In an interview with Ashok B Sharma, Mr Joshi elaborates on his idea offarmers' corporations, a network of supermarkets in the country incoordination with the farm corporations, and a transport and consumernetwork in the country. This network, he feels, should be set up withoutgovernment support. Mr Joshi also advocates the use of informationtechnology (IT) from the farm level to the level of domestic and overseasconsumers. However, in the case of IT deployment, he says that facilitationby government agencies is necessary. Excerpts:

Do you foresee any threat to Indian agriculture in the context of its recentexposure to the WTO regime?
The WTO regime has established contact between `pampered' farmers of thedeveloped world with `bleeding' farmers of the Third World. But competitionbetween these two classes is not on an equal footing. One positive thingthat the WTO agreements have done is that they have exposed to the worldthat the support being given to Indian farmers in the form of subsidies isnegative. In 1996-97, the total subsidy given to Indian farmers for 17commodities was only Rs 1.13 lakh, out of which input subsidy was Rs14,000.

What is the possible remedy?
One option is to get out of the WTO. But this is not desirable.Participation in all global activities is a necessity, especially in thisage of convergence, popularly called the ICE (information, communication,entertainment) age. Therefore, the only way out is to upgrade Indianagriculture to the status of world class agriculture.

Should we not demand that we be allowed to raise our subsides to farmersto the level in developed countries?
We should ask for removal of all distortions in global trade being caused bythe developed countries in terms of imposition of tariff and non-tariffbarriers to trade. We should demand that they reduce their high level ofsupport to agriculture and give us more market access by reducing their hightariffs and removing all discriminatory approaches to sanitary andphytosanitary (SPS) measures, misplaced environmental and labour concerns.But what is most important is liberalisation of Indian agriculture.

Agriculture in India is considered the largest private sector enterprise,with the involvement of about 62 per cent of the rural population andfarmers who have the freedom to decide the pattern of cultivation.

So, what do you mean by liberalisation of the sector?
This is a totally misplaced notion. Agriculture in India is under thecontrol of the state. Economic liberalisation is yet to be introduced inagriculture.

As per existing law, farmers are not owners of land. The state is the owner,and the land is leased out to the farmer through a `patta' maintained by therevenue records. Land can be acquired from farmers by the government in thename of development projects against nominal terms of compensation dictatedby the government. Inputs like fertilisers, power, diesel, credit, water,seeds are directly or indirectly controlled by the government. So alsoagricultural output, which is controlled in a similar manner.

Have such controls affected Indian agriculture? We have achieved recordlevel of foodgrain production at 208.88 million tonnes in 1999-2000 fromabout 50 million tonnes in the mid-50s.
We could have achieved much more had there been no controls. Controls inagriculture have reduced a farmer's status to that of `risk-bearing labour.'The quality of farm produces have deteriorated and domestic prices haveremained higher due to such controls.

What do you think should be done now?
Remove all controls on agriculture, ensure free movement of agro producesacross the country and treat the entire country as one economic zone. Letthe farmer manage his own responsibility. When many developed countriesbegan liberalising their economy since the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffsand Trade (GATT), we were moving in the reverse direction. We initiated theprocess of economic liberation much later, in the 1990s. But the agriculturesector still remains out of this reform process.

What role will a farmer have in the event of total liberalisation of thesector?
Farmers should come together to form corporations of their own. The value oftheir landholdings should be translated into equity shares in the proposedcorporation. All investments by them for crop production should be put in acommon pool as per their landholdings. The profits on sales of producesshould be divided as per the equity holdings. This will minimise the cost ofproduction, usher in efficient management, facilitate farm mechanisation andadoption of new technology, increase yield and prevent fragmentation oflandholdings.

Farmers' corporations can also take up activities like post-harvestmanagement, storage, transportation, marketing, grading, testing,certification and processing. The provision for initiating contract farmingor leasing out land to other corporate bodies will not be necessary oncethis concept of a farmers' corporation becomes a reality.

Should there be any change in law or any help from the government tofacilitate such corporations?
No change in law is required. Farmers' corporations can be set up under theexisting Section 9 of the Indian Companies Act. The government should onlychange laws for giving compensatory rights on agricultural land to allmembers of the family concerned, including daughters or widoweddaughter-in-law, whichever is preferable. The government can give fiscalincentives to these corporations as is being given to other corporatehouses.

Has there been any move in this direction so far?
Onion growers in Maharashtra will soon form a corporation over 100 hectares.Soyabean growers are also gearing up. Farmers in Pune have alreadycontributed their equity in the shape of money to form Bhama ConstructionLtd. Farmers in Nagpur, Wardha and Yetmal have set up a super market chaincalled Shivar Ltd. Farmers in the Wardha-Chandrapur border have set upShetkari Solvent Ltd whose shares were once quoted quite high at the OTCEI.All this demonstrates the entrepreneurship of farmers.

Can this not be achieved by cooperatives?
Cooperatives have failed miserably in the country. They are just pawns inhands of politicians and bureaucrats. Besides, the very concept is misplacedas it renders no right incentives for its members. In cooperatives, eachmember has equal say, irrespective of his investment, but in a corporationevery shareholder will have a say as per his equity and investment. Hence,in corporations incentives are given to the deserving ones.

What changes would you suggest for developing the marketinginfrastructure?
The state agriculture produce marketing committees (APMCS) and stateagriculture produce marketing boards (APMBs) have failed miserably. Storagefacilities or proper grading and testing facilities are inadequate. Paymentsto farmers are also not prompt. The APMCs and APMBs are stumbling blocks inthe process and should be dismantled.

We should rather facilitate a network of supermarkets by providing properinterface between the farm sector and the transport network sector, andbetween the transport network consumers. The use of IT can be vital in theprocess.

How can IT be deployed in this sector?
This will require some amount of facilitation by state agencies. IT shouldbe deployed for connecting the farm sector with consumers here and abroad.Farmers should have all the information on prevailing domestic and globalprices of commodities and their past trends. A multi-dimensional matrix ofweb sites and portals have to be planned crop-wise and region-wise. Thescreen-touch system being developed by the Indian Postal Services and theWLL cellphone system can be used for this process.