Farming and farmers in distress

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Government the other day renamed the Department of Agriculture as the Department of Agriculture Development and Farmers Welfare. This was in tune with the Union Government renaming Ministry of Agriculture into Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

This is indicative of what portends for farmers in the State and the country. Farmers, by nature, do not wish to live off welfare doled out by the State. However, they would soon be forced to do so.

All modes of agriculture have become largely non-remunerative for farmers. Paddy fields in Kerala had disappeared at a fast pace because cultivation had become uneconomical. Legislation has not helped to stem the trend as no farmer can carry on with a loss-making crop. After decline of paddy cultivation, coconut remained the main stay of Kerala’s economy for some time in the past. Soon the situation changed and rubber became the only major crop in the State that was remunerative. However, that too changed with imports of rubber and fall in prices of oil and synthetic rubber made from it. Prices had dipped below Rs. 100 a kg from more than Rs. 250 a kg.  The State and Central governments have taken hardly any measure to support the prices expect for import restrictions announced yesterday. The subsidy scheme announced by the State government is yet to take off.

Though agriculture using modern techniques is touted as profitable, they are high cost, high risk ventures. Many farmers cannot think of them.

Farmers are in distress all over the country. According to official figures given by government, as many as 1000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharastra. Similar situations exist in Andhra Pradesh and other States. When farmers’ suicides occurred in Kerala, the government was initially in the denial mode with Agriculture Minister K. R. Gouri (UDF government) refuting the suicides. The LDF government that came to power subsequently took measures to reign in the situation. However, ordeal of the farmers is nowhere near an end. The media too indirectly contribute to the tendency to commit suicide while reporting their distress by saying that farmers are on the brink of suicide.  

The latest report of the National Sample Survey show that half of India’s agriculture households are in debt, the worst affected being States like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu. Agricultural activities, comprising of cultivation and livestock rearing, are reported to be the principal source of income for majority of agricultural households in all the major states. Kerala is little better off because more than 60 per cent of the agriculture families have income from other sources (often from jobs of family members in Gulf countries or outside the State). This shows that agriculture is on the path serious decline in the State.

Policies framed by the government fail to address the situation or revive farming. Often gimmicks are used to hoodwink the farmers. Even the renaming of the Agriculture Department is one such though a pointer to emerging reality. Farmers are going to be dependent on dole-outs from government for a long time to come.

Read more about Kerala’s agriculture policy on expert-eyes.in Agriculture development policies to befool farmers