Why no small-scale farmer in India is happy

Even though the government is making tall claims about the agriculture loan waiver and myriads of schemes for the uplift of farmers in the country, if you want to know the plight of small farmers you have to really go to the grassroots and ask them. In India there is not a single small-scale farmer who is living a happy life with enough income from his fields.

This is despite the global cry over increasing food prices and soaring cereal rates. I am talking about my own experience with agriculture and the situation several other similar farmers are in. I own a bit of field to grow cauliflower and watermelons.

To begin with, I have to pay a heavy price for seeds and fertilizers. Once the crop is sprouted, I have to spend a lot of money on labour and pesticides and protect the crop from animals around. Despite taking at most care, pests attack my crops.

Experts are of no help to protect my crop from pests. After trying out several of their methods, eventually, I learnt to tackle pests and diseases on my own.

Then comes the next problem the climate has become so erratic that we just have to be at the mercy of nature. Last year there was unseasonal showers in October and my entire melon and sesame crops were washed out. Even if your crop survives the vagaries of weather, the next worry is the trader.

The traders and middlemen are always looking for a chance to squeeze the prices and get hold of our crop. The trader will find hundred of faults with quality of our crop and pressurize us to sell our crop at cheap rates. We, too, are at the mercy of the trader since we cannot store our crop for more than a few hours and have to dispose of it fast. The trader takes full advantage of this situation.

After all such efforts and risks we realize only around 25% of the retail prices. Most of the profit is taken by the middlemen. At present, agriculture has become a gamble, where we know what money we have to put in but don't know how much we will get out of it. Although there are a lot of problems in agriculture, the main two issues are climate and markets. To make agriculture sustainable, we must find a way to insulate our crop from climate changes and market variations.

Climate threat will aggravate in the coming days with the global warming becoming a big issue. However, there are new technologies where we can insulate our fields from the vagaries of climate like shade houses, net houses and greenhouses.

These technologies, if executed on a mass scale, can bring about a revolution in the rural prosperity. The risk of agriculture will be minimised if we resort to these techniques. Greenhouse is a concept in crop management for integrated approach to crop production, resulting in more and better yields through planning and technology, rather than relying on nature.

A greenhouse provides a pleasant, controlled environment to grow and cultivate limitless varieties of flora and vegetation. A greenhouse enables you to pick and choose even when the season is not favouring you. And there lies its phenomenal strength.

A greenhouse is usually a framed structure covered with transparent or translucent material, large enough for a person to walk in and carry out agricultural operations, without fear of running into rough weather at any point of time. Agricultural operations, thus, within a greenhouse becomes a systematic activity.

The advantage lies in the fact that the crop may be grown under conditions of partial or fully controlled environment. A greenhouse, therefore, also offers you a choice.

Advantages

You can grow anything, anywhere at any season irrespective of the climate conditions. Better crop intensity, means high yield crops. Again, it will reduced crop cycle time.

You can cultivate during off-seasons so that the crop will fetch better prices. An increasing number of consumers, restaurants, food chains and hotels require good quality produce, which is fresh and available throughout the year.

Vegetables and fruits are staple diet of vegetarians. It is of acute importance that these vegetables are grown hygienically to obtain high quality produce, which is possible only in controlled conditions under greenhouses.

It makes good business sense to grow vegetables and flowers during off-seasons when the demand is very high due to unavailability.

However, to tackle the challenge of marketmen is a tough task, given the existing mentality of farmers. Farmers have always thought that they are a deprived lot. First, the farmer has to think like a businessman and not just as a grower. He should have an open mind and look for new possibilities.

We need to form groups of farmers. The groups can be an informal association of farmers and growers from one village. Several such group leaders can form a formal body to take care of marketing of the produce. These bodies have to be governed by a common policy and the groups have to religiously adhere to these policies. Growers will have to strictly follow these norms.

After this, several steps can be taken like registering seed companies and allocating them a maximum limit of sales of every crop. This will ensure that there will be no over plantation or more acreage of any particular crop to the extent that it will cause price crash.

There are hundred of methods to tackle the market and the middlemen but I have just put forward one suggestion, which, I feel, is workable.

Mitul Shah is an agriculturist and founder of Neel Agrotech Pvt Ltd.