Need for Paolicy Changes for Better Management & Land Resources

1

NEED FOR POLICY CHANGES FOR BETTER MANAGEMENT OF

LAND RESOURCES IN INDIA

DR. N.G. HEGDE

BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune – 411 029

BACKGROUND

India is one of the largely populated developing countries, with over 65% people living in villages. Over 90% of the rural people are dependent on agriculture for survival. However with the increasing population growth and nonavailability of adequate land holdings, they are posing a serious threat for survival. Out of the total land area of 328.73 million ha only 142.22 million ha are under agriculture, 68.83 million ha are under forests, while 29.64 million ha are uncultivable fallow and 24.83 million ha are cultivable fallow lands. As per the recent estimate, over 175 million ha are classified as wastelands because these lands are either lying barren or degraded and not available for optimum use. Out of the arable lands, only 28% area receive irrigation and about 60% of the cropping lands located in arid and semi arid regions are threatened by erratic weather conditions. Hence the farmers are hesitant to make optimum investments on agricultural production and end up in harvesting poor yields. Under such situation, it is necessary to formulate a suitable land use policy to bring all the available land resources under sustainable use and increase employment and income generation potentials to strengthen the rural economy.

With this background, BAIF Development Research Foundation, a voluntary organisation, established at Urulikanchan in1967 by late Dr. Manibhai Desai a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, has been promoting appropriate technologies for sustainable use of natural resources. BAIF has been emphasising on the conservation of degrading natural resources such as land, water, livestock and forests, while providing gainful self-employment to the underemployed rural poor. BAIF has been implementing integrated rural development programmes which include cattle development, watershed management, development of wastelands and promotion of agro forestry, while ensuring eco-system improvement and empowerment of women.

PRESENT STATUS OF LAND USE

More than a source of livelihood, land ownership has a special significance for people in rural India. Land ownership is a sense of security and symbol of the status for the villagers. Hence farmers are not prepared to sacrifice their share of their inherited landed property. This has been resulting in sub-division and fragmentation, leading to reduction in crop production. There are several other reasons which affect in productivity of private, community and government owned lands. Indiscriminate land use, excessive use of water and agro-chemicals and following

are the main causes of good agricultural lands turning into wastelands. Overgrazing and felling of woody perennials would deplete the productivity and community lands, while deforestation, soil erosion and run off of rain water turn the forests into barren lands. Lack of green cover on forests and pasture lands reduce the rate water infiltration in the ground and there by reduce the recharging of ground water table. Barren lands also influence the micro-climate by way of increase in wind velocity and rise in the temperature, and there by enhance the moisture loss from the soil, increase the irrigation intervals and accelerate soil erosion.

A large portion of fertile agriculture lands are also being lost due to diversion of land for housing, roads, mining and submergence in water due to construction of dams and reservoirs. These activities are directly suppressing agricultural production and posing a serious threat to food security. It is estimated that by the year 2025 AD, the Indian population is expected to exceed 1.38 billion, when the country will face acute shortage of food grains. As a result, the country will be short of 60 million tonnes of food grains per annum. In the absence of any export potentials, there may not be any foreign exchange for importation of food grains. To avoid such crisis it is necessary and conserve all the available land resources and utilise on it a sustainable basis, to ensure food and environmental securities.

NATIONAL LAND USE PRIORITIES:

Although land is the primary resource for food production, a large portion of the land is going out of cultivation either due to denudation or diversion for other purposes. Therefore it is essential to formulate a suitable policy for making optimum use of the land resources. The land use policy should ensure the following aspects :

1. Sustainable use of arable lands for agricultural production, primarily for food security and subsequently for supporting agro-based industries.

1. Reservation of forest lands for conservation of environment and bio-diversity. Among 69 million ha forest lands, the existing 40 million ha forests can be maintained without any interference for biodiversity conservation, while the remaining denuded forest lands can be utilized for establishment of non timber forest product species to generate additional employment and income for the rural poor, while restoring the green cover.

1. Community pastures and village wood-lots should be conserved by regulating stay livestock and indiscriminate cutting of trees.

1. The cultivable and forest lands should be divided into blocks on the basis of watershed and divided into plots of suitable sizes for conservation of soil and water.

