Technical descriptions of the main food production problems are briefly outlined in the report. We leave India with the hope and confidence that the problem of food production will be given the necessary priority throughout the period of the Third Plan and that India will succeed in providing sufficient food for its growing population - the first and fundamental step, so to speak. we believe, in achieving India's goal. of social justice.
The problem is organizing and pooling resources to achieve food production goals. The underutilized labor force in rural villages is one of India's greatest resources for increasing food production.
PRICE STABILIZATION
Base prices for producers should be set with the best interests of the economy as a whole in mind. It is clear that the level of price guarantees will have to be decided on the basis of the best possible estimates of domestic and world supply of food grains, and on the basis of import prices as well as estimated domestic demand.
LAND REFORM AND FOOD PRODUCTION Stability of Tenure
In addition to wages and more secure employment, garden plots should be provided to wage workers. With full co-ordination in the planning, once work begins in a village, it should be pushed forward as quickly as it can be done well, and simultaneously with the land and water conservation work.
BETTER ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS
A PUBLIC' WORKS PROGRAMME TO INCREASE RURAL EMPLOYMENT AND TO PROVIDE MORE FOOD
Protecting productive lands from livestock outbreaks can also provide jobs, and in many areas will greatly increase food production. It should be noted that while wages paid to these workers will increase their purchasing power, more food will be produced not only for those doing the work, but also for other consumers.
BETTER ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS
THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN EXPANDED FOOD PRODUCTION*—Credit, Marketing and Supply
We therefore believe that agricultural college graduates should be used to a greater extent than at present in the primary societies and co-operative banks. However, it is interesting to note that Inost of the co-operative activity in India is in the processing festival in connection with cotton and sugar where large investments are required.
CHAPTER I — BETTER ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS
IMPROVING EXTENSION WORK THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT*
Other officials: The work of engineers, panchayat officials, social education organizers should be diverted. Great care must be taken in planning the programs of these camps to ensure that the material taught is clearly related to increased food production.
SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION (INCLUDING WATER USE) *
The construction should be consistent. in accordance with recommendation 15 of the detailed report on soil and water conservation in Part III of this report.). A program to provide adequate surface drainage should be started immediately in Punjab and other states with similar problems.
CHEMICAL FERTILIZER—A TOP PRIORITY*
A strong core group of chemists and engineers should be selected to attend to the many problems of fertilizer production. We therefore recommend an all-India fertilizer technology center for research and advice within the Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
IMPROVEMENTS IN CEREAL PRODUCTION
Special emphasis should be given to the improvement and design of mechanical equipment that can be used for weed control. It must be understood that the Japanese method can and should be used in irrigated areas, but that a high priority must be given to the use of commercial fertilizers so that the system can lead to high yield increases.
THE MULTIPLICATION AND DISTRIBUTION C)F
Effective steps should be taken to improve the quality of seeds included in improved seed programs. Where possible, improved seed propagation should also take advantage of the well-managed medium or larger farms.
LIVESTOCK DEVELOPMENT AND FOOD PRODUCTION Animals use land and other resources which could be used in
For example, a committee appointed in 1954 to study the matter concluded that "a total ban on cattle slaughter would not be in the best interest of the country". Moreover, a study of India's food production would obviously be incomplete without considering the issue of cattle slaughter.
PART III
CHAPTER I — THE ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN EXPANDED FOOD PRODUCTION
THE SITUATION TODAY
In the second five-year plan, it is written that "the goal is to enable cooperation to increasingly become the main basis of the organization. This board does not deal directly with cooperatives but provides assistance to state governments so that they can effectively support cooperatives. For this purpose, the Board of Directors established two funds: the National Cooperative Development Fund and the National Warehouse. The National Fund for Cooperative Development is used for progress. making loans and granting grants to state governments to enable them to subscribe to the share capital of cooperatives or to otherwise finance cooperatives.
This flexibility is of great importance in a developing nation because as rural areas develop economically and socially, people will begin to look beyond their village walls and the borders of their lands. People's cooperatives must not be rigid in structure, but must be able to adapt to the future as well as the present.
THE PEOPLE IN COOPERATIVES Cooperative Leaders
In the development stages, it will be impossible to find competent managers in some of the towns. In this connection, it must be realized that all employees of the registrar or other government departments did not eat qualified managers of cooperatives.
During this period, he would be fully deputized in his new role and answerable only to the Cooper Board of Directors. The transfer of work to cooperative institutions and associations would not relieve the state of its own responsibility for educational and development activities.
THE PRIMARY SOCIETY
It is %n this area, and in education and research on co-operatives, that we believe that the co-operative institutes and trade unions can make their greatest contribution. They are articulate about proposed policies and programs affecting cooperatives, and they do im.
EXTENDING CREDIT THROUGH THE PRIMARY SOCIETY An adequate, dependable and timely credit service at reasonable
It therefore added to the total debt burden of the cultivator rather than helping him build up financial strength. With this added protection, there should be less need for double checking for the safety of the banks and societies.
LEGISLATION
Cooperatives receive assistance for the construction of godowns with 75 per cent. of the aid in the form of loans and 25 per cent. as a direct grant. It is desirable that members of the primary community use village gruel for storing their seeds, fertilizers, food grains for family consumption.
In the chapter on cooperatives, the Team discussed some of the storage and processing problems. Emphasis should be placed on training in agricultural economics in view of the crisis in food production.
