Development of Infrastructure for Rural Prosperity
N.G. Hegde
Development of Infrastructure for Rural Prosperity. Proc. of the National Seminar on
Rural Prosperity and Agriculture: Policies and Strategies.
Infrastructure and
Institutional Support held on Nov. 5-6, 1999. National Institute of Rural Development,
Hyderabad. Sept.,2000. : 60-71.
Background
Despite significant advancement in industrial development, Indian economy is
dependent on agrobased activities. Over 70% of the population living in rural areas is
dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. A majority of these families spend over
90% of their earnings on basic needs such as food, fuel and health care. Over 50% of
the rural families who are not able to meet even these essential needs fall under the
category of the poor. Industrial development and adoption of modern technologies are
likely to generate additional employment in urban areas and pay rich dividend to elite
and rich investors. This in turn might widen the gap between the urban and rural as
well as the rich and the poor with respect to wealth accumulation, resulting in further
hardship to the poor. Therefore, we need to address the problems of the poor to ensure
social justice and better quality of life.
Rural development also deserves priority for maintaining self-sufficiency in food
supply. Our food security is under severe threat because of the growing population. No
doubt, India has tripled her food production over the last four decades, to reach the
present level of 200 million tons/year. However, with over 1.8% annual birth rate, our
growing population is bound to raise the annual demand for food to 250 million tons by
2010 A.D. As food security is a pre-requisite for economic progress, agro-based rural
development deserves attention.
Fortunately, the Government of India has been giving top priority to rural development.
However, in the absence of well planned development programmes and efficient
delivery systems, most of these resources do not benefit the target groups. It has been
reported that only 18% of the rural development budget reaches the target families,
while the rest is wasted due to inefficient delivery systems or drained out. As a result,
the pace of progress has remained stunted and the poor continue to suffer.
Problems of the Rural Poor
The time is now ripe for a change in the strategy. The rural development programme
should identify the problems of the poor and address the local needs, instead of forcing
them to accept pre-conceived plans. The participating families should take active part
in the programme. There should be equal opportunity for the weaker sections of the
society and women. The programme should facilitate sustainable management of
natural resources and environmental protection and lead to better quality of life. The
reasons for rural poverty can be attributed to lack of resources, confidence among
the poor and management for implementing the development programmes.
Lack of Resources: Most of the rural families are dependent on agrobased activities
for their livelihood, where land is the limiting factor. Over 75% of the farmers own
less than two ha land. As only about 28% agricultural land is under irrigation and the
rest under rainfed areas, a large number of people are seasonally employed, causing
severe underemployment for over 250 days in a year. Even with good quality land
and assured source of water, many farmers are not able to invest in necessary inputs to
optimise their agricultural production. Lack of improved germplasm, inadequate
nutritional supplement and poor plant protection are the other reasons for lower crop
yields. The average crop yield in India is 1.9 tons as compared to the world average
of 2.5 tons/ha and 4 tons/ha in China. Motivation of farmers to adopt improved crop
management practices with timely supply of critical inputs can boost the agricultural
production by several folds.
Lack of Confidence among Poor People: Our natural resources although scarce, are
not optimally utilised due to lack of education, awareness and confidence. This has
resulted in neglect of various development schemes which were introduced for
sustainable use of these resources. Presently, about one half of the geographic
area is categorised as wastelands. Over 70% of the rain water flows back to the sea
causing flood and soil erosion. About 80-85% of the livestock population is
unproductive causing undue pressure on forest resources, while about 50-60% of the
rural population is underemployed. It is feasible to make sustainable use of these
natural resources through application of appropriate technology and use of idle
labour. For ensuring success, it is necessary to support the beneficiaries with an
appropriate technology package with critical inputs and build a strong infrastructure at
various levels to provide necessary services.
Inspite of many success stories, most of the small and poor farmers are not confident
about their ability to participate in development programmes. Neither are they
confident about the appropriateness of the technologies, nor are they convinced about
the capabilities of the development agencies involved in launching these projects.
Poor farmers who have been receiving financial assistance in the past from the
Government and other donor agencies lack adequate motivation and training. In the
absence of their felt needs, they have been misusing these inputs for unproductive
purposes or for mere survival without fulfilling the project goals. In this process,
many poor farmers have developed a ‘dependency syndrome’ and expect outsiders to
provide the means for their livelihood. They have lost confidence in themselves as
well as in the outsiders.
Lack of Management: Rural development projects are often implemented without
adequate planning.
In the absence of an integrated approach to tackle
multidimensional interrelated problems, sectorial development activities may not
deliver expected results. Apart from integration of various sectors, many of these
projects also lack proper planning and resource mobilisation. Unlike industries, rural
development projects are not implemented on sound management principles taking
into consideration the required inputs, technologies, human skills and opportunities
for marketing the produce.
Strategy for Sustainable Development
The development programme should identify the problems and options to solve these
problems, based on the available resources and technologies. The agricultural
development programme should identify the availability of resources such as quality
of the land, quantity of water, weather conditions and select suitable crops which are
most productive. The project should ensure timely supply of inputs, finance and
identify a suitable market where price recovery for the produce will be maximum.
In this process, it is also necessary to develop the capacity of the target groups
through establishment of local organisations. Such organisations can organise
procurement and distribution of necessary inputs and marketing of the produce, even
after the project is terminated and the services of outside resource persons are
withdrawn. Availability of labour and their level of education to adopt necessary
skills is also an important consideration. However, in most of the villages, idle
labour is available in plenty and skills required for implementing agrobased projects
are less sophisticated. Hence, the labour availability is not a critical factor, but
motivating them to take active part in the programme is the key to success.
