Farmers are suffering

Farmers are suffering terribly as they cannot make a living with declining outputs.Farmers put together their hard work and the power of the sun and bring forth a harvest. We buy their hard work with little money and we consume it. This harvest is so vital to our existence. When this is such an important profession, we must pay a little more attention to the farmers and their problems. Farming is precarious. Much depends on water supply which is weather dependent.Climate determines whether they will get a harvest or not. Farmers make loans to farm--to buy seeds and farm equipment. When the results are bad, they are too poor to repay the loans. They are sunk in debts. Despite bumper crops in two consecutive years, farmers cannot make a living.They can sell to governement only; minimum support price is too low.Cost of inputs have gone up.

Dozens of farmers in Andhra Pradesh (Guntur district) have committed suicides. They had to encounter losses in crops (like chilli); And they already have debts from previous seasons. They did not have land which they could have sold. They had rented fields to farm. Now, their families suffer further. Many farmers had sold their vital organs like ‘kidney’; so that they can make up for the debts. There also they are cheated. They are given one lakh as payment while it costs four lakhs.

In the state of Maharashtra, drought has hit farming. 6000 villages in 16 districts have been affected so far. Farmers and their families are moving to urban areas to make a living. They work as labourers making pavements in cities.700 crores have been given to the state by the central government to solve the water crisis; so that drinking water is provided to the people who need it. Problem is ecological –a disaster which cannot be solved by money or political power.Problems looming over India are bigger than what is easily visible. Even if the government provides food to the people by food schemes, only God has to give water to survive. Even if the government gives loans, the unpredictable results from harvests will make their life tougher.