A brief interview in Kannada. I am sharing the English version. This interview was conducted by Nagesh Kn for One World Kannada.
1. What is the approximate loss incurred by Indian farmers in this Lock down? volume of Agriculture produce and the cost of it...
A: A farmers from Kerala wrote. He said he has unsold stock of 49 drums of latex (approximately 10,000 kg) valued at Rs 3.25 lakh. His question is what should he do with this produce that is going waste. This is not an exceptional case. We have already read reports of farmers spilling milk on the streets, poultry birds being buried alive, flowers being re-ploughed, fish rotting in the markets, and agitated farmers throwing away vegetables before cattle and with prices of almost all crops crashing in the market because of supply chain constraints have regularly poured in. Several estimates have put the losses suffered by vegetable growers alone at Rs 25,000-crore; dairy farmers at Rs 10,000-crores; poultry loss at Rs 20,000-crores, sugarcane arrears at Rs 18,000-crore besides there were huge losses suffered by flower growers, plantation crop, fruit growers and a massive hit suffered by fishermen. In other words, across the country, farmers have suffered a huge loss. Even now farmers continue to incur losses. It will take some time to compute the total loss that farmers have suffered.
2. What in your opinion is the best possible solution to be given to farming sector by respective govt's and Center in the present crisis?
A: In these extraordinary times when the lockdown severely restricted economic activity, it is only agriculture which served as a lifeline. Agriculture, in true sense, reinforced its image as the mainstay of the Indian economy. With urban demand collapsing, with hotels, restaurants and dhabas closed for almost 50 days now, agriculture took the brunt of the lockdown, and still continued to keep the supplies moving. At this difficult time, farmers needed immediate relief. They needed direct income support, more cash in their hands. My proposal therefore is to provide a direct income transfer of Rs 10,000 per farmer, including the tenant farmers, without disturbing the PM-Kisan scheme allocations. In addition, considering the enormous difficulties farmers faced at the time of wheat harvest and procurement, they need to be given a bonus of Rs 100 per quintal over and above the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat procurement. In addition, for a year at least they should not be hauled up for any default on bank loans, and the interest rate on bank loans be written off for the same period of one year. Considering that several lakh migrant workers have returned to their villages, agriculture needs to be strengthened so as to absorb the additional workforce. While the additional financial allocation of Rs 40,000-crore is welcome, but I think there is also an urgent need to extend the minimum guaranteed employment period to 200 days.
3. Do you endorse the opinion of few organic farming promoters " People lost resistance to diseases and lost immunity due to the food they eat grown using chemicals (pesticides, fungicides, weedicides etc)
A: While the Finance Minister has also announced Rs 10,000-crore fund for formulation of micro-food enterprises -- mostly for nutritional foods, organic foods, health and wellness and also building cluster approaches for makhana in Bihar, Kesar in Kashmir, Ragi in Karnataka and some others, the realisation that healthy, nutritious organic foods builds natural immunity and provides resistance against diseases is being articulated for quite some time. Intensive farming techniques have pulled down the nutritious contents, including minerals and vitamins, from the foods we normally eat. When we breed crop varieties for still higher productivity, we underplay a harsh reality -- yield is inversely proportionate to plant nutrition. In addition, by adding chemicals and hormones, we actually produce foods which are nutritionally hollow. It is therefore an appropriate time to re-imagine the food system, to pause and reflect whether the food we eat is primarily responsible for weakening our immune system against the diseases. The Coronavirus epidemic has given a knock at the proper time, now whether we hear the loud knock and make radical changes in the way we grow food, and the diets we consume, is something that depends on us. Instead of blaming the governments and policy makers, it is high time we as consumers raise our voice.
