“The irony in Indian agriculture today is that the government is too busy with other issues instead of devoting some time to sorting out agriculture related issues and farmers' problems.
Farmers are now puppets in the hands of the agriculture departments that are often corrupt and poor farmers cannot be greasing the palms of the officers for their legitimate rights,” says a frustrated M.C. Rao, who owns a 20 acre farm at Venkatapuram village, Tidigam Panchayat, Kasinagar block, Ganjam district, Orissa.
At a time when most farmers are lining up for government subsidies, Mr. Rao does not think the practice is prudent.
Brokers involvement
“It is a sheer waste of time. Even for getting the subsidy one needs to pay a commission to the government official in the area. Sometimes brokers are also involved to collect the amount and hand it over to the concerned official who clears your subsidy.”
“Personally I also applied for a subsidy under the drip irrigation scheme for installing drip irrigation, from a private company.
“The company officials took keen interest in installing the drip lines till they got the subsidy amount and disappeared after that. Today for maintaining the irrigation lines my numerous calls to the company do not get any response. Several farmers in my region face the same bitter experience,” he says.
The area being a predominantly paddy growing area, Mr. Rao wanted to try growing some other crops and started commercial cultivation of turmeric and pineapple recently.
The reason being these two crops grow quite well in tropical climates and fetch good money, according to him.
Other crops
In addition, cashew, mango, and guava are also grown. “The general concept that any fruit crop can fetch a good price is not true. One needs to be careful in selection and management of the fruit trees,” he cautions.
“People living abroad invest their money back home in buying some land and think that they can plant some mango, guava or lemon trees, and appoint labourers in their absence to manage them.
Unwise decision
It is totally unwise as remote control does not work in agriculture. While looking from a distance, it may seem promising, in reality expectation and experiences are far apart.
Careful analyses, interaction with similar farmers, studying the market pattern and getting the correct marketing contacts are essential for a good income,” he cautions. He claims that pineapple and turmeric grow and yield well when planted under the shade of big trees.
Greenhouse effect
“The shade creates a greenhouse effect on the crops growing under it and prevents faster evaporation of soil moisture. The produce grown under the tree shade is bigger in size and more in quantity. This is being proved in my farm and visitors can personally check for themselves”
His lament is that unlike in Punjab or Haryana, the market in Ganjam district is limited, and for perishable commodities. The farmers are totally at the mercy of the buyers.
“We read practically everyday in the newspapers that tonnes of food grains are rotting in different parts of the country due to lack of proper storage facility.
No effort
There appear to be several commissions and committees on agriculture in our country, but no concerted effort seem to be made to achieve self sufficiency in food,” he says.
Another interesting feature about his farm is that Mr. Rao grows black turmeric. Black turmeric variety is usually grown in the Himalayas and interior ghat regions of Orissa.
Black turmeric is a rare species and visitors from as far as Hyderabad visit his farm regularly to gather a few handfuls of this turmeric.
For more details readers can contact Mr. M.C. Rao can be reached at Venkatapuram village, Tidigam Panchayat, Kasinagar block, Ganjam district, Orissa, phone: 08946-211026 (res) and mobile: 08895962391.
