Problems faced by Farmers in India

[editorialteam]

Every individual in every field face some or the other problems. These must be discussed and collectively some solution should be identified. At this forum we would like the farmers to come up with their problems and suggest some solution too!

 

[editorialteam]

Mr. Karsanbhai G Patel from Tripod Farms in Ankleshwar, Gujarat feels storage facilities in India is a major problem for farmers. He says -

"
Earlier there was a problem for some credit for farmers, now it is easy to some extent. So the credit is not a problem for the farmers but after production there is, because of not having adequate storage facility some perishable vegetables farmers cannot store it for longer times. So the storage facility and the transportation facilities both should be in the modern line. Actually second thing is the price, price of the produce because whenever the farmer product the price now so low so sometimes it is not remunerative business for farmers. Particularly in fruits this thing happens much because if I grow grain crops then I can store for a longer time but for the fruit crops it is not possible for me. So I have to dispose it off in any market at any price or any rate. So marketing is sometimes a problem. So if both problem solves I think farmer have a good day in future.

I am selling through the mandis, through the regulated markets I am selling through the APMC, the agriculture produce market committee in Gujarat. But here in this regular market also there is no say for farmers. Farmers have to stand up there, there is no facility available in the local market for grading and storing. Second thing in the present market also the dalals and wholesalers have their more say than farmers, that is the problem.

Solution: According to me the solution could be - In the regulated market, the local market government should enhance the facility for storage as well as grading at the market levels so that our produce can be go for export also. There should be a platform for farmers to decide his price on that.
"

 

[editorialteam]

Everyone in Indian Agriculture suffers due to storage problems.

One of the major challenges before the food processing industry in India, currently, is the lack of proper infrastructure. Only two percent of agricultural produce is estimated to be preserved for processing in India, currently, due to the lack of storage facilities. While in US, the about seventy percent of agricultural produce is processed at present. According to many industry experts, Indian food processing industry is a sleeping giant and government initiatives will definitely encourage the rapid growth in this sector.

While India has huge potential to become a leader in the global food processing sector, there are a number of challenges both in the forward and backward linkages in the country. New technologies to increase the perishing life of vegetables and fruits, cold storage systems and better packaging machinery are some of the key areas where the industry and government should chart out plans for improvement. Besides, the country should consider benchmarking food quality and safety standards to boost confidence of people on these products.

As told by-
Mr. T.Srinivasan,
MD, Jeevika Food Machinery Co

 

[ramu1970]

Problems faced by Indian farmers-

Where does the problem arise with Indian farmers? Land, irrigation water,availability of quality inputs in time,improved production technology,timely credit, cheap labour availability,risk management-Crop insurance,production of quality output,Post harvest management,Storage and premium price for the end product produced by the farmers.All these factors must be considered and taken into account.The farmers should cultivate in cluster mode and form Participatory Rural Appraisal group consisting of persons having experience in various aspect of cultivation.This group has high negotiation power and guide the member farmers suitably in their crop production activities.

The farmers of Dharmapuri and krishnagiri district in Tamilnadu have become rich in shortest time period how?
Technology,organized farmers movement- cluster,PRA approach,Bargaining power in the market.

The precision farming technology enhanced the production of vegetables,fruits, sugarcane etc.

The farmer who was getting yield of around 8-12 MT in brinjal is now harvesting about 100 MT per acre.he is producing quality produce with proper post harvest management.
This is an example .Other crops are also doing wonder there.Those who were poor farmers practicing subsistence farming till yesterday and living in poverty have now become rich farmers.Why they were poor till yesterday ? and how they could become rich now? Same government policy prevails.Why positive change?
Organised effort of the farmers.Suitably guided by the farmer group leader who in turn gain knowledge from Agricultural Universities,KVK. Market study and logistics. Everything here is planned and organised.
Where there is problem there also is solution.We much search. nothing will come to us without searching be it either material or knowledge.

Here is an example from Natural scientist- charless Darwin.
Survival of the fittest, struggle for existence and third one which is also quoted by darwin say, luck prevails yet.

A fruit fell down from the tree and 10 seeds came out of that fruit.
Out of 10 germinated seedling only 7 came up successful rest died- survival of the fittest.
Out of 7 germinated seedlings only 3 grew strong and healthy and the remaing 4 were weak- Struggle for existence.
When all the seeds were placed in a location with same level of nutrients, sunlight, moisture etc , only 3 could be successful-Here operates luck.
Nowhere is without problem. No one can solve others problems.Even government too cant solve individual farmers problems when the duty of the government is to make positive decision regarding legislation in favour of farming community through out India.

Hard work alone will not bring result to the farmers. Along with hard work right decision in right time, right technology, right crop etc in an organised way definitely will bring visible improvement in the farming community.

