Authorities must experience problems to solve them

There is a lot of difference between seeing and experiencing.

“Unless one experiences a headache he will never know how it feels. Mere words or a visual can never convey it,” says Mr. Deepak Nanaji Barde a progressive farmer from Wardha.

“In Israel or Cuba, farmers in possession of even two acres live in luxury. But in India a 10 acre farmer wallows in poverty. Why?” he asks.

Mr. Deepak practices organic farming in his 2.5 acres and has developed 52 varieties of crop. It took him nearly seven years to establish a seed bank.

Helping many

Today the bank helps many local farmers to go beyond the much hyped cotton and soybean. In addition honeybee keeping also increased Mr. Deepak's seed production.

“Sticking to common crops such as cotton and soybean, aggravated by chemical fertilizers, paves the way for farmers' suicide. Chemical fertilizer gives you a high yield, but is not a solution. Production gradually tapers off and a stage is reached when it is abysmal,” he says.

Moving process

According to the farmer, natural farming is a practice from bottom to top, and using chemical fertilizers or insecticides is a process from top to bottom — both in terms of production and prosperity.

“Authorities are unaware of real problems of farmers. Ground realities are different. The Prime Minister's relief package to farmers or similar big schemes cannot solve our problem. Imposing some scheme without going to the root cause of problems does not fulfil the goal of development,” he says.

Small and marginal farmers rarely approach any bank for money, according to him.

No bank account

“Many of them do not even have a bank account,” he says, adding “the Agriculture Minister and officials must become sensitive to our needs, problems, and requirements, if they want to do something worthwhile for us.”

“Today in our country many foreign educated officials speak on ways to end farmers' debts, cause of production problems, and strategies to overcome them.

“In reality many of them do not interact with us to know things personally. They simply read some books, journals, and talk. But the real issue is far from what these people think or say,” says Mr. Deepak.

“An Agriculture minister who has never been hungry in his lifetime speaks about ending poverty. A foreign educated Finance minister speaks of making agriculture and farmers debt free.

“Do they think we are all fools? These people have not even once stepped into our villages nor spoken to farmers and yet come out with these theories,” he contends angrily.

Debt humiliation

“Does the Union Agriculture minister or at least the State minister know a farmer's mental condition when he silently bears the taunts and abuses thrown at him and his family by private moneylenders for a delay in repayment of interest for the loan taken?” he enquires.

And banks will come chasing the poor farmer who availed a Rs. 10,000 cattle loan if he does not repay on time.

The same bank officials will stand outside the gate of a local influential man who owes the bank several lakhs without saying anything. In some cases they even write off the dues.

But, for farmers it is a different treatment altogether, according to Mr. Deepak.

“How many officials are ready to step into the fields and talk to us?” he asks.

Attend function

At the most, they come for some ribbon cutting function, pose for photos and leave immediately in AC cars surrounded by their coterie of people.

In India after 67 years of independence, today, can a small farmer contact the Agriculture Minister to voice his grievance?

“Even Vice Chancellors of some Universities are far removed from the ground reality, remaining in the comfort of their rooms. They too are often inaccessible to us,” is his view.

For more details readers can contact Mr. Deepak Nanaji Barde, Bawapur taluka, Wardha , Phone : 9272610252 and Mr. Manish Kawade Project Associate MSSRF, emails: manishkawade45@gmail.com and waifad_vrc@rediffmail.com,

Phone: 07152-285043, Mobile : 09890795456.