Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can’t hurry the crops or take control of the pests that destroy your crops. The discovery of agriculture was the first big step towards a more organised and secure civilised life. It is not the agricultural land which makes the farmer but the work he puts into it. Farmers don’t just work till the sun goes down. They work till the job is done. To make agriculture sustainable, the grower has got to be able to make a decent and fair living. The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, and sells everything at wholesale. Most often he pays the freight both ways.
While we try to teach our children about life, the farm teaches us what life is all about. Farming is not just a job; it’s a way of life. Etymologically the term agriculture is derived from the word ‘Agri’ which means field or soil and ‘culture’ meaning the care of or tilling. You can’t just sit in the house or idle your time and wish you have the perfect field or a bountiful yield; you have to go out into the field and work with it. Weeding is as necessary to agriculture as is sowing. Farmlands are those where money grows in rows. You get out of it what you put into it. If the farmer is rich so is the nation.
The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the process of economic development of a country. It has already made a significant contribution to the economic prosperity of advanced countries and its role in the economic development of less developed countries is of vital importance. The story in India, however, is not the same. The continued spree of farmer suicides and sporadic farmer’s struggles in different parts of the country has over a period of time brought the ever-deepening agriculture crisis to the fore. The present BJP led government in place of giving thought to the reasons for distress in agriculture, allowed the state governments to tackle it only as law and order problem where local farmers were at the receiving end.
The boundaries of Goa confer upon her a unique ecological status. We have always been blessed with abounding natural resources. Rice and fish being the staple diet of the people, paddy cultivation becomes the primary crop in the scenario of Goan agriculture. Apart from paddy we also have ragi, maize, jowar, bajra and pulses grown. Cash crops like coconut, cashew-nut, arecanut, mango, jackfruit, banana and pineapple are also grown in abundance. At the time of liberation, nearly two thirds of the population in Goa was involved in agriculture as their primary occupation. Paddy is grown in two seasons, namely Kharif or sorod and the rabi or vaingan. The crops, which are grown in monsoon, are called the kharif crops and the winter crops are called rabi crops. The main sources of irrigation for winter crops are the nallahs, rivers and streams, tanks, wells and canals.
The Agriculture Minister of Goa Mr Vijai Sardesai has been talking about enacting a law in Goa which will allow for “contract” and “community” farming. In this connection the government of Goa has decided to enact two legislations in the coming assembly session which would allow ‘Contract’ and ‘Community’ farming practice. It is hoped that with the passing of these legislations farming activities in the stretches of fallow land would be revived. In the case of contract farming the government is supposed to act as a guarantor, and ensure that nobody’s land is grabbed.
Along with contract, the community farming law will also be enacted in the state to encourage co-operative movement in this sector. Goans nevertheless need to beware that farmers from Karnataka and other states have yet to accept these concepts of farming and have fought tooth and nail against such kind of contract or co-operative farming. Will such farming lead to the corporisation of agriculture? What are the safeguards so that the ownership and possession of land will not be grabbed from the original owners/tillers and passed on to the builders through the backdoor?
Land is increasingly being diverted from agriculture to non-agricultural purpose in the name of development. A key factor in the decline of farming is because at some point it became non-viable. Selling to real estate or other glamorous propositions became more viable. Agricultural issues in Goa are unique as the land holdings are fragmented and shared between different owners.
Most Goans are still not aware of the Agriculture Department’s schemes and subsidies. This is due to the callous and indifferent attitude of the concerned department. A Goan officer, who truly had agriculture at his heart, was the late Dr JC Almeida who is still looked upon as one of India’s best agricultural economist.
Since the last two decades, the Indian agriculture sector is witnessing continuously chronic crises resulting in the decline of agricultural productivity. Presently the rice production in India is less than half of that of China and Vietnam. It is also a matter of grave concern that while cultivable land is shrinking more than 33 per cent of food produced in our country rots and goes to waste. The Indian farmer receives anywhere from 10-23 per cent of the price that the consumer pays. The difference goes to the middle man.
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings. God looked down on the earth he created and said I need a caretaker to look after this place. That’s when he created the farmer. The history of land and its produce is etched out in the faces of the farmers who till it. A farmer is a magician who producers money from mud. Being a farmer means shaking hands with nature. Agricultural science has enormous potential to increase the yields of small farmers and remove them out of poverty. While the present government keeps blowing its trumpet continuously about various startups in the country, it has shown a very step motherly treatment when it comes to the countries primary and most sustaining industry.
(The writer is a social scientist & criminal lawyer)
