“Ultimately, humans have to consume grains, not dollars,” Bill Gates remarked during the severe phase of the Covid-19 pandemic. His words underline a fundamental truth: food security is the bedrock of human survival.

With exponential urbanisation encroaching upon agricultural and forest land, the need to utilise every available patch of cultivable land has become urgent. Integrated and upgraded farming — encompassing high-yield crops, fruits, vegetables, herbs, animal husbandry, fish farming and poultry — is no longer optional. It is essential to meet the growing demand for food and avert the looming threat of deprivation, starvation and widespread social instability.

This crisis must be addressed proactively, while it is still brewing, with seriousness and collective resolve.

The need for immediate remedial action

Ensuring food security requires a complete rethink of how land is used and managed. Every available piece of land — including lawns, rooftops and terraces — must be brought under cultivation wherever feasible. Unmindful deforestation and the grabbing of forest land in the name of avoidable, non-essential development must be halted.

Innovative, high-yield, multi-crop seeds and appropriate fertilisers need wider adoption, along with modern irrigation methods such as drip systems and drone-assisted techniques. Soil health assessment should become routine to ensure crop suitability and sustainability. The persistent menace of wild animals, which discourages farmers and destroys crops, must be addressed decisively.

Equally critical are robust storage facilities, including cold chains, along with timely marketing and sales mechanisms for agro-products. Prompt compensation for losses caused by natural calamities is essential to restore farmers’ confidence.

All this demands concrete action on the ground by stakeholders — farmers, government agencies, gram panchayats, self-help groups, mandis, marketers and technical experts. Skill development, timely facilitation, incentives and strong motivation, especially for youth, are indispensable.

Making farming a profitable profession

There is an urgent need to restore farming as a viable and profitable profession. This requires unwavering willpower, professional commitment and a service-oriented approach. The goal is not merely economic growth but the survival and prosperity of future generations.

Challenges also arise from declining interest in farming among many villagers, driven by free ration schemes, intense labour requirements and low or uncertain profitability. This disengagement has led to abandoned land and declining productivity. Governments and institutions must proactively create solutions and opportunities before this erosion becomes irreversible.

Encouragingly, positive trends are emerging. Governments are showing renewed seriousness towards agro-business. More youth are pursuing higher education in agriculture, research institutions are becoming more application-oriented, and corporate involvement in agro-based activities is increasing. These trends must be nurtured and scaled with sincerity.

The hill-state challenge

Hill regions face unique difficulties — fragmented, stair-step landholdings, scattered plots, limited irrigation and severe wild animal threats. Past efforts such as land consolidation and cooperative farming have failed to gain farmers’ trust. Yet, given the gravity of the crisis, avoiding solutions is no longer an option.

This calls for a practical, farmer-friendly alternative: Pseudo land consolidation.

Pseudo land consolidation (PLC): Concept and methodology

Pseudo land consolidation is a pragmatic model developed through direct interaction with farmers, particularly in hill areas, to understand ground realities and devise workable solutions.

Step I: Federation-based land management

All agricultural land within a village or group of villages — whether cultivated, abandoned or barren — would be brought under a single umbrella organisation, tentatively called the “Area Federation of Farmers”. While ownership of land remains with individual farmers, operational control for agro-farming activities, from farm to fork, would rest with the federation.

The federation would comprise landowners, representatives of state and district administrations, block and panchayat officials, self-help groups and subject experts. With government support, it would coordinate implements, manpower, cultivation and harvesting through volunteer farmers and hired labour. This model is already being practised successfully in a few villages.

Initially, the scheme should be implemented as a pilot project in one village or block, executed in mission mode. Upon success, it can be replicated across other regions.

Step II: Crop planning, marketing and value addition

Seasonal crops — including millets, cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables and aromatic plants — would be selected based on soil suitability and market demand. Storage, processing, marketing and sales would be centrally managed by the federation through pre-arranged tie-ups with buyers and mandis. With rising domestic and global demand for organic produce, this presents a significant opportunity.

While challenging, this approach is entirely achievable with strong commitment, institutional backing and expert guidance.

Step III: Reviving farmer and youth participation

The most critical challenge lies in motivating farmers, youth and women who have disengaged from farming and now depend on free rations, employment guarantee schemes and small pensions. Real change will occur only when tangible profits and prosperity become visible through PLC.

Drawing from hands-on experience in successfully motivating communities in Odisha under skill development missions, it is evident that assured outcomes inspire participation far more effectively than promises.

Step IV: Profit sharing and sustainability

Farmers would receive their share of profits in cash, kind or a combination, based on landholding size, land type and active participation in federation activities. All decisions would be taken collectively by the federation, with expert consultation and transparency.

No farmer would be deprived of legitimate earnings, and an agreed percentage of net profit would be deposited into a federation fund to meet administrative and developmental expenses.

Additional operational aspects can be addressed progressively as the model evolves, but momentum must not be allowed to stall.

Pseudo Land Consolidation directly targets the financial revival of farmers by ensuring optimum utilisation of available land and enabling large-scale agro-farming. In the current context, it has become a necessity rather than a choice.

Leadership at all levels must give this model a fair opportunity for implementation. Countries such as Korea and Japan, as well as regions like Himachal Pradesh, have demonstrated what innovative planning and disciplined execution can achieve. Similar success is possible here with determination and resolve.

This approach will also encourage reverse migration, drawing youth back to their native villages and reinvigorating rural economies. Notably, this process has already begun in Uttarakhand, where several young farmers are achieving success through profitable farming and allied activities.

With agriculture, farming and manufacturing now high on national and state agendas, governments must capitalise on this alignment. Policies should actively attract students towards agro-based skill studies and research, supported by dedicated institutions.

This is the time for concerted action, not pretence. Planning and decisive execution of Pseudo Land Consolidation can end decades of stagnation around land reform and ensure food security, prosperity and dignity for future generations.

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