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Farmers suicides: Victims of traders & politicians

By Sudhansu R Das. Dated: 10/8/2015 12:16:54 PM

Farmers in small state like Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam and Jharkhand seldom commit suicide because those states have not witnessed mindless commercialization of agriculture. There is always food back up in the bio diversity.

How to prevent farmers' suicide has become the biggest challenge before the country. As per National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) between 1995 and 2012, 2.85 lakh farmers have committed suicide in the country. The suicide of such a large number of farmers in the country amid huge global and domestic demand for food questions the effectiveness as well as transparency of the global agriculture trade, various agriculture practices and the nation's ability to manage its vast agriculture potential.
Politicians and policy makers put the blame on climate change, illiteracy, backwardness of farmers and poor delivery mechanism. Though climate change torments farmers, the farmers' crisis has its root in human negligence, corruption, ignorance, mismanagement and lack of proper understanding of sustainable development. Vidarbha which is known as the suicide capital of India once had rich agriculture diversity. Until the year 2000, Vidarbha cotton had demand in the market. The farmers shifted to high yielding BT cotton from finer local variety.
Gradually they converted their other crop area into cotton crop. After 2002, the crisis in cotton field unfolded when highly subsidized imported cotton flooded the market. The farmers lost in the price war. Cotton per quintal was sold at Rs 1500 when the Vidarbha farmers produced it at Rs 1800 per quintal. Financial packages and the new support price did not help. The crisis multiplied when farmers found they had to buy food grains from market at higher price for consumption.
By that time they had already converted 70% of their crop area into cotton farming and in the process had destroyed their food back up in agriculture diversity. Had they kept their other crop area intact there would not have been any farmers' suicide. Farmers in Vidarbha, Andhra Pradesh and Telengana were lured to crisis by spurious market forces. Here the duty of the government was to properly guide farmers so that they could avoid market risk. The sugarcane farmers of Kolhapur face similar problem when the prices of sugar come down from time to time. Since they had converted their other crops into sugar cane they have to buy food grains at higher cost for survival. The profit from sugarcane is always eroded in buying food grains for consumptions. Farmers in small state like Orissa, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam and Jharkhand seldom commit suicide because those states have not witnessed mindless commercialization of agriculture. There is always food back up in the bio diversity.
British commercialised Indigo, sugar cane, tea and coffee to maximize profit without giving any heed to biodiversity. People in city square were given half paise incentive to have the taste of tea. People's habit changed from taking butter milk and lemon juice to tea which they could not give up. Some economic historians noted the famine in India was the result of British economic policy. According to World Bank report, 50% of Indians still go to bed hungry. One out of four women suffer from malnutrition. India has the largest number of children who suffer from malnutrition. India is going to beat China in population in 2024. But the way we lose our edible herbs, shrubs, fruits and vegetables in our rich bio diversity in post independent period, we could imagine the horror of hungry people in 2024.
India's human development index is at par with the sub Saharan nations. This shows we have not addressed the cause of poverty but treated the symptoms only. Madurai district is the treasure trove of medicinal plants. There are hundreds of traders who supply herbs to big pharmaceutical companies. But the aggressive collection of medicinal plants in the district would wipe out the plant species within a short time. Many of the herbs and shrubs are used for consumption of poor people in the district. Madurai district is heading for another man made crisis in a short time. One thing the politicians and policy makers should remember if sustainable livelihood is destroyed in villages it would be impossible to smart or clean cities.
Aggressive mono cropping, marketing of spurious seeds, gene corruption, societal behavior change to prefer consumer items to economic assets, over exploitation of ground water, soil and input mismanagement and credit overflow beyond potential, low interest credit poachers, subsidy looters, poor extension services and lack of transparency in supply chain has made the farmers of Telengana and Andhra Pradesh sink under debt burden. Telengana ranks second to Maharashtra in farmers' suicide. Majority of villagers in Telengna spend Rs 60 to Rs 100 in consuming country liquor daily. It is not advisable to meet farmers after evening in Telengana villages. Willful default of agriculture loan due to politicians' promise for loan waivers aggravate farm yard crisis. Looming illiteracy and farmers' inability to communicate in any other language than Telugu has reduced their bargaining capacity. They become easy victims of middlemen and educated smart traders.
Farmers' crisis attributes to poor domestic trade which does not allow transport of food grains, fruits and vegetable quickly from one state to another. Mango farmers in Konkan area of Maharashtra are unable to transport Alphonso mangoes to other states. They transport mangoes in a crude method which spoils the mangoes. Thousands of small mango farmers have leased their farms to big farmers in Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts. Running a fruit orchard is difficult for small and medium farmers in most of the Indian states. A healthy economy always let small, medium and big entrepreneurs to grow. No economy should unleash giants to eat up the small entrepreneurs.
Treating the farm yard crisis with credit flow, subsidy and relief is unscientific. The government has to make a dedicated and authentic survey to know whether the past benefits have reached the target groups. Government has to verify the authenticity of the previous survey reports in order to know what went wrong with the survey. Bank credit does not serve farmers' problems unless the farmers become credit worthy. In order to make farmers credit worthy, the government has to identify quality development agencies and NGOs in rural areas and at the same time black list unscrupulous entities who only contribute to a crisis situation in villages.
A relentless and dedicated effort should start to conserve water and soil in villages and to preserve the bio diversity. Depoliticization of farmers' bodies, transparent supply chain, smooth domestic trade, quick inter-state transportation of goods, dedicated research, proper input management, preservation of indigenous seeds and plants and an authentic bio diversity survey will reduce farmers' suicide.
[IFS]