Revamping ICAR

What is the issue?

ICAR needs a makeover as agriculture education is in a poor state.

What is ICAR?

• The Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is the apex body mandated with agriculture education, research and farm extension.
• It acts as a nodal agency to agriculture research institutions & Krish Vigyan Kendras - KVK
• Its contributions during the most challenging years of food scarcity were remarkable.
• The success though came at an environmental cost.

What is the current problem with ICAR?

• We have achieved food sufficiency but farmer sustainability is far off, with agrarian distress & farmer suicides aplenty. 
• Far from being an autonomous body, ICAR has become an extension of the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
• ICAR has historically evolved with a strong bias in favour of crop sciences at the cost of animal husbandry.
• Its research, which is primarily oriented towards agriculture productivity without an alignment to farmer prosperity is no longer sustainable. 
• Yields for irrigated crops like rice and wheat are comparable with the best in the world, but research on rain-fed farms, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables lag considerably.
• Evolving consumer preferences, changing the narrative from farm to food, environmental impact, climate resilient agriculture require a reorientation of priorities and mindsets.
• The capacities for market intelligence and forecasting models have not been cultivated.

How is the scenario in the other avenues of agriculture education?

• Boyed by the success of green revolution, complacency set in and public extension collapsed.
• The abdication by the state public extension system has allowed the private to take up the role of farm advisories to disastrous consequences for farmers, human health and the ecology.
• The rapid mushrooming of private institutes offering agri-degrees is a sham.
• Many of these are without even proper labs, infrastructure or farm land.
• These institutions thrive because agriculture is a state subject & except Punjab the other states haven’t enacted a regulatory framework.
• State Agriculture Universities are starved for funds with the state governments barely managing to support them.
• Convergence between ICAR and state agriculture agencies has failed due mismatch in priorities between the states & the center.

What are some institutional reforms to be done?

• Manipulations in recruitment and nepotism need to be removed.
• The salary structures & promotions are currently time-bound and do not recognise research output and talent which needs to change.
• Women need to be recruited in proportional numbers to remove gender bias.
• Improvement in inter-departmental co-ordination is necessary.
• Action needs to be taken to plug the routine theft of research work of ICAR by private companies & the IPR filings needs to be taken up as a priority.

What could be some of the structural reforms taken up?

• ICAR could be transformed into a truly autonomous body, reporting directly to the prime minister like the Atomic Energy Commission.
• Its functions could be restricted to farm research, education and oversight of non-ICAR agriculture institutes.
• Farm extension services should be completely delegated to the state governments.
• If the PMO accepted the responsibility of agriculture research and education, SAU salaries would fall into the Central government basket.
• This would free up resources & KVKs could be transferred to the states to better focus on farm extension.
• Budget allocations for agriculture R&D must be pegged as 2 per cent of the GDP from the less than 1 per cent at present.
• But, most importantly, a metric to audit outcomes and establish accountability is needed to resolve the crisis.

Source: The Indian Express