Changing times call for a shift in India’s agricultural policy, said Union Agriculture Secretary Devesh Chaturvedi on Saturday while speaking at the M S Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in New Delhi.
From the older utilitarian approach that started during the Green Revolution, India must now adopt an approach that is based on ethical principles and balances food security with environmental sustainability, said Chaturvedi.
"As we moved ahead in the Green Revolution, we moved forward with a utilitarian concept. Now we have to change from utilitarian to deontological concept," he said, referring to the concept of judging actions through the lens of ethical frameworks and adherence to moral rules than just their outcomes.
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Questioning the current farming practices that are leading to reduced water table, excessive use of pesticides, and irrigation to achieve yield targets, the agriculture secretary said policy changes must ensure that sustainable production methods are adopted that protect the environment while maintaining production levels.
"The policy change should ensure higher production and productivity are achieved using methods that not only ensure sustainable production and livelihood but also protect the environment," he said.
India's Green Revolution, launched in the 1960s, transformed the country from a food-deficit nation into a major agricultural producer through the use of high-yielding crop varieties, increased use of fertilisers and pesticides, and large amounts of irrigation sources.
While the initiative made India self-reliant in wheat and rice production, it depleted soil climate over the decades, besides reducing the underground water levels.
Chaturvedi noted that while India was close to achieving self-reliance in pulses, the country was still working towards the same goal in oilseeds, though he hoped that new crop varieties being developed would help achieve this target.
Stressing on the critical nature of issues such as food security and sustainable farming, Chaturvedi said agriculture represented not just an economic sector but a livelihood concern for millions of farmers in a populous, agrarian society like India.
"Food and nutritional security and sustainable agriculture are important because agriculture is not an economic issue but a livelihood issue," he said, adding that policies can’t ignore the country’s large workforce, particularly smallholder farmers who are engaged in the agricultural sector.
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