The plight of the farmer is deep-rooted. There is an element of insensitivity on the part of different authorities in responding to the needs of the very survival of the food-producers. The national goal professed by the political leadership is to double the income of the farmers. But hardly any ways and means are being evolved and implemented to make this dream come true. There are several handicaps which the farmer suffers from. Some of them are seriously damaging and require attention on a priority basis.
The minimum support price (MSP) for procurement of paddy is per se uneconomic on the part of the farmer. The production cost is not even met by the price fixation mechanism. The minimum cost of production of a tonne of paddy is about Rs 2,300 to Rs 2,500 whereas the MSP is in the range of Rs 1,500 to Rs 1,600. This built-in handicap is a hidden tax expropriating the due entitlement of farmers. The insensitivity in this regard is visible from the Odisha Assembly House Committee not getting an appointment with the Prime Minister to express the grievances of the State in this regard. This is a pressing and urgent issue. It has now again been resolved by the House Committee that they will renew their request to the PM for an audience to express the grievances. It has been reported that the PM (on the previous occasion) indicated that the House Committee may meet the Union Agriculture Minister. This is not an issue to be caught in the cobweb of bureaucracy. It requires immediate attention and adequate remedial measures. Unjust support price can be a source of harmful impacts on the farming community. This is an issue that must be addressed by the Central and State Governments with promptitude.
Apart from the above built-in malady in the agricultural policy, uncontrolled and unattended disasters are eating into the vitals of the backbone of the peasant class. let us take the instance of this particular year. There was first drought calling for immediate relief. When that was being attended to in a haphazard manner came the widespread pest menace that played its own havoc on the food crop. If that was not enough, there was also untimely rain leading to crop loss on a very wide scale. The cumulative impact of these three factors has crippled the farming community. What has been painful is the fact that politics has been played over suicidal deaths. Strangely, party loyalty has been brandished as a factor in attending to a particular farmer’s plight. Every suicide is a shameful event. Despite there being sufficient material to hold that suicides are on account of maladies linked with agricultural operations, attempts have been made to ascribe other reasons. Even the district authorities have been a party to playing games of semantics over the death of those who provide us our food. Unfortunately, there is every attempt at mutual acrimony. This blurs out the inherent reasons that need to be remedied. Symbolism is of course there in cancelling the leave of the field staffs of the agriculture and revenue departments. But this is a drop in the ocean. The drop may create a ripple, but there shall be no effective remedy.
The sharecroppers continue to be neglected; and there is no systemic assurance that they shall receive adequate relief so as not to face the disaster of poverty. The vast majority of marginal and small farmers and sharecropper are gradually being driven to penury. Village-based crafts and industry are being neglected. There is rampant seasonal unemployment, leading to widespread underemployment in this sector.
No efforts have been made to decipher the defects that are systemic and that are occasioned by lack of human integrity. The system perpetuates poverty. It does not address measures towards any solution. Semi-mechanic operational modes are yet to reach the ground level, specially the small and marginal farmers. Operations continue to be wholly dependent on manual labour. Few bullocks are the additional source of energy and power. The cooperative sector has not been successful in the State being bogged down with petty politics and is fraught with widespread dishonesty. Consequently, cooperative farming has had hardly any impact at the grassroots level. Though the Government has introduced lease farming, this has not been able to replace the sharecropping arrangement, which has taken deep roots into the system. Rural credit facilities are inadequate and ineffective. Debts are not managed with pragmatism and empathy.
Drainage and irrigation are two problems which have remained unattended to despite a plenty of lip service. The much-flaunted self-help groups have not been involved with agrarian requirements. Apart from a few measures like consolidation and settlement of land under the land reforms laws, hardly any structural alterations have been introduced for the better in the agro-rural sector. Irrigation is still neglected in the State though potentials are plenty. The Bargarh region is today called the granary of Odisha and irrigation facilities are a dominant factor contributing to food production in this area. lift, sprinkle, drip irrigations have not been popularised, despite the Central Government granting attractive subsidies to some of them. It is time grassroots planning is undertaken for irrigational facilities. Undue emphasis on large projects can be curbed and we can be persuaded to realise that “small is beautiful”. Efficacious and quick-yielding irrigation projects are to be identified and implemented on a war-footing.
Agricultural inputs (other than irrigation) are also in disarray. The menace of pest remained uncontrolled despite early warning. Knowledge has not travelled from “lab to land”. The KVKs and other extension centres have not been sufficiently catalytic and need a revisit to fine-tune them. It is because of these maladies that large a quantum of money remained unutilised in very sensitive areas. An obvious example is the provision in the budget of a substantial quantum for dairy development in the hands of tribal women and an insignificant part of the amount could be utilised.
Fertiliser and pesticides are another sector where the Government is satisfied with advancing some subsidy but does not oversee the provision and utilisation in a purposive manner. The rampant adverse effects of the recent pest menace are an example of the inadequacies and ineffectiveness as a catalytic intervener to ensure that adequate remedies are ensured. Organic farming is not being supported in an adequate manner. There is need of an integrated approach to agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry, horticulture, social forestry, etc.
A comprehensive overhauling of the agriculture and allied sectors is overdue. We have to accept that agriculture is still conditioned largely by climatic conditions. Overcoming the impact of the climatic maladies ought to be the object with which we must devise our strategies in the new inclusive agricultural policy. The youth power has a role to play in this. Their involvement is essential as they are the largest stakeholders constituting the future of the State. An agro-rural revolution has to be ushered in to make us get over the industry-agriculture divide. In every village, youth groups should evolve a pragmatic plan for increased and assured production. This requires involvement of all of us, especially at the grassroots level. Many crafts are dying in the villages because of socioeconomic reasons. They play a role for the wellbeing of the society. A new form of “Antyoday” is required with a missionary zeal on the part of all sections of the society to transform the soul of our society, i.e., our villages. Surely, this concerns us all!
(The writer, a Senior Advocate, is a former All India Service officer, a former diplomat, a former editor, a former President of Orissa High Court Bar Association and a former Advocate General of Odisha. jayantdas@hotmail.com)