Looking Beyond Yield in Agriculture | 17 Oct 2024

Source: TH

Why in News?

There is a need to measure agricultural success by its ability to nourish people, sustain livelihoods, and protect our planet for future generations and not merely emphasising on Yield. 

Why are Issues Associated with Sole Focus on Yield in Agriculture? 

• Micronutrient Deficiencies: The push for high-yielding rice and wheat varieties has reduced their nutritional content.  
  • An ICAR study found zinc levels in rice dropped by 33% and iron by 27%, worsening micronutrient deficiencies. 
• Public Health Concerns:The decline in nutritional quality of foodgrains is linked to rising health issues.  
  • The NFHS-5 (2019-2021) highlights that 35.5% Indian children under five are stunted, 19.3% are wasted and 67.1% are anaemic. 
• Fertiliser Dependency: The response of crops to fertilisers has declined by over 80% since the 1970s.  
  • Farmers have to use more fertilisers to achieve the same yield, raising input costs without a proportional increase in income. 
• Ignoring Crop Response Across Season: A singular focus on maximising yield may help with seasonal outputs but may not maximise output the whole year round.  
  • Little regard is paid to the on-field symbiotic relations between crops within and across seasons which compromises overall nutritional output and profit over the year. 
• Loss of Biodiversity: Focusing solely on yield structurally promotes only a few high-yielding varieties of seeds everywhere, leading to biodiversity loss. 
  • For instance, India has lost about 1,04,000 varieties of rice since the Green Revolution and only 6,000 of the older varieties survived.  
    • It makes the farming system more vulnerable to pests, diseases, and the impacts of climate change.  
• Dwindling Agricultural Resilience: Monoculture farming practices are vulnerable to events such as intensifying floods, droughts, and heat waves which has undermined agricultural resilience. 
  • Many local varieties of crops have proven to be more resilient to extreme conditions. 
  • Monoculture is the agricultural practice of growing a single crop species over a large area for multiple seasons 
• Disruption of Ecological Balance: Monocropping ignores the benefits of intercropping and crop rotations which can diminish long-term agricultural productivity and profitability. 
  • Intercropping sugarcane with vegetables in Andhra Pradesh improved income stability throughout the year but monocropping ignores this. 
• Neglect of Nutritious Crops: The prioritisation of high-yielding rice and wheat varieties has led to the decline of resilient and nutritious crops.  
  • For instance, the area sown under coarse cereals such as millets has dropped by 10 million hectares since the 1950s, whereas the share of rice and wheat has gone up by 13 million hectares and 21 million hectares, respectively. 
• Income Volatility: The reliance on a single crop for high yields can result in economic instability, particularly when crop prices fluctuate or climate conditions reduce yields. 

How Looking Beyond Yield Can Improve Agriculture? 

• Holistic Development: Agriculture indicators should not be determined only by the Ministry of Agriculture, but collectively by the Ministries of Health, Agriculture, Water, and Environment. 
  • It will ensure that agricultural policies account for diverse aspects like public health, water management, and environmental conservation.  
• Nutritional Security: Transitioning from measuring output in terms of quantity (kg/hectare) to nutritional output per hectare ensures that food production contributes directly to human well-being.  
  • This addresses critical issues like malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies by prioritising the quality of food, not just the quantity. 
• Soil Health and Biological Activity: Metrics such as soil biological activity and soil organic carbon are vital indicators of long-term soil fertility. 
  • Maintaining healthy soil ensures sustained productivity without over-reliance on chemical inputs, which degrade soil quality over time. E.g., Soil health cards. 
• Water-Use Efficiency: Improving water efficiency helps conserve a critical resource, making agriculture more resilient in the face of climate change. 
  • Telangana's AI-powered 'Saagu Baagu' pilot demonstrates how technology can optimise irrigation and improve water-use efficiency. 
• Crop Diversification: Growing more than one crop in an area ensures that regions don’t become overly dependent on a single crop, reducing vulnerability to pests, diseases, and price fluctuations. 
  • Landscape Diversity Score should be developed to assess the regional diversity of crops. 
• Income Diversification: Crop diversification, combined with income diversification like livestock rearing and intercropping, creates more economically resilient farming systems.

Conclusion

Shifting from a yield-centric approach to a broader agricultural framework fosters nutritional security, enhances soil and water health, and promotes biodiversity. By integrating diverse indicators and fostering collaboration among ministries, India can create a more resilient and sustainable agricultural system that nourishes people while protecting the environment for future generations.