Agriculture and Media
Dr. Mrinal Chatterjee
Professor and Regional Director,
Eastern Regional Centre,
Indian
Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC)
Sanchar Marg, Dhenkanal 759 001, Odisha
mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
The Earth is a little over 4.5 billion years old. The history
of life on Earth began about 3.8 billion years ago, initially with
single-celled prokaryotic cells, such as bacteria. Multicellular life evolved
over a billion years later and it's only in the last 570 Ma (for
megaannum, means million years ago) that the kind of life forms we
are familiar with began to evolve, starting with arthropods, followed by fish
530 Ma, land plants 475Ma and forests 385Ma. Mammals didn't evolve until 200 Ma
and our own species, Homo sapiens, only 200,000 years ago. So humans have been
around for a mere 0.004% of the Earth's history.[1]
But the homo sapiens had one thing that other creatures did
not have: intelligence to transform one thing to the other to accomplice a task
or find a solution to a problem; and utilise/exploit nature. Call it
technology.
The roots of civilization
reach back to the earliest introduction of primitive technology and culture.
Humans make the first tools from stone, wood, antlers, and bones some 10
million years ago. Prehistory begins in the Paleolithic Era, or "Early
Stone Age," which is followed by the Neolithic Era, or New Stone Age.
Humans discover fire 1–2 million years ago. Humans first wear clothes in
25,000– 50,000 BCE. Earliest boats are constructed sometime in 10,000 BCE. Humans begin agriculture and settlements in
8000– 9000 BCE.
Agricultural Revolution (between 8000 and 5000 BCE)
followed. The latter period marked a change in human history, as humans began
the systematic husbandry of plants and animals. Agriculture advanced, and most humans
transitioned from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle as farmers in permanent
settlements. No wonder that hand-made bricks were first used for construction
in the Middle East during 6000– 7000 BCE.
As farming developed, grain
agriculture became more
sophisticated and prompted a division of lablour. Labour divisions then led to
the rise of a leisured upper class and
the development of cities. The growing complexity of human societies
necessitated systems of writing and accounting. Many cities developed on the
banks of lakes and rivers; as early as 3000 BCE some of the first prominent,
well-developed settlements had arisen in Mesopotamia (the Land between the
Rivers),on the banks of Egypt’s Nile River, in
the Indus River Valley, and along the major rivers of China.
As ‘Iron Age’ dawned around
1000 BCE (Iron was used for the first time in decorative ornaments during 4000
BCE, however it took time to use it extensively for making tools and weapons), man
started inventing machines that made life easier by making tasks and chores
easier. By that time wheel had already been invented (3500 BCE).
By 18th century
man was inventing machines and processes more frequently. Italian Alessandro
Volta made the first battery (known as a Voltaic pile) in 1800. In 1801
Joseph-Marie Jacquard invented the automated cloth-weaving loom. The punched
cards it used to store patterns helped to inspire programmable computers. In
1814 George Stephenson built the first practical steam locomotive. Between 1820
and 1830 Michael Faraday built primitive electric generators and motors. In
1880s Thomas Edison opened the world's first power plants. Since 1900,
agriculture in the developed nations, and to a lesser extent in the developing
world, has seen large rises in productivity as human labor has been replaced by
mechanization, and assisted by synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and selective
breeding. The Haber-Bosch method allowed the synthesis of ammonium nitrate fertilizer
on an industrial scale, greatly increasing crop yields.
In less than 250 years, an
industrial revolution swept the world and it gradually changed human being’s
relationship with nature. Human being, who was dependant on nature for its
survival and sustenance thought of mastering it. Consider the gradual reduction
of workforce engaged in agriculture. During the 16th century in Europe, for
example, between 55 and 75 percent of the population was engaged in
agriculture, depending on the country. By the 19th century in Europe, this had
dropped to between 35 and 65 percent. In the same countries today, the figure
is less than 10 per cent. In US and Canada the number is less than 2 per cent. The
service sector overtook the agricultural sector as the largest global
employer in 2007. Between 1997 and 2007, the percentage of people employed in
agriculture fell by over four percentage points.
