Suppose you have tremendous wealth. Can you live without eating? As food is an essential good, even when it is easy to buy in good times, each country has to draw up its food balance map based on a necessary production complemented by imports. One can buy well in times of peace; however, wars and tensions between neighbouring countries bump the more sensitive commercial exchanges.
For that balance map, some steps of analysis are worth keeping in mind to put in action when we approach challenging times:
1. Can we produce more? Wisdom leads us to think about reinforcing self-sufficiency by usual means:
– Is it possible to do more than one annual sowing?
– And obtain better productivity with new varieties of seeds of high yields and more resistance to climate fluctuations?
– Are the current crops the most suitable, or should a radical replacement be made by finding the best trees to plant the wealthiest product, adapted to the climate and the soil?
– Find fertilizers, preferably organic, made through composting (recycling organic waste, transforming the organic matter into natural fertilizer).
– Also, organic pesticides made of certain plants such as pyrethrin, neem essential oils or certain fungi that act against pathogens.
2. Mobilize families. Give them information/training to foster specific aspects of agriculture and livestock. Some sessions may be instrumental, mainly by the government bodies of the district).
At the agricultural level, provide information with clear examples of the yields per acre of land for different types of cultivation, be cereals, cotton, oilseeds, bananas, papayas or other perennial crops such as mango, pomegranate, etc. Share where to buy seeds or saplings, compost products, irrigation sprinklers, organic pesticides, etc.
For livestock farming, which generally a housewife does in a limited volume, it would be an excellent opportunity to help her expand: raising chickens for meat and eggs, raising pigs, possibly dairy cows/buffaloes if there is free space, etc. There’s a need for concrete indications on vaccines for each type of farming, where to buy them, the recommended periodicity, and the location of one or more veterinarians knowledgeable in the activity.
It seems easy to expand the size of each family farm since there is land available and a good knowledge base. It is vital to provide the above accurate information on where to buy the input required for a “professional” activity.
At advanced level, I would add beekeeping honey and mushroom production on a scientific base, which does not take up much space, and you can overlap trays in a dark and humid environment.
3. Allocate land for diverse cultivations. It is essential to know how to use the available land and what area for each type of production. Understanding each portion’s soil composition will enable to create a mix of trees and horticulture with no need to hire a considerable workforce, which is rare. Decide which part will have perennial fruit trees (mango, jackfruit, custard apple, guava, apple and pear, etc.), and biennial trees (banana, papaya, etc.), and what areas to allocate for cereals, other vegetables, flowers, etc.
4. Import agreements. It is good to see the countries with high-level agreements and find excellent food exporters. With high-level agreements, everything below can work quickly. These agreements must be put in place to operate in case of need and be put in proof on a small scale to confirm that they work effectively.
5. Land reform. For countries with large idle areas of arable land, a well-thought-out agrarian reform would be necessary, which would be the engine for more outstanding food production. I’m thinking of many African countries, Latin America or the Far East, where production could quickly increase many folds when each farmer owns the land and has the property title to negotiate loans from the banks for agriculture. In addition, property ownership makes him more responsible for obtaining good land productivity.
An innovative agrarian reform will be an instrument for more outstanding food production and a means of autonomy for each country, without having to resort to favour purchases in an open market with fluctuating prices, always dependent on the rainfall and the forecast of harvests of the year.
In any Country, many families wish to have a subsistence based on working on “their” land. The head of the family could pay an annual rent through a vast land leasing system (long-term leasing) of a reasonable area, about 2 to 3 hectares. At the end of the leasing period, he would choose to acquire the land he worked on at a pre-fixed price or without further charges.
For huge countries with autonomous administrative divisions, each one should be authorized to organize the division and allocation of land, with rent-paying after a period of grace to plant and begin to earn income from harvested products. The division must give attention to new applicants for plots to cultivate.
6. Clusters of a specific activity give easy access to inputs and make selling a pleasure. It is helpful if a group of growers from a particular area find someone with the initiative to think about the means necessary for continued activity, for example:
– discovering tools for the essential works, to tractors for ploughing the land, for planting, for harvesting and threshing, with gradual mechanization of system. Over time young people starts looking for other, less exhausting jobs.
– Acquisition of quality seeds that guarantee good productivity and resist excess temperatures and water. For many farmers, it would be interesting to have the possibility of purchasing saplings to produce good quality fruit and vegetables, which can be sold at better prices.
– Cold chambers to preserve perishable products well;
– With the capacity to sell to supermarket chains and others. And export when there is surplus production.
These complementary initiatives are essential to help those who know how to farm to sell at reasonable prices, which is stimulating and provides sustenance and education for the family.
The effort to create clusters of producers with shared interests is beneficial for themselves in search of essential inputs (seeds, seedlings, cultivation and harvesting machinery, watering, etc.) and, after harvest, to find a way to better sell at stimulating prices, too. I consider this to be the best way for the farmer to focus on production, innovating and improving the productivity of his land.
(The author is a professor at AESE-Business School (Lisbon), at IIM Rohtak (India), and author of The Rise of India)
