I have never felt hungry, that is probably why I could never appreciate the value of food, I have never faced the dearth of bread and that is probably why I could never understand a farmers significance. 641,402,514 or approximately 64 Crore people are dependent on agriculture for their livelihood in India, who in winter’s chill or summer’s heat, work tirelessly so that we can eat. But we fail to understand the story behind their pain and sorrow. They are the only beings in our economy who buy everything at retail, sell everything at wholesale, and ultimately suffer both ways.
Farmers face problems in every phase of life, may it be trying to procure new technology, fighting famines and trying their best to irrigate their fields or acquiring loans at very high-interest rates and falling into a debt trap as they have low incomes but high costs of cultivation. According to statistics about 50 per cent of agricultural households are indebted.
Irrigation increases crop yield; protects from famine and ultimately helps in economic development. But with the current situation is that about 53% of the total area under cultivation remains un-irrigated. This can be observed below:
Total Cropped Area | 1,897,543 |
---|---|
Irrigated Area | 879,974 |
Unirrigated Area | 1,017,569 |
This problem can be solved with the use of new affordable and effective methods like drip irrigation, treadle pump system and thermal solar pump systems of irrigation which can be developed with the help of research and by spreading awareness.
Manure and pesticides are again two other necessary things to increase yield and production. Manures provide the much-needed nutrition to plants to help them grow and pesticides provide a guarantee to the farmer that no pests will destroy the crop. However, a huge percentage of crops in India are cultivated without the use of manures and pesticides. This can be observed from the following table:
Total Cropped Area | 1,897,543 |
---|---|
Area Treated with Manure | 391,180 |
Area Not Treated with Manure | 1,506,363 |
Area Treated with Pesticides | 828,686 |
Area Not Treated with Pesticides | 1,068,857 |
This occurs mainly due to high costs of these commodities. Most farmers are fearful of the high-interest rates charged to them by various informal sources and are also unaware of the various schemes implemented by the government which provides these materials at subsidized rates.
Seeds are the basic raw material used to produce crops. Farmers also have a hard time trying to obtain good quality seeds with better characteristics at low prices. Inadequate research and genetic engineering have been a constraint in the development of seed technology in India. I believe there is a need to encourage the development of seed technology in both the private and the public sectors to initiate another round of the Green Revolution.
Our farmers have been struggling due to natural calamities from several years. However, I believe the truth is that in India, some of the well-known drought management strategies exist on paper but have not been developed through the right consultative processes, and as a result, they were not implemented. India has the wealth of both modern and indigenous knowledge for adapting to drought and water shortage. What’s probably missing is the effective implementation of a strategy that would allow the existing knowledge and experience to be up-scaled and generalized in all drought-prone areas.
These problems all come together and result in stress and tension for farmers. At times the only solution farmers have in mind is to end the root cause of all these problems that is, end themselves. Highly erratic monsoons in the last 2 to 3 years have aggravated the problems for farmers; manifestations of these in extreme situations can be seen in the form of farmers’ suicides. ‘Bankruptcy or Indebtedness’ and ‘Farming Related Issues’ are reported as major causes of suicides among farmers. This can be observed from the table below:
Year | No. of Suicides in the Farming Sector |
---|---|
2013 | 11,772 |
2014 | 12,360 |
2015 | 12,602 |
The government has started various schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana that is a crop insurance policy with relaxed premium rates, Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana to promote organic farming, and various schemes to encourage aquaculture and pisciculture, which have been collectively dubbed the ‘Blue Revolution.’ However, as history shows, many such schemes have been introduced in the past decades and have not provided great results. I believe the Government’s priority should be to first set up independent committees that would monitor the proper implementation and execution of these schemes. The government should also promote the formation of self-help groups and cooperative societies that would provide farmers loans at lower interest rates even without sufficient collateral. I also believe that proper assistance and counseling should be provided to poor farmers and also the MSP (Minimum Support Prices) should be increased uniformly keeping in mind the situation of farmers. I believe that waiving off loans is not a permanent solution to the atrocities being faced by farmers and is only structured by politicians to gain votes. Moreover, a valuable amount of taxpayers money is used up. Instead of this, proper long-term solutions and plans must be made to support farmers.
The government should also listen to the difficulties of the farmers and intervene before they commit any dangerous deeds, like what has been seen in the protests being done by the farmers of Tamil Nadu. Since 41 days, farmers from Tamil Nadu have been protesting in Delhi as they were promised an appointment with PM Modi to submit a memorandum but they were not allowed to meet him. They have five demands in their memorandum which includes 39,000 Crore drought relief fund from the Centre for the state’s farmers as the Cauvery Basin was hit with the worst drought in 150 years; linking rivers using Smart Waterways Project; waiving off loans and pensions for the survival of old, ailing or now-disabled farmers.
