By Malathi Belur
It's true that the farmers in India are losing confidence and worse the case is, as they seem to have lost hope also.There are several aspects: As I read India Today's special issue on agriculture - GRAIN DRAIN - I was shocked to realise how the troubles have cropped up from everywhere to engulf our farmers.
The government's policy - lack of funds for irrigation - seems to be the main reason - 68% per cent of our population is depended on agriculture. But the grants given to this sector is considerably less - like some 5 per cent or so for irrigation, for example.
To make the situation worse are coming SEZs and importing grain from abroad. As the more and more land is acquired for road, industry etc, the land available for cultivation is reduced to nothing. Like one acre of land for a five-member family.How can the farming community sustain on this?Where is the research on agriculture going?How many students willingly opt agriculture science?And, how many young educated youth are turning back to their home to cultivate their land, to get dirty in the soil?
Of course, ask these questions and many more I can list for you all, to your brother and father back at home... When I asked persistently all my neighbours and my brother..I got some replies which were not so pleasing.. Aditya, my neighbour, (who is also son of a famous agriculturist Udayasimha, in Belur,Hosanagara taluk, Shimoga dist) told me : See, when I came back to my village after graduation, everybody here gave a strange look - probably they thought I did not get a job in City, and showed sympathy for this 'not-so-smart' guy. They could not understand my dream of continuing as farmer as this is not like being a software engineer.
Why should not we toil hard here and be independent in every sense of the word?Why can't we love our village for no reason -vinaa karana- with no expectation of returns..and keep in touch with this soil literally? Why can't this be considered prestigious?
"Wonderful! I was overjoyed to hear this and returned home with a new hope. I discussed the same issue with my brother... his reply was also equally revealing..He said.. this looks fantastic as long as you count your salary by the end of every month. But for us... everything is uncertain.. we don't know whether the seed we sow will give us rich crop or leave us starving.. bare handed.
We don't have state-of-the art machinery to work in the field... we need labour... when everyone is heading towards city, from where do we get people to work in the field? This also has led to increase in pay for the coolies. We can't earn as much as we pay for workers... We alone can't go and harvest... we need others to help us...The ideal of farming with no expectation is possible when you have sufficient money to invest. But we have born in debts and try to clear the loans till we die.
The life, in retrospection, looks like a circus - to clear loan in bank we draw loan in co-op society.. and the vicious circles grows bigger....And, as we work day and night, look dirty, no girl will come forward to marry a village guy.. hallimukka...
Of course, I could not give back to my brother... but there is grain of truth in what Aditya said also...
Why is there no incentive for our brothers to work in the field blissfully?
The false sense of prestige associated with the blue colour job is disgusting...and also the laziness of educated, waiting-for-govt job (unemployed)-youth equally disgusting...Can something practically be done to change the scene.. where like Jayakishore, Amirkhan, youth in village say, with their head straight --We are proud to be farmers?
(Malathi Belur is our GUEST WRITER today for my blog. She is a Journalist. I thank her for an electrifying article,revealing hardships faced by our farming community every moment in our villages. Thank you dear friend!)
4 comments:
Unconditional'Love'needs sacrifices!Its nice to hear and write on this but practicing is difficult,as it seems that you aware of all these by reading your article. Revival of the sector is surely an impasse unless a combined-honest-practical approach and effort by the government and the society.
-B.Shivarani Bhat
Thank you Shivarani. I do know the difficulties faced by the farming community.
But,can these 'virtual' discussions on 'cyber' may be complimentary to what we can do to address the issues?
I would like to propose an idea - to form a network of young agriculturists. Because, see industrialists have their own organisations and they are united when they have to lobby for their cause. Where do farmers have associations of this kind through out India? I don't have much information on this, if there are some.. I'll be happy to know.
As the farmers are not organised, they can not lobby for their cause, I think, at policy-making level.
Besides, such an organisation/networking of young farmers is necessary to instill confidence among them.
I also believe, agricutlure also is a way of life. Hence, farmers belong to a community - farming community.. such sentiments do really help farmers to co-operate with each other - instead of taking agriculture as family business. But it comes at a later stage... first and foremost thing is to bring youth back to farming.. I'm sure networking is absolutely necessary and also should be done immediately to put collective efforts to address the problems.
However, the present organisations like APMC/CAMPCO/MAMCOS merely act like a saler, they are not proper body to build the network.
Malathi belur has revealed effectively the 'Facts' that our agricultural sector is facing. She has also explained various hardships faced by our farmers every day in our villages.Well, I attribute this as a good sign, as atleast some of our journalists in cities are now started understanding the reality behind the crisis.
-Ganadhalu Shrikanta
Malathi, We already have several ryot organisations in our state. Bharatheeya kisan sangha, raitha sangha,krishikara okkuta etc. But without wholehearted support from farmers,its difficult.First and foremost our youth should be made assured of there lies a future in agriculture if practiced scientifically.
Also,More awareness need to be created in this regard to convince our youth to comeback to field. That's why i said Revival of the sector is surely an impasse unless a combined-honest-practical approach and effort by the gover nment and the society.
-B.Shivarani Bhat
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