Several farmers have recently committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh due to their inability to repay loans&the failure of their crops!

Death of the farmer

March 7, 2011, 7:50 pm



Indian farmers protest (File Photo)

By Y. P. Gupta



Several farmers have recently committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh due to their inability to repay loans and the failure of their crops. This confirms that the livelihood of the distressed farmers hasn’t improved despite the relief package announced by the Union government, notably the loan-waiver up to Rs 71,000 crore for small and marginal farmers. Last year, farmers in Vidarbha and its neighbouring regions had committed suicide. Clearly, the relief package has not been able to mitigate the distress, let alone address the tragedy of suicide by farmers.



It is shocking that 86,922 farmers in the country committed suicide between 2001 and 2005. The rate rose sharply to 17,060 in 2006. Maharashtra tops the list followed by Andhra Pradesh. An estimated 40,000 farmers in Punjab killed themselves between 1988 and 2006. They could not withstand the impact of natural calamities and were not able to repay the loans. The Vidarbha region has around 2.4 million small and marginal farmers. Rural indebtedness, the insufferable pangs of hunger, the failure of crops either because of spurious fertilisers and pesticides or unseasonal rain and hailstorms or drought have been the critical factors behind these tragedies.



Another problem is that the farmers have not been receiving proper remunerative price for their produce. The government effected certain policy changes in an effort to help the farming community. It removed the restrictions on storage, sale and movement of food and agro-products. However, these steps did not prove effective in checking the rate of suicides.



The agro policy had earlier envisaged an annual growth of over four per cent. It provided a comprehensive crop insurance for farmers from sowing to post-harvest operations to protect their interests. Agriculture was also accorded the status of industry.



But it is the rich and progressive farmers who have been the beneficiaries of the government’s measures. In consequence, the disparity between the rich and the poor has widened considerably. The poor peasants obtained loans to be in step with the rich farmers. But the misery deepened with the failure of their crops. Also, agricultural development in Maharashtra did not generate adequate employment opportunities. As a result, there was a sharp increase in the number of unemployed youth.



India’s new economic policy has posed a challenge to the farm sector because of the burgeoning population, dwindling natural resources, the depleting underground water resources and growing indebtedness. In recent years, the stagnating yield and decline in productivity are the disturbing trends. It is now apparent that certain problems are rooted in the Green Revolution. There has been a general degradation of environment and natural resources.



The national agro policy was framed to meet the major challenges of Indian agriculture, chiefly to ensure food security and restructure the agricultural sector so as to benefit the farming community. It highlighted various shortcomings in the rural sector in respect of regional disparities, marked by uneven development and low levels of productivity, low incomes and unfavourable prices, problems relating to rainfed and dryland areas, unemployment, lack of rural industry, constraints on movement, storage and sale of agro-products and so on.



The policy envisaged an effective pricing strategy to ensure remunerative and profitable rates to the farmers and a better distribution system for the needy. There was a degree of flexibility in the fixing of support prices on a regional basis to protect farmers from the adverse impact of price fluctuations in the world market. The rural-based approach was intended to meet the socio-economic aspirations of the farmers and to improve their standard of living.



Today’s agriculture is a high-cost and energy-intensive technology, which needs high inputs in respect of quality seeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation, farm mechanisation etc. Therefore, farming has become an expensive proposition. It is the rich and progressive farmers who are in a position to provide these inputs. No wonder they have been the beneficiaries of the government’s policies. The small and marginal farmers could hardly afford the required inputs. Further, there was no mechanism that could assist the impoverished farmers. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor farmers has widened. The rich became richer and the poor poorer. The rich farmers became big landlords and a privileged group, and this intensified the wide disparity in the rural areas. The farm policy has to work out a mechanism that will provide for subsidised inputs and incentive pricing to the poor. This will raise this segment above the poverty line.



In rural India, agriculture is the most important means of livelihood for over 65 per cent of the population. It is, therefore, essential to achieve sustainable development of agriculture. The agro policy should aim at developing agro-based industries. This will generate employment and income for the poor round the year. Small and marginal farmers as well as farm labourers will thus be gainfully employed and will not have seek employment elsewhere. This may even raise their income level to enable them to procure food.



Our food output in 2009-10 declined to 218.19 million tones from 234.47 million tones in 2008-09. The reason was insufficient rain in 2009. The population has increased by 1.4 per cent over the last five years. It has risen to 119.8 crore in 2009-10 from 115.4 crores in 2008-09. Therefore, the present food output will not be enough for the country if the entire half-fed population is fully fed. At present, one-third of the population is half-fed because of poverty and lack of purchasing power.



Thus, it is urgently imperative to overhaul socio-economic and farm policies in order to remove rural disparities. The public distribution system has to be revamped and the "Antyodaya Anna Yojana" programme expanded to cover rural households. The task of ensuring food to the poor to make the country hunger-free is extremely challenging. It is important to implement the poverty-alleviation programmes in order to ensure food availability to the poor farmers to and prevent suicides among them.



(The Statesman/ANN)
The writer is former Principal Scientist, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi

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