heartful thanks to Mr. Logesh Mathivathanan for English translation
Marathi language link: शेतकरयांच्या
शोधात........................
Bengali language link: নতুন দিনের কৃষকদের খোঁজে ???? Tamil language link: எங்கே விவசாயி? (source)
It is a shame to
Why do cotton farmers commit suicide? Drop in
price, production, loans towards seeds and pesticides especially Bt and GMO seeds. Farmers are greedy too.
Cotton yields more profit, and continuous farming of cotton on subsequent
seasons causes the soil to lose fertility. Farmers are forced to spend more on
fertilizers and pesticides. Larger variety of insects and those with increased
resistance towards insecticides continue to bug farmers. Disease prevention and
the need for insecticides increase along with their cost. All of us with school
education have learned about rotation of crops, plant growth, soil fertility, vegetables, plants, and trees.
Why do cotton farmers commit suicide upon
frustration? We are all consumers of food, but never do we respect the noble
profession of farming and farmers. Above all, farming is not a profitable
affair for the farmer. Vendors, brokers (middlemen), and town supermarkets are
the ones who reap profits. Is there any industrial product whose price is
determined by the consumer? Let's consider a pen for example. The final price
of a pen can be broken down to the cost of the ingredients, packing,
transportation, profit for the producer, and profit for the vendor and all
taxes. Price is only determined after calculating everything mentioned above.
The same doesn't apply to agricultural products. The price here is defined by
the buyer.
India is not a drought prone region in any time by her natural resources. India faced many droughts in the history due to mishaps in the administration by kings and British like double taxation and one third of produce paid as tax etc.
An argument that students from agricultural
families don't continue to involve in agriculture can not be accepted. Is there
a son/daughter of an industrialist who doesn't follow his/her father's
footsteps just because they've had an education? If the profession is
profitable, they'd continue the same profession as their parents. Politics is
no exception and we can give countless examples.
Can we leave the situation as it is? You and I will
definitely be affected by this. I may not be able to translate my thoughts
completely in writing, but if we think about it a bit more seriously, the
seriousness of the issue will be evident. I thought I should do something about
this. At least a little plan might work, I thought. In every village, the
farmers should unite and form a group (something like a self-help group).
Agriculture should be done as a group in the entire agricultural fields of the village,
throughout the year. Food grains, vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits, trees and
oil seeds should be planted according to soil fertility in such a way that
there is work for everyone round the year. There should be a system in place
where the investment, management, distribution of labour and profit are all
managed. This plan should be properly classified and streamlined. Of course,
the Government's help is also needed. The government can form a department for
this purpose and form centers in every district. Agriculture extension centres already in place can also be utilized. These centers can suggest
plantations according to the fertility of the soil and water sources around the
area. They could also help eradicate technical and other difficulties that may
arise. Banks can help by lending loans in the beginning of this plan and they
can also become shareholders. Monthly internships to farmers can be
distributed. India helps Afghanistan , African countries, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka India
Rotation of crops in the same land can only
increase soil fertility. An insect of one plant can be the predator to insect
of one of the other plant. Do we know of a forest ripe with millions of plants,
animals and insects die of any disease? or insect attack? Farmers see benefits
upon every harvest; Even if some of the crops cause losses, other crops can
compensate with a big profit -- investment and hard work will not go waste.
Natural disasters wouldn't cause all the crops to die either. Even if such a
scenario does happen, government should provide compensation to the
farmers.
Another commodity the government should provide is
electricity. Electricity given to an MNC industry can be given to several
hundreds of acres of farmland. Instead of providing discounts to new
industries, the government can help the farmers who feed us. Agri-associated
industries, such as seed producing industries, fertilizer factories, agricultural
equipment manufacturers, food processing industries, etc., should also be
given concessions.
It may so happen that industries such as textile
industry be affected. Even if that happens, industrialists can easily divert to
more profitable industries. Workers of those industries have to suffer a lot to
switchover for their survival. But similar can not be said about farmers who if
lose the land or the fertility, can not easily get that back. It is also
difficult to "gain" a farmer. The traditional knowledge of farmers
can not be procured by people who become farmers from other professions.
Farmers' traditional knowledge once lost is lost forever.
More importantly, we learnt a great lesson of the green revolution by hybrid seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides was a failure in last 50 years. Also we have to learn lessons from Masanobu Fukoka and other natural agriculture scientists that agricultural yields are higher by cooperating with natural processes. Other great danger with us is permitting GMO in food, commonly called as Bt. GMO or Bt is introducing a toxin or poison into the plants dna. the toxin grows with the plants and the toxin is present in all parts of the plant and also spreads to the soil. Bt is bacteria introduced to plant. i dont how to call that a plant or a bacteria in plant form. A known fact that even drought hit African countries dont want to take Bt corn in the seed form in the fear that by any chance it will grow and spoil the soil and organisms in the land, it takes the bt corn in the crushed powder form.
In the initiation of this project, in my opinion the farmer should not be compelled to do natural/traditional/organic/biodynamic forms of agriculture. Now the farmers are only encouraged to do agriculture to keep the lands under cultivation. Gradually the farmers can be diverted to the sustainable forms of agriculture.
I do not know agriculture, economics or management.
The readers who happen to read this should share this with your friends and
experts in the field. We need to include the opinions of experts. Will this
plan work? What kind of improvements need to be made? We need to find all the
ways to make this a success to bring this plan to execution. The most important
part is the opinion of the Farmer. Not just the farmers from Tamil Nadu,
(author is a native of Tamil Nadu) but from all over India
don't hesitate to give your comments, suggestions, opinions, corrections.......
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