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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Time to focus on paid ecological services -Satvinder Kaur Mann
-The Tribune


The community has to pay the cost of environmental degradation if sustainable agricultural practices are not followed. Food can also be produced by in-built provisions for ecological services. For this, sustainability issues have to be addressed with policy support.

An ecosystem is a dynamic, complex, functional unit of diverse living organisms, physical environment and humans are its integral part. The wellbeing of mankind depends upon food, water, fibre, medicine, flood and disease control. Predators, pollinators, microbes, nutrient recycling, scenic beauty affect the spiritual and recreational services of the environment. Biodiversity is the operating system of the earth and diversity within and among species. It ensures the energy flow in a healthy and balanced ecosystem to sustain the eco-services.

Agro-ecosystems

Agriculture uses as well as provides ecosystem services. However, intensive agricultural practices degrade these, become input-and-cost intensive, lack climate resilience and are unsustainable. In the 1930s, mechanised tillage in the central great plains of the US led to the loss of top soil, degraded 91 million hectare of land and the region became famous as a dust bowl. The growers in that region have since adopted conservative and sustainable tillage practices to rejuvenate the agro-ecosystem in the region. However, the political economy of food from the 1960s in the last century, has now led to the degradation of large tracts of irrigated agro-ecosystems in the world because of the intensive cultivation of few selected crops of commercial value. Agriculture has gone beyond the land, including fertilisers, pesticides and machinery, creating a sink for pollution.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Report (MEA, 2005), the global intensive irrigated terrestrial and aquatic food production practices were no longer sustainable. These were being further affected by "climate change, rising temperatures and weather uncertainties". The economic crisis in 2008, the market-led agriculture and food market speculations have added another dimension to the uncertainty to the sustainability of food security. The increasing world population and changing dietary preferences' in spite of agricultural production having increased by 145 per cent, has added to the overshooting of the ecological footprint. Recent researches indicate that at the current state of consumption, one quarter more capacity/year of the biosphere is needed and this would accumulate as ecological debt on mankind.

Situation in Punjab

Similarly, the intensive cereal monoculture in Punjab that has long been the major contributor to national foodgrain security has degraded the environment for the last three decades. Agriculture in the state has become input as well as cost-intensive. Increasing pest problems compel more use of the pesticide (pesticides used in the state during Rabi 2010-11 was 1,840 m tonne and in Kharif 2011-12 it was 3,760 m tonne). In addition, to manage the high-crop intensity (185 per cent), save on time and cost, farmers resort to burning of the crop residue, causing black carbon emission that add to air pollution and warm up the atmosphere.

To mitigate this natural resource degradation, conservation technologies such as zero or minimum tillage practices, raised-bed cultivation and drip irrigation are recommended. Legislative measures, (Punjab Prevention of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009, roof top water harvesting for recharging) to check the depleting water table; and construction of low-cost dams and micro-irrigation schemes, have been made.The diversification efforts are being made since late 1980s and so far 2.79 lakh hectares area is under horticulture, 1,034.85 hectares under fish culture and efforts are on to develop dairy farming. In addition, a ban was imposed on burning crop residue in Amritsar.

However to fast-track commercial agriculture alone, without giving an impetus to sustainable agricultural practices, will further add to the problems of the environment. Rebuilding degraded farms entails cost and time to internalise the externalities associated with intensive farming. Although environmental services generated by sustainable agricultural practices benefit all stakeholders, farmers, consumers, traders and the tourists - but the sustainability onus is being expected to be borne individually, ignoring the inescapable interconnectedness of agriculture.

However, the cost of avoiding maintaining the ecosystem, collectively or at individual farms, are also relatively high for mankind. Food can be produced in another way, by in-built provisions for ecological services.

Payments for ecosystem services

Payment for ecosystem services for agriculture or PES is an economic instrument designed to provide incentives to increase positive externalities from agriculture, meet the conservation costs and benefit the society as a whole. The concept encourages the cost sharing of food production (using conservative practices) with users, beneficiaries and the government. Market for PES develops systematically by making consumers aware of the importance of fresh, local food and healthy environment as a shared and societal approach to sustainability. Social, industrial and institutional establishments can help create trends in the consumption of such food, assist in branding, labelling (pesticide-free, grown naturally, traditional quality, organic etc.) and marketing.

