The Agrarian Crisis in Vidarbha

by Vasant Futane (organic farmer and Sarvodaya activist from Vidarbha) The agrarian crisis experienced in Vidarbha is mounting all over India. Its original deep-rooted cause is the intentional destruction of agricultural and rural selfsufficiency by government policies and programmes that foster market dependence. Much of our rural population is now dependent on urban industries, both for daily needs, as well as farm inputs. Time-tested, traditional practices in farming, housing, cooking, health, have been eroded, resulting in near total dependence on the market. Government policies are still framed to increase such dependence, resulting in severe exploitation of farmers and the rural populace. Destruction of traditional, self-sufficient farming system Before the Green Revolution, not a single external input was needed in the farming system in Vidarbha, or elsewhere. Farmers used their own seeds and manures. Local carpenters and blacksmiths produced farm implements, transport carriages and housing materials. The village shoemaker tanned leather and delivered a finished product. Spinners, weavers, health-workers (vaidyas), etc were all components of the village economy, enriching each other. This system had the least chance to concentrate economic power to exploit. It was decentralized, non-polluting, and with minimum consumption of non-renewable energy. Transport reliance for basic needs was minimal, and the ecological footprint was close to zero. It is true that Indian agriculture had suffered under exploitative colonial rule. But Indias first agriculture minister, KM Munshi, emphasized the restoration of the fertility and hydrological cycles in each village and bio-region. Consequently, Indian agriculture saw significant recovery in the first two five-year plan periods, with creditable improvement in both aggregate production and productivity. Biodiverse, self-reliant and self-sufficient farming was still the norm.

The well-known Gandhian economist, Dr JC Kumarappa, dwelt deeply on the subject of self-sufficiency and sustainability in his book, The Economy of Permanance. His views had been invited by Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, but his prescription for a Gandhian model of gram swaraj (village self-sufficiency and self-governance) was not adopted. The nation was instead steered down the path of centralized, giant industries, and a spurt in urbanisation. This resulted in splitting the country into rural Bharat and urban India. Agriculture and the rural sector became a mere raw material and potential market for the increasingly urbanizing and industrializing India. Rural Bharats independent well-being and self-sufficiency were not just neglected, but willfully undermined. This is the root cause of the agrarian crisis in Vidarbha, and elsewhere in India. Farmers suicides are just the tip of the iceberg. We may have all heard much about the growing misery and indebtedness of the once prosperous Vidarbha farmers, trapped in an industrial, mono-cultural system of agriculture, oriented to a distant market, rather than their own basic, local needs. With the spread of Bt cotton, and the near total loss of local varieties of cotton, the vulnerability and helplessness of the Vidarbha farmer has heightened further. But as we have seen, the deeper roots of Vidarbhas agrarian crisis date back to the Green Revolution, and even earlier, to a policy favouring urbanization and industrialization at the cost of rural self-sufficiency and welfare. The alarming situation in Vidarbha can become even worse in the near future, as Vidarbha is being used as a power hub. Irrigation water is being diverted to thermal power plants, coal mining, and cement, paper industries, threatening agriculture and depleting and polluting water bodies and land. Farming too is becoming more export-oriented to the detriment of domestic local and national needs. Instead of nutritious groundnut, the cultivation of soyabean is promoted by the state agriculture department. While groundnut and other pulse-legumes nourish the soil, and provide nutritious food for humans and fodder for farm animals, yet soya is promoted by the government. Why? It is only to earn dollars. Soyabean cake is a protein-rich cattle feed, and every kilogram of it is exported. Not a single

kg is used in India. Soya cultivation and export thus cause great recurring loss to soil fertility. In agriculture, recycling is the key to restoring and sustaining soil fertility. Cultivation of groundnuts and other legumes are an appropriate answer to enriching our soils. But this issue is totally neglected by our politicians, economists and agricultural scientists, who seem unconcerned about the fertility drain caused by a rapacious system of deficit industrial agriculture. Subhash Sharma, a wise organic farmer of Vidarbha, warns us that no country with infertile soils can maintain her freedom. We need to ponder deeply on this crucial matter. Denuded forests, the disappearance of grasslands, and the uneven, wasteful distribution of irrigation water to non-priority areas are other important causes of our agrarian crisis. Widening economic disparity is a major issue causing mounting social tension. The 5th Pay Commission has created a serious disparity. A 4th class government employee is able to enjoy a better standard of material life than a 25 acre dryland cotton grower. A school-teaching couple can afford to maintain a four-wheeler, but not a hundred acre dryland farmer. Such a farmer, who has to struggle to even meet the costs of his daughters marriage, becomes stigmatized by society. This is not a minor but major issue, reflecting the current agrarian crisis. Aggressive Marketing The media is extensively used by MNCs for aggressive marketing, creating unnecessary demands in farming. Farmers are not able to realize that they are trapped by agro-service centres into losing both money as well as soil fertility. They are fooled again and again by misleading or blatantly false advertising and marketing campaigns. It will be a great help if radio and TV stop advertising agricultural inputs. But can we do it? A sustainable farming system and un-degraded/unpolluted environment are a must for food security. It is essential to think of quality as well, not just quantity.

Unfortunately, politicians are playing a game of cat and mice with farmers. Generally, one can find every village split into 3 or 4 groups with distinct party alignments. The politicians are not interested in uniting people, but rather fragmenting them with narrow agendas. In such a situation, undertaking collective activity for the common good of the village is extremely difficult. Even a decade ago, the situation was not so serious. Now, gram panchayat elections are fought on a party basis, unlike in the past. The external supply of liquor and money for fighting elections, has become routine. Government schemes are used to favour party cadre, rather than benefit the general public. All this further intensifies corruption. If the village can be cleansed of such narrow party politics that fragment and corrupt, there is yet hope of renewing the agricultural economy and self-sufficiency of the rural sector. A fresh ecological outlook that looks at the whole, instead of just parts, is needed both in farming and in society.