WHAT THE FARMERS NEED (5th Feb 2011)

Bhartiya kisaan bhagwan bharose (Indian peasants are at the mercy of God)! If it rains well, they are saved or else doomed... be it floods or the drought... and since the last 63 and a half years, our agriculture dominated nation has never really bothered about having a proper infrastructure of irrigation and proper godowns to store food grains to support the farmers’ community of the nation. Irrespective of all the flaws in the system, the selfless poor farmers of the nation have been feeding the whole nation by toiling hard in hot sun, high temperatures and heavy rains.

They will starve their own families but they will strive to grow food for the nation and what have we given them in the past six plus decades? Misery, death and more deaths with each passing year... what the farmers really need is not mandatory for the government, leaders, market or else the rich industrialists... who are always there to exploit the poor farmers to their own benefits to fill their coffers. Farmers’ suicide in India has become rampant since 1997 and has been growing in leap and bounds since then... while the industrial growth has been rising in the past few decades, the state of agriculture sector is being doomed year after year. India has lost 48 farmers a day to suicide every single day on an average since 1997 to 2009, apart from this gruesome facts, the nation is also losing farmers at an alarming rate because the generation next is not willing to continue with the age-old profession after witnessing the reality.

Apart from losing farmers, the nation is also losing a great amount of fertile lands in the name of economic growth as lands are being grabbed for government and MNCs projects without benefitting the farmers’ community at large. Promises are made and once the land is acquired, then everything is forgotten. What the poor farmers need, no one is really bothered or even thinking... how dangerous the future is going to be? Imagine the near future situation where there will be no land left for agriculture, no farmers left, no water to drink and no food to eat... in another two or three decades’ time... this is what the situation is going to be. While old buildings are being restored and preserved, sadly, no one is trying to preserve the fertile land of the nation.

From a common man’s common sense, I do strongly feel that every farmer of the nation needs few basic things that will help them in growing food for the nation. In each of my subsequent post, I will discuss the below mentioned points one by one to the best of my knowledge. What the farmers need? They need the following:

Effective Irrigation Infrastructure:

Good Seed Bank:

Organic Manure:


Good Cattle:

Availability of Cheap Labour:

Alternative Employment Opportunities:

Good MSP (Minimum Support Price) from Government:

Good Marketing of their Produce:

Good Government Policies:

Proper Godowns:

Good Support from Urban Organisations:

Pension for their Selfless Service: