Perspective:Agriculture (excluding forestry and logging) contributed only 13.3 percent to the GDP in 2010. Yet more than 60 percent of the population depends on it for livelihood.
With current GDP at Nu 72.478 billion (2010), the agriculture sector’s contribution was only Nu 9.64 billion. This means the per capita income of the rural sector was approximately Nu 21,984 or US$ 415.00 (US$1= Nu 53), which compares poorly with the national average of US$ 2003.00.
The rural per capita income further deteriorates once cash crop earnings from apple and orange owned by urban based people is deducted. Urban per capita increases to US$ 4,134 if rural population and agriculture contribution to the economy is taken out of the equation - a jump of more than 100 percent over the national average or almost 10 times more than rural per capita.
In the National Statistical Yearbook 2011, total area available for cultivation is 112,549.60 Hec or 2.9 percent of our country. Of this, only 31,910.8 Hec make up wetland or rice fields. This works out to a wetland holding of 0.18 acre per capita for the rural area. Actual cultivation of wetland is however about 25 percent lesser due to land being left fallow. As per the National Statistical Yearbook 2011, the average yield per Hec for paddy/rice cultivation was only 1.27MT, which is far below the international standard of more than 2 - 3MT. This statistic is also reflected in other major crops.
The very low rural per capita income, very small land holding, low crop yield and other such reasons is seeing a rapid rural to urban migration and land being left fallow. We cannot blame rural people for doing that. How can the government insist people stay by promising them electricity, education, farm roads and other facilities when the very fabric of the family’s survival is jeopardised – the ability to earn or to produce enough and then some is rather limited or does not exist. How can rural families survive with land holdings of less than an acre and that with very low productivity? Subsistence farming is no longer an option for the rural sector.
For any production there has to be adequate capital and labour. While the rural area has labour, they do not have adequate capital in the form of land and finances. When a family possessing a very small holding say an acre, is not able to feed its members from the crop produced, it is only natural the family look for alternatives to survive. The family will be forced to leave its land fallow and migrate to the towns for employment. This is compounded further by crops being destroyed by wild animals and the delivery of services such as education/health, entertainment facilities and others in the rural areas being inferior to the urban region.
The government should consider the following initiatives:
1. Legislation to ensure farming sector has a minimum land holding of 20 acres a family by way of ownership/associations/co-operatives. This will ensure food production at a lower cost (economy of scale). The National Land Act of Bhutan must be amended to permit farmland holding of minimum 20 acres a family and a special provision for the agriculture/farming land holding up to a maximum of 500 acres. The construction of numerous farm roads has enabled transportation and marketing of crops within the country and for export. We need now only to produce them in adequate quantity and at competitive prices.
2. Ensure consolidation of agricultural land and discourage land fragmentation. The Inheritance Act of Bhutan encourages land fragmentation through equal share in the family land and properties. It needs to be amended.
3. Marginal land holding farmers must/should be encouraged through incentives or by law to consolidate land holdings under individual (buying/selling) and associations/community/co-operatives to increase commercial crop production.
4. Subsistence and marginal farming must be discouraged at all cost.
5. Honour and accept land measured by the government in the old system and reflect the new increase measurement in the Thram without any excess land. If the old system of measurement indicates 2 acres and the new system says 3 acres for the same land holding, then the new Thram should reflect 3 acres. How can the government keep on changing the area of land holding based on different systems of measurement being adopted? The earlier ones were also done by the government and were then legal. Government must accept the responsibility of the past measurements and honour it. Excess land will be used by the people for productive output instead of being left fallow. His Majesty’s Kidu with regard to the excess land is the correct step to encourage food production.
6. An urgent need to increase investment in agriculture. Farm mechanisation must be further strengthened and increased throughout the country. Reduce labour intensive agricultural activities to the extent possible. Mechanisation will be economical and sustainable once farmland holding is increased to minimum 20 acres.
7. Encourage migration of surplus labour from rural to urban areas to reduce underemployment in the agriculture sector. This will increase labour supply and productivity in the secondary and tertiary sectors especially construction activities and service industries. Billions of Rupees will be saved by replacing non-Bhutanese workers. To be economically vibrant and sustainable Bhutan must ensure its working population is employed efficiently and productively.
8. Surplus labour from the rural sector resulting from farm mechanisation must be trained in vocational training institutes for meeting requirements of construction, service industries and others. Education qualification should not be made a barrier for such re-training.
9. Promote wide use of technology to increase cost effective production of crop, cash crop and animal husbandry products. One could be intensive propagation of environment friendly System of Rice Intensification (SRI), which increases production up to 5.8MT per Hec (compared to the present 1.27MT), reduces labour by up to 40 percent, uses about 50 percent less water, requires 2kg of seeds compared to the 20kg an acre for the conventional rice cultivation and encourages use of natural manure and compost over chemical fertilisers.
10. Ensure production of food is price competitive to guarantee its sustainability. The poultry farming industry in the country will not be sustainable once eggs from India start coming in. This is due to high cost. The price comparison between Bhutanese eggs at Nu 280 a crate (Thimphu price) and Jaigaon price at Rs 100 is not at all comparable and justifiable. This high price has ensured that many Bhutanese cannot consume eggs. Urgent studies must be done to analyse why such food production is so much higher in Bhutan. Similarly, rice being sold at more than Nu 60 a kg when comparable quality rice is imported from India and sold at Nu 30 to 35 per kg needs to be analysed (Is it due to scale of production?). The promotion of high priced domestic produced food in place of economically priced imported ones will have economic, social and political repercussions that the country can ill afford. It is not fair if majority is forced to purchase high priced and unaffordable domestic food products when much cheaper imported ones are available.
11. Stop using agriculture land for development of urban settlement. It is ironical that the conversion of scarce agricultural land for other purposes is happening with impunity. Urban centres can be developed on slopes and other locations. Location like Gelephu and Samtse should be explored for conversion into large mechanised farms. It may be more pragmatic and beneficial if the 1,000 acres designated for the education city be re-converted back into agricultural land for mechanised farming and promotion of SRI rice cultivation. Required water for irrigation can be pumped from the river as proposed for the education city project. “A bird in hand is better than two in the bush,” especially when Bhutan does not offer any comparative advantages in the education sector.
12. Production of food in the country should be targeted not only for domestic consumption but also for export. For this marketing and (cold) storage facilities need to be developed and promoted.
The above suggestions to on-going activities will not only see to food self-sufficiency but will also increase food export. It will moderate food imports leading to substantial decrease in the Rupee demand.
To be continued
Contributed by
T Gyaltshen, Thimphu
No comments:
Post a Comment