1. Marginally productive agricultural lands and wastelands should be utilised for developing agroforestry. Tree based farming has been found to be better than monoculture in arid zones, to generate year-round employment and to enhance the crop yields. Tree crops are more efficient in tolerating harsh weather conditions and to recharge the ground water while improving the soil fertility by contributing a large volume of organic matter.

ROLE OF BAIF IN PROMOTING BETTER LAND USE

It can be observed that most of the unproductive lands are owned by poor farmers, who are unable to make necessary investments to improve the crop production. Such lands mainly suffer from water scarcity and low fertility, and are often left fallow. BAIF has undertaken the promotion of agri-horti-forestry on such degraded lands. Based on the productivity of the land, weather conditions, farmers’ needs and available resources, suitable land use plans are prepared for implementation. Among various models, agri-horti-forestry which includes drought tolerant horticultural species as main crop, cereals and vegetables as intercrops and multipurpose tree species on field bunds and borders, is able to provide year round employment, while ensuring food security. This system provides an opportunity to generate income from intercrops during the gestation period, till the fruit trees come to bearing. A family developing this system on 0.5 ha land will be able to earn about Rs. 15000-20,000 per year, when the trees start fruiting, after 5-6 years. The programme can be further strengthened by introduction of dairy husbandry, particularly where the soil productivity is low and where the land is suitable only for grass production.

Development of community wastelands through cultivation of multipurpose tree species, particularly non-wood forest product species, can be economically viable, if suitable species having good demand for the produce are selected. This way, the environmental safety and income generation can be combined to develop denuded wastelands.

BAIF has demonstrated the viability of these models in several states and over 50,000 poor families belonging to tribal and weaker sections of the society have come out poverty. This model can be easily replicated in other parts of the country, with the following support.

1. Motivation of farmers by highlighting the benefits of developing their wastelands.

1. Identification of appropriates technologies to enhance the land productivity and reduce the cost of development.

1. Setting up of information centres to establish linkage with market outlets and to collect information about the demand and supply for various products, new technologies and better opportunities.

1. Advocacy to influence the policy makers and development organisations for funding these activities on priority.

1. While supporting small farmers to develop their wastelands,there are good opportunities to develop the barren lands and agricultural fields owned by large farmers as well as the absentee landlords. A large number of urban families own lands in their ancestral villages. Cultivation of such lands is often difficult in the absence of reliable local people for supervision. They also hesitate to part their land on lease or for share cropping, due to the fear of losing it, because of the Land Tenure Acts in favour of the tillers. Promotion of forestry plantations on such lands is an excellent opportunity for the land owners as well as the neighboring farmers.

NEED FOR POLICY CHANGES

Looking to the denudation of forests, community pastures and revenue wastelands, and low productivity of private lands due to various factors explained above, there is a need for modifying the land use policy at the earliest. Some of the important changes which can contribute to the conservation and suitable uses are presented below :

1. Amendments in Land Tenure Acts : Land owners should be encouraged to lease their lands on short term or long term for suitable use, which can improve the production and the environment.

1. Corporate farming should be encouraged by permitting agro-based industries and joint farming agencies to take over the sub-divided and fragmented land holdings on lease basis. Assurance of employment in corporate farms will certainly motivate small holders to participate, as most of them prefer to work on assured wages instead of engaging themselves directly in agriculture, where risk of crop failures are high.

1. Government should consider leasing revenue wastelands to agrobased industries, to take up the production of their raw materials.

1. Natural forests should be reserved for conservation of biodiversity and environmental security. The degraded forests on the peripherally of the natural forests and denuded village wood -lots should be developed through tree plantations, using non-wood forest product species or horticultural crops to preserve the green cover while generating regular income and employment. Such lands can be leased to people’s organizations or corporate bodies for specific purposes.

1. There should be a leavy imposion on stay grazing. This would discourage the expansion of unproductive livestock and reduce the burden on natural forests and community pastures.

1. There should be a penalty for keeping the land fallow for more than 2-3 years. This will motivate the land owners to enter into suitable agreement with others who are prepared to take on lease and use for productive purposes.

1. Soft term loans should be made available for development of denuded lands and watershed development. Thus the development of unproductive lands can be economically viable.

With such policy changes, the wastelands remaining idle can be brought under sustainable use and the agricultural production can be enhanced to meet the challenges of feeding the growing population during the years to come.