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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Rural distress: Droughts in food bowl likely to push farmers to cities -Komal Amit Gera

Rural distress: Droughts in food bowl likely to push farmers to cities -Komal Amit Gera

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published Published on Nov 26, 2015   modified Modified on Nov 26, 2015
-Business Standard

Drop in wheat acreage evidence of stress in agriculture

Chandigarh:
Two consecutive drought years have led to rural distress in the food bowl states. At some places, this has become even worse due to the attack of the white pest.

Sahiblal Shukla, a farmer in Chitrakut in Uttar Pradesh , who has spent his lifetime in ploughing fields says that, “farmers in Bundelkhand area of the state may soon pack their bags and move to towns in search of livelihood. The two successive drought years have left little water in the reservoirs and that may not be sufficient for three to four irrigations. The moisture content in the soil has also depleted due to less rain and this has also compressed the sowing area”.

Akhlesh Singh of Banda also mirrored the same anxieties as schemes like MNREGA can barely provide for a family during such precarious situations and movement to towns remains the only option with them.

There were several cases of farmers’ suicide in northern states in the current year. Such incidents may rise and a slow progress of rabi sowing is an indication of the repercussions of the widespread drought.

The officials in the Agriculture Department of the state approve of the farm distress. The Rabi sowing was completed in 47% of the area till this time last year and this year it could cover only 25% of the area, they informed.

The state has 84% wheat sowing area under irrigation and this leaves over 1.5 million hectare non-irrigated.

Pulses can be an alternative rabi crop as it needs less water than wheat but lower yields in the last two years due to droughts has reduced the availability of seeds for sowing. If all farmers jump into sowing pulses the demand cannot be met, told a senior official.

Uttar Pradesh has the largest area under wheat. It was 30.3 million hectare in the Rabi Marketing Season of 2013-14. This dwindled to 20.05 million hectare in 2014-15. If sufficient rain does not occur in the month of December farmers will have to sit idle, official added.

The Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Department is gearing up for the challenge and is projecting a 5 lakh hectare to 6 lakh hectare shortfall in area under wheat in the state this year. Last year about 6 million hectare was covered under wheat and this year it may not cross 5.4 million hectare to 5.5 million hectare. The state government has decided to offer farm loan at zero interest but how many farmers would be ready to take the loan as the risk of repayment of principal may also leave them indebted-  is anybody’s guess.

Ajayvir Jakhar, Chairman of Bhartiya Krishak Samaj finds the situation precarious in the pockets totally dependent on rain and expects up to 20% decrease in acreage in rainfed areas.

The acreage in Punjab and Haryana may not vary much as the farmers here manage to irrigate the field at any cost. But the rural indebtedness is high in these states as the debt amount escalates every year with the cost of cultivation increasing at a higher rate than the return on investment.

Punjab farmers will have to resort to deeper bore wells and submersible pumps with more horse power to meet the deficit of water. This may cost up to Rs 1 lakh for an average field, tells Bhupinder Singh Mann, President of Bhartiya Kisan Union.

“Saving the crop is Punjab farmers’ priority even if he burns his fingers and is forced to commit suicide later”, he added.

The lower acreage is no threat to the food security of nation as the country is sitting on 29.9 million tonne of buffer wheat. With a monthly demand of approximate 2 million tonne, the carry forward stock for kharif 2015-16 would be close to 20 million tonne.

The Food Corporation of India has an estimated target of 25 million tonne of wheat.

For policy makers this is the time to go beyond the statistics on food grain stocks. The industrial growth has also been slow, so urban migration may not be the panacea for rural distress. Job creation in the rural areas and integrated farming can bring some hope for languishing rural economy.

Business Standard, 24 November, 2015, http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/rural-distress-consecutive-droughts-likely-to-push-farmers-out-of-their-villages-115112400297_1.html


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