It is a pity India is abandoning most of its traditional grains like the many millets. We have however to deal with the reality of rice being the most favoured crop. Given that, Swaminathan’s third idea is to establish ‘Rice Refineries’ --as against, mere ‘Mills’-- in order to recover all the marketable values from the crop and add secondary ones to them.

The fourth idea, is to factor crop and health insurance into the increasingly popular Kisan Credit Cards. In one card, the full spectrum of a poor farmer’s recurring problems would be addressed.

The fifth idea, is to create an awareness of water as a premium input cost. A task force headed by him is about to submit an action plan for “responsible use of biotechnology”. He says, turning to crops that can better resist drought and salinity would result in “more crop per drop”.

His sixth idea flows from the above. His Foundation has already demonstrated the feasibility of Sea-water Farming for Coastal Area Prosperity. They have integrated “the cultivation of mangroves, salicornia, atriplex and other halophytes” with those of prawns and shrimps. In a country where little free farmland is available, coastal wasteland farming would ease social pressures.

Swaminathan in the same article, talks about developing India’s own benchmarks for defining safe pesticide levels. He urges the dropping of standards given by the West. On genetically modified crops however, his views are somewhat vague. It is not clear how he proposes India handle this issue. But his six ideas are discrete and bite-sized enough to be realised.