Farmers : The Forgotten fortune

 

Farmers : The Forgotten fortune

 

“Once in your life  you need a doctor , a lawyer, a policemen and a preacher. But thrice a day you need a farmer.”

                                                --- Brenda Schoepp

Topics to be discussed –

1)   Farmer , Farming and their importance,

2)   Plight of Indian Farmers,

3)   Measures to improve the condition of Indian farmers.

 

Farmer, Farming and their importance –

Who is a farmer? , well a farmer is a man with the golden hands, who grows food for all, irrespective of their class, caste, religion, region, age or gender. Though, he lives in the most impoverished , deteriorated and deprived state where he is even unable to manage his all three basic needs of food, shelter and cloth; in short he is a being of poverty stricken destitute who still provides food for all. Sounds ironic? But it is the truth from millennia.

Farming- farming is a process of growing food from all the aspects of nature including earth, water and animal or bird and insect husbandry according to the season by a certain group of people called as the farmers.

Importance- arriving at this point of importance, we have to speculate and address both the aspects of farming and the farmer as they are universally correlated with each other.

1)   The three basic needs of a human being comprising food, shelter and cloth directly or indirectly are produced and eventually provided by the farmer and from the farm. Though, the recent industrialization has bought many turning points to take the places of all three of them as a substitute by the implementation of scientific or artificial ways, but still most of them come from the farm or the nature itself at the end.

2)   Bolstering the first point, the farmer is the only and basic provider of food to the whole nation. Thus, the farmland and its natural health are equally as important as the health and the wealth of the farmer.

3)            The farmer being a natural worker actually preserves nature with its original authentic beauty. Cultivation practices often provide natural biologically active filter mechanisms for water as well as soil vegetation stabilization.

4)   The true civilization of human being has started with the invention and the advent of farming. He is the protagonist and preserver of the whole civilization, irrespective of the region.

5)   The relation between one’s origin and ethnicity is an inevitable aspect of every human being. The farming and the farmer is the only thing that connects us with our land, our roots and our culture.

Plight of Indian Farmer’s

The Indian farmer is the living idol of India; he is the living god for the living and the left. Though, they are the most hardworking farmers around the world, the condition of most farmers is terrible here in India. Even working hard for their crops, during day and night does not help them to manage their minimum requirements of their basic needs.

About 80% of farmers in India are marginal (less than 1 hectare) or small farmers (1–2 hectare) category. Agriculture supports about 60% of employment but contributes only 17% to GDP. Every day, there are reports of Indian farmer suicides from different parts of the country. The rate is reaching it’s pinnacle of destruction in such a rapid pace that in the last 10 years approx. 15 thousand death cases has been reported due to the lose induced suicide among the farmers of India. India is called the land of farmers, as most of the people in the country are directly or indirectly involved in the agriculture sector. It would not be wrong to say that ‘Indian farmers’ are the backbone of the economy and the farmers are indeed the beloved children of Mother India. Though, it is an irony that we are craving for the food while our food providers are on the brink of certain death hole.

According to the NCRB report data, the number of farmer suicides in the country was 11,379 in 2016 as against 12,360 in 2014 and 12,602 in 2015, the reason for farmers suicide as follows:

 

1)   Weather and Climate Issues:

The weather has become unpredictable these days in India and it does not rain at the right time. The situation in central India is particularly bad, which can be considered as the agricultural sector of India.

2)   The scale of operation:

Real estate prices had soared and reached a level that people are finding it difficult to buy a home. In such circumstances, it is unrealistic for the average people to buy farms for farming. The gap between small farmers, big farmers and medium farmers are huge. India’s inheritance laws are problematic in nature with emphasis on fragmentation.

3)   Shortage of farm labourers:

These days, farm labour is considered exclusively as casual labour. Areas such as construction and industry are already employing people who would otherwise be engaged in agriculture. This is also one of the reasons why urban migration has increased so much in the last few decades.

4)   Unsatisfactory realization of prices and the middleman issue:

One of the most important problems facing farmers in India is about marketing. The situation is particularly terrible in sugar factories where weighing scales are always called dishonest and farmers take significant time just to break them. In some situations, farmers are also required to give their products to money lenders for free. The Indian farmer receives just 10% to 23% of the price the Indian consumer pays for exactly the same produce, the difference going to losses, inefficiencies and middlemen. Farmers in developed economies of Europe and the United States receive 64% to 81%.

5)   Quality of seeds, pesticides and fertilizers:

Farmers in India often have to do with poor quality seeds. There are many reasons for the hardship, such as untoward peasants, corruption of officials, laws of ineffective and coercion, and improper implementation of laws.

6)   Infrastructure:

India has very poor rural roads affecting timely supply of inputs and outputs from Indian farms. Irrigation systems are inadequate, leading to crop failures in some parts of the country because of lack of water. Though 90% of ground water borrow well is being used in irrigation every year out of 251 billion cubic km, due to the lack of proper scientific infrastructure the waste of water has reached an alarming level as well as the farm lands are also getting adversely affected. 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.

 The rise of industrialization with it’s  black whole of pollution has also sabotaged our rivers and so the farm productions .

Measures to improve the condition of Indian farmers

          India is a land of diversity. In comparison to the total land area covered, India is comprising far more diverse geographical regions as well as cultural origins. There are various ways of farming too according to certain places with respect to the above cited two elements, viz- shifting agriculture, subsistence agriculture, commercial agriculture, primitive agriculture, dry land agriculture, wetland agriculture etc. There three major types of crops that can be found in India are- 1) Kharif, 2) Rabi, and 3) Zaid.

So, taking the above points in hand, we have a vast area to ponder , in order to solve the grave situation of Indian farmers over all. Some of the pertinent measures are listed blow as follows—

1)   To provide scientific aids for the proper and minimal availability of water resources and irrigation facilities.

2)   The availability of Good seeds of standard quality.

3)   Availability of Good fertilizers on required time with a more natural approach away from inorganic destructive ones.

4)   Also, the availability of Proper storage facilities for the products that can protect them from the whims of nature.

5)   Availability of Finance for farming activities at reasonable interest rates.

6)   Elimination of Private financiers, who charge fatal interest rates leading to an imbalance between the market and the farmer.

7)   An approach to safeguard the natural reservoirs of water such as ponds and rivers. A strictly systematized committee to resolve the water and soil related pollution and conservation of ground water by the construction of numerous ponds all over India to tackle the water need and food poisoning as well.

8)   Transport facility to move the product to the market and their safe storage at the market.

9)   Ultimately proper price that covers the production costs and gives a decent amount into the hands of the farmer.

10)          Last but not the least, the Government and the Non-Governmental organisations should strive further more to motivate the new generation towards farming and agriculture by ensuring the security about the future of farming. They should also bring forth the picture of farming with it’s new horizons as well as the beautiful and stabilized lifestyle of being near to the nature and serving the mankind at the same time. For that, the most pertinent need of the hour is to give the deserving respect to the farmers. Farming should be respected as not only an equivalent, but in most cases a superior workplace or the most humble occupation in comparison to any other option at present and in the upcoming future as well.

 

“Jai Jawan , Jai Kishan , Jai Vijnan”   

 

                                                                                                                                                           Writer -- Dipankar Bhattacharya