01 Aug 2023 : The Indian Express

Editorial 1 : Standing with the farmer

Context:

• For the last few years, farmers have been agitating for a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their crop, calculated as per the Swaminathan Commission formula.

• MSP was introduced in the 1960s. However, farmers continue to struggle for it.

The following arguments are laid down in support of MSP:

• First, MSP is the minimum price of agricultural produce that is necessary to keep agriculture financially viable.
  • MSP is not the profitable value, although the word profit has been used in its estimation, it is the ground value.
  •  If the farmer does not get even this, then he would be pushed into debt. Only six per cent of farmers in the country get the benefit of MSP.
• Second, the livelihood of about 50 per cent of the country’s population depends on agriculture and agriculture-related activities.  It is the largest source of employment and livelihood.
  • According to a 2019 NABARD report, the average debt burden on a farmer’s family is over Rs 1 lakh.
  • This is despite the central and state governments providing farmers a subsidy of Rs 3.36 lakh crore. Clearly, farmers are not getting remunerative prices.
• Third, natural disasters and market forces are hurting farmers. Climate change is increasing the complexity of farming. As, the farmer cannot be left at the mercy of weather and market forces.

Reforms need to be taken in agriculture sector for the welfare of farmers

• Agriculture policy of our country should not only be production-centric, but also farmer-centric.
• There is need for regulation of middlemen:
  • The burden of providing cheap grains to protect consumer interests can’t solely rest with the farmer. Often, even when farmers sell their produce at low prices, consumers buy them at exorbitant rates.
  • For example, tomato farmers now get around Rs 4 to Rs 5 per kg while it is sold to the consumer at Rs 100 to Rs 120 per kg. This is because of middlemen; they need to be regulated.
• MSP needs to be secured with legal guarantee:
  • As, the share of agriculture in the country’s GDP is at 17-18 per cent. The sector is central to the national economy.
  • Agricultural incomes drive domestic consumption; if the agriculture sector is ignored, the country’s economy suffers.
  • No business has to deal with so many unpredictable factors and risks extreme heat, floods, fire, frost, untimely rain, etc.
  • As a result, Farmers remain uncertain and apprehensive about their income. MSP saves the farmer from debt and bankruptcy. Therefore, it needs to be secured with a legal guarantee
• There is need for change in methodology for calculating MSP:
  • MSP should be calculated by adding 50 per cent profit on C2 cost, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission and then by the Group of Chief Ministers (headed by me) in 2010, and the scope of MSP should be expanded to cover ginger, garlic, turmeric, chilli and all agricultural produce and horticulture.
• Increasing participation of farmers in agri-business
  • When the crop reaches the market, the farmer gets less weight, less price, delayed lifting, no payment, no buyer.
  • To change this situation, it is necessary to expand the concept of agri-business (farm to fork) and fix the farmer’s share in it.

Steps need to be taken for reform in MSP rather than promoting loan waiver

• Debt waivers by governments provide temporary relief to farmers, but it is not a sustainable solution. Continuous increases in agricultural input costs, farmers not getting a fair price for their produce, and losses caused by natural calamities are responsible for the rising debt.
• The rising cost of education (of children) and health expenses (of the family) also contribute to debt.
• Therefore, the average expenditure incurred by the farmer on education and health services for his family must also be factored in when MSP is determined. A rational MSP is a better option than loan waivers, and it should be made a legal right so that farmers are assured of a decent income.

Conclusion:

The Minimum Support Price is a crucial component of India's agricultural price strategy. Therefore, there is need of hour to bring reform within it so that financial position of farmers can be stabilise with the new emerging challenges.

Editorial 2 : Climate change is altering the colour of the oceans

Recent Context:

• Recently, a new study found that the colour of the Earth’s oceans has significantly altered over the past two decades, most likely due to human-induced climate change.  over 56 per cent of the oceans, more than the total land area on the planet, has experienced the shift in colour

What will be impact of the change in colour of ocean

• As per study, although the change in colour of the oceans doesn’t impact marine life directly.
• It indicates that marine ecosystems are in a state of flux and they could completely go out of balance in the future which will  severely affecting ocean life and humans dependent on them.
• And  changes in these ecosystems could impact how productive they are and affect how much carbon the ocean stores and how much food supply there is for fisheries.

But what makes the oceans colourful in the first place?

• In most regions across the world, the oceans appear blue or navy blue for a reason.
• This happens due to “the absorption and scattering of light.
  •  When the sunlight falls on deep and clear water, colours with longer wavelengths, such as red, yellow and green, are absorbed by the water molecules but blue and violet, which have a much shorter wavelength, are reflected back.
• But when the water isn’t deep or clean, an ocean can appear to be of a different colour.
  • For instance, along Argentina’s coastline, where major rivers merge into the Atlantic Ocean, the ocean exudes a brown tint because of dead leaves and sediments spewing from the rivers.
  • In other parts of the world, the oceans appear green, which happens due to the existence of phytoplankton on the upper surface of the water.
  • So, the ocean over regions with high concentrations of phytoplankton will appear as certain shades, from blue-green to green, depending upon the type and density of the phytoplankton population there,

What methods were used to carry out the study and its outcome?

• To conduct the study,  dats from  NASA’s Aqua satellite was taken , which has been monitoring ocean colour since 2002 — the measurements are taken in terms of the amount of light coming off the surface of the oceans, at all seven of the different wavelengths of light, from violet to red.
• The examination of 20 years’ worth of data indicated that in more than 50 per cent of the world’s oceans, the colour has changed.
• And researchers used a climate model – a computer representation of the Earth. “this model simulated the planet’s oceans under two scenarios:
  • one with the addition of greenhouse gases, and the other without it.
  • The greenhouse-gas model predicted that a significant trend should show up within 20 years and that this trend should cause changes to ocean colour in about 50 percent of the world’s surface oceans  almost exactly what Cael found in his analysis of real-world satellite data.

Why is the colour of the oceans changing?

• The study says one of the most affected areas is the Tropical ocean regions, near the equator, where the water is turning from blue to green. But this doesn’t mean that the rest of the affected areas are also turning greener.
• “The colour changes are complex and different in different locations.
• The findings suggest that a shift in colour is happening in those regions where the oceans are getting more stratified.

• But because of climate change, stratification has increased, making it harder for water layers to mix with each other, which has severe consequences oceans are able to absorb less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the oxygen absorbed isn’t able to mix properly with cooler ocean waters below, threatening the survival of marine life.
• Moreover, nutrients aren’t able to travel up to the surface of the oceans from below. This directly impacts phytoplankton, which thrives, as mentioned before, on the upper surface of the oceans.
• And Changes in the composition of the plankton population have larger effects on the marine ecosystem.
• Plankton has two major types: phytoplankton, which are plants, and zooplankton, which are animals. Phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton, which are then eaten by other marine animals such as crabs, fish and sea stars, and therefore, plankton are critical in supporting marine and freshwater food webs.
   

Conclusion

• Changes in ocean colour reflects changes in plankton communities that will impact everything that feeds on plankton.
• It will also change how much the ocean will take up carbon because different types of plankton have different abilities to do that. There they are acting as indicator for impact of climate change in the ocean ecosystem. Therefore, its is need for collaborative efforts at national and international level to fight against climate change.