Agri experts highlight need for support policies for Kerala farmers
The Hindu
Expert talk at KAU highlights importance of price support policies for Kerala farmers, focusing on rice cultivation development.
The speakers at an expert talk on ‘Price and Non-Price Factors in the Development of Rice Cultivation’ held at Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) highlighted the importance of price support policies of Central and State governments for Kerala farmers.
The programme primarily focused on suggesting policy measures for developing rice cultivation in Kerala.
The event, hosted by the Department of Agricultural Economics at the College of Agriculture, Vellanikkara, on Friday, featured prominent speakers, including Takashi Kurosaki and Deepak Johnson from the Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan.
The speakers presented a comparative study examining rice cultivation in Adat Village, Kerala, and Dinh Thanh village, Vietnam. Despite sharing similarities in latitude, climate, and farm size, the villages differ in topography and non-farm opportunities.
The study highlighted the importance of price support policies of Central and State Governments, such as Minimum Support Price (MSP), cash transfers under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), and the State Incentive Bonus (SIB) for Kerala farmers.
Without these supports, the incomes of Kerala farmers fall behind those of their Vietnamese counterparts, even though rice prices in Kerala are higher. In Dinh Thanh, rice cultivation contributes over 50% to farmers’ income, compared to just 26% in Kerala, they noted.
The discussion raised concerns about the long-term sustainability of current price support measures and emphasised the need for non-price strategies to ensure future viability. To maintain income levels without the SIB, Kerala’s rice yield would need to increase by 45%, necessitating further investment in research and extension services, experts pointed out.
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