Last month, I was invited to be part of a State-level workshop at Madurai, convened to identify the information needs of the farmers in the region, so that they can be explored further to be addressed by ICT. It was a good workshop that threw light on the current scenarios and the plight of Indian Agriculture or atleast the Agriculture in Southern India. Here are a few:
Indian Agriculture is facing a severe labour crisis
Most of the agricultural labourers have gone to work for fire/match industry, textile industry, construction works, Granite Mining, etc... where they get job and salary regularly and adequately.
Expectations of the farmers have gone high!
They require high yield from their farms to sustain themselves in the changing modern India. Therefore, they tend to use hybrid seeds, insecticides and pesticides as given by the shopkeepers without knowing much about them!.
High up-front investment is required to do farming
A consequence of the previous point. Farmers tend to buy costlier seeds, costlier chemicals and ofcourse the rising cost of labour, to get the maximum yield.Indian Agriculture is facing a severe labour crisis
Most of the agricultural labourers have gone to work for fire/match industry, textile industry, construction works, Granite Mining, etc... where they get job and salary regularly and adequately.
Expectations of the farmers have gone high!
They require high yield from their farms to sustain themselves in the changing modern India. Therefore, they tend to use hybrid seeds, insecticides and pesticides as given by the shopkeepers without knowing much about them!.
High up-front investment is required to do farming
Middlemen are turning as Financiers
Middlemen are the people, who buy the goods from the farmers and sell in the market. As the costs of farming is increasing and profits declining, the farmers have started to look at these middlemen as 'Financiers', who finance to some extent at the beginning of the season, and then procure the produce from them and give them (farmers) on whatever is left-over.
Lure by sellers of Medicinal Plants
Some people make business by selling/marketing medicinal plants to these farmers. However, they need proper care and environment to grow. The farmers buy these crops at higher prices, and eventually the crops fails, resulting in losses
Many are aware of Contract Farming, and seem to know names like Reliance and ITC
However, it seems that they (corporates) have studied and understood about the soil, water, suitable crops, market, meagre land size etc... much better than the others! They are ready to buy the goods based on the grade at a higher price than prevailing in the market
Precision Farming along with Cooperative Farming seems to be the new ray of hope!
A technique (developed in Israel) currently being explored in India, that feeds the plant/crop exactly its required water, food, and chemicals. It requires the use Drip-irrigation system. Cooperative Farming means that the small chunks of farm lands owned by different farmers are integrated to facilitate cooperative precision farming techniques.
Well, this article/blog might have shed some light on the issues surrounding the Indian Agriculture in today's context.