PES for sustainable agriculture is a way to green agricultural subsidies for adopting conservative practices for the restoration of the degraded agro-environments and landscapes. FAO analysed 286 local PES and PES-like schemes from 57 countries, and found that the concept of PES for agricultural sustainability was spreading. The effort in this direction is more in Latin America. This mechanism induces modest, positive environmental, social benefits but requires legal and institutional frameworks for assistance to small farmers and rural communities, who are traditionally the major contributors. Academic efforts are needed to develop standards, certifications, market awareness and price margins that will pay for rural conservation.

New concept

PES concept, as such is new in India, but it has been ingrained in the lifestyle of traditional rural and tribal societies and these readily accept the norms governing the conservation of nature. A government initiative in Kullu's Great Himalayan National Park, pays Rs 5,000 annually to the communities if no fires occur in the area they patrol. The Forest Conservation Law also mandates that the projects converting forestland make payment to the users, which is deposited in a centrally managed fund with Compensatory Afforestation Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA). However, the fund remains unutilised as the scheme lacks clarity. Although the need to invest in resources has been recognised by the 12th Finance Commission, which earmarked Rs 1,000 crore resources, agriculture has remained out of the PES domain, except for the recent payment of labour days from MNREGA in South India to small and marginal farmers who have adopted sustainable agricultural practices of sustainable rice intensification or SRI.

India needs to formulate PES schemes to enhance adoption of various sustainable agricultural practices, particularly for Punjab. Since national agricultural policies encouraged intensive-agricultural practices to sustain foodgrain security, it makes a strong case for PES support to the state to acclerate efforts for adoption of sustainable agricultural practices to rejuvenate degraded agri-eco-systems and environmental services in the region for addressing farm crisis.

It would be a good begining to progress towards PES-based sustainble agriculture, as Haryana is soon going to face similar natural resources constraints, as the production from input-intensive agriculture was increasing.

Policy shift

Recent policy shift and focus on eastern and central states of India for foodgrain security should also make provisions to incentivise PES and acclerate the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices in Punjab, the epicentre of the Green Revolution. It should be an income-support measure for small and marginal farmers of the state, who have been reeling under debt for long and leaving their profession under duress. They were the forerunners in contributing to the central food grain pool and deserve their sweat equity. Environmentally sustainable agriculture is the one in which production, processing, distribution, marketing, acquisition, and consumption focus on environmental health, economic vitality, human health and social equity. Hence to meet our present needs and that of the future generations to meet theirs, it is important that we adopt "sustainable, economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially beneficial economic development and food security solutions". It is hoped that the new regime in the Centre will rise to the challenge.

* International trend

Major PES transactions in the world have been associated with land-use changes, like reforestation and watershed protection. Costa Rica initiated a national PES programme in 1996 and used the terminology for the first time by changing the Forest Law and creating a legal framework to pay landowners for provision of ecosystem services.

China's Agenda 21, 1996, used the term ecological engineering, to achieve agricultural sustainability. Pilot projects in 2,000 townships and villages, covering 12 mha, were implemented. This involved cross-ministry partnership and incentives to replace agricultural monocultures.

An integrated PES projects for Silvo-pastoral practices, is being implemented in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, in a few thousand hectares. It entails cultivating fodder crops, plant fruits tress, live fences etc. More than 400 landowners, with 2,000 hectares, have enrolled since 2003-2006. PES achievements were being scored quantitatively for biodiversity.

Switzerland supports environmental services from agriculture and rural development

Europe and North America, have implemented a number of agro-environmental schemes in the past decade. In the US, 4000 community-supported agricultural (CSA) programmes, ensure ecological and social interdependence of growers and consumers to sustain small to marginal farmers. European Union, US and UK are trying to change rural production subsidies (more than $600 billion a year) into income support and environmental payment to the growers.

* Future investment

In 2011, Rio + 20, had set the agenda for combining environment and development policies.

Future agriculture will be evaluated not only for its productivity but also for the environmental impact and cost.

Farmers generally have few incentives to prevent the external costs due to the pesticides escaping to water bodies, atmosphere and nearby natural systems.

Pesticide manufacturers too do not pay the full cost of all their products, for any adverse side-effects that may affect the environment or the user.

Impact of agricultural externalities remains masked because of their time-lag effect.

Those groups, whose interests are not well represented in political or decision-making processes always suffer.

The writer is former Dean Postgraduate Studies, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana