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Globalisation knocking at the door |
| Addoor Krishna Rao | |
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Globalisation has entered India in a big way. Impact of this is felt in various sectors including agriculture. Result - frequent fluctuations in the demand and price of local produces. Farmer - backbone of our country is losing faith in agriculture. "Our produces' future is in our hands, not anyone else's. If we understand this bright future awaits for us." Development critic and CAAM team member Addoor Krishna Rao examines the issue of globalisation through the experiences of his farmer father.
Our village Addoor is 20 KM away from Mangalore, situated on the banks of Gurpur river. I have my roots there with my farmer father, Mr. Addoor Shivashanakar Rao living there. A man who has seen a lot of ups and downs during his life span of 80 years.
Reflecting on the state of agriculture in South Kanara during the fifties he says, "Most of the farmers there were growing paddy. During those days the system of tenancy or rent was vogue. For most of the tenant farmers, what remained for them after paying rent to the landlord was hardly sufficient for their consumption during the rainy season. There was rarely a coconut garden - just some 10 - 20 coconut trees near their houses. The farmers grew vegetables in their gardens near their houses. Thus they had their own coconuts and vegetables for their consumption. They did not go to the market for them. Besides, most of the farmers used to rear cattle - so milk for their use and dung as fertiliser for their fields were available."
Things have changed a great deal in the last 50 years, he sighs. Now the paddy growing area is shrinking year by year. As a result, we have to depend for our needs of rice and vegetables on other districts. Whatever the farmers grow, be it paddy, coconut, areca or banana, they have to depend on chemical fertilisers and pesticides for the cultivation.
Following expert suggestions
Dedicating himself to a life of farming, my father enthusiastically conducted newer experiments in agriculture. When the Agriculture Department supplied seeds of new paddy varieties like Taichung, IR-8 etc., he was one of the first to grew them. When the officials of Agriculture Department suggested the adoption of the Japanese method of paddy cultivation with its line planting, he followed it. He followed their instructions to apply chemical fertilisers like Urea and Suphala to improve crop growth and increase the yields. When the officers of the Agriculture Department and agricultural scientists suggested the spraying of pesticides for the control of pests such as Mealy Bug and Earhead Bug on paddy and Paddy Blast disease, he believed them and followed their instructions.
In spite of following all these measures profit from paddy cultivation became less and less year to year, finally resulting in loss. He continued so for several years. At last, when it became difficult to get labourers for work he decided to stop cultivating paddy.
Experiments and results
My father's fields were the experimental plots for carrying out many experiments in alternate cropping mooted by the Agriculture Department. "Grow groundnuts. It grows well in the coastal soil," said the experts and he believed them. Instead of planting paddy in the riverside fields he sowed groundnuts. His was the only groundnut plot in the whole village. Ants invaded the whole field and ate up groundnut seeds. Thus the experiment on groundnut came to an end.
Some years later, there was another suggestion to my father by the Agriculture Department officials, "Grow maize. It is a crop which is suitable to the climate here, after the monsoon." My father believed this too. In the fields he raised hybrid maize instead of paddy. When cobs began to show up in the tall plants, parrots did their job perfectly. Hundreds of parrots settling on the field gobbled up the grains from the cobs till what was left in the field were just two baskets of maize cobs. This curtailed his interest in maize cultivation.
When the joint family properties were partitioned, the Mulipadpu came to my father's share. The plot where hill grass ('Muli') grew consisted of laterite soil. He decided to plant coconut seedlings there and in 1961, he dug a well 25 feet deep. As the soil was hard digging pits to plant coconut was difficult. The growth of coconut plants was naturally slow in the infertile soil. In the plot, the growth of other plants was also slow. The Neelam mango seedling that was planted in that soil yielded fruits in the 16th year!
In the course of time coconut trees began to yield. But the yield was not much. Hence the income too was not much. Yet, since a regular income was assured, he adjusted his expenses accordingly.
Water scarcity
Scarcity of water for the coconut garden became a threatening problem in 1995. By this time, a number of new houses and new wells were constructed in the surroundings. As a result water in our well began to dry up in the beginning of April itself. For that he spent Rs.10,000 and deepened the well a further five feet. When the problem of water scarcity was repeated in the following year he spent another Rs.8,000 to fit PVC pipes for irrigation.
