Farmers plight

Farmers in India have been given status of "Dharti Putr" and accorded a verbal high and reverend status.

These all nomenclature are not going to address the plight of farmers.

Problems are plenty and in root of these is our love and romance for poverty.
Poverty which is created, cultivated and nurtured.

Since independence various era have seen various problems and solution.
From era of US64 to finding a place in food surplus nation cannot be undermined.

An important question to ask is what after focusing on farmer's problem the sector is still facing issues, why in every 2-3 years demands of loan waivers keep rearing it's head.

Why these problems have not been addressed in totality.

In my view it's not every region or every farmer is in distress, we often sees stories in which some farmer has turned arid land into fertile land, how adopting organic farming technique has reduced cost and increased production.

Problems are multiple, in India total total geographical area is 329 million hectares. Out of this, 195 million hectare is gross cropped area and 141 million hectare is net sown area. On the other hand, net irrigated area is only 65.3 million hectares. Rest of the land is rain fed. 

Important is to understand difference between gross cropped and net sown area.

Gross Cropped Area (GCA) is the total area sown once as well as more than once in a particular year. When the crop is sown on a piece of land for twice, the area is counted twice in GCA. 

On the other hand, Net Sown Area is the area sown with crops but is counted only once.

This implies that on an average we are not even growing 1.5 crops pee year, irony is we have been taught that in Indian climatic condition we can grow 3 crops per year kharif, rabi and zaid.

It's understood that not all soil type can have 3 crops but at least the land can be utilized for 1.5.

12 March 2018