Who is killing our farmers?

Because of LAB, suddenly Indian farming is a hot topic and at the center of all discussion, even PM Narendra Modi addressed this topic in his famous “Mann Ki Baat” Program. Actually these discussions are funny as LAB has nothing to do with farming or overall farmer community welfare. LAB whether 1894 or 2013 or 2015 will just change process how land will be allocated for projects and will not affect future prospects of agriculture or farmers. But when agenda is discussion and not actual solving problem then you can relate each and everything to discussion topic, like one political party linked even Rape like sensitive issue to election agenda of free wifi.

I am from farmer family and specifically from Vidharbha region of Maharashtra which is famously called as a “Graveyard of Farmer” because of high number of farmer suicide in last decade. Even though I am now settled in Pune, I travel frequently in region and now spent a 1 week in Yavatmal district which is one of worst hit by farmer suicide crisis. During my stay, I have talked to many people involved in various profession which include farmers, farm workers, part time farmers (Farming + Job like teacher) , shopkeepers, teacher, lawyer, businessman, traders of farm products etc and realized one important point, we need to stop emotionally analyzing/discussing agriculture  and need to ask hard question “Who is killing our farmers?”

I know this is tough question but let’s start with usual suspects or expected answer from opponents.

BJP: - Congress & Left always blamed BJP as anti-farmer party but data shows that not BJP but so called farmer messiah harmed farmers. Decade in which farmer forced to die was ruled by Cong and Left (UPA1) in center and two region which consistently top farmer suicide list, Maharashtra & Andhra Pradesh both was ruled by congress for 15 & 10 yr respectively. Communist (Left) who ruled West Bengal for 34yr was also not shown any model which can be replicated as ideal for rest of India and even people of West Bengal are forced to migrate out of state. In contrast to all this stories, BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh which was referred as “Bimaru” (ill) state during congress tenure is now leading in Agriculture growth. Gujarat like deserted state performing much better and above expectation. Most important question is, if after Indian independence most of the time “farmer messiahs” ruled nation and states then why farmers committing suicide?

Industry: - Many AC room activist blame Industry as farmer enemy or pitch this topic as farmer Vs industry fight but conveniently forgetting that Vidharbha or Rural AP or Bundelkhand are areas which have not seen any industrialization or land takeover for Govt or Private projects. Farmers are committing suicide in rural India and not in area near by heavily industrialized cities.

One clear point, either we as a nation analyzing topic in wrong direction or we are misguided by people who are pretending to be framer well-wishers. Biggest Irony of agriculture sector is that it is represented by people who are neither successful farmers nor created a model which will give a prosperous futures to framers. Even if we forget intentions of people who are leading farmer agitation or AC room activist then also it is like some passionate air traveler lecturing on health of aviation industry. In case an industry is in crisis then whom we will approach? Caption Gopinath who created an Air Deccan as successful business model or Vijay Mallya whose Kingfisher is down to dust or someone who like to see Aviation industry on discovery TV.

So we need to change our analyzing points.

1. Stop being emotional about farming and farmers when analyzing agriculture, “No More slogan like Jai Kissan”; it’s just yet another industry which is in crisis.
2. Change AC Room Activist and representatives who are leading or talking about agriculture industry; interact with farmers who are successful in agriculture or people who successfully taken alternative path rather than committing suicide by staying in farming.

My own family story is in 2^nd category, my father unlike his 2 brother decided to leave traditional farming as per person land owned by family member was shrinking. This decision paid off as family got another income source and specifically my family got access to better education and other facility. When it came to our education, my father sold ancestral land and house; this decision paid off as both me and my brother earning much higher and even living better quality of life. Story of my 2 uncle who decided to stay in farming is same like any other farmer family, not much progress and quality of life remain same even after 30yr. This is not a corner case but almost all farmer families have same story and if we as a nation (especially AC Room activist) forcing people to stay in farming rather than providing alternative jobs and opportunities then we are forcing our farmers to commit suicide.

When it comes to solution, we are forced to believe that loan and money is only problem of agriculture industry and one after another government just either go for loan waiver or some package. In my view this is dumbest approach, tell me one industry in world which progressed because of bailout packages? Governments are giving packages to PSU year after year but experience shows, none of PSU progressed as we have not dealt with inherent problems of industry and just try to hide problem by giving packages. In agriculture industry same story is getting repeated from independence.

Above analysis show we are doing everything wrong in case of farming and this mistake is getting repeated as agriculture is only industry where experts and activist are not successful farmers. Let’s analyze farming like any another industry.