Development of Infrastructure
To sort out the above problems, we need to develop a strong infrastructure at various
levels. Apart from mobilising people, infrastructure is also necessary to organise input
supply, finance, post production processing and marketing of the produce. Inadequate
marketing network is another major bottleneck in agriculture. The farmers should be
oriented to make a swift forecast of the demand for various commodities and exploit
the opportunities. There is good scope for setting up market outlets to reach the
customers without involving too many middlemen. Such agencies can support
farmers with seeds of improved varieties, finance and other critical inputs for
optimising their crop yields.
Marketing services are presently provided by the Agricultural Marketing Boards,
Milk Cooperatives and Federations which are inefficient and politically oriented.
Many of these cooperatives are not competent and are outdated. Very often they end
up in losses because of mis-management and ignorance. In this process, the innocent
farmers suffer heavily. Presently, only a few Farmers’ Organisations, Sugar
Cooperatives, Milk Unions, Grape Growers Cooperatives, Apple Growers
Cooperatives and Tea Growers’ Association, etc. are fairly successful because of
their professional approach in operating the business. The strength of these
organisations can be extended to other crops in different regions. Development of
village level farmers’ organisations which can directly deal with reliable business
houses or trade outlets should also be encouraged. Industries can play a significant
role in strengthening such market oriented village level organisations.
An ideal linkage of various organisations at various levels of agricultural development
is presented in Fig. 1. As shown in this figure, Self Help Group (SHG) of 10-20
farmers can be an effective non-formal organisation to provide necessary services and
facilities to the members. The SHGs should preferably consist of a homogeneous
group of members, preferably separate for men and women. These groups can share
their concerns and plans on various development activities to be undertaken jointly and
individually. They can also organise procurement of agricultural inputs, credit,
technical services and marketing of the produce. Several SHGs can jointly form a
village level or block level Farmers’ Association or Cooperative Federation
organise technology transfer, processing, marketing and other services.
to
Voluntary Organisations working at the block level can play a significant role in
capacity building of the SHGs and Farmers’ Organisations and facilitate a close link
between the SHGs and Gram Panchayats. NGOs can also help the SHGs to arrange
processing and marketing of the produce through various industries and consumer
organisations. The role of Technology Development Institutions and Financial
Institutions can also be made very effective, if they can establish a close link with the
village level organisations and SHGs.
Agricultural extension services are presently being provided by the Zilla Panchayat
through Gram Sevaks. However, most of them are ineffective in dealing with farmers
who are located far away and are least receptive. Thus, the technology transfer in
backward areas is extremely slow. Even the earlier effort to disburse bank loans to
farmers either directly or through the cooperative societies has not been successful due
to lack of motivation and inadequate pressure from their peer groups. These
drawbacks can be minimised through the formation of SHGs and involvement of local
voluntary organisations.
Empowerment of Local People
With the 73rd Amendment of the Indian Constitution, the role of the Gram Panchayat
is predominant in implementing almost all the development programmes launched by
the Government. The intention of the Government is to empower the local bodies at
the grassroot level to promote micro-level planning, initiate need based development
programmes and ensure transparency. The Gram Panchayats are expected to develop
their plans through a participatory approach and discuss such plans in the Gram
Sabha. The Gram Sabha is expected to act as the watch dog and monitor the
programmes implemented by the Gram Panchayat and other organisations. This
concept is ideal for the upliftment of rural areas and to ensure transparency in all
public dealings. The realisation of this concept is totally dependent on a change in the
attitude of the local people, who are the members of the Gram Sabha. As the
members of the SHGs and Farmers’ Organisations form the Gram Sabha, the
development of SHGs will have multiple benefits. The formation of SHGs of women
and active participation of the local families in the process of planning and project
implementation will also help in developing harmony and build unity among the
members of the community, irrespective of their caste and economic diversities.
This is an ideal method to empower the women and disadvantaged sections of the
society.
Active involvement of the Gram Sabha in various development programmes is a
noble objective. However, the difficulty lies in motivating the villagers to attend the
Gram Sabha meetings. In most of the backward villages, in the absence of a common
public, the vested interests are likely to influence the proceedings which may not be
in the interest of the community. Therefore, the office bearers of various village
level organisations such as schools, colleges, cooperative societies, banks, mahila
mandals, youth groups, farmers’ associations and voluntary agencies should take part
in the meetings as these institutions are expected to safeguard the interests of the
community. Some of these institutions can also assume the role of facilitators of the
Gram Sabha and form a link between the Gram Panchayat and Gram Sabha (Fig. 2).
With good team work at the village level in the form of Gram Sabha, the community
will be able to monitor the services provided by the Government. There are instances
where the members of the village SHGs monitor the attendance of school teachers and
Anganwadi and Health Workers. Such groups have prevented vested interests from
mismanaging the Gram Panchayats and have elected new members and therefore
ensured transparency.
In Maharashtra, several farmers’ groups involved in milk marketing are able to
independently hire the services of veterinarians to avail of livestock breeding and
health care services, while the farmers in many other states are still dependent on
Government assistance for similar services. Such group activities are able to sustain
the development programme without external assistance.
Thus, motivation and training of the target groups to build leadership through local
organisations can play a vital role in poverty alleviation and sustainable development
in India.
References
1. Hegde, N.G. 1998. Strategy for Rural Development.
Development for Sustainable Livelihood. BAIF. 11-22.
In Integrated Rural
2. Hegde, N.G. 1998. Human Resource Development for Empowerment of Local
Communities. In Integrated Rural Development for Sustainable Livelihood.
BAIF. 24-29