The country's growth in soyabean cultivation during the last 20 years is a fascinating development. In 1980, we hardly had two lakh hectares under soyabean and the average yield was 400 kg/ha. Now we grow soyabean in 50 lakh hectares with an output of nearly 50 lakh tonnes. Soyabean is rich in oil and proteins. Our export of cake has enhanced due to soyabean and oil production has gone up. New market afor phosphaticfertilisers is created due to soyabean. Exclusive soyabean mandis have come up in M.P. which have helped in giving good price to farmers and also storage protection.

Similarly, in Gujarat and M.P., special crops like cumin(jeera), opium are grown in a big way and get good market support. Fruit revolution in Maharashtra even in rainfed belt is worth understanding. High yields of rice in Punjab, Tamil Nadu, high yields of sugarcane in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, high yields of wheat in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are some other shining examples of rising agriculture.

We now grow high yielding varieties of cereals in more than 80 million hectares. Nearly 7.0 million tonnes of seeds of various crops are distributed and used in India. Almost 100 per cent of area under wheat is under high yielding varieties. The area under irrigation is 78 million hectares which permits double cropping and has helped in pushing up gross cropped area to a level of 188 million hectares. We now produce 26 milliontonnes of different fertilisers and use 33 million tonnes of them. We are the third largest producer and user of chemical fertilisers in the world. Investment in fertiliser industry is Rs 18,200 crore, we have big plants in cooperative, public, state and private sector. Capacity utilisation is 100 per cent for Nitrogen and 90 per cent for P205 which is a world record. We use diverse raw materials to produce ammonia. No other country does that. Fertiliser use is now 80 kg/ha. Distribution and handling of fertilisers is well organised. We have 2,75,000 fertiliser sale points covering our 6,27,000 villages. This is a unique achievement because farmers get the fertilisers at doorsteps.

The development of infrastructure in terms of storage of agricultural inputs and output and massive role of cooperatives in this regard is worth noting. The godowns in cooperative sector can store 14 million tonnes of material and the state and central warehousing corporations have a total capacity of 18 million tonnes. We have66,000 multi-purpose cooperatives and primary agricultural cooperatives distributing seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, machinery and implements worth Rs 2,050 crore. Institutional credit for agriculture through cooperatives is now available worth Rs 16,800 crore. Use of agrochemicals and implements/machinery is now very high. More than 2,10,000 tractors are sold in India annually. Use of machinery has helped in sowing, harvesting and post harvest operations. Loss of grain is prevented due to quick thrashing and packing.

There are some aberrations in our agricultural story. Yields of oilseeds and pulses are low ie, in the range of 400 kg/ha to 900 kg/ha. We must develop new high yielding varieties of oilseeds and pulses. Fertiliser use is poor in these crops. This must develop. At least one or two protective irrigations should be made available to these crops which are predominantly rainfed. Bajra as a crop, is a failure in many states, barring Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. It needstotal replacement in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Our per hectare yield of rice is 2.1 t/ha as compared to China's six tonnes/ha and Japan's 6.2 tonnes/ha. Wheat yield of 2.5 tonnes/ha in India is low as compared to 3.5 to 3.7 tonnes/ha in China and Japan. Maize yields in India are 1.4 tonnes/ha against 5.1 tonnes/ha in China. Use of NPK in India are 80 kg/ha as compared to 375 kg/ha in Japan and 370 kg/ha in China. China produces 64 million tonnes of fertilisers and uses 75 million tonnes, 2.5 times our levels. Organic manure recycling including use of night soil is very high in China. We have no methods of using night soil.

Not only we have to learn a great deal from China and Japan but we have also to lean from our own rich experience. Punjab, Haryana and Tamil Nadu, can teach MP, Bihar, UP, West Bengal how to maximise rice yields. MP and Maharashtra can learn from Gujarat and Rajasthan how to increase wheat yields. Maharashtra has rich experience in fruit development which can be copied in Gujarat, MP,Karnataka. Average sugarcane yields in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are in the range of 90 to 110 t/ha which are 25 to 40 t/ha higher than that of UP, Gujarat, MP, Haryana and Punjab. MP and Gujarat need to grow more soyabean and reduce dependence on groundnut which is not giving good yields.

Continued from Page 13The thrust of our future agricultural development will have to be to increase per hectare yields and replace uneconomic crops. District profiles of crops will have to be suitably altered to improve production and land utilisation and use of efficient inputs, particularly fertilisers and agro chemicals must show a sharp rise. Our use of urea is around 40 per cent which can be improved to 60 to 70 per cent in the coming years. We must diversify and use liquids, semi-solids, solid fertilisers through irrigation and develop technique for direct application of anhydrous ammonia.

Irrigation use efficiency is around 55 per cent which should appreciate to 75 to 80 per cent levels. Farm management of abetter order is necessary because modern agriculture is cost intensive and subject to natural vagaries and natural hazards. China enjoys the luxury of keeping more than 50 per cent of its arable land under forests and grasses. We have no such luxury but if we can intensify per hectare yields then we can double our output without further encroaching on our thin forest resources. The potential is so high that MP, UP, Bihar can feed the whole nation and other states can diversify by growing cash crops.

The author is a director with Rama Phosphates Ltd, Mumbai