Of course the number of
people employed in agriculture varies widely on a per-country basis, ranging
from less than 2% in countries like the US and Canada to over 80% in many
African nations. The point that I am trying to make is that, as technology progressed, anthropocentricism
became the norm. Cosmocentrism took back seat, or summarily rejected. Human
development happened at the cost of environment. Natural resources were
utilised, as if the resources were infinite. Rivers were dammed, forests
cleared, wiping out hundreds of species of flora and fauna. Minerals extracted.
Fossil fuel burnt like there was infinite supply. Human beings went on an ever
increasing consuming spree.
Natural
resources,
including materials, water, energy and fertile land, are the basis for our life
on Earth. All of these were threatened by the wanton misuse and mindless
exploitation. Meanwhile population increased.
And then, gradually Mother
Nature began to react. Rivers changed its course. Rivulets and streams dried.
The sea rose and cyclones struck with greater frequency and destructive power.
Rain fall became erratic. Summer became harsher. So did winter. It was a
warning bell.
Scientists could hear it,
even as millions began experiencing it across the world. Scientists and
philosophers could realise what was on the offing: apocalypse, unless the
present rate and manner of consumption was contained. The world is already
experiencing a severe potable water shortage. By the year 2025, an additional
2.9 billion people will strain tightening water supplies, and the world's
energy needs will go up 60 per cent by 2030, according to the United Nations.
Fossil fuel will exhaust in less than 50 years. Large tracts of land will be
gulped by rising sea. And despite
tremendous growth in agricucultural output across the globe hunger persists. In
fact as per Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations report[2],
World hunger is on the rise: the estimated
number of undernourished people increased from 777 million in 2015 to 815
million in 2016.
The
situation of India
does not look bright as the recent Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2017report
released by Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute
(IFPRI) ranks India at the 100th position among 119
countries.
This is ironical considering
the fact that the history of Agriculture in India dates back to Indus Valley
Civilization Era and even before that in some parts of Southern India and India
is presently among the top three global producers of many crops,
including wheat, rice, pulses, cotton, peanuts, fruits
and vegetables. Its gross irrigated crop area of 82.6 million hectares (215.6
million acres) is the largest in the world. India exported $38 billion worth of
agricultural products in 2013, making it the seventh largest agricultural exporter
worldwide and the sixth largest net exporter. Indian agricultural/horticultural
and processed foods are exported to more than 120 countries, primarily in the
Middle East, Southeast Asia, SAARC countries, the EU and the United States.
India’s food processing industry is one of the largest industries in the
country.[3]
Agriculture and allied
sectors like forestry and fisheries accounted for 13.7% of the GDP (gross
domestic product) in 2013, about 50% of the workforce. Though the economic
contribution of agriculture to India's GDP is steadily declining with the
country's broad-based economic growth, still, agriculture is demographically
the broadest economic sector and plays a significant role in the overall
socio-economic fabric of India.
Though India produces enough
food for herself and exports the country experiences double irony: there is
wide spreads hunger and mal-nutrition on the one hand, and on the other-
agriculture largely remains non-remunerative. There have been hundreds of cases
of farmer suicides. Farmers across the country are demanding for better prices.
What are the problems
plaguing Agriculture sector?
There seems to be problems in
four major domains:
1. Infrastructure: India has
very poor rural roads affecting timely supply of inputs and timely transfer of
outputs from Indian farms. Irrigation systems are inadequate, leading to crop
failures in some parts of the country because of lack of water. In other areas
regional floods, poor seed quality and inefficient farming practices, lack of
cold storage and harvest spoilage cause over 30% of farmer's produce going to
waste, lack of organised retail and competing buyers thereby limiting Indian
farmer's ability to sell the surplus and commercial crops.
