WHAT THE FARMERS NEED – PART – VI

AVAILABILITY OF CHEAP LABOUR:

One of the major requirements for every farmer is availability of cheap labour for removing weeds from the fields and during harvesting season... no wonder, cheap labour has become a distant dream for poor farmers while the rich ones can afford to spend much... the increasing wage in labour for field work increases the initial investment of a farmer, thereby reducing the margin of profits... but this one aspect cannot be overlooked or avoided in spite of all the modern inventions and discoveries.

How can the farmer really overcome this phenomenon to earn more from his hard work? In the earlier days of farming, in most of the villages farming was a collective effort, which enhanced the profit of every farmer. With globalization and shortage of employment opportunities, most of the villagers started migrating to cities to earn their livelihood leaving farming to those who dare not leave their villages... the city life, good money for labour jobs and a good saving were and are the main attraction that villagers find difficult to resist.... and yes, one cannot blame them also because in the ever increasing prices of every essential items or be it education of children or else health care... everything needs money today. The shortage of manpower in villages resulted directly on increase of labour wages even in villages... the demand and supply theory... and if weeds removing and harvesting are not done in time, the farmer loses more money... so, labours started their higher demands to encash the shortage and farmers have no option but to succumb as the years progressed. I don’t say increase in labour was or is a bad thing... after all every human has the right to earn more to better one’s standard of living.

Availability of cheap labour has become a distant dream in most of the agricultural regions of the nation and world all over... however, if villagers stand united, they can overcome this crisis in a much better way as collective one force... in fact, there are various cases of some great success story where in villagers have united to solve this crisis to benefit every single farmer of the particular village. United we stand, divided we fall – this simple old adage stands true even today in modern times, yet, we humans because of our greed and ego, forego to suffer simple theory to achieve better results. Since weeding and harvesting are seasonal activities, getting labour at the particular time becomes difficult... and the shortage results in increase in wages...

Agriculture in India is perhaps one of the most disorganized sectors and policy makers have never paid any attention on what the farmers need actually... all the policy makers are concerned about is – the cash crops – so they can make their money, let the farmers die, who really cares! Before the decades of the 90s and 00s... one had not heard of farmers’ suicide as a phenomenal agriculture crisis... so what has changed in these two decades’ time? The effect of globalization and with MNCs entering the sector, farmers have lost all their heritage and practice, which made the farmers’ community self reliant... earlier, every farmer used to grow food for themselves and the extra grains were sold in the market... nowadays, they grow cash crops and then the money they get are again lost in buying food at a higher prices from the market... so both ways, the farmers lose money to fill the coffers of the rich...

The farmers’ community should be taught collective efforts, which will reduce their initial investment but then... the system in villages are so very complex and the crisis of cheap labour is going to escalate further as the years will go on... with migration towards cities continuing...

.... to be continued...