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CoverStory AGRICULTURE

but the plight of farmers has been going from bad the chairmanship of Ashok Dalwai, constituted by
to worse. The so-called farmer-friendly plans like the Modi Government for doubling the farmers in-
Crop Insurance Scheme and Jan-Dhan Yojna have come by 2022, estimated the average annual income
facilitated the redistribution of resources in the fa- of a farmer in India at 77,976 .
vour of corporate players at the cost of impecunious A close scrutiny of this figure depicts the hardships
farmers.” of the farmers and non-viability of farming as a pro-
Takait said that the farmers now want implemen- fession for the small and marginal landholders. This
tation. Governments make promises and defer the highlights the purchasing power of a farmer in our
implementation. He said that farmers want to get rid country, who may not be able to provide two-square
of debt. Increasing the credit target for agriculture meals to his family with the given annual consump-
has caused more stress to the farmers as their repay- tion budget. A study conducted by the National Bank
ing capacity has not been increasing. Remunerative for Agriculture and Rural Development that was
price crop is more viable solution to the problem
of deteriorating condition of farmers. “There are 18
ministries handling the agriculture sector. A nodal
agency should be appointed to take care of diverse Farmers plan another
issues related to farming and post-harvest needs of
farmers. The new schemes rolled out with much fan- march-cum-rally on
fare like Crop Insurance Scheme and e-NAM have
not benefitted the farmers. Barriers to market the November 30 in New
produce are there as before and insurance scheme
needs to be revised if the welfare of the farmers is
actually on the agenda of government.” Delhi as their demand
After the show of strength of farmers at national
level, BKU would continue its stir at district and vil- of a special session on
lage level. The huge arrears from the sugar mills to-
wards the sugarcane growers need to be resolved. private member Bill in
Takait said that the farmers buy everything in cash
and when their payments are withheld the cycle of the Parliament on their
income generation gets disrupted. Such anomalies
are one of the reasons for the flourishing non-insti-
tutional credit market in India which exploits the issues has not yet been
farmers with exorbitant rates of interest.
Hike in the fuel prices According to the Agriculture Census 2015-16, close taken up by the Cabinet
adds burden on farmers
directly and indirectly to 67 per cent of the farmers in India are marginal
farmers and have average land holding of less than
2.5 acre (one hectare). In contrast, only one per cent
of the farmers own large landholdings, having a size
dition of the agriculturists. The recommendations The harvesting of kharif crops has commenced of 10 hectares and above. The matter of serious con- published in State Focus Paper 2018-19 (Punjab) on
of the Commission headed by Dr MS Swaminathan and farmers are occupied in reaping and post-har- cern is that the percentage of area that was actually the time required to double the farmers income ex-
were not implemented. Farmers started believing vest operations like storage and disposal of crops operated under the large holding was recorded to be plains that doubling farmers income by 2020 may be
that there is no hope. Depeasantisation in agriculture but they will be back on roads after the harvesting 10.59 percent; which is 10 times more than the land a wishful thinking. According to the study, the time
started. Such sentiments weaken the edifice of a de- season is over. “We staged march from Haridwar to ownership of large farmers. At the same time, it was to double the farmers’ income at compound annual
mocracy. Policymakers should realise that farming Delhi to discuss the complete gamut of issues. We 22.50 percent for the marginal farmers against the growth rate of 5.2 per cent at the annual income of
is not a hobby but is imperative for the food security were given assurance by the Union Government on land ownership of 67 per cent, indicating a huge gap 77,124 is estimated to be 13.56 years.
of the nation. In the last few years, the awareness our demands but it remains to be seen how many of of land allocations for cultivation between small and Thus, it is evident that the rhetoric of doubling of
level of farmers about the political and economic those would actually be addressed? If we are not sat- big producers. farmers income in next three to four years a pipe-
dimensions of farmers distress has improved. Intel- isfied with the response of government we will re- The average size of landholding was estimated to dream. Farmers have not been able to recover even
ligent farmer movements have evolved as the young sort to agitation at a larger scale”, said Rakesh Takait, be 1.15 hectare, again indicative of a skewed distri- the input costs.
generation of educated farmers is also participating the national spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union. bution of land. According to the Economic Survey The interpretation of remedies for farmers’ mis-
in mobilisation of farmers. This can gauged from the “It is a crucial year, not only for the political parties, 2017-18, net irrigated area to net sown area in the eries cannot be done in terms of simply raising the
fact that farmer protests are not restricted to only but for the farmers also. There is a lot more aware- country is about 48 percent but studies conducted nominal income. It has to be correlated to the infla-
demonstrations and blockades but their agenda pro- ness among farmers as compared to last elections. by the international organisations have put the reli- tion rate as well. Merely increasing the income can-
vides solutions to the problems. There is a tectonic Farmers are disgruntled because the Modi govern- ably irrigated area in the range of 40 per cent. The not save farmers if there is a proportionate increase
shift in the perception of the farmers. ment rolled out and publicised a plethora of schemes eight-member inter-ministerial committee under in the cost of inputs.

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