Serving Farmers and Saving Farming: Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth of Farmers’ Welfare – Fifth & Final Report, Volume I

The eight-member National Commission on Farmers (NCF), chaired by Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, was set up in 2004 by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to assess the extent of India’s agrarian crisis. The commission had 37 formal meetings between 2004 and 2006 as well as technical consultations involving key stakeholders in various parts of the country. It produced five reports (the fifth of these in two volumes) and presented two drafts of the National Policy for Farmers to the government. The revised draft policy was developed in consultation with central and state government departments, farmers, farmers’ organisations, tribal families, women’s groups, academia, civil society bodies, political parties, panchayat institutions, mass media representatives and individuals.The first volume of the fifth report, submitted on October 4, 2006 to the then Minister of Agriculture Sharad Pawar, says, “We cannot be silent onlookers to a situation where 30% of India is shining and 70% [its rural population consisting mostly of farmers] is weeping.”  Volume I addresses key economic issues affecting the Indian farmer (especially one with small holdings); how the agricultural sector can be revamped; how agriculture’s ecological foundations can be strengthened; and how disenchanted youth can be drawn to work on farms, among other things.