In the subsequent year too the water problem was serious. Getting a loan from the bank he installed drip irrigation system at a cost of Rs.22,000. After that newer problems arose. Red ants punctured the micro tubes of the drip outfit. The lateral tubes were bitten by rats. One day my father had been to Mangalore. There was disaster when he returned. The labourer who was irrigating through the drip outfit did not notice the draining of water in the well. As a result the pump sucked in the bottom level water along with silt. It filled up the micro tubes, and when it got dried in the sun, it became like concrete. That was the end of the drip irrigation.
The coconut trees began to dry up as a result of scarcity of irrigation. Next year there was water scarcity again. He brought in once again the installers of the drip outfit to get the drip system repaired. They changed over half of the micro tubes and fitted more PVC pipes to the old drip outfit. 'The old filter costing Rs.800 is defective. This new German filter costing just Rs. 2,500 is letter,' they said and fitted that too.
After all these changes what happened was a large amount of money was spent but water did not flow through the drip outfit. That was because water level touched the bottom of the well in the first week of April itself. At last my father decided to deepen the well still further and lower concrete rings. But that year it could not be done, eventhough the rings were ready, as rains set in the third week of May itself. (Rains sually starts in the first week of June every year.)
At last, towards the end of summer in 2000, ten concrete rings were lowered and the well deepened a further 10 feet. It cost Rs. 15,000. Now, even though there is water inside rings, the water is not enough to irrigate the whole coconut garden.
Slump in prices
Now, after all this a fresh problem cropped up. Price in the market for coconut began to slump. What fetched Rs.5 to 6 a nut in the market before, had no buyers even at Rs. 3 per nut.
He waited till October 2000 with the forlorn hope that the prices for coconut would improve. Then one day he phoned up the South Kanara Agriculture Cooperative Marketing Society (SKACMS) and enquired the market price for coconut. They asked how many nuts he had. My father replied, '2000 nuts.' 'We will give you a good rate. Bring it today itself, 'they assured. The society staff very well knew that once a farmer brought the coconut to the market, he will not take it back. Believing their words he took the 2000 coconuts to Mangalore. He was dumbfounded upon hearing the rate prevailing. It looked as if a coconut would not even fetch him Rs. 3 a nut. Finding no other way, he dumped the nuts at the society, asked them to sell them at the best price and returned to Addoor.
My father was shocked the next day at the rates he got for his coconuts. He got just Rs. 3,000 for his 2000 nuts. (After deducting transportation charges.) That means just Rs 1.5 per nut. At this rate managing a coconut garden is impossible (because it was calculated that production cost per nut would exceed Rs. 8). All of a sudden coconut production became a loss making occupation from what has been a profitable one.
Problem and solution
One day my father phoned me up and conveyed me the news. His voice was weak and tone was painful. His belief in agriculture was shaken.
In future it would be difficult to meet the expenses connected with the house, he felt. 'How to respond?' I thought for a moment. I had to strengthen his faith in agriculture as an occupation. I told him, "What has happened now! The coconut trees are there as they are, yielding coconuts. It is not possible to cut them down just because we don't get proper prices in one year. Trees are producing for you in the last thirty years. Hence, we have to put up with the loss incurred this year and manage the coconut garden." He sighed in relief upon hearing my words.
Import of alternate oils to India in place of coconut oil has begun due to gobalisation. As a result, the demand for coconut oil has come down and prices of coconut have slumped. Farmers who depend on agriculture should not lose heart because the prices of what they have grown have dropped. They must retain their hope that it would definitely improve.
Now the farmer should start introspect with the above instances in mind. Golden rules for improving standard of life of the farmer can be found by churning my father's fifty years of farming experience. It looks as if incurring unnecessary expenses for the garden and irrigation was not proper. From this evaluation, two rules that enable us to face the present difficult situation emerge:
1. Minimise the expenses for farming and personal expenses (moving to organic farming, not to incur unnecessary expenses and other such steps are included in the rule).
2. Increase income by resorting to two or three crops instead of depending on single crop. Following these guidelines is within the control of farmers. This realisation is the key to face the impact of globalisation which is not within our control. Isn't it so?
In these days when globalisation has reached doorsteps of the farmer, I often recall what my father used to express, "Farming is not for a person who wants to make money. Farming is only to lead a life of contentment. That is all."
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