Policy Intervention to Re-look the West Bengal Agriculture- Role of Diversification

Abstract

The eastern region of India, with its diverse natural resources, has been under special focus by the Planning Commission for ushering the second green revolution in the country. The eastern states, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, and West Bengal have plenty of natural resources as well as diverse agro-eco-regions for increasing the food production of the country. Besides producing food grains, these regions have great potential to produce several high-value commodities for augmenting farm income. For example, horticulture, livestock, and fisheries sectors have all potential to pull the growth of agriculture sector of this region. One of the key impediments of fostering the agricultural growth in these regions is the small and marginal production unit of the majority of the farmers. The small scale of the production unit produce these high-value commodities with high to moderate production efficiency, but severely constrained with poor marketing efficiency. Farming units are confronted with many unpredictable uncertainties ranging from climatic vagaries to market price fluctuation. The degree of uncertainty is greater to the small and marginal landholders where the farmers do not have access to basic information on various risks including loss of assets and income. The small and marginal farmers are more vulnerable to risks arising from the very limited resources and assets at their disposable. As uncertainly is an important consideration in household decision-making, it enters the utility function of the farm household as a preference for security in the face of several risks including the loss of their investment, low income, and food shortage. In general, utility maximization involves a trade-off between higher income and greater security; whereas, in case of small and marginal landholders these two are separate goals. Keeping in view the opportunities, sources of growth, and prospects, the main purpose of this chapter is to focus on the ways and means of agricultural development in West Bengal, which may help to accelerate the rural income, household level food, and nutritional security.