Decimated Agriculture Economy

“None of the governments in the world are focusing on the real problems. They’re all busy in extending their military, commerce and political influence upon other nations” – Jitendra Rajaram

Blackened & Infected Dry Crops of Wheat

"The most unnoticed fact of the Farmer’s crisis of India is that no one is nailing Agro-Traders guilty. The grain merchants are far from any allegations. An illusion is being created that merchants are no-where involved in whole story of farmer’s Suicide Issues. When entire Indian media is painting fame for duck politicians for their TRP obsessed controversial remarks and stunts, seldom have we known that government of India has passed an order. Government is fixing fair rate of sale for rain hit crops. Well it looks good in first impression but let me decipher the cruelty weaved in it. It, in practice, means that merchants will get millions of sags of wheat for throwaway prices to sell at inflated MRP. The consumer will pay triple of the amount for poor quality wheat grains indirectly. Rise in food inflation will cut more from consumer’s pocket to pay more profit to the merchant add-on to it will be the subsidy paid to farmers. Well farmer may somehow get the money for ONLY the sags of grains he sells. Merchants will get the grains almost for free and consumers will buy the same grains at triple rates. The gambit is! What about the tons of grain lost in the farmland? The weak-wet-saplings lying as waste over the land because machines can’t thresh them and manual threshing will cost a bomb to poor farmers? What about the small land farmers? How and who will account the real projected loss of grains for them?

These loop-holes are intentionally ignored by the policy makers keeping the merchants interests on top.  But media is busy on the remarks of Farmer’s being coward or about the leaders ignoring the ongoing suicide in the rally venue. How a politician can dare to speak so low about poor farmers? Do we remember a man had said Jai Jawan Jai Kisan? What changes in political environment has made this transition in speech and thoughts possible? Is that the farmers are ward or we all are?

Once acclaimed as Agro-Major is now forcing the farmers for self kill. The fertile terrains of Indian rivers and their cross-sectional deltas have immense capacity to produce food grains but these land areas are rapidly developing into urban concrete. Farmlands are shrinking population is increasing. Not only human population but also the poultry and cattle too are up. Their food source is also produced by us humans. World in general and India in particular have not invented any revolutionary farming methodology to catalyze the food production. The big claims of fertilizers and pesticides are also threatening many species linked to a single food chain. While vultures, sparrows and crows are endangered because pesticides use, fertilizers are imperilling cows and buffalos. Cattles are developing a type of obesity which reduces the quality of milk and increases the weight. In market theory it’s called profit. Good amount of milk and meat earns more. Increase in demand and supply has triggered artificial reproduction of poultry farming and milk production. Hormones injected to chickens for eggs and cattle for milk are contaminating the food intake of humans. Cases of fisheries are worrisome too. They all are food producers but statisticians don’t bring them under the category of farmers.

The defenders of urbanization explain that infrastructural development is must even at the cost of farming land. Their reasoning is that all the water and transportation required in agriculture is also is required for industrialization. However anyone with common sense will refuse to buy this reasoning I don’t want to extend the argument. I rather want to ask the question, from where the food will come for this growing population. Questions are many but we have a deaf government not listening us at all. None of the governments in the world are focusing on the real problems. They’re all busy in extending their military, commerce and political influence upon other nations. We common people have only two choices, one we clap on global ranking of our nation in terms of warfare might or prosperity index or keep blowing the warning whistle to a mass another revolution. The second option is impossible until middle class is not feeling the heat. This is the greatest invention of the 21^st century world politics. For the first time in the history of the mankind ruling class succeeded in isolating the opinion hummers (i.e. Middle Class) and victim class (Poor Class) from each other. In this Present World Order created by the Wall Street and IMF the newly created middle class is the ghetto and poor class is the gross loser. The urbanized, educated and salaried middle class is the ultimate customer of the giant market is the Opinion Hummers. This class is capable of buying even the share of the poor who’re either forced labour or simply the victim of loot. Today Farmers in India, irrespective of being rich or poor, are resident of rural area, poorly educated but largely ignored population. They’re precisely the victim class. While the opinion hummer is demanding facial, perfume and shampoo, the victim class is somehow making a day meal possible for the family. Because of this, they’ve started hating each others. If politician calls middle class the reason of food inflation, poor class laughs on them. And when a politician calls farmers a coward middle class laughs on them. Our middle-poor class hatred has made these shameful stunts fashionable among politicians.

Look at the statistics, in year 1951 we had 19% farm labours now we have 32% of Indian population who’re landless yet farmers. In 1951 49.9% of total Indian population was engaged in farming only but today it’s only 26%. Farming is the only profession in which net decline of asset is observed because of family and feudal oligarchy. None of the family in India based on farming only can survive one must have to have at least one person in the family employed in other sector. This is not a sheer depletion index of land property factored among the siblings. This is way more alarming, 46% of present day farmland owners are first generation landowners. They were government teachers or clerks or such employees a generation ago. This 46% population of first time farmers are committing suicide because the traditional farmers have all burnt their hands and eloped to cities for alternative incomes.    

The challenge is to destroy the wall between Opinion Hummers & Victims of the present world politics. If we can get the middle class feel what poor class is feeling and vice-versa, we will destroy the nexus of ruling class politics.

We can’t afford the death Agriculture, we can live without malls, parking and roads but we can’t live without food. Food only grows in farms not in concretes. We have to make this message loud and clear that yes we need developments, industrialization, growth and everything by which urbanized middle class gets fascinated but before everything we need healthy food.