Manager (Programmes)
Aga Khan Rural Support Programme
India
10
food security situations in various countries. Japan has a very low food security index when calorie based approaches are used to measure food security of the country. Other countries measure the security according to the volume of food prod-ucts produced in the country. This kind of differences in measuring food security has substantial impact on the national and international agricultural policies like subsidies, export-import duties etc. There are instances of provision of incen-tives to farmers for producing less food grains in some of the countries whereas a large section of population world over is struggling to fulfill its food requirements. This is real unfortunate condition. Production of food itself is not sufficient in achieving the food secured nations. Two other factors which are greatly affecting the national food security are changing food habits and non-competitive supply chains. Food habits in Asian countries are rapidly imitating western kind of tastes.
Paddy, for example, has been a part of food culture in country like Japan but today there are very few takers for rice made breakfast in the country. Wasteful and external food habits are also becoming one of the major factors behind the food in-security of many nations. Non-competitive value chains are hampering the interests of both farmers as well as consumers.
Competitive value chains can provide right prices to farmers which can make the agriculture a profit making occupation.
At the same time it can check the rising prices of food products world over which is hampering the food security condi-tions especially for the poor households.
Role of research institutions and cooperatives are important to the future of agriculture in Asia. Cooperatives like JA agriculture cooperative in Japan and Milk cooperatives in India are playing important role in achieving prosperity for farmer members. Research institutions are playing important role in improving the productivity of the agriculture in many regions. During the whole tour many farmers put their views regarding the role of local environmental conditions in agri-culture hence research institutions must align its efforts with both the local environment as well as local agri-culture of commu-nities. Strong participation of farmers in research practices can yield better results. There is need of complete change of mindset towards the farming as a profession. It gets lowest priority as well respect from all domains of society which di-minishes the chances of creating prosperous and happy farmers in the East Asian region.
2. Opinions and Comments
This programme combined discussions and opinions of wide range of stakeholders of food and agriculture sector. It provided us the opportunity to listen to Japanese government, research institutions, farmers, cooperatives, local govern-ments and members from various Asian countries. It also provided the opportunity to understand and experience the Japa-nese culture in more detail. This program was a bigger platform that helped a young professional like me in building a big-ger vision for food and agriculture sector in East and South Asia regions. Program provided a deeper understanding of food and agriculture sector of the region along with newer initiatives taken in this sector. It helped in understanding the latest practices and technologies adopted in dairy and fisheries sectors.
All the events of the programme were useful and insightful. Most powerful medium of understanding the agriculture of Japan was perhaps the direct interaction with the farmers. Farm stay event was helpful in not only understanding the agri-cultural practices and concerns of farmers but also helped in understanding the normal day to day life of a Japanese family.
Mitamo family not only shared the various aspects of agriculture but also the very base human existent in this world. Most powerful statement of tour was perhaps the line “Go, understand your own local community and decide your own ways of developing agriculture in your region; search for your own pace” by Mr. Mitamo. Prof. Asoaka could sense the reasons be-hind the happiness of some of the farmers in Japan. These farmers took a different route to a prosperous agriculture in the country; this route is more rooted to local environment, local culture and quest for sustainability. The whole programme tried to provide insights to all the perspectives within the country rather than trying to show all good and bigger achieve-ments. Local governance system explained by Mayor of Kunnupu town provided insights to planning and execution of de-velopment activities with local residents of the town. Efforts of cooperatives in guarding the interests of farmers is impres-sive especially the efforts of negotiating with governments to benefit farmers. Cooperatives are also trying to retain the interest of future generations in agriculture sector.
This programme was also successful in forming a strong network of young professionals of all the participating tries. These participants shared their views and facts about the condition of food and agriculture sector in their own coun-tries. Overwhelming similarities in their concerns for sustainability of agriculture forms adequate platform for further co-operation within this network.
Post program, I would try to include successful initiatives observed during the tour in our programme design. There
Naveen Kumar Patidar
10 can also be spreading of learning from Japan to our colleagues within organization as well as to other organizations work-ing in the similar fields. I would try to become an active member of the network formed durwork-ing the programme. Jointly we may also reflect upon the national and international policies and practices affecting the agriculture sector as a whole. The whole programme also increased my interest in Japanese culture which I would continue to explore further in future.
104
1. Three keywords
Keyword 1 Key Word 2 Keyword 3
before Community Managed Local Natural Resource Based Knowledge Centric after Community Managed Local Natural Resource Based Knowledge Centric
<Reasons, Explanation or Justification>
The three key words that reflect my thoughts on Ideal State of Agriculture are Community Managed, Local Natural Re-source Based and Knowledge Centric. These have not changed and in fact have been reinforced, after visit to Japan. Prior to the visit, I was a little apprehensive if these would be suitable in the context of other countries, especially developed coun-tries like Japan. But I realized that these principles are universal, and are applicable to different contexts and cultures.
However there are subtle differences, which are detailed below.
The organization that I am associated with, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), has been forming institu-tions of poor women (who are mostly illiterate), federating these women groups at different administrative levels and building capacities of the women to manage these institutions. This institutional structure that has been built and nurtured over a period of 10 years has emerged as a strong and viable community based platform for any kind of intervention. This community has now begun to manage their own affairs.
We say that an intervention is successful when it has bottom up approach. In the bottom up approach the primary stake holders (here the community) are more participative and can articulate their needs and aspirations. If the same interven-tion is designed by the community as per their requirements and as well as managed by them, then that is the true path to success and that particular intervention can be termed as sustainable.
This was the background when I listed “community managed” as the first key word. This idea was reinforced with the interaction with “My pace farming” cooperative. These farmers, with their experience over a period of years have conclud-ed that what is beneficial to them, to the family and above all to the environment. Hence they chose that path and they have been successful and more importantly happy.
The second key word that I chose was “Local Natural Resource Based”. Given the concern over global warming and green house effect, conscious efforts are being taken up across the globe to reduce the carbon footprint. Using the local natural resources is an important step towards reducing the carbon footprint. Deploying locally available resources not only reduces the carbon emission but also reduces the cost, thus decreasing the economic burden on the farmer.
We all know that, nature has bestowed us with solutions to all the problems. However it is important to note that, na-ture has been kind enough to provide us local resources to solve our local problems. For example, in my project area we use neem leaf extract for controlling a certain pest. But there are some regions in the same project area where neem (Azadirachta indica) is not grown. In those regions, castor (Ricinus Communis), grows widely and it plays the same role.
Similar idea was reflected in the “My Pace Farming” experience. The farmers have been using cow dung and cow urine mixture to fertilize their fields. And as these are all dairy farmers, cow dung and cow urine are available in plenty.