I believe farmers should be looked at with the eye of humanity and should be treated with respect and dignity. Their suffering is also a concern for us as,
… once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but every day, three times a day, you need a farmer.
~Brenda Schoepp
Thank you 🙂
Reblogged this on The Shubham Stories and commented:
#IndianFarmer
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Maybe this is the blog I have always been looking for to keep me up to date with what is really going on in India and highlighting possible solutions. Well written and documented – and food for thought.
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Thank you so much ma’am! Means a lot to me 🙂
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You are very welcome Sanchi!
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The farmers in india seem to face the same prejudices as there Kenyan counterparts where i hail from.Coming from a farming community myself the article has given me a deeper insight all thanks to you beautiful Sanchi.
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🙂
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Bitter true
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It seems decision-making has gradually migrated to cities. It seems we don’t really care for the farmer. I hope we wake up before it is too late.
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I hope so too😊 thank you for dropping by!
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I just read it all,
It was indeed a very well executed research,
Reminded me of my days when I was in the 6th standard I made a home made pesticide solution, easy to make, easily preserved, cost effective, organic
And I won the cluster, but lost in regional, to a fire extinguishing robot.
.
Life is sad, sometimes even with the right intentions and hardwork, we cant have some things.
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Sanchi, great expression and empathy towards farmers. People forget the fact that we cannot survive without food for long. Whichever be the position we reach in life , our survival depends purely in this relentless day and night effort of a particular section of people, farmers. Are we giving due importance to them and agriculture. ?
Yes, ‘State of the Indian Farmer’ A millennium Study says , there has been a major transformation of farming from the traditional to the modern, with millions of farmers participating in the green revolution and becoming increasingly conscious of science and technology. The country has entered the new era of globalisation with confidence, even as the expectations of farmers have been aroused.
According to the book ‘Farmer first Revisited’ , agriculture is an urgent priority worldwide and farmers in the developing world find themselves in the front line of some of the world’s most pressing issues like climate change, globalization and food security.
Now agricultural innovation is taking place within national public-sector research organisations and more in diversified public-private systems.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is there now to help farmers to protect their crops. I request you to kindly read an article published on 16th May 2017 in the daily Indian Express. This will definitely give us some relief to the fact that transformations are happening to boost the lives of the most respectful section of any country!!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sanchi, great expression and empathy towards farmers. People forget the fact that we cannot survive without food for long. Whichever be the position we reach in life , our survival depends purely in this relentless day and night effort of a particular section of people, farmers. Are we giving due importance to them and agriculture. ?
Yes, ‘State of the Indian Farmer’ A millennium Study says , there has been a major transformation of farming from the traditional to the modern, with millions of farmers participating in the green revolution and becoming increasingly conscious of science and technology. The country has entered the new era of globalisation with confidence, even as the expectations of farmers have been aroused.
According to the book ‘Farmer first Revisited’ , agriculture is an urgent priority worldwide and farmers in the developing world find themselves in the front line of some of the world’s most pressing issues like climate change, globalization and food security.
Now agricultural innovation is taking place within national public-sector research organisations and more in diversified public-private systems.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is there now to help farmers to protect their crops. I request you to kindly read an article published on 16th May 2017 in the daily Indian Express. This will definitely give us some relief to the fact that transformations are happening to boost the lives of the most respectful section of any country!!!
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Thank you ma’am. I agree with everything you have said. I will definitely read the article 😊
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Good!!
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Reblogged this on lampmagician.
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Oh thank you 😊
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This is fascinating 🙂
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😊😊 Thanks
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A very well researched and informative article.Am deeply impressed.
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Thank you 😊
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Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
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Oh thank you 😊😊
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No one cares about a farmer!! we have done great things in science and technology, but nothing for farmers. govt is less interested in doing about the poor fellows and to top it up bureaucracy has its own egos to be satisfied before something good can be done.
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Exactly.
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Great post and absolutely true. U have written so well Sanchi. Thanks for the share it was worth it.
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Thank you so much 😊
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Welcome
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Insightful, keep doing the good work. Together only we can bring change. 👍🏻
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Thank you 😀
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Your efforts and research are commendable! Well written Sanchi!
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Thank you 😊
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More important details than IPL….our children must know this
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😅👍👍
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True, growth is agriculture is 11 times more effective at reducing poverty than growth in other sectors. This means reducing the costly waste that occurs across the farm to fork value chain, post harvest loss and bolstering soil health .
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👍👍
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This is a real india, nice analysis…keep writing.
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Thank you 😊
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