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Politics of packages

Farmers across the land will doubtless be ecstatic on learning there is now one more committee - to look into debt relief. Gee, another committee. Just what we needed. Who knows, it might even do something, like form a sub-committee. But the joy might be hard to sustain. It's all part of a 'package.' That too is not a new thing. Governments in this country have handled more packages than FedEx. My all-time favourite is the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput or KBK package, which has outlasted four Prime Ministers and seen more variations than Rubik's Cube.

Every imaginable programme for which funds already exist has been merged or purged from the KBK development package at some point. A Rs.4,750 crore package swelled to Rs.6,500 crore over a decade. Of which only Rs.360 crore actually showed up till 2004. Even from that paltry sum, money was diverted for the total literacy programme.

The 'package' declared at the end of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to Vidarbha will have little or no impact on the crisis there. Neither in the short run nor in the long term. The visit's political fallout is another matter. No one can now deny a major agrarian crisis exists. Dr. Singh's journey thoroughly exposed the Maharashtra Government and the Union Agriculture Ministry. It also brought - if for a week - some media focus on the crisis. Well on the farm suicides, at least.

Yet the suicides are the effect, not the cause, of a much wider agrarian distress. The death count is not the story but a window to it. There are millions of farm households across the country that have not seen suicides but whose conditions are similar to those that have. They too are in deep trouble.

Water Wars In Maharashtra...

farmers without irrigation have been committing suicide," says Vijay Jawandia. "Now irrigated farmers, too, will join them in taking their lives." Jawandia, a kisan leader of Maharashtra's Vidharbha region, says the recently passed Maharashtra Water Resources Regulatory Bill is "simply not workable." The Bill signals huge hikes in water charges and irrigation costs. The Regulatory Authority it sets up will have three full-time members. Not one of them is required to be a farmer.

Elected panchayats are sidelined on water issues. Farmers with more than two children will pay one and a half times the high new rates. And in some regions, costly drip and sprinkler irrigation will become mandatory. Breaking these laws invites six months in prison and a fine of ten times the annual water charges.
Farmers greeted news of the bill with shock and anger across Vidharbha. This is one of the least irrigated and most backward regions of Maharashtra. One that has seen hundreds of farmers' suicides in the past few years. In Parbhani, Marathwada, the State camp of the All-India Kisan Sabha called for the Bill's repeal. It also declared May 5 as a day of statewide protest to press this demand.

No farmer we spoke to in four districts across Vidharbha knew of the Bill. Much less that it had been passed by the legislature. Even Agriculture Department officials seemed baffled by it. "We cannot pay the present charges," says Vijay Kophe of Borgaon village in Amravati district. "How will we pay these new ones? Our water, their taxes?" Kophe owns a little over two acres and has three children.

Like most villages in Vidharbha, this one too, is in the grip of an agricultural crisis and deep in debt. "The village failed to pay electricity bills of about Rs. 1 lakh," says the sarpanch. "So the power was cut off, the pumps are down and we cannot get even drinking water."

"Why not fine the government," asks teacher R.M. Bhagywanth. "They have not paid cotton growers here dues of Rs.2,300 crores. How will people pay any bills without that? This law will push up suicides one hundred times."

B.T. Deshmukh, an independent member of the legislative council from Amravati, defends the law. He was on the Joint Committee of both houses to which the prickly Bill was referred. After making several changes - and bringing in the two-child norm - the committee approved it. "It has built-in safeguards and protection for poorer regions," he insists.

"New irrigation projects must first come in such places. The Governor's directives on these aspects must be observed." And, he points out, "we put in the `principle of equity' into the law."

Seeds of Death for Farmers..

It's a well-known brand of seed ... And the reverse of its packet states "Germination rate 65 per cent." What does it mean, we ask the residents of Rentapalla in Guntur district. "It means one-third of the seeds will not work," scoffs one farmer. "When we pay, we pay for 100 per cent," he laughs. "Not for 65 per cent."

In short, if this village pays for 1,000 bags of seed, they are only getting 650.

"Would you," asks another farmer, "go to a pharmacy and buy a medicine of which one-third should not be expected to work?" Then why buy these seeds? "What choice do we have?" Most companies and dealers follow the same practice.

"This is a post-1998 system," says Malla Reddy, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Ryuthu Sangham (APRS). "When the multinationals entered the field, controls and regulation were dropped. Before that, seeds were certified by State authorities. Germination was up to 90 per cent. It was the MNCs who started this practice."

