A FARMER'S PLIGHT

My grandfather was a farmer. I suppose that makes me a farmer too! I never understood the pains and problems of farming in all those years I used to accompany my grandpa to the fields. For me it was vacation time, I just romped around in the fields watching the workers ploughing, sowing, harvesting and bringing home the grains. It was fun to sit under the rush of water as the pump spewed the water out with such great force.

Then I went and built a farm house in a remote village. It took me a couple of years to get things going. Then I thought, Why not cultivate my own rice( my granpa's style)??? Easier said than done though. One has to get the paddy, sow enough on a plot which has water for the first two weeks. The farmers starts looking heavenwards, waiting for the first rains. It is usually at this time that the sowing is done. The field is ploughed and the seeds are sown. The poor farmer who is on subsistence farming uses the paddy that was grown the previous year ( that is all he can afford). Now comes the tricky part. If the rains stops and things go dry, he loses all the paddy and starts planting in the next rain!!!

After 25 days, the seedlings are transplanted. That is when a lot of water is needed, and everyone hopes and prays for rains. Then of course the crops come up and it is harvested and taken home in bullock carts .

So easy to write, so easy to imagine. But then when it comes to the real thing the problem is-

The rains are a real unknown in this. No one knows when the rains will arrive, when it will play truant. If the rains stop, then the poor farmers have no water in the fields and all the crop is gone. There is water in the well, but what will he do with all the power cuts he cannot even water his field.

Labour does not come cheap, sometimes it is not even available even if you are willing to pay for it. People just migrate to mumbai and other cities where it is just work from 9 to 6 and then no worries. Rain or no rain you get your salary. That is what is important.

Then there is always the lure of money. Now the agricultural lands go at an exorbitant rate. Everyone wants a piece of the housing pie. So the aim is to buy land, build houses and sell them. The farmer too is happy because he can sell away his land and make some money. No more uncertain income, no more hard labour for him.

Ultimately all of us lose out in the bargain The price of staple food goes up, so we worry. The inflation figure goes up, so the FM is worried. After some years, the farmer has finished off all the money he got for his land, so he is worried. Too much of worry all around.

However, my sympathies are with the poor farmer. He spends hours on end. He ploughs not only the field, but also ploughs in a lot of money into the crop, most of it borrowed perhaps from the rich Zamindar!!!! The rain fails ( Oh God where are you?) and then the Government fails him ( No electricity to run his pump, though the agricultural pump is free!). What does he get in return. Two square meals hoepefully. Some left over money with which to buy his other needs. And all this in a place where water is plenty because of the rains.

And then what happens to the farmers in places where there is little or no rainfall?

Anyway, this year, I did not get to see my seedlings being transplanted. It was done in my absence. HOwever I will be there for the harvesting. I suppose it will be like old days, enjoying the harvest, waiting for the grains to be threshed, sneezing as the dust of the paddy tickles my nose, and may be even jump on the haystacks!!!

And next time people, when you put in the morsel of food into your mouth, think of all those poor farmers, who have toiled for you . And please never ever waste the food on your plate. There are a lot of people who have worked for it. There are a lot of people who do not even get one meal a day!!!!