Crop Diversification in the Asia-Pacific region - United Nations in ...

The implications are clear that area shifts from crops need not be a problem as longas their productivity levels are increasing faster to compensate for their declining area share.This is what has happened especially in the case of coarse cereals that have been a net donorof area to oilseeds and other commercial crops. Despite their negative area growth of -4.36percent, they managed to maintain a positive output growth of 1.14 percent thanks to animpressive yield growth of 5.51 percent. Since this pattern is more or less repeated in thecase of cereals as a whole, it is reasonable to say that the area shift has not affected foodsecurity. On the other hand, since the area shifts were from low-value coarse cereals to highvalueoilseeds and since such shifts were accompanied by yield improvements within theoilseed sector, the area shifts have not only increased the overall output of edible oils but alsocontributed to an enhancement of the income level of farmers. In this sense, the area shiftshave actually contributed to broaden the foundation of food security.4. CROP DIVERSIFICATION AS A STRATEGY FOR VARIOUS NATIONALCOMMITMENTS4.1 Food and Nutritional Security and Poverty AlleviationThe agricultural growth rate of around 2.7 percent per annum in the postindependenceperiod was much higher than the negligible growth rate of 0.3 percent perannum in the first half of this century. It is not only in the areas of foodgrain production butalso the production of commercial crops like cotton, oilseeds, sugar cane, fruits andvegetables as well as livestock products and fisheries have recorded significant increasessince independence. Poverty eradication is one of the major objectives of plan development.The magnitude of the problem is quite staggering. The incidence of poverty declined from54.9 percent in 1973/74 to 36 percent in 1993/94. The absolute number of population did notdecline much throughout this period of 20 years. There were 321 million poor in 1973/74and 320 million in 1993/94. In the rural areas, the corresponding numbers were 261 millionand 244 million. The land resources are limited and the average size of holding in India isonly 1.57 ha for the census year of 1990/91. The main determinants of poverty are: i) lack ofincome and purchasing power contributable to lack of productive employment; ii) thecontinuous increase in price of food, specially foodgrains which account for 70-80 percent ofthe consumption; and iii) inadequacy of social infrastructure, affecting the quality of life ofthe people and their employability.The National Agenda for Governance of the present government has given toppriority to doubling food production in the next 10 years. The food includes foodgrains (rice,wheat, coarse cereals, pulses), oilseeds, sugar (sugar cane), fruits and vegetables, meat, milk,and fish. The Action Plan envisages a detailed strategy and specific problems of productivityto substantially increase the supply of various food items in such a way that the demand forsuch items for the entire population is comfortably met and some exportable surplus alsobecomes available. The development strategy to be perused in the medium term has beenconsciously interwoven with the country’s food security concern.4.2 Natural Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural DevelopmentIt is known fact that there is little scope for further expansion of the net sown area(142 m/ha) and that land scarcity will become an acute feature of the rural economy. Wateris a precious national asset and there are several concerns regarding water resources in the40