Excess Manpower: - 

Agriculture is only industry in which there is excess manpower than industry can accommodate. Excess manpower is not because people are skilled or passionate but population is stuck because there is no alternative jobs available in rural India and this unskilled manpower from generation know only farming. Land is transferred from one generation to another so farm size per family member is shrinking rapidly which makes farming expensive and unprofitable. We need to move and utilize excess manpower in other industry such as manufacturing and processing which need unskilled labors in large number. Moving excess manpower in other industries specifically in agriculture product processing will not only reduce load on agriculture but even help in increasing family income of farmer and labors. Industry will make sure that rural economy start booming which in turn increase farmer investment capacity with better prices for farm product.

In United Kingdom when industrial revolution started around 80% manpower was in agriculture; man power rapidly shifted to other industries and less than 25% manpower remained in agriculture. This migration helped both agriculture and other industries and we have seen a major boost in industrial production and per capita Income of citize

Population over Dependency on agriculture :-

Agriculture and allied sectors like forestry and fisheries account for Less than 14% of GDP but more than 60% population directly dependent on these industries, this shows how income is unevenly distributed which result in poor quality of life. Agriculture is mostly dependent on nature and hence a large section of population impact because of natural disasters like drought or floods and government need to compensate with higher subsidies and packages. This over dependency make a land emotional commodity and any move to allocate land to other sectors is meet with stiff resistance which hamper other industry growth and nation progress . LAB show; how opposition and activist making land allocation an emotional issue rather than evaluating compensation and logic of national growth. We will need to reduce this dependency by either moving man power to other sectors or promoting supportive businesses like dairy products, poultry, goat farming, fishery etc. Even industries which can provide part time jobs to farmer families in their own villages will be helpful like food product processing or assembling of electronics and other product.

Water, Electricity and other raw materials: - 

Industries progress only if get abundant supply of raw materials, this simple fact lead us towards Indian agriculture inherent problem of dependency on rain water. India’s only 36% land comes under irrigation and mainly concentrated in smaller states like Punjab( 98%) & Haryana (88%) , this is the main reason why agriculture is a unpredictable and loss making industry. In Uttar Pradesh like big states, even though irrigation is at 76% but utilization of this capacity not possible as state have around 16% power deficit and after domestic and industry, agriculture power supply get last priority like Seeds, fertilizer, equipment’s etc supply and quality is another challenge, import of machinery increase overall operation cost of agriculture. Current NDA government ambitious schemes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana which is aim at 100% irrigation, Push for Solar and nuclear power to make India power surplus by 2019 and Make in India which will help in producing farm equipment’s locally if achieved by 2019 then a major agriculture progress blocked will get removed.

Supply Side constrained: -

Even if an industry is performing well but if output supply chain is not managed properly then ultimately industry will collapse Ex Nokia collapsed because market product needs changed. Agriculture industry supply chain is more crucial as Industry outputs are perishable. India is losing almost 20% of total production or 50K Cr output because of lack of infrastructure like proper roads, cold storage and transport facilities for fruits and vegetables. Lack of food processing industry in rural areas is a main reason that farmer need to sell products at lower cost as there is no specific consumer for perishable product Ex If a Tomato Katchup factory is nearby town then farmers know how much input factory will need and can plan crop, this model will help factory as they will save transportation cost. Processing industries convert perishable product into forms which can be stored for longer duration like frozen green peas can be stored for longer duration. So rural infrastructure improvement, creation of storage facility, food processing industries and most important is linking of Agriculture supply to direct local and international markets will be important steps to get farmer a reasonable price for their products.

Land Productivity: -

In agriculture industry land is main constrained and as urbanization & industrialization increasing, agriculture land is shrinking. India have world’s 2^nd largest cultivated land after USA but our overall agriculture production is much less compare to other countries and reason is our per hector yield Ex Australia’s(10800 KG) per hector rice production is almost 5 times of India’s (2240 KG) even after India doubled production from 1970 levels(1123 KG). This shows our problem is not agriculture land and product prices but main problem is productivity. Many countries produce 2 to 10 time per hector yield than India in different products. Many developed countries with smaller population  show us that even after diverting 5% land and 50% man power to other sectors, we can produce much more agriculture products and fulfill domestic demands and even export to add $$$ to countries economy.

We need food so farmer should stay poor and live poor quality life in rural India without access to roads, electricity, education, healthcare etc is emotional and cruel thinking. Farmers have all rights to live quality life which any metro citizen get. We as a nation need to make Agriculture a profitable industry so that Indian farmer compete in global market without the support of packages and loan waivers. If Rural India get same infrastructure facility like Metro cities then we will see educated class moving towards rural India and Agriculture as profession.

Hope we can defeat AC room activist and Farmer Messiahs like congress, communist who are scaring rural India and stopping entry of Industries which will open a new gate of job and growth opportunities for farmers and their families. In past these people played same future fear game with Mumbai mill workers and we have seen how lives of hundreds of people was destroyed. This is important juncture and we will need to raise voices against our farmer killers.