By occupation farmer is the one who is connected with earth more than anyone else. Why a farmer is not honoured, he is becoming more and more vulnerable? Over a period, the agriculture sector turned from sustainable agriculture to exploitative agriculture. The new practices are degrading the very resources which sustained farming practice and the communities. The soil degradation, water pollution, groundwater depletion, pesticide residues in the produce, greenhouse gasses released, etc., are some of the impacts. The scientific community and the policy makers introducing and promoting GMOs and chemical-based agriculture are also responsible for this pathetic situation.
If the budget component allocated to the farmers and the agriculture sector increases every year, it means that we have not achieved much in sustaining this sector. It is like the number of pills taken by a patient continues and the dose increases, it does not mean that the patient is becoming healthy.
Today our policies, technologies, and other factors made the farmer helpless, dependent and almost like a beggar for everything such as - seeds, fertilizers, support prices for the produce, loans, insurance, power, and water for irrigation. There is a need for serious thought and strategy for the sustainability of farming and farmers’ livelihood.
We love farmers and their well-being because they provide food, fodder, fibre, fuel and much more. Why we are not happy when the prices of their products go up? In the interest of destitute people, the government tries to bring down the price by all means. Finally, the farmers suffer the most in the whole process. No one was bothered when the farmers had been at a loss many times. Even farmers many times paid to dump their produce as garbage when there was no buyer or glut on the market. I myself once dumped flowers as trash, cultivated in our Farm, as the market price was so low. In general, a farmer rarely gets profits that he deserves for the efforts. Farmers feel sorry when the whole system conspires to bring down the prices when they rarely get a good price. On the whole, it is common sense to understand that the prices go high for various reasons such as a particular crop production was not high due to crop failure. In such a case, the farmer would get compensated through an increase in price and so all the dependent people also get compensated.
First of all, every farmer deserves the right price for the produce. Paying the right price means we are not exploiting a farmer. It also means giving due respect to the farmer and the agriculture sector. A farmer lives happily with honour and dignity only when they could sell the produce at the right price with some profit, after deducting expenses on the inputs, labour, processing and other management expenses.
The petrol and gold price also comes down but in contrast, not the water price. In the packaged water business, never the price of a water bottle is reduced. Even during the rainy season, the price of water is the same. There was never an offer like one bottle free for every bottle purchased; or 20% extra water for the same price; or free gifts on purchase of a water bottle. When water is such an important and valuable input in agriculture, why the product of the farmer should be undervalued. The state ensures the minimum wages for people working in all sectors. How come the state has never protected the minimum wages of farmers. The state has the responsibility to ensure the minimum support to the farmers. There are no labour inspectors in the agriculture sector, who could ensure a minimum wage for the farmers and the human working conditions are ensured.
In history, the farmers paid the taxes and contributed to the economy of the nations. Their share in GDP was high. Since last two decades, the farmers’ contribution to the economic development of the nation is least considered, although a majority of the population is still dependent on the agriculture sector. This is because of undervaluing the price of produce and labour.
Earliest civilizations and cultures in parts of the world flourished. The richest kings, great kingdoms and monuments existed because of farmers’ contributions. None of the rulers nor kingdoms ever had any debt in the past. At present, every nation is in debt, in billions of dollars. The debt is also on just born babies and those yet to be born. And we never know when this debt would be cleared. The civilizations, culture, and traditions flourished with the development, progress of agriculture, and surplus food production. The great monuments stand testimony to the prosperous agriculture-based economy in the past. A farmer and the allied communities formed the foundation for the existence of civilisations in the past.
But they are now at the receiving end. Over the last 50 years, the pride of the farmers was belittled by the systems. Everyone around the farmer is getting benefited through exploitation but not the real farmer. The government officials, university professors, research scientists, and civil society representatives are happy with their profession. There are multinational companies benefited by selling seeds, pesticides, fertilizers, technologies, processing goods and selling the product. The brokers and other middlemen are also becoming rich. The debt-ridden farmers are becoming poorer and few are also committing suicides. The dependent secondary stakeholders are not supporting the farmers.
In the past, there was pride to say ‘I am a farmer,’ because farmers rarely depended on the government systems. A farmers child is also shy to say that their parent is a farmer. Very rarely any child is coming forward to say that they want to pursue farming as a profession in the future.
Farmer was independent before India got independence, but after independence farmer has become dependent. Our system failed in promoting Gram Swaraj, otherwise, the fate of farmers would not have been so bad.
In the past, the development systems were based on the primary sector such as agriculture which was more sustainable. All the communities existed as a social network and promoted farming.
With the green revolution, the farmer’s dependency on the non-sustainable input systems increased. There is nothing ‘green’ in the green revolution. The increased production is achieved at the cost of degraded environment and ecological systems. The ecological footprint of the farmer is growing. The contribution of greenhouse gasses emissions from the agriculture sector is also increasing. The vulnerability of the agriculture sector is growing from newer dimensions such as climate change, pollution, environmental degradation and GMOs. The quality of the produce of a farmer also degraded considering the usage of pesticides and other chemicals, in this situation the farmer is not to be blamed. The whole system is responsible for this situation of the farmers.
Today, the economy is becoming more and more virtual, which is based on printed money, petrodollars, shares, and inflation. The farmers are contributing to the real economy through production. Any day matter is more important than anything else. Through the right price to the farmer, we could restore the pride of the farmer and also address the food security of the nation. Then the farmer’s hand would be a ‘giving hand’ rather than a ‘receiving hand.’ The farmers would give up all the subsidies; would get paid worth their labour; would employ people paying the existing labour charges; adopt technologies; pay for power and water; could engage consultants for advice and support too. They would be no more at the mercy of policies. The farmer would also pay taxes to their respective systems for the development of the resources and their social security. Once again we would see debt-free nations.
We are not sensitive to farmers; they are taken for granted. The day will come when everyone realizes the basis of our own existence and it could be too late.
A farmer preparing land for paddy, in the drought-prone Mahabubnagar District, Telangana, India