2. Productivity: Although India
has attained self-sufficiency in food staples, the productivity of its farms is
below that of Brazil, the United States, France and other nations. Indian wheat
farms, for example, produce about a third of the wheat per hectare per year
compared to farms in France. Rice productivity in India was less than half that
of China. Other staples productivity in India is similarly low. Indian total
factor productivity growth remains below 2% per annum; in contrast, China's
total factor productivity growths is about 6% per annum, even though China also
has smallholding farmers. Several studies suggest India could eradicate its
hunger and malnutrition and be a major source of food for the world by
achieving productivity comparable with other countries.
3. General socio-economic
backwardness: This leads to the resistance to adapting and adopting new
scientific methods.
4.
Policy and Governance: Without structural changes,
agricultural subsidies, loan weavers and different sops often act as counterproductive.
Slow progress in implementing land reforms and inadequate or inefficient
finance and marketing services for farm produce become catastrophic for the
farmers.
Role of Media
At the most basic level media is a means of
communication and vehicle of information. Period. But, why it is so important?
Because media has added power onto itself by acting and speaking out on behalf
of the people. It has gained credibility over the years. People believe in what
is being told, written and shown on media. People and to some extent policy
makers form their opinion on the basis of information, analysis, and suggestion
given by the media. It does not happen always. But it happens often enough to
have vested enormous power on media. Countless number of research studies have
shown that media can and do influence human thought and behaviour. From fashion
to stardom to creating positive attitude for development issues- media can
influence, and therein lies its power.
But
as it has been mentioned- it does not happen always. People do not believe
everything that has been told in the media. People do not always act as the
media tells them to. People exercise their will. They exercise their choice- based
on their liking or disliking. Hence the question: can media trigger, sustain
and guide development? Can it become a positive change agent? Should it be one?
If it can work as a change agent, how must it work? What is the roadmap?
But
before we attempt to answer these questions, a word about the present day
media. Media is an omnibus term. It includes a wide range of communication
system, which often targets different set of audience, at times working on
cross purposes. Let me divide it into three broad categories: entertainment
media, news media and education media. Each of these categories has separate
objective and paradigm. That makes their content and format different. Each
category has separate culture, separate sets of dos and don’ts. Each category
has different attitude to societal issues.
For example, on the issue of prioritizing sustainable development- the
news media might ask: Should it be a change agent? News media will ask this
question because they see their job differently. News media’s priority is to
disseminate news and not to become a change agent. Similarly the entertainment
media’s priority is to entertain and not to become a change agent. Education
media might like to be a change agent, and then they would ask: how must it
work? What is the roadmap?
Of
course, there can never be tight compartmentalization among these three
categories of media. And increasingly so. As Alvin Toffler says in his now cult
book Power Shift ...‘for better or worse, the old lines between show
business and politics, leisure and work, news and entertainment are all
crashing, and we are exposed to a hurricane of often fragmented, kaleidoscopic
images[4].
That
is making the task of following a particular agenda by the media both easy and
difficult. Easy- because of the tremendous reach and penetration of media.
Difficult- because there are so many of them. By mid 2017, India has close to
900 television channels, over 900 radio stations and over one hundred thousand
plus newspapers and periodicals. With nearly 80 per cent tele-density and about
30 per cent Internet penetration a vast number of people are engaged with media
in the cyber world 24x7. The sheer
vastness of media has made the task difficult- as it has become difficult for
any particular medium or channel or publication to sustain the interest of the
readers.
The problem of
‘reach’ and ‘access’ is withering. The problem of ‘reach’ is taken care of by
developing technology. The problem of ‘access’ is taken care of by growing
purchasing power of the people and a kind of societal pressure to ‘own-
what-your neighbour has’. But when it
comes to use, the problem has grown. It is a problem of plenty. Problem of
choice from a vast plethora of media bouquets- each one trying of vie for
attention. In a situation like this, media supplies what people want. It
changes from being need-oriented to demand-driven. It caters not to what the
audience needs (in a sense what they ought to watch), but what they want and
are ready to pay for. If people want development-oriented content, media would
supply that. If they want something else, it would supply that. Media content
is treated like FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) in a bazaar. The salesman
will stock goods - that sells fast. Since development stories do not receive
priority on the reader/viewer’s point - it fails to fetch advertisement- life
line of most of private news media, it is not given priority in the media. It
is as simple as that.
