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  AgriManipur’s Editorial (October, 2011)

We are in the era where pressure of food production strains every nation due to high population growth and shrinking arable land. We are no excepton. Challenge lies in everyone of us; to produce more from limited amount of resources. Answer would be  challenging and often coupled with unwanted offshoots. For instance, use of fertilizer, though spikes yield, spoils the land in long run. Nearly 50 % of the world population experiences the pang of hunger; forget about malnutrition! Fundamental cause points to low productivity or inefficient utilisation of land. Besides this, loss during transportation and storage contributes significantly to disheartening low reach-out to people. Given the fact that improved production of agricultural crops plays a crucial role in alleviating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, immediate attention is needed to be paid. So the mantra lies in sustainable improvement in agricultural yield.

Amidst this troubling situation, there exists a wide disparity between countries, states and regions in terms of agricultural productivity. Yield of cereal of India is half to that of China and almost one third of US. Such big difference could result from varieties of reason  . Where is the failure? Whom to blame? Difficult to point. Our aim is to address such issues by understanding and mitigating the problems through dialogue, discussion and dissemination.  One of the issues that vex the common farmers is communication gap. An intriguing research article by Shanta and Purnima (2009) in Annals of Library and Information Studies revealed that knowledge and information required by farmers in Manipur for their agricultural activities are largely unmet. Either information can’t be reached or they simply can’t understand. Also flow of information is often unidirectional. What’s wrong with the govt. machineries where tons of money were earmarked? Has money been drained somewhere?  We believe information is the key and farmers are empowered by equipping them with information.

Solving staggering needs of farmers and other stakeholders necessitates view from different angles. There is no use of abundant supply of materials (seeds, implements, manure, etc) when they don’t have capacity to purchase. Here comes the role of credit. On another front, an employee in public sectors and MNCs are entitled to healthcare and other insurance policies. Who looks after when they ill? What about the farmers? Though they  are doing the most noble job, they are discouraged  due to lack of security. Farming is, therefore, compelled to be a secondary option. On the whole, nation suffers.

AgriManipur, a brainchild of Society of Agriculture, Food and Innovation, dreams. We hope readers can enjoy and believe that magazine will act as platform for farmers, food processors, entrepreneurs and directly reaching their voice to experts and policymakers in constructive manner and at the same time, farmers will also be benefited by getting timely, reliable and motivating views and advice.

We believe, with right tool in hand, we can certainly come up from the present turbulence and malaise.

AgriManipur’s Editorial (February, 2010)

The year 2011 ended with a temporary relief of possibly one of longest economic blockades in the world. Bandh( Strikes), blockades, counter-blockades are not alien to Manipur. However, given the length of time of the blockade, ‘2011 blockade’ is unparallel and will always be remembered…… Prices of all essential commodities shot up triple times; 5 km of queue just to get 5 L of petrol. It must have been a record-breaking performance if it was to be considered for Guinness Book of World Records.   Misery it had caused was insurmountable. State machinery was virtually under siege. Just like a war-time measure, goods-laden trucks were escorted by hordes of police and para-military forces. Ministers opened up mobile shops in a desperate move to convince the people that there was ‘rule of law’.

Whom should we blame? Civil organisations or the government? Both must have their faults. Civil organisations, under the name of demanding their ‘rights’, almost cut the throats of million of people. Govt , both state and centre,   were not concerned with the plight  of the people as it was expected and, more surprisingly, in spite of earlier experiences, nothing concrete pre-emptive measures were taken. Whatever the case, the real question is how to (prevent such mindless acts from happening in the future) make Manipur immune from such mindless acts. Beyond an obvious responsibility of the govt to understand the problems of the people and taking urgent steps for mitigation through proper governance, we need to ponder and act whatever that’s possible. One of the strategies we could surely adopt is horizontal and vertical increase of agricultural crop production. And why shouldn’t we? Crop productivity must be increased, land should be better utilised and more varieties of crops should be brought in. The earlier we realise, the better equipped we are. This will also place us in a n advantageous position to outsmart the thugs. Easier said than done? I am certain this is something we can act and achieve. From what we have witnessed and witnessing, it can be concluded that govt actions are directionless. Concerned departments which should have been working in tandem are headed towards their own directionless and self-righteous policies. Departments of  agriculture, horticulture and commerce & industries (food processing) need to be independent in their administrative point of view,, and there is an apparent need of greater co-ordination. No amount of success in food processing sector can be achieved without understanding the reality of crops.  So, planning should be done  with greater co-ordination and hence a common vision can be set. Another void, I feel, is the lack of a regulatory body that look after market; example: Market Promotion and Regulation Board.  When all the govt bodies and NGOs work together, with their petty personal gains put aside, towards a common goal, a vibrant Manipur won’t be that far. The immediate offshoot ,price rise, a creation of thugs, could be substantially averted.