per annum (Shukla Commission, 1997). 

Prolonged dependence on the age-old practice is, perhaps, a sign of primitive economy. The urgency for a structural change in the farm sector of the region has been occasioned by the rising wave of competitive global interaction pregnant with liberalized flow of new economic ideas and new economic activities beyond traditional geographical frontiers. 

Interestingly a shift of plan-priority in favor of the agricultural sector in the coming Tenth Five Year Plan is on the anvil, highlighting the national commitment to making agricultural more science-based and knowledge-linked. The Draft Approach Paper to the Tenth Five-Year Plan (2002-2007) of Indian States has the details.

"First, Agricultural development must be viewed as a core element of the Plan since growth in this sector is likely to lead to the widest spread of benefits especially to the rural poor. The first generation of reforms concentrated on reforms in the industrial economy and the agricultural sector neglected. This must change in the Tenth Plan".

This calls for a review of the strength and status of existing agricultural infrastructures. What is infrastructure? What are its characters? What are its effects? Infrastructure is the "Physical framework of facilities through which goods & services are provided to the public. Its linkages to the economy are multiple and fairly complex. It affects both production and consumption. It creates positive and negative spillover effects (externalities) and involves high up front cost. Its supply is monopolistic in nature. It has long payback period.

"Infrastructure services are intermediate inputs to products and any reduction in these input-cost raises profitability of production, thus permitting higher levels of output, income and employment"

"They raise productivity of other factors, including labor and other capital. Infrastructure is thereby often described as 'Unpaid factor of production', since its availability leads to higher returns obtainable from other capital and labor" (The India Infrastructure Report, 1996; P-47)

Certainly at this stage of development India is in, input-type infrastructure such as power, irrigation, basic water, sewage in urban areas, telecom, basic and technical education, roads for trucks and buses, ports and railways - will have "to expand at a rate at least corresponding to the growth rate of the economy" (India Infrastructure Report, 2001, P-13).

The findings of a study on 58 countries during 1969-78 could unfold the marked significance of improved agriculture. The study revealed that "a 1 per cent increase in irrigation coverage was associated with a rise in aggregate crop-output by 1.6 per cent and that a 1 percent increase in paved roads was associated with a rise of output of 0.3 per cent." (World Development Report, 1990, P-58). And consequently every dollar increase in agricultural income led to an increase of 80 cents in the Asian economy and 50 cents in African Economy.

The agri-land, which is, perhaps, the "mother-input" of the agricultural operation is found fairly low. Except in Assam, the Net Sown Area in the six states is very inadequate. The Net sown Area accounts for only 2.20 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 5.17 percent in Mizoram, 6.26 percent in Manipur and 9.18 percent in Meghalaya. The average operational holding of 2-4 hectares and extensive practice of shifting cultivation, it may be mentioned, do not encourage the application of modern technique for production of higher capital intensity. 

As a matter of fact, the widespread peasant farming with reciprocal family labor system is undertaken by and large to produce food grains sufficient to meet their domestic requirement only, not for "Marketable/Exportable Surplus". Although Manipur produces 1830 Kg/Ha, quite comparable with All India Average of 1895 Kg/Ha, the annual production of 4.77 lakhs M.T of rice is just sufficient to give 194 kgs per capita while the per capita food requirement is 204 kgs.

Irrigation:

One obvious factor for limited scale of production is lack of efficient irrigation performance. In the North-East the Ultimate Irrigation Potentials created so far by the end of the 8th Five Year Plan could account for 66.67 percent of agricultural land, - of which, again, only 28.65 percent was created and 23.23 percent utilized. Both "creation" and "utilization" are low. 

In the Northern Region 95 .32 percent could be created and 88.30 percent utilized. As such what is possibly required in the North Eastern Region is to irrigate both "man" and "land". An integrated approach with a new focus on "sensation" and "vision sharing" may prove exciting. The "user" should be kept at the center stage of any approach, of course, this does not rule out the importance of creation of additional physical assets. In this connection "cost overrun" and " time overrun" should not be allowed any longer to postpone and delay the momentum and tempo of development. 

The growing concern of cost escalation for creation of irrigation per hectare from Rs. 10,940 to Rs. 66,570 in 1991-92 needs to be promptly taken care of. Significantly, institutional finance, - one of the key infrastructures for agricultural take off, remains fairly low in the region. Mention may be made of commitment of the National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development to "strengthening", "modernizing" and "scaling" the performance of the farm sector. 

Bringing the highly individualized profession operating in a highly unorganized sector into the institutional mandate is really a challenge to the NABARD. Evidently the initiatives of NABARD are marked by a new sense of realism and caution. Based on the principle of refinance, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development hopefully does better in already advanced states. Of course recently direct micro-finance has been made available.

(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press)

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