Sustainability and endogenous development oriented policies are the key to make agriculture a viable enterprise. Technology has to be adaptable to the local/prevailing agro climatic, soil, water and cultural conditions to make it sustainable. Development approach devoid of endogenous angle needs creation of ideal/artificial conditions which is not practical and sustainable in agriculture. Let me take the example of hybrid seed technology to illustrate the point. There are two approaches to this.
Exogenous approach : This is the approach being followed by the institutions and corporate sector, post-green revolution era. Best performing genetic materials are selected from different regions of the world or a country with varied agro climatic conditions in the breeding program. Two parental lines are selected to get a hybrid taking into consideration traits such as fruit/grain quality or yield, dwarfness, pest/disease tolerance, etc.
The evolutionary agro climatic, soil and other conditions of the parents are not considered in this process. Nor does it include farmers participation is developing the products. F1 hybrids thus developed are tested in different parts and introduced based on the performance in representative areas. Performance of such products are by chance or coincidence. Assured performance requires creation of ideal conditions of climate, soil, water and ecosystem which is not practical. Some conditions like soil nutrients and water can be created but only by involving huge costs and damaging the ecosystem which is neither economically feasible nor sustainable.
Endogenous approach : Let us consider the alternative approach. In this process, genetic materials are collected to develop the hybrids for a particular set of agro climatic conditions or a region. Hybridization is done using the parental lines of the conditions of the same region where hybrids would be introduced. They are introduced to the same conditions of evolution of their parents. The performance is not a chance here but assured. It is a product for the prevailing conditions in which the parental species are evolved.
This is the opposite process of endogenous approach where ideal conditions are sought to be created to perform to the potential. Sustainability and economic feasibility are the features here. It is a decentralized approach and closely linked to the market situation. It also stabilizes the agricultural production and the market because of stable distribution system. Community is also assured of sustained and stable income or livelihood from agriculture. Besides, it ensures the conservation of local biodiversity which is the casualty of the market driven agricultural production. Such approaches can involve participation of farmers and local governing bodies also.
Endogenous and sustainable approaches need to be adopted in other sectors also like promoting cropping pattern/production systems, supply chain management, distribution and marketing. The current cropping patterns are driven by market forces which are volatile and unreliable. In fact, market forces need to be driven by the production systems which are more sustainable and stable. They need to be decentralized involving local governing bodies so that market remains stable without bullish tendencies. Centralized marketing approaches are the major factors creating the unreliable situations forcing the farming community to adopt monoculture and intensive agriculture methods leading to glut conditions or shortage situations. This has impact on the farming community’s response on the ground making the agriculture an unsustainable enterprise.
Such alternative and sustainable development models demand development oriented professional management and policy directions. This requires thorough understanding of technical, management and sustainable development thinking.
The role of sustainable development professionals with technical background is crucial in guiding the policy makers, business houses, technocrats, academics and researchers besides farming community and local governments to really make the agriculture and food sector healthy and strong.
Exogenous approach : This is the approach being followed by the institutions and corporate sector, post-green revolution era. Best performing genetic materials are selected from different regions of the world or a country with varied agro climatic conditions in the breeding program. Two parental lines are selected to get a hybrid taking into consideration traits such as fruit/grain quality or yield, dwarfness, pest/disease tolerance, etc.
The evolutionary agro climatic, soil and other conditions of the parents are not considered in this process. Nor does it include farmers participation is developing the products. F1 hybrids thus developed are tested in different parts and introduced based on the performance in representative areas. Performance of such products are by chance or coincidence. Assured performance requires creation of ideal conditions of climate, soil, water and ecosystem which is not practical. Some conditions like soil nutrients and water can be created but only by involving huge costs and damaging the ecosystem which is neither economically feasible nor sustainable.
Endogenous approach : Let us consider the alternative approach. In this process, genetic materials are collected to develop the hybrids for a particular set of agro climatic conditions or a region. Hybridization is done using the parental lines of the conditions of the same region where hybrids would be introduced. They are introduced to the same conditions of evolution of their parents. The performance is not a chance here but assured. It is a product for the prevailing conditions in which the parental species are evolved.
This is the opposite process of endogenous approach where ideal conditions are sought to be created to perform to the potential. Sustainability and economic feasibility are the features here. It is a decentralized approach and closely linked to the market situation. It also stabilizes the agricultural production and the market because of stable distribution system. Community is also assured of sustained and stable income or livelihood from agriculture. Besides, it ensures the conservation of local biodiversity which is the casualty of the market driven agricultural production. Such approaches can involve participation of farmers and local governing bodies also.
Endogenous and sustainable approaches need to be adopted in other sectors also like promoting cropping pattern/production systems, supply chain management, distribution and marketing. The current cropping patterns are driven by market forces which are volatile and unreliable. In fact, market forces need to be driven by the production systems which are more sustainable and stable. They need to be decentralized involving local governing bodies so that market remains stable without bullish tendencies. Centralized marketing approaches are the major factors creating the unreliable situations forcing the farming community to adopt monoculture and intensive agriculture methods leading to glut conditions or shortage situations. This has impact on the farming community’s response on the ground making the agriculture an unsustainable enterprise.
Such alternative and sustainable development models demand development oriented professional management and policy directions. This requires thorough understanding of technical, management and sustainable development thinking.
The role of sustainable development professionals with technical background is crucial in guiding the policy makers, business houses, technocrats, academics and researchers besides farming community and local governments to really make the agriculture and food sector healthy and strong.
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