In Rentapalla, farmers give us the bills and receipts issued to them by seed and pesticide dealers. Even apart from the very high prices, these are unique in two respects. One, they explicitly add on an interest rate of 2 per cent a month (24 per cent) on the goods sold. Two, they extract a signed undertaking from the farmer absolving the dealer of any responsibility for failed or spurious seeds.

Both clauses are clearly printed on the bills and receipts. They are part of the `legal' transaction. Take for instance the bill issued by Vijayadurga Agencies at Sathenapally in Guntur district. It carries (in Telugu) a clear disclaimer. This includes the caution that these seeds should be sown "after ascertaining that they sprout well." The onus of testing them is on the farmer.

The note also asserts: "Seeds billed herein belong to the respective companies. They are sold only on being certified as fit after carrying out all technical scrutiny." Why then should the farmer be responsible for testing them? But the note goes further. Too many things depend on nature, it says. "Therefore no guarantee can be given."

The farmer then signs below the last line which says, "I purchase the seeds agreeing to the above points."

Stockists like Vijayalakshmi Pesticides add their own clauses for the farmer to sign on. "I am aware that these pesticides are poisonous and I purchased the items billed herein for the purpose of agricultural operations."

Dealers are well aware of what other purposes the "purugu mandhu" (literally insect medicines) have been used for. The overwhelming majority of farmers who have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh have done so by consuming pesticide. Hence the clause freeing the dealer of any responsibility. A further line tagged on says: "Agreed to pay interest at two per cent a month on this bill amount."

Meet the new moneylenders of the countryside. The seed, pesticide and fertilizer dealers. "This man is a new sahucar," says Malla Reddy of the APRS. "He is at once a merchant, a moneylender, a scientist, an agro-technologist and an expert. He can also be the man who buys the crop of the farmers he sells products to. At low prices, of course."

The power this group wields is a vital factor in the ongoing crisis and continuing suicides of farmers. With soaring input costs and the collapse of formal credit, their writ binds the dependant farmers. This group gains in many ways, of which three stand out.

First, the seeds and pesticides dealer inflates prices on the plea that he is extending credit to the farmer. "You end up paying Rs. 230 for Rs. 200 worth of pesticide," says P. Bhiksham at G. Edavalli village of Nalgonda district. "But you sign on a bill which still says Rs. 200."

Second, the two per cent interest a month is tagged on to the bill amount. "There have been repeated crop failures," says farmer Kobbanna Venkatrao at Sathenapally, Guntur. "So repayments get delayed. That's when you learn what 24 per cent interest means. Their seeds have often been responsible for our crop failure. But there is no punishment for that. We suffer the crop failure, but pay them penalty rates of interest."

Third, they might have to sell their crops to the same man who sells them seeds and pesticides — at a rate fixed by him. That rate can be "well below the minimum support price," says K. Veeranjaneyulu, a farmer in Rentapalla. "More so, if the farmer is small and cannot bargain. Last season, the market rate for chilli was Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 2,200 a quintal. Some small farmers sold to their dealers at Rs. 1,500 a quintal."

"The way it all works," says Vinod Rao, also a farmer in Rentapalla, "is this. For every Rs. 5,000 we spend, the seed fellow gets Rs. 1,000 of it. Often more." This equation imposes a deadweight on the farmer's input costs.

The unfairness of it rankles. "All gains are the dealer's, all losses are ours," says one peasant here. The APRS has tried hard to tackle the situation.

"There have been lots of crop failures due to fake seeds," says APRS district secretary Narasimha Rao. "Our experience is that it is very difficult to bring the big MNCs to book for bad or failed seeds. They never respond. So we try to compel the dealer here to compensate the peasant where a blatant wrong has been done. But the farmer is very vulnerable to his pressure. So it is not easy."

The clamour is growing for amending the Seed and Pesticides Acts at the Centre to bring some regulation to this field. The new Andhra Pradesh Government is also readying its own Seed Act at the State level. The changes won't come a day too soon for P. Bhiksham. "The old Sahucar was bad," he says. "But at least he was lenient at crop time. He was part of the village and needed the crop to succeed. With these people, they are more ruthless. You can die but they have to get their money. I tell you, the old sahucar was better." (Some Information Courtesy: The Hindu News Paper)

Farmers In INDIA..How To Survive?

