The Hindu Business Line : Farmers in trouble

Kerala's suicide-prone farmers need more than mere financial and psychological succour - they need well-focused agrarian policies that will ensure reasonable returns and a secure livelihood.

Last week a Central panel of the Planning Commission toured the northern districts of Kerala, spending considerable time in Wayanad, the district famed for the Malabar pepper, among the world's best and most prized varieties. The team, however, was not out shopping for pepper, but was investigating a rather more pungent issue - the row of suicides by debt-stricken farmers.

After a meeting with the panel, the State Cooperative Minister, Mr G. Sudhakaran, said that as many as 1,570 farmers who had availed themselves of loans from cooperative societies had committed suicide. The total amount of loan taken was Rs 5.3 crore.

As with any emotive issue, these numbers are debatable and are likely to be hotly contested.

A BBC correspondent, for instance, has reported that in the last five years, more than 500 farmers have committed suicide in the Wayanad region. Whatever the numbers, the fact is now undeniable that several farmers in the State have taken their lives out of sheer desperation born out of an inability to eke out a living.

That this should happen in Kerala is all the more shocking and shameful. After all, Kerala has the best physical quality of life indicators among all the States of India. For a State that boasts such superior standards of living, it is unacceptable that there are pockets of "development exiles", the outliers in the Kerala model.

`AGRARIAN CRISIS'

Clearly, this problem, which some have characterised as nothing less than an "agrarian crisis," have to be addressed by the State Government. Even as all the glamour is showered on the software and Information Technology (IT) sector, the fact remains that agriculture is still fundamental to the Kerala economy, long propped up by the cash-crop sector.

The Cooperative Minister pointed to one source of the farmers' problem: "Cooperatives have failed to be people-friendly. Lending by private moneylenders at an exorbitant rate of interest to farmers is a social problem that has come to the notice of the Central panel too," the Minister told media persons after the panel's visit.

The loans of farmers who had committed suicide would be waived, according to the State Government. However, some sections have suggested going a step further - make available loans to farmers at four per cent interest. Another suggestion is to declare a moratorium on loan repayment for middle-level farmers.

In its manifesto for the recently concluded Legislative Assembly elections, the Left Democratic Front had vowed to uplift the agriculture sector and remove the neglect it had allegedly suffered in the last five years. For the northern regions of the State, specifically Wayanad, the government would do well to think of ways to shore up prices.

Four years ago, black pepper sold for $6 per kg, but today it sells at just about $1.50. In rupee terms, a quintal of pepper used to fetch Rs 26,000 in 2000 but the price is only around Rs 7,800 today. (The production cost of an acre of pepper is around Rs 50,000.)

The price has crashed because cheaper pepper is available - both from other areas of India as well as from imports from Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other South Asian countries. Farmers report a similar fate for coffee, which was priced at Rs 70 a kg four years ago, and is worth only Rs 16.50 a kg now.

Clearly, Kerala's farmers need more than mere financial and psychological succour - they need well-focused agrarian policies that will ensure reasonable returns and a secure livelihood.

The writer can be contacted at kgkumar@gmail.com