In the coming years, science might have made advancement in every other field and industries and made the lives of people sophisticated
" but certainly not without problem regarding availability of quality food in enough quantity.
One can earn like anything , donned in rich clothing and live in palace.But this will not keep people happy for ever.Future is years of the Farming community.

Ramu.T
Chennai

 

[editorialteam]

Dear Mr. Ramu T,

Your thoughts are very positive and encouraging!

Regards,
Shweta

 

[riaaz]

Dear Mr. Ramu T,

Your thoughts are motivatinge and encouraging

Regards,
Riaaz

 

[ramu1970]

Problem faced by farmers in India

Thanks Ms.Shweta and Riaaz !

Thanks for your complements. It is not my thought . it is a real fact . What I have here mentioned is a real fact pertaining to hi tech commercial agriculture happening in Dharmapuri and krishnagiri district of tamilnadu.

Also the Darwin theory is a time tested theory and hold good for past, present and future...

Shrewd farmers never fail...

we never learn real worth of ourselves and our potential in indian agriculture business until foreign retail outlets like walmart , eBay etc. land in India and teach
us by establishing and running successful retail outlets for agriculture produce ,
Hitherto what we have been thinking about agriculture as a loss making enterprise will turn really into a profit making enterprise ...

Wait and see in another 12-18 months period...

120 crore indian population is a huge market for foreigners who will make profit

So I request all of our Indian farming community to learn to cultivate scientifically so as to cultivate quality produce , get more yield per unit area, produce for market demand , plant high value crops...be prepared to compete with the foreign competitor ... earn more ..live like a king at least hereafter ...

Best opportunity is being presented before you in near future..

In this regard i request the Agricultureinformation.com forum to encourage healthy discussion on scientific cultivation of hi value crop so as to help our own farmers...

Regards,

Ramu

 

[editorialteam]

I am growing wheat and rice in my farms so I would like to share my experience with respect to the same crop. Government would fix the rates of all the agriculture produce every year. But unfortunately, till date after being in agriculture for so many years I have never got that fixed rates as decided for my produce any time.

Dalals would buy our produce at their own rates which they would fix on their own and even farmers are cheated at APMC markets. This is the major problem of almost all farmers in India. Hope this is addressed soon...

As told by-
Jignesh Parmar
Harsidhi Farms

 

[sid_nat]

Farmer groups

Good day All,

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Ramu. Indeed a collective group of farmers in the smallest of structure can bring about a mammoth change in their profits. There are various ways to reduce costs in terms of manures/ fertilizers applied in the initial stage alongwith an increase in their produce. Learning to know how is important. There are various NGOs and other government organisations who deliver lectures in rural areas in the same regard.

I also agree that storage of the produce needs to be improved. The farmer groups can dutch in some money to build a common storage space with segregations within for individual/collective use. That way an initial cost would make way for future gains.

 

[ramu1970]

Farmers problem in India

Good day All,

I couldn't agree more with Mr. Ramu. Indeed a collective group of farmers in the smallest of structure can bring about a mammoth change in their profits. There are various ways to reduce costs in terms of manures/ fertilizers applied in the initial stage alongwith an increase in their produce. Learning to know how is important. There are various NGOs and other government organisations who deliver lectures in rural areas in the same regard.

I also agree that storage of the produce needs to be improved. The farmer groups can dutch in some money to build a common storage space with segregations within for individual/collective use. That way an initial cost would make way for future gains.

Dear Mr.Sidharth Natarajan sir !

Thank you sir. The opening word of your good self " I could not agree more with Mr.Ramu.." implied that Mr.Sidhardth Natarajan has agreed more with Mr.Ramu.

I am not asking or demanding anyone to agree with Mr.Ramu. I am just presenting the fact. Clearly proven fact....

May be your good self do not agree with Darwin,s theory...

Or else your good self decline to accept the proved technology / phenomenal success achieved by the farmers of Dharmapuri & Krishnagiri district of Tamilnadu where in a marginal farmer hither to tilling his land for only subsistence , toiling and moiling in the soil could go by scorpio car...

Fact 0.5 ha of brinjal yielded 130 MT of brinjal thro' precision Farming technology...Technology introduced in that area by Tamilnadu Agricultural University in collaboration with a hi tech consultancy from Michigan state University , USA....

Or the chronic problem being faced by Indian farming community from before Indian independence till this moment is not acceptable to your good self..

Or it is of your opinion that every where Agriculture is going as a lucrative business without problems...

Or your good self think that those who deal in Agriculture business from within four walls as purely a business man really know the farmers problem than those NGOs and those government organisations who brought and implemented Green revolution during 1966-67 & produced surplus food grain to feed the mouths of alarmingly increasing Indian population...

