#AgriTechRevolution: Include Agro-Workers, Diminishes Gap
ONE of the starkest, recent reminders of India’s economic disparity - particularly the rural urban divide - came in the form of countless migrant labourers making long journeys back home after a sudden lockdown when the pandemic hit India in the first half of 2020. Rendered homeless and jobless, thousands of daily wage workers found themselves packing bags with belongings, many balancing infants and children on their hips and shoulders and walking hundreds of kilometres to return to the very villages they had left in the hope of a brighter future. The lockdown laid bare the fragility of India’s rural economy, one which forces agricultural communities to flee their homes and find insecure jobs in cities that abandoned them in their time of need. The reverse migration was a wake up call for governments, corporates and civil society to come together to address the issue of rural poverty - indeed, global poverty is overwhelmingly rural - and find sustainable livelihood development options.
The social indices speak for themselves. According to a study by the Pew Research Center (using World Bank data) the number of people in India with an income of barely $2 per day or less in purchasing power parity stood at 134 million in 2021. This is also reflected in the Global Hunger Index which ranks India at 101 out of a total 116 countries. Seen in the context of India's unemployment rate - which according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) crept up to nearly 8% in December 2021 - the need to generate jobs and livelihoods for the economically weak should be treated as an emergency.
Status quo needs solutions
No doubt the pandemic has contributed to this sombre scenario, but poverty and hunger are not new realities for India. What is new, however, is a heightened and more universal awareness of this status quo which can no longer be ignored and needs urgent solutions.
This calls for a radical rethink by social entrepreneurs, NGOs, corporates and policymakers to consider initiatives that not just improve income generation and employability but also enhance productivity and promote sustainable development at the grass roots level.
Despite decades of social protection measures and sustained intervention by nonprofits to reduce poverty, vast parts of rural India - where the majority 65% of the country’s population lives - continue to struggle. Here earnings from agriculture do not make up the major chunk of household income but, according to a 2017 study by NITI Aayog, non-farm economy contributes about 60% to total rural incomes. Even so, it is not enough to sustain families. A government report in 2019 found that 52% of agricultural households in India were in debt, with most having taken loans equivalent to their annual incomes.
Working collectively, not in silos
How do we solve this in a consistent, determined way to see positive outcomes in our lifetime? Strengthening existing infrastructure and developing new ones to support the education and health of rural communities is a no brainer. And it is not as though work towards this is not being done. But instead of government agencies, nonprofits and other organisations working in silos and constantly reinventing the wheel, a collective approach would allow for more resources and increase the scope to serve larger populations.
Some rural development experts suggest that for the rural economy to blossom, the nonprofit sector working for the welfare of agrarian societies needs to shift their focus - from providing a support system to being the catalyst for self-reliance. So instead of concentrating on training and adopting practices required to achieve food security and improved nutrition, rural development NGOs should focus on scientific and technological skilling needed to enhance productivity and develop the agricultural value chain.
Some rural livelihood nonprofits have already started incorporating this shift. CYSD (Centre for Youth and Social Development), for instance, has been working to alleviate poverty in the tribal pockets of Odisha for the last 40 years with a focus on food and nutrition security. Now one of its key adopted strategies is to widen livelihood options by providing skill-building support for micro-enterprises for both farming and non farming sectors.
To do that, it imparts vocational training in areas like running nurseries, mushroom cultivation, bee-keeping, food processing and preservation, manufacturing of building materials, etc aimed at encouraging entrepreneurship among women and youth to start their own ventures with micro-financial help. The retention of skilled people, especially the youth, in rural areas is particularly important to build a robust local economy.
Other development organisations in India are harnessing the power of digital technology to help small farmers who make up 85% of agro workers. One such is Digital Green. They work with farmers, collect data and analyse the shortfalls in productivity and offer easy access to information about soil health, availability of raw materials for their farming needs, weather predictions and potential pest attacks. With an innovative approach to supporting the agrarian economy, among other things post-pandemic, they are currently exploring technologies and science-based solutions to scale and deepen the impact of climate-smart agriculture.
Work with, not just for, the poor
Steps like these are all in the right direction. While the incessant construction of infrastructure in metros will continue to attract rural workers, more income options and heightened financial security at home will bolster their bargaining power for better working conditions and pay. Besides, critical to sustainable rural development is the building of local infrastructure, which in itself has great potential for job creation closer to home.
These new approaches are all aimed at addressing the lowest denominators in the value chain and most involve collaborative partnerships. It is clear that instead of individual siloed interventions, if diverse groups - non-profit organisations, foundations, businesses and practitioners - all come together with a single goal of lifting a generation out of poverty, enduring and impactful initiatives can be created to ensure outcome-based change that will help all stakeholders.
What is also critical is to work with and not just for the poor and marginalised. Post pandemic, the world has been talking a lot about resilience and adaptability. The poorest are perhaps the most resilient. It is important to integrate them and tap into their creative and entrepreneurial spirit, to ensure the success of any endeavour that aims to address their problems. If approached holistically and with the right intent, the initiatives are sure to show results that change the fractured realities on the ground in a meaningful and sustainable manner.
(The given article is attributed to Sumit Tayal, COO, GiveIndia and has been exclusively created for BW Disrupt)
