The Hindu Business Line : Land to the builder?

"After selling my land to settle debts and conduct my daughter’s marriage, I am left with no land to farm, and no skills for any other work. Today, I clean drains for a living."

Manish Sharma

Grounded: With their land traded in for money offered by real estate companies, farmers such as these in Attur village are left with no means of livelihood.

Bharathi Ghanashyam

It is just past lunch hour and Attur village near Yelahanka (North Bangalore) wears a sleepy and deserted look. The small cluster of 20-25 dilapidated houses in the village is a contrast to palatial mansions in the surrounding Attur layout. An atmosphere of helplessness is palpable in the village. Raju, a landless farmer, points towards the layout and remarks, “This was all agricultural land till a few years ago. Most people in this village have sold their lands and some of the men now work as daily labour, while others do not work at all. The women go to work in neighbouring garment factories in order to feed their families.”

Just outside the village, by the side of the temple, some elders sit around chatting idly. One of them, who prefers to remain unnamed says, “After selling my land to settle debts and conduct my daughter’s marriage, I am left with no land to farm, and no skills for any other work. Today, I clean drains for a living.”

Attur and Ramgondhalli villages represent a trend of rapid urbanisation that is evident in the immediate surroundings of Bangalore. This situation is perhaps true of any city that is in a state of transition and where rural spaces are being briskly consumed for urban needs. Much of this land belonged to small farm holders, who had cultivated it partly for their own food security and partly for income generation. After selling their land they are left with no means of livelihood. They have slipped further below the poverty line, as a majority of them lack even basic literacy, rendering them incapable of making informed choices on ways to capitalise their assets.

H.M. Kempegowda, KAS, Head Quarter Assistant to Deputy Commissioner and Additional District Magistrate, Bangalore Rural District (the only person from the Government who agreed to meet the writer), views the situation with a degree of scepticism. “Farmers have not been coerced into selling their lands, and where land has been acquired, they have been adequately compensated. Some of them have become rich overnight by investing their money wisely. If there are others who have not, they have only themselves to blame. ”

Maybe he is right and maybe officialdom cannot be blamed for the decisions individual farmers have made about their personal assets. But looking at the larger picture, there are some disturbing indicators that farmers are not solely responsible for the plight they find themselves in.

First of these is a systematic deterioration in the farming environment, forcing farmers to opt out of farming and sell their land. Another factor is the failure of our education system, which has left them incapable of investing wisely as well as unfit for any other occupation. According to a recent National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) report, “at least 26 per cent of rural families in India have no literate member over the age of 15...”

Unsustainable farming

Nearly 70 per cent of farmers in India have small landholdings of less than 2 hectares. Traditionally, these farmers had followed integrated systems of farming that ensured nutrition and food security. They used seeds saved at the household level, and maximised on the fertility of the local soil and local agro-climatic conditions. The farming systems were not cash- or water-intensive and all inputs such as manure and other nutrients were also produced on the farm.

The situation changed, however, with the advent of the Green Revolution about 50 years ago. The Green Revolution (GR) technologies, which were supported by government policies, advocated the use of agro-chemicals, hybrid and genetically modified (GM) seeds, mechanisation and irrigation, all of which required heavy investments. While GR technologies initially helped the country achieve food sovereignty, they however did not ensure food-security for the individual as they were oriented towards feeding markets. In the absence of adequate support prices for their produce, farmers ironically have reached a situation where they are labouring under heavy debts.

Dr R.S. Deshpande, Head, Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Centre, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), says, “Farming has become unsustainable, as the cost of cultivation is increasing and the returns for farm products are not increasing at the same rate. The 59th round of the National Sample Survey on Situation Assessment of farmers indicated that about 40 per cent of the farmers in the country prefer vocations other than farming.”

Literacy levels have grown over 60 years, but largely among urban populations. In his essay ‘Social Infrastructure as Important as Physical Infrastructure’ published in India Development Report 2002, Kirit S. Parikh points out, “With a literacy rate of 65 per cent, we have 296 million illiterates, age seven years and above, as per the 2001 census. The number of illiterates today exceeds the population of the country of around 270 million at Independence, age seven and above. The largest number of the world’s illiterates is in India.”

When a farmer is forced to opt out of farming, it is inevitable that s/he finds an alternative means not only for mere subsistence but also for access to education, health care and other amenities of quality living. Abysmally low literacy levels make it impossible for them to be absorbed in professions other than low-paid labour in cities which, in turn, brings its own set of problems – including crime and sexual exploitation of women workers.

Inevitable urbanisation?

Urbanisation is poised to spread further into smaller cities, so what will be the fate of displaced farmers migrating to cities in search of jobs? The question here is not whether farmers voluntarily opted out of farming or not but whether they have options for survival thereafter. Can the State afford to have a huge rural population displaced, unemployed, or under-employed? We have had tribals displaced to make way for large dams. Are we going to have a similar group of displaced farmers who have made way for cities to grow? If that is inevitable, then it is time to wake up and proactively respond to the situation. It is time to equip rural populations with alternative livelihood options.

It is better still to acknowledge the need for agriculture as a means of livelihood for rural communities, as well as feeding the nation. Pushing farmers out of agriculture and into low-paid jobs or unemployment translates into injustice and disservice to the farming community as well as reduced food production. The debate now should not be about further acquisition of land from farmers but about investments in farming and greater recognition of the roles that farmers play in the country’s economic as well as social and environmental wellbeing.

bharathiksg@gmail.com

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