The Hindu Business Line : The Indian farmer ploughs on

MALL APPEAL: A reasonably good soya crop has put disposable income in the hands of farmers, who come to shop at ITC's choupal mall in Sehore, 38 km from Bhopal. — Rasheeda Bhagat

WITHOUT exception, farmers in the Bhopal/Sehore belt of Madhya Pradesh are angry with the UPA Government for the steep increase in the cost of diesel.

Mangelal Verma, the sanchalak (a service provider of sorts) of ITC's e-choupal at Kakarkheda, about 45 km from Bhopal, complains that the power supply situation in the State is so bad that in rural areas, there's electricity for hardly two hours a day, as against the six hours promised by the government. To keep the generators running for their water supply, farmers like Mangelal, who own 30 to 40 acres, have to bring diesel worth about Rs 3,000 in big drums.

When you express surprise that he needs to buy diesel worth a few thousand rupees at a time, he says with a smile, "Us sey kuch nahin hota, it disappears in no time and we can't go back to get diesel in the middle of work. But this hike in diesel will kill us all."

Some of the sanchalaks have landholding of 80 to 90 acres, as does Ghulab Singh of Bhavkhedi village, about 48 km from Bhopal. The choupal initiative has certainly helped farmers like him in two ways: One, through the commission they make from ITC, and two, through agri-research inputs on the weather, soil condition, pests, the right time to plough, etc.

And yet this Diwali was subdued, because erratic rainfall during the South-West monsoon had resulted in reduced yield of soyabean per acre. This year, farmers got an average of 2.5 to three quintals an acre, compared to four to five quintals last year.

Yet amid complaints of erratic power supply and higher diesel costs, what you marvel at is the optimism of the Indian farmer. Asked about the future, Bhavkhedi's Matidin Verma says with a flourish, "Badhiya hei (It's great.) ... God has been kind to us. Pani barsa, we sowed the land and even though the crop is not as good as last year, if there were no rains, kisan ke bacchey bhukey martey. Parmatma ki maya hei hum par. (Our children would have starved. God has been kind to us.)"

On his sanchalak, Ghulab Singh adds, "Some of the social initiatives taken by ITC, like the artificial insemination centre for cattle it has set up in our village will soon give us livestock that will yield 10 to 11 litres of milk a day. That will certainly enhance our income, because in these villages, most farmers have at least one milch animal."

So will his son who hopes to go to college — Ghulab Singh is a graduate — move to a town looking for a job after completing his education? "No, no, aisi koi gabhrahat nahin hei hamein. (We're not nervous that way.) I want him to study well but in the agricultural stream, so that he can increase the produce on our land."

Mangelal is a graduate, too, and surfs major newspapers through Web Duniya on his computer. He is a little more circumspect on his son's future. When asked if he will continue to be a farmer, he says, "Kisan tau woh hei hi, lekin iskey alava usekey naseeb mein kya likha hei, dekhna hei. (He is already a farmer, but apart from that what fate has in store for him remains to be seen.)"

He is a little more cautious about the future of farmers in India. "It's not going to be easy ... if governmental policies do not favour 80 per cent of the people, how will Indian villages progress? On the one hand, we are susceptible to natural disasters like floods and droughts, and on the other, no political establishment favours us. So it will be tough. And let us not forget that many Indian farmers, when in distress, are still borrowing money from the mahajan at exorbitant interest rates, like 36 and 60 per cent."

When you comment on the choupal initiative not having benefited women in Madhya Pradesh in any perceptible manner — all the sanchalaks one has met in Madhya Pradesh are men, the farmers one talked to are men, and it was always the sons who operate the computer and find the prices or other information being sought by the farmers if the sanchalaks are absent or busy — Dr P.S. Bhatnagar, former Director of the Soyabean Research Institute and now an advisor to ITC, says, "In a way it is true. Even though women in villages do a backbreaking job, in most rural homes they are not involved in taking decisions because it continues to be a male-dominated society."

But he does believe that an indirect benefit has accrued to women, with the soyabean popularisation in the Indian agro-system "revolutionising the rural economy. Earlier, because of poverty, women and girl children were more vulnerable to food deficiency."

You can't help asking if the farmers who grow soya, also known as sona (gold) in these parts, consume the protein-rich grain. Only some of them buy the soya choupal oil produced by ITC, and Bhatnagar agrees that the onus is on ITC and people like him to popularise soya intake in villages. "It has been proved by clinical tests that soya consumption reduces chronic diseases, particularly for women. If is found that if a girl child consumes soya from childhood, the chances of her getting breast cancer are reduced. The ideal thing would be to mix nine kg of wheat with one kg of soya while preparing aata. Actually ITC would do well to incorporate this in their Aashirwad brand of aata too," he adds.

To the crucial question on the choupal initiative improving farmers' income and lifestyle, S. Sivakumar, Chief Executive, Agri-Business, ITC, says, while it will take some more time for widespread benefits, "certainly businesses getting involved with farmers will improve their lot. Fortunately, in our four-year-old initiative, we have received total support from all governments, cutting across political parties."

(Concluded)

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

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