The ongoing corona pandemic raging all around the world has forced life to come to a standstill. The worst affected in any crisis are the poorer sections of society, and this situation has proved no different. 85% of Indian farmers belong to small households, with a considerable section being landless. The condition of these farmers prior to the crisis was miserable enough. They often borrow money from money lenders, and the interest they end up owing them is more than the profit they make by selling their crops.
Also, the productivity of their crops is inversely related to the price, and thus they are not able to benefit from producing crops in sufficient amount. India has been projected as the capital of farmers’ suicides, given the extreme rates in recent years. The machinery and farmyard equipment which make their work easier as well as productive cannot be afforded by, and thus they have to toil without any technology aiding them. Various natural disasters like floods and droughts impact their crops and harvesting severely, and now Corona has become the next major blow to them.
Agricultural sector shortages
No sector of the economy has escaped its wrath, agriculture being no exception. The two main reasons for most of these problems are lack of availability of labour, and inability to reach markets, a consequence of transportation being heavily restricted. As paddy and wheat crops are largely maintained by machinery, they have been insured a bit more as manual labor is not required.
However, commercial crop cultivation which has not advanced to this point has been the worst hit. The shortage of migrant labor, owing to most of them having returned to their native lands, has resulted in a rising increase in daily wages for harvesting crops.
Given the returns which have decreased to one-third of the usual amount to say the most, producers have been hit quite hard.
Although farmers have been able to find markets to make their produce accessible, often by travelling across districts, this initiative was discovered to be more on the part of the farmers than the Government.
India’s “Second Plague” is said to be the attack by locust swarms on agricultural crops on a large scale in North India, for which farmers were asked to try harvesting their crops earlier than usual. However, faced with the worst attack in 27 years, which affected a number of districts in not just Rajasthan which is usually the case, but also Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and even Maharashtra, numerous reports of crop damages have been literally pouring in from all over the place as farmers try in vain to smoke them out or scare them away with loud noises or chemicals.
Also, most loans taken formally by farmers are generally paid back by the months of April and May, and a fresh loan is granted at the beginning of the next sowing season. However, given the current situation in which most of their produce has either been destroyed or not brought the returns that it should, most of them are left without a means to repay their loans. Thus, acknowledging the possibility of many farmers left penniless, along with the country facing a famine due to crop failure, it is important to ensure that measures are undertaken for their welfare, to multiply their normal income, and most importantly, that these policies reach the farmers.
Government Initiatives to boost farmer income
In 2016, a decision involving seven clauses had been undertaken by the Government to double farmers’ income by the year 2022.
These sources of income growth have been identified as – improving crop and life stock productivity, resourceful use of savings for efficiently managing crop production, diversifying high value crops, increasing crop intensity, raising the ratio of the return farmers obtain, and allowing them to shift to non-farm occupations in addition to agriculture for income.
However, this has also been pushed back by the pandemic, and as a consequence of the frozen economy, it has been predicted to be achieved by 2024. The fact that farmers are indeed the backbone of the country has been enforced with the onset of Corona, and while the rest of the country makes their lives easier with technology, most of them are deprived of this luxury.
Government scheme – is a solution?
Under the PM-KISAN scheme, as an attempt to counter the consequences of a national level lockdown, a first instalment of Rs. 15, 842 crores have been distributed among 7.92 crore farmers. While some restrictions imposed on them were somewhat relaxed by the Government on April 20, labour and market access combined with uninterrupted supply chains have emerged as their immediate needs, which have not been met, and thus they continue to toil in vain.
Some development initiatives introduced previously, including Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Prampragat Krishi Vikas Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, aimed at reducing cost and raising output, besides increasing farmers’ confidence in investment. Although faced with a number of obstructions, a shift towards a technology-based and modern approach to farming, funded by Government plans, can raise productivity to a considerable level.
Solutions to amend farmer issues
Agriculture needs to grow at a rate of 10.4% per annum to double the farmers’ income by 2022-23. Since the contribution of agriculture to the nation’s GVA is only 15%, the average income of a farmer can be estimated to be about one-sixth that of those who do not engage in agriculture, with a further decline given the flattened economy. Some of the following measures may be adopted to try and double farmers’ income without any further delay, and if possible before 2024:
The assistance provided to farmers under the PM-KISAN scheme, of Rs. 2000 per quarter, should be substantially increased, which will allow them to repay due loans and also be a welcome source of income.
In order to ensure that all farmers receive the benefits of this initiative, separate clauses should be included to ensure that landless farmers, women-headed farmer households and single-women farmers are not left out.
Monetary assistance for buying seeds, fertilizers and other requirements should be provided at the beginning of the next sowing season, in order to prevent famine on a national scale and also for them to find some relief in an alternate income than their produce and further debts.
The return obtained from grain and pulse crops should be in accordance with the support price, and the amount received directly by the farmers should increase.
Introducing policies to ensure that men and women receive equal pay for equal work can increase not just income but also productivity by an estimated 30%.
As a number of sectors which influence agriculture such as irrigation, water, power, etc. are under the control of State Governments, it is the duty of the Centre to not just implement their own policies, but also encourage the respective Governments to introduce measures which farmers can benefit from, such as a researched and calculated approach to water usage, and so on.
It is possible to direct part of the budget for investment in agricultural development, improvement and marketing of infrastructure, creating and maintaining value chains, and directly linking farmers with retail, food processing and export markets to prevent middle men from taking away a portion of the return.
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