But
there is a silver lining. In fact, two.
First, in a de-massified society media caters to the niche. So, if there are
people who are interested in development through media- there are certain media
dedicated to that. Second- improved technology has made access and use of media
easy. Hence sustainable development as an issue can and do find space and time
in the media easily. The problem lies in
mainstreaming the issue, to put that issue on top priority for mainstream news
media in particular and other category of media in general.
Now onto the question what roles media can play?
Media can play five roles. There can be considerable overlapping in the roles.
• Media
as a Watchdog: It is said that sunshine is the best disinfectant. That somebody
is watching me- is the best deterrent to lot of social maladies like
corruption.
• Media
as an Enabler: Media increases people’s access to information. Information
brings them power and to some extent prosperity. If we take a look at the media
consumption and development matrix of Kerala and Bihar or Odisha, we shall find
that there is a clear relation between access and use of media and development.
• Media
as a Public sphere: People can air and share their ideas through mass media.
Issues can be discussed. Suggestions for solutions of problems can be aired and
discussed. For example media can help discuss the suggestions M S Swaminathan
offered to mitigate hunger and ensuring food security in the ‘Food Security
Atlas’. Socially responsible journalism
is a struggle to gain public space within the private sphere.
• Media
as an Informer: Media can inform people about various problems of society, and
what causes them, and what is being done or not done about them. This helps fix
accountability.
• Media
as a Platform: Media can provide a platform, where people can air their
grievances, put forth their views, and participate in governance.
Let us now understand the function and
dynamics of mainstream news media. Its priority is to disseminate news. In
other words their foremost task is to tell the readers, listeners, viewers-
what has happened and how it has happened and why it has happened. With the
technology advancing by leaps and bounds, their task has changed from telling
what has happened to what is happening, and how is it happening. This has put
more emphasis on the ‘now’ factor. It has put more emphasis on ‘events’.
Adopting sustainable development is a ‘process’. It does not get their top
priority. This fact has to be appreciated first. Then we can proceed to examine
what the news media in particular and other categories of media can do.
1. Media can disseminate information about
improved agricultural technologies and process and persuade people to adopt it.
It can also disseminate information about market prices and help farmers to get
better prices for their produce.
2. Media can definitely create an atmosphere of
acceptance for improved agricultural practices. It can set an agenda[5].
It can influence people to rally around an issue.
3. It can influence the policy makers to make
farmer-friendly and improved agricultural practice savvy policies.
4. It can take up the problems of the farmers and
lobby for easing the bottle necks.
5. It can provide critical knowledge input to the
farmers at the right time.
Besides news media, other media like popular
cinema, television soap-operas, and even folk media can play a role here.
However, for doing all this media need to have
information and understanding in the sector. Here they need the help of
Agricultural scientists, who should help the media. There has be a synergy
between the media and the scientists working is this domain. That synergy is
critical in taking the message to the targeted masses. For innovation to reach
from the laboratory to the field it requires a vehicle a medium. Media has the
expertise in dissemination and reaching the targeted mass. Scientists need to
provide content input and understanding. Together it could do a world of good
for the agriculture sector of the country.
***
The author, a
journalist turned media academician presently works as Professor and Regional
Director of the Eastern India campus of Indian Institute of Mass Communication
(IIMC) located in Dhenkanal, Odisha.
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth
[2] http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/
[3] https://www.ibef.org/industry/indian-food-industry.aspx
[4] Taffler Alvin, POWER SHIFT, page 328
[5] http://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20clusters/Mass%20Media/Agenda-Setting_Theory.doc/
Published in the souvenir published on the occasion of National Consultation Meet on "Fostering reach of innovations from Aquaculture Research through Media: A Science Communication Perspective" at CIFA, Bhubaneswar on 27 Oct. 2017. It was organised by ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aqualculture (CIFA) and Association of Agriculturists.
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