Corporate Farming in India

We are all familiar with the word “farming” but there’s a new word being prefixed with the same from a quite lot time. It’s been in the trend and might be very useful in upcoming years . So, what is it? How useful it is ? Will it be a success in future and overtake the traditional methods ? Only way to know that is by learning what it is and how it works and does it gives more benefits than the one we are following from ages.

Well, Corporate farming is a term used to describe companies that own or influence farms and agricultural practices on a large scale. This includes not only corporate ownership of farms and selling of agricultural products, but also the roles of these companies in influencing agricultural education, research and public policy through funding initiates and lobbying efforts. From this perspective, corporate farming is not just about agriculture itself, but also all the other components that are found under the broad umbrella of agriculture production, marketing , and distribution.

So, what’s the need of this farming in India? India is growing rapidly in terms of GDP year by year , decade by decade and since all the population is also increasing at a very swift rate. It becomes a lot more important to feed the country with such population. India is expected to surpass china’s population by 2024. Though India economy has grown at a significantly high rate (6%) during the last decade, agricultural growth rates have lagged far behind (1-2%). So, again my question is here? Why corporate farming in India? It is because of the agrian distress and ecological crisis in the largely small farmer dominated agrarian economy has made matter worse in the presence of globalised and liberalised agricultural markets.Corporate farming is one such initiative attempted in many Indian states alongside contract farming.

The large-scale corporate agriculture is more efficient than peasant farming in the country. It leads to better allocative efficiency, induces higher private investment in agriculture, and results in higher output, income and exports. Some farmer leaders like Sharad Joshi of Shetkari Sanghatana argue that the states should facilitate the exit of small and marginal farmers from farming by buying their land at market prices and provide them capital and training to go for non-farm occupations. Small farms are highly fragmented. Land transactions have led to further fragmentation making them non-viable in terms of resource use as well as family sustenance. The costs of fragmentation included increased travel time between farms and hence lower labour productivity, higher transportation costs of inputs and outputs, negative externalities for land quality improvement like irrigation, loss of land on boundaries and greater potential for disputes.

This type of farming has the capacity to absorb all the challenges and carry the business through rough patches. The process involved in it is well established and work practices leading to consistent quality and safety standards. Furthermore, it also does provides with a lot many opportunities to build a good brand. With the introduction of Corporate farming in India, it will help farmers to earn fair prices for their product by excluding the middlemen, giving them proper gains to sow fields and educating them about the usefulness of this farming over traditional one.

Various events and programs are being held to educate the farmers about the corporate farming and how it will help them fetch fair prices for their product in the market.

If agricultural growth is to be shared in order to realise the rapid growth and distribution, only a peasant farming system using modern farming technology of production can ascertain it. Not only it is more competitive compared to the corporate farming, but also peasants do respond adopt new technologies of production whenever opportunity arises. The Green Revolution in Punjab is an excellent example of this. Furthermore, it is able to employ more labour as the peasant farmers substitute labour for capital much better , than the capitalist farming can ever do.

Finally, there is a need to look at contract farming alternative as it meets the needs of both corporate agribusiness as well as small producers. In order to meet the requirements of a developing nation, corporate farming is the next big picture coming soon.

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