The Society Pillars
Dr. B.K. Singh
Chairman- BKC
Easing Farmers’ Life Through Technology
Eliminating Farming Risks
M
anagers of Indian economy have always faced a
prodigious task of balancing between demand and
supply of Agricultural Products. While two good
monsoons result into generation of surplus production, it also
brings with it troubles for the farmers. Under such conditions,
the agricultural products that can’t be stored for long, are to
be disposed off that adds to the woes of the farmers. The
prices tend to drop to levels when it becomes un-economical
for farmers to even transport the harvest to nearest Mandi.
Prices crash leading to socio-economic problems, farmers’
unrest, throwing produce on road and sometimes it ends up
in suicide by the farmers.
On the other hand sometimes a mere 5 per cent drop in
production leads to 50 to 100 hundred per cent increase in
prices of products at wholesale and retail levels, leading to yet
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another kind of socio-economic problem and urban unrest.
Currently, the need of the hour is to strike a balance between
supply and demand and buffering to overcome price shock
up or down.
There is no fool proof mechanism to determine the yield of
crops before the harvest. Planning for import or exports or
buffer, way ahead of the emergence of shortages or surpluses
respectively requires authentic information on status of crop
production before maturity of the crop.
Crop assessment from government sources suffers from
subjectivity and lack of a standard evaluation procedure.
Often one hears about ‘First estimate,’ ‘Second estimate’
etc. and, at times, the final figures that come out after the
harvesting of crop start reflecting in price behavior due to the
shortage/ excess of the crop.