CHAPTER VI-*IM PROVING EXTENSION WORK THROUGH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
EXTENSION PROGRAMMES AND THEIR DEVELOPMENT A study of agricultural extension work demands that attention
Goals also tend to oversimplify the nature of the problem of increasing food production. A recommendation in this direction has already been made in the report from the Agricultural Personnel Committee.
EXTENSION METHODS
Interest – Desire and receive more detailed information about the practice. Evaluation – The mental process of weighing the pros and cons of the new practice against the traditional practice. appear. It seems that the practitioners depend on the conversation method, with no involvement of the practitioners in meaningful learning experiences. The right vice of resource people from the culti. vator, block, district and research levels must be encour. Much more use could be made of visual aids in the educational process.
WATER SUPPLY
An excellent report is useful. The report states that, as a general rule, throughout this area there is no problem with developing 'tube wells of 1 and 1| cusecs approx. water of good quality. But wherever ground water availability has been firmly established and the depth of the water table is below 20 to 25 feet, consideration should be given to the more economical tube well development.
IMPROVED WATER’ .MANAGEMENT Water Conveyance
In many of the irrigated areas, water is available for more than one crop per year. Significant damage also occurs if the surface water remains on the land for only part of the year.
SOIL, FERTILITY IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE The improvement and maintenance of soil fertility are vital
Exploratory studies of plant nutrient requirements can be carried out in conjunction with soil surveys and should be an integral part of any serious undertaking of soil and water conservation in areas lacking such information. Once the nutritional needs are known, there are several ways in which they can be met.
TILLAGE PRACTICES
Large areas of such potential cropland cannot be plowed with bullocks, but can be brought into good shape with heavy tractor-drawn plows and hoes, along with appropriate. Many of these areas require tractor-drawn equipment only for initial preparation; some may need it occasionally afterwards, or even annually if the soil is very clayey and especially if the time for plowing. paration between crops, or between the monsoon and sowing, is short.
EROSION CONTROL
The lifespan of some of the large reservoirs, such as the back of the Bhakra Dam, may change several times according to the conservation work done to control erosion in the catchment area. These shallow excavations have already rendered many lakhs of hectares of some of the world's potentially most productive land unfit for any productive use other than very expensive soil movement and drainage.
CONTROLLED GRAZING
Here again, excellent progress has been made during recent years in India at several stations, including the work of the Desert Forestry and Soil Conservation Station in Rajasthan, where the problem is particularly acute. The progress of demonstrations in India of the great benefit of vegetation conservation and or other practices for the improvement of rangelands is very pleasing.
FARM AND VILLAGE FORESTRY
SHIFTING CULTIVATION •
This problem of improving shifting cultivation methods is so urgent for the people involved, for the large resource areas, for forest supplies, and for political and social stability in certain areas, that the Team feels that action can no longer be delayed. Such research should be closely linked to the Soil Survey program and to programs to demonstrate new crops and practices as soon as their viability is proven.
RECLAMATION AND USE OF UNUSED LAND
But with some competent research there is much opportunity for improvement in the system: (1) Some areas are well adapted to mixed cultures of woody plants and forest trees. In some cases, however, estates have been plotted without reference to soil conditions, to the extent that some eVen holdings include only bare rock.
RISK INSURANCE FOR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Many cultivators hesitate to undertake well-proved combinations
EDUCATION AND RESEARCH
These men should be housed with State agricultural research workers where local applications of the principles found at the Center's laboratories are made. Such scientists of the Center will work closely with the government research workers and attempt to inti.
SOIL SURVEYS*
Funds should be available for close cooperation with the State Department of Agriculture. At many experiment stations in India, attention is being paid. for the improvement of one or several props. As soon as possible, the results of experiments, including responses to fertilizer use and other soil and water conservation practices, should be summarized from known soil types so that the results can be available for use by all technicians and ultimately growers. , dealing with any specific land type.
ECONOMIC EVALUATION OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION DEMONSTRATIONS
The highest priority for soil investigations should be on watersheds over costly public works and areas where plans need to be made for the consolidation of fragmented businesses; for land reclamation and new land development; for soil and water conservation work, such as irrigation, drainage, containment and the like; and for complex demonstration and extension operations where growers are expected to make substantial changes to their practices. TRAINING IN SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATIONSeveral special stages of training for soil and water workers.
TRAINING IN SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION Several special phases of training for workers in soil and water
A preponderance of the foreign books, pamphlets and journals available to most soil scientists and conservationists in India have been developed in the UK, USA and other temperate countries. It is important that graduate students and operating staff have available literature in both English and French from African and other tropical countries, including the professionals.
SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMME PLANNING*
State, district and block extension officers have three important functions in soil and water conservation: In addition to specific project work in soil and water conservation, staff technicians should be available at state or district offices or provide individual technical assistance to cultivators and small groups of cultivators at those points of improvement that do not require a great deal of work for significant results.
COORDINATION FOR SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION
Above all, soil and water conservation is only effective when all parts are correctly fitted to the type of soil being treated and to the cultivators who work the soil. The Soil Conservation Poard will require some additional staff to assist in the preparation and evaluation of government schemes submitted for sanction and in the inspection and evaluation of the technical adequacy of the work in progress.
CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS The Urgent Need for Fertilizers
ORGANIZING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM
In India, these three basic primary aspects of improved seed programming are now carried out by the state departments of agriculture. In India, almost all the organized propagation and distribution of improved seeds is carried out by the state, agriculture departments.