4. When we talk about crisis we have three things Pre Corona Agri crisis, Corona time agri crisis and Post corona agri crisis ? What governments need to do to bring hope in farming sector, instead of keeping agriculture sector deliberately impoverished (your most frequent statement)
A: Whether before the coronavirus pandemic struck or after the lockdown eases, the stark reality that has emerged is that agriculture has been a victim of policies that have primarily kept farming impoverished. The basic objective of keeping farmers deprived of their rightful income was to create enabling conditions for the rural poor to migrate to the cities, which were needing cheaper labour. Estimates show that some 14-crore people work as urorganised workers in the cities, and I have always referred to them as Agricultural Refugees. These are the people who were in reality pushed out of the villages in the past few decades. By denying them their rightful income, they were left with little choice but to migrate to the cities looking for menial jobs.
When do I mean by saying denying them their rightful income? Well, to illustrate, an OECD-ICRIER study shows that in the 17-year period, between 2000 and 2017, India farmers incurred a loss of Rs 45-lakh crores. Imagine the magnitude of loss the farmers were inflicted with. This was an extraordinary crisis, but the nation didn't even blink an eye. Imagine of the farmers had earned Rs 45-lakh crore more in 17 years (or Rs 2.64 lakh crore ever year), I am sure the number of people who migrated would have been far far less. The reverse migration that we now see actually provides us a visual of the agricultural refugees, who came to the cities looking for better options, now returning back after being disowned by the urban class. The long traumatised walk these millions have taken back to their villages clearly shows that the immediate need is to rebuild the village economy, make agriculture economically viable, which is only possible if we provide farmers with the rightful income. It is therefore high time to overhaul the economic design that pushed the poor from the villages to the cities, and instead replace it with an economic system that make farming viable, restores the lost pride in agriculture, and turn agriculture into the mainstay of the economy.
This is possible only if you, my dear reader, wakes up to accept this harsh reality. Unless you too raise your voice, ask for policy course correction, and use social media to build up the voice of the voiceless, I don't think this can we done. Your silence is no longer a virtue, but a reflection of your failure to stand up and be counted.
5. Whats your advise to farmers? for self sustainable farming and life?
A: To my fellow farmers, my advise is to stop being greedy. In the race to achieve higher production, you have been misled to believe that higher the productivity, higher would be your income. You know very well that the chemical fertiliser you use or the pesticides you spray are harmful for the environment. You know that despite investing heavily in intensive farming techniques your incomes have fallen. A majority of farmers live in debt, and I know living in debt all through your life is hell. With every passing year, you are being pushed deeper and deeper into a debt trap. farm suicide rate constinues to be soaring, and you know of many farmers in your own neighbourhood who have ended their life unable to carry the burden of debt anymore. Take the case of Punjab. It has 98 per cent area under assured irrigation, which means every crop filed is irrigated. It has the highest productivity of cereal crops -- wheat, rice and maize -- in the world. every State is trying to emulate the example of Punjab. But what is little known is that Punjab, despite the bountiful harvests, has turned into a hotbed of farmer suicides. Between 2000 and 2015, the total number of suicides by farmers and farm workers stood at 16,600.
It is time you learnt your lessons. Don't be in a mad race to compete with your neighbouring farmer who uses excessive doses of fertiliser and pesticides. Move away from these chemicals. Produce food safely, which can be consumed safely. And in addition, shift your focus to know how you have been deprived of your rightful income over he past few decades. Educate yourself, and also educate your fellow farmers. Your focus should shift to getting the right price for your produce, which means getting the rightful income. You may have heard me before giving an example of how the basic salary of government employees has gone by 120 to 150 times in the 45 years period, between 1970 and 2015. The basic salary of college teachers and professors has gone up by 150 to 170 times in the same period. But the wheat MSP in the same 45 years period has been increased by only 19 times. I am sure you will agree that if the basic salary of the government employees and college/university professors has gone in the same proportion many of them would have quit their jobs, and many would have committed suicide. What you need to learn now is that the distress you face is not because you don't know how to do farming but how your income was deliberately kept low to provide cheaper food for the consumers.
The solutions to the continuing distress in agriculture lie outside the crop fields, in economics. #
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