AgriMatters

Contents: 1. Preface: Everything else but remunerative! 2. Abbreviations. 3. AgriMatters: Does agriculture really matter. 4. The competitive advantage of Indian agriculture. 5. Strengthen the farmers’ stake in agribusiness. 6. A partnership Tango called Calypso. 7. Beyond CD ratios: ‘know-how’ to show-how’ and ‘seedlings’ to ‘speedlings’! 8. Can inclusive growth and exclusive education go together? 9. Four seminars - one idea: consolidate the farm produce. 10. The potato growers of Alberta. 11. Seeds of prosperity. 12. The Green Revolution: mid-life crisis and beyond! 13. Who is to be blamed for farmer suicides? 14. Leadership and management issues in co-operatives. 15. ‘Agflation’ - the new term in the Lexicon. 16. A constitutional amendment for co-operatives? 17. Equity redemption in co-operatives. 18. The Pay Commission and Lakhpati farmers! 19. Triumph of the potato. 20. IT applications in agriculture co-operatives: the Indian experience. 21. Managing co-operatives: the role of professionals. 22. The ICU, NCUI and The Co-operative Movement. 23. Sharad Joshi’s discourse on agriculture. 24. The World Bank ‘Rediscovers’ agriculture. 25. The ITPO vs. NREGA. 26. A farmer’s budget: Déjà vu! 27. To be or (to) not to be: GM crops in agriculture! 28. Sixty thousand crores: strengthening institutions or dispensing largesse. 29. The fertilizer crisis: what should be done? 30. A long term view on oilseeds exports. 31. Agri clinics - new role for agricultural graduates! 32. Every dark cloud brings silver along! 33. A bagging question! Jute bags versus plastic woven sacks. 34. Export policy and livelihood of primary producers. 35. Governance issues in co-operatives. 36. Looking for ‘development’ in the Doha round? 37. ‘Loan Waivers’ and ‘Tractor Hours’. 38. An oasis close to the horizon. 39. Away from the headlines: news from page eight! 40. Conservation agriculture: the way forward. 41. The viability of financial inclusion. 42. Learning from the Election Commission! 43. Agriculture forecasts: ground realities in the space age! 44. The user pays, and has his say. 45. Building the absorptive capacities (As You Sow, So Shall You Reap!). 46. A tale from two states! 47. The great wall of APMC. 48. Zero tillage: a number one idea! 49. A dollar a day .. keeps the World Bank at Bay! 50. PVP -- the IPR for agriculture! 51. The SAARC Milk Grid! 52. South Asia : A landscape of milk and honey. 53. The Kisan Corporate dialogue. 54. The Arthashastra on agriculture. 55. Globalisation and primary producers (Part 1). 56. Globalization and primary producers (Part 2). 57. Stuffed and starved: what lies behind the world food crisis’. 58. The DAP is not a silver bullet! 59. Fertilizer subsidy. 60. A new currency for the farmer: warehouse receipt. 61. The amber, blue and green boxes. 62. Learning from the global meltdown -- co-operatives as a viable option. 63. Convergence is the new buzzword. 64. Her field, her crops, her choice.

“AgriMatters is a compilation of the weekly column penned by Sanjeev Chopra, currently posted as the Secretary Agriculture of West Bengal. From Independence Day 07, he has been sharing his concerns about the dilemmas faced by the farmers, agricultural scientists, policy makers, and agribusiness organisations. He feels that while the farmers have done a commendable job in achieving global competitive edge, the failure of transparent price discovery mechanism, agri-warehousing and logistics has not given the commensurate returns to the farmers. He makes a strong case for agricultural co-operatives taking the leadership position in the rural economy: from agricultural extension services to supply of credit and partnership with processing firms for value addition. Given the size and structure of India’s land holdings, it would be best if co-operatives, established ‘partnership farming’ with exporters and corporate to leverage their mutual strengths.

The articles cover a wide range -- from the Arthashastra on agriculture to Sharad Joshi’s discourse on agriculture and the Amber, Blue and Green Boxes und the WTO, price discovery mechanism for farmers, agriculture insurance, loan waiver scheme, Kisan Credit Cards, Zero Tillage Conservation Agriculture, the debate on jute packaging and reports on the different workshops that the author has been invited to as a participant, Resource person or session chair. The focus is both on policy and implementation issues -- for the it is the ‘nuts and bolts’ issues rather than the grand policy design which are responsible for the sub-optimal performance of agriculture in India.

AgriMatters makes sense for anyone who wants a quick ‘take’ on issues facing agriculture, horticulture, farm credit, agri-insurance, fertilizer policy, GM crops, organic farming, corporate-farmer linkage, political economy of agriculture, Co-operative Movement, management and leadership issues in co-ops, agri-education, extension and the flagship development interventions of the Government of India, namely the RKVY, NREGA, NFSM, ATMA and the different national missions -- from horticulture to jute to water harvesting.

Each column is an easy reading of about a thousand words. There are no illustrations, but the Dickensian humour ensures that there are no dull moments!” (jacket)