Farmers' leader in Wardha Vijay Jawandhia once remarked: "If I were given a choice, I would like to be born as a European cow, but certainly not as an Indian farmer, in my next birth." There, a cow gets a US $ 2 subsidy per day and enjoys all the comforts. "And here, in India, a farmer is a debtor all his life. Post his death, his son inherits his debts and has to borrow money for his funeral."

Jawandhia was summing up the mood sweeping through the farming community particularly in the crisis-ridden Vidarbha. But his sarcastic remark underlines the great contrast that marks the global trade, touted by many a leading economist as an answer to all the problems. For many of those who have been singing to the tune of WTO, the Indian farm crisis is the ugly fallout of "lack of reforms". Their argument is that there are too many government strings attached to the policies; we need to detach them for growth and prosperity of the poor agrarian masses.

A close look at the processes that plague Indian agriculture contrast those claim.

Much before the distress set in, Vidarbha farmers rejoiced in near self-sufficiency on all fronts – food, clothes, seeds, fertilizers, festivals, marriages, construction and you name it. Pre-1991, nobody ever heard of farmers taking their own lives, almost never. Veteran farmers and farm leaders in the region confirm this almost unequivocally. Farmers were poor, but they ate enough and were not in debt trap.

Today, and as reported in earlier articles, this eastern region of Maharashtra sits on an "agrarian volcano". With cotton farmers ending themselves at an alarming rate, the agrarian crisis of the region now goes far beyond the suicides. The green fields are transforming into killing fields. The past four years have seen hundreds of farmers take their own lives in a region rich in cotton, paddy, soybean and oranges. The year gone by – that is 2005-06 agriculture season – has seen close to 550 farmers' suicides in Vidarbha. In the last five months alone, over 300 farmers ended themselves -- all due to ruthless policies of the past decade that pushed them to brim. The malady is only getting worse.

Until 2003, suicides were reported from the cotton belt only. Now farmers from a much better-off plateau – one producing paddy – are following the trend. Those holding on to the life have little hope of lifting themselves out of the crisis, unless the state hikes its investments in agriculture sector and takes corrective steps on policy–front. So far, there are no signs that the situation might improve. The crisis needs immediate attention.

General Greenhouse Management


Greenhouse Construction
Climate Control in GH Structures
Greenhouse Management: Soil Sterilization and preparation, cultural practices in flower and vegetable cultivation
Irrigation and Fertigation Technology
Crop Protection
Post Harvest and Marketing
Ergonomics


Marketing of Horticultural Produce

Importance and Scope
Post-Harvest and Handling
Marketing Channels
Domestic & Export Marketing : Potential Markets & Procedures
Logistics and Planning
Marketing of Allied Products

FUNDING SCHEMES

Bank of Maharashtra
Minor Irrigation for Agriculturists scheme for purchase of various irrigation equipments.
Mahabank Kisan Credit Card scheme for cultivation of crops, meeting the short-term credit needs of farmers.
Farm Mechanisation for Agriculturists scheme for Purchase of Tractors/Power tillers, Harvesters, Threshers & other farm
implements.
Animal Husbandry scheme for Purchase of animals, Poultry- Broiler Farm, Layers Farm, Hatchery Sheep/Goat Rearing Construction
of Byre, and Purchase of Machinery Working Capital Requirements under
Scheme for Cultivation of fruit crops-mango, Pomegranate, Grapes etc.
Scheme for providing finance to set up of Agri-Clinics/Agribusiness Centers.
Scheme for Financing Farmers for Purchase of Agricultural land.
Scheme for Financing Two Wheelers to Farmers
Scheme for Providing Loans to Farmers for Purchase of consumer durables
Scheme for Hi-tech projects in agriculture.
Rural Godown Scheme (Gramin Bhandaran Yojana) for scientific storage of agricultural produce.
Minor Irrigation for Agriculturists


Purpose :
Digging of new wells, revitalization of existing well, purchase of oil engine, electric motor, pump set installation of pipe line, sprinkler, irrigation, drip irrigation, tube well, bore well, etc.
Eligibility : Agriculturist who owns agricultural land.
Amount : For new dug wells as per the NABARD Unit costs for equipments/estimates.
Repayment : Depending upon the repaying capacity 7 to 11 years.
Security : Mortgage of land, Hypothecation of movable assets and guarantors.
Other Terms & Conditions :
Proposed well should be located in white watershed area. It should not be in dark watershed area.