Agriculture is not only about food, it’s about life. Agribusiness
is all about optimizing profit in an inclusive way so that everyone in the line
of production benefits, most importantly the producers: farmers
In developing countries like India, majority of
farming is with small scale farmers and they are the most vulnerable to output
shocks. The worst is, that set of people who produce food are the ones who
suffer for want of food.
The much talked about inclusive growth, has been
elusive in capitalist economies as small agricultural players are left out of
the growth, not to say much during recession. The economic divide between rural
and urban life is apparently wide with the velocity of growth being far less in
the former, when they are overly depended on agriculture for livelihood.
Food security is threatening in a big way with
explosive growth in middle class which is fuelling huge demand for nutritional food.
With constant threat from climate change and disruptions in productivity the
food prices are vulnerable to increasing prices making it less affordable even
to middle class dampening their prospects of prosperity.
Capital rich Private Sector has to come forward to invest
heavily on agricultural technology to support small farmers on reducing the
impact of uncertainties and natural disruptions.
Climate-Smart
Agriculture:
Climate-smart agriculture seeks to increase
productivity in an environmentally and socially sustainable way, strengthen farmers’
resilience to climate change, and reduce agriculture’s contribution to climate
change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing carbon storage on
farmland. A more climate-smart agriculture is needed as agriculture is significantly
affected by, and has been a significant contributor to, climate change.
For every
degree Celsius of global warming, grain yields are projected to decline
by 5 percent.
Yet agriculture has the biophysical potential
to offset about 20 percent of total annual CO2 emissions. More effort is need to raise productivity,
improve resilience, reduce GHG emissions, and enhance soil carbon storage.
Raising
agricultural productivity can reduce pressure for land-use
change, such as reducing deforestation driven by agricultural expansion of
food, fiber, and fuel. Raising
productivity should become a dominant focus for Private sector through
investments in technology and research enabling agricultural output
increasingly seamless.
Strengthening
farmers’ resilience will help adaptation to the increasing
frequency and intensity of droughts and floods, together with longer-term
temperature changes. Improving land and water management, better weather forecasting,
early warning systems and risk insurance, and developing new technologies such
as drought- or flood-tolerant crops can improve climate resilience.
Increasing carbon
storage in
farmland will also help mitigate climate change. Actions to enhance carbon storage
can also improve productivity and resilience leading to a triple-win of higher
productivity, more resilience, and greater carbon capture in soils. This
includes techniques such as mulching, inter cropping, integrated crop-livestock
management, conservation agriculture, and agro-forestry. The potential for
carbon storage is highest on degraded
lands
The
private sector can moot a responsible agricultural investment model which will
have its objectives of making sustainable profits for all the stakeholders,
becoming reality. The larger objective
should be to make access to food for all at affordable prices and technology
should support for the cause through mitigation of risks surrounding the
farming industry.
World
Bank Group has come with broader principles
governing RAI (Responsible Agricultural Investments ) and Private Sector can have similar objectives like
To invest
in technology supporting small farmers on their productivity
To
strengthen food security to all
To make
it Viable economically and resulting in durable shared value
To generate
desirable social and distributional impact, but not to increase vulnerability
To be
sensitive to environmental impacts and responsive to usage of resources
To achieve
higher output thus reducing food prices to meaningful level
To ensure
sustenance to all stakeholders involved in agricultural productivity
With ever
increasing demand for nutritional food on account of increasing population and affordability,
agricultural productivity in developing nations has to increase substantially
in order to achieve food security to all.
The major
challenges to output through natural disruptions, climate change risk and production
inefficiencies can be mitigated through effective utilization of technology which
can help small scale farmers mitigate crop loss risk.
Access to
Information technology and scientific tools will help farming sector to
increase their output and prevent crop loss due to natural risks thereby
achieving food security and affordable food a reality.
Food
security at meaningful price can be the best that can happen for building
nations wealth.
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