The Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to ‘End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture’. Targets 2.3 and 2.4 of the Goal specifically deal with goals set for agriculture systems.

This article critically studies the indicators of these targets that have been agreed upon by the global community and the corresponding national indicators. Post identification, it looks at the concerns and areas of improvement in the current data systems of the country. A brief analysis is presented as follows:

Agriculture value added per worker is a measure of agricultural productivity. Value added in agriculture measures the output of the agricultural sector less the value of intermediate inputs. Agriculture comprises value added from forestry, hunting and fishing as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. The value of production per labour is expected to be calculated by different classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprise size in order to track the changes in the agricultural productivity and incomes of small scale food producers, especially women, indigenous people etc.

The data on value of production per unit labour is calculated by the Ministry of Statistics, Planning and Implementation. The Department of Economics and Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture collects and collates the data on total agriculture value every year. The total workforce in agriculture is calculated by Census of India, decanally. In parallel, National Sample Survey Organisations also provide insights on the agriculture workforce of the country. Central Statistics Office, Ministry of Statistics, Planning and Implementation using the above two data calculates the value of production per unit of labour. FAO estimates Agriculture value per unit labour for the country but the methodology of it is not available in the public domain.

The data on total agriculture value produce is not available by different classes of farming/pastoral/forestry enterprises. This is a concern because the total agriculture value per labour may not be a comprehensive indicator to ensure increase in productivity of small scale food producers. The methodology for arriving at the agriculture value includes data on agriculture input and output prices at the district level and the total agriculture land and food production from the respective district. The current data on total agriculture value from districts may not be enough for measuring agriculture value per unit labour for different classes of labour. This would require revision in the methodology of collecting data.

The census, conducted by the ministry of agriculture, says that the total area under operational holdings was 159.6 million hectares. However, the National Sample Survey Organisation’s (NSSO) report on land and livestock holdings estimates that around 95 million hectares of land was classified as operational holdings in 2012-13. The NSSO figure is about 65 million hectares lower than the numbers put out by the ninth agricultural census conducted in 2010-11. While the agricultural census’s definition of operational holdings is also broadly similar to NSSO’s, there are differences between the two surveys in collecting information. The divergence between the two estimates has increased in the last two decades, on account of a sizeable decline in NSSO estimates.

Some academicians say that the NSSO report probably indicates that active participation in farming is declining. Indeed the agricultural census admits that the situation reflected in land records might be different from the actual situation on ground.

The glaring divergence in estimates of agricultural land is not of academic interest alone. For the government to calculate total value from agriculture and the actual land under cultivation for estimating the total production, it is essential for estimates closest to reality. Given such large-scale differences in estimates of agricultural land, according to its own data and the number of people dependent on each tract, policies for supporting farmers and agriculture in India has the possible of mis-judging the scale and quantum of agriculture produce, number of agriculture labourers and cultivators and the subsequent agriculture value.

The Agriculture Census, India estimates the number of operational holdings by size classes and irrigation status (fully irrigated, partially irrigated and un-irrigated) quinquineally. The minor irrigation census is also conducted quinquineally by the Ministry of Water Resources, India. As per the definition of irrigated area, a particular parcel is classified as irrigated if it has a source available like canal, well, etc. A crop will be considered as irrigated if it received irrigation at least once. This indicator may require further detailing on quantum of water consumed from irrigation sources to assess the use and availability of water from different sources and assess the sustainable agriculture practices from that.

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, GoI has implemented the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP). The national programme involves the accreditation programme for certification bodies, standards for organic production, promotion of organic farming etc. The total area under organic certification is 4.72 million hectare (2013-14). This is the only measure available in India about organic agriculture. There are two caveats in place here:

1. The programme only measures the land under organic agriculture and does not provide information about agriculture households.

2. The assumption here is that eco-friendly fertilisers are organic fertilisers. Organic fertilisers are derived from animal matter, human excreta or vegetable matter (e.g. compost, manure).

3. Given the miniscule percent of land under organic agriculture in India with respect to the total land, it may be important to develop a dedicated policy for leading and promoting organic agriculture.

The collection of data on organic production conducted by APEDA is for the purpose of creditions to export the organic food. It might be useful to survey the use of fertilisers and organic manure used by farmers in the NSSO surveys to provide insights on the percent of organic manure used in the fields by different classes of farmers to get a clearer picture on the use of eco-friendly fertilisers.

Food security is one of the top priorities to achieve the SDGs. Agriculture production is dependent upon soil fertility, adequate water, suitable techniques/practices and adaptation to climate change. The indicators analysed above point out to glaring concerns in measuring the sustainability of agriculture systems. This is in addition to other critical concerns like that of climate change, resource constraints for which indicators that measure the health of the agriculture systems with respect to its climate adaptation, mitigation and resource use goals are also measured. This may include agriculture product per unit resource use, indicators for measuring resilience and adaptability of the agriculture systems.

*This is an excerpt from a report developed by DA, "Assessing SDGs in the Indian Context"  q