Or your good self think that those business man who cheat farming community
by charging more than real worth of various agriculture inputs is superior in understanding real farmers problem than those NGOs and government organisation who teach the farmers at their door steps and guide them in their effort to excel in their agriculture production methods...

In India barring few well off farmers I am talking about poor farming fraternity whose life is yet at stake for various reasons...If am posting anything in this agriculture information.com forum means it is purely for those real farmers who I sincerely pray, can be benefited thro' my postings ...which is fully of practical experience happened with the farmers during one or other time...

I am not a business man here to make money ...like some one who boast of themselves as dealing in agriculture inputs as if serving poor farmers by selling Rs.5 worth materials many hundred times more...as a vested interest..

Anyhow I sincerely request your good self to seriously peruse my posting once again and pin point where exactly you differ ...

Any how I thank your good self for having responded to my postings...

Regards,

Ramu

 

[sid_nat]

Dear Mr.Sidharth Natarajan sir !

Thank you sir. The opening word of your good self " I could not agree more with Mr.Ramu.." implied that Mr.Sidhardth Natarajan has agreed more with Mr.Ramu.

I am not asking or demanding anyone to agree with Mr.Ramu. I am just presenting the fact. Clearly proven fact....

May be your good self do not agree with Darwin,s theory...

Or else your good self decline to accept the proved technology / phenomenal success achieved by the farmers of Dharmapuri & Krishnagiri district of Tamilnadu where in a marginal farmer hither to tilling his land for only subsistence , toiling and moiling in the soil could go by scorpio car...

Fact 0.5 ha of brinjal yielded 130 MT of brinjal thro' precision Farming technology...Technology introduced in that area by Tamilnadu Agricultural University in collaboration with a hi tech consultancy from Michigan state University , USA....

Or the chronic problem being faced by Indian farming community from before Indian independence till this moment is not acceptable to your good self..

Or it is of your opinion that every where Agriculture is going as a lucrative business without problems...

Or your good self think that those who deal in Agriculture business from within four walls as purely a business man really know the farmers problem than those NGOs and those government organisations who brought and implemented Green revolution during 1966-67 & produced surplus food grain to feed the mouths of alarmingly increasing Indian population...

Or your good self think that those business man who cheat farming community
by charging more than real worth of various agriculture inputs is superior in understanding real farmers problem than those NGOs and government organisation who teach the farmers at their door steps and guide them in their effort to excel in their agriculture production methods...

In India barring few well off farmers I am talking about poor farming fraternity whose life is yet at stake for various reasons...If am posting anything in this agriculture information.com forum means it is purely for those real farmers who I sincerely pray, can be benefited thro' my postings ...which is fully of practical experience happened with the farmers during one or other time...

I am not a business man here to make money ...like some one who boast of themselves as dealing in agriculture inputs as if serving poor farmers by selling Rs.5 worth materials many hundred times more...as a vested interest..

Anyhow I sincerely request your good self to seriously peruse my posting once again and pin point where exactly you differ ...

Any how I thank your good self for having responded to my postings...

Regards,

Ramu

Dear Mr. Ramu,

'I could not agree more with Mr. Ramu' implied the fact that i agree completely with you Sir and not against it!!

I am totally aware of the plight of the farmers in our country and I really respect the fact that you care for them so much. Please keep up the good work, and if any lectures of organic farming /sustainable farming is to be delivered in any of the villages you think might help the farmers, please let me know. We could arrange for a meeting on the same. We as a company do not charge exuberant rates to our products but in return advise them how they could convert their farming into a lucrative business.

Unfortunately you have got me completely wrong, and I apologize if I hurt your sentiments unknowingly .

Regards

 

[ramu1970]

Problems faced by Indian farmers-

Dear Mr. Ramu,

'I could not agree more with Mr. Ramu' implied the fact that i agree completely with you Sir and not against it!!

I am totally aware of the plight of the farmers in our country and I really respect the fact that you care for them so much. Please keep up the good work, and if any lectures of organic farming /sustainable farming is to be delivered in any of the villages you think might help the farmers, please let me know. We could arrange for a meeting on the same. We as a company do not charge exuberant rates to our products but in return advise them how they could convert their farming into a lucrative business.

Unfortunately you have got me completely wrong, and I apologize if I hurt your sentiments unknowingly .

Regards

Dear Mr.Natarajan sir !

Please dont mistake me sir. I hear people say that Mr.Sidharth Natarajan is a nice gentleman and doing a service more than selling inputs...

I doubted some vested interest ...

I never like hitting ..and being hit...

Hope you continue serving our sweet farming community as ever before

Regards,

Ramu

 

[editorialteam]

We are Gujarat based manufacturer of dehydrated onions and garlic like white, red, & pink like Flakes, Kibbled, Minced, Chopped , Granules. For our processing plants we buy all the raw material mainly from the APMC market and only little we take it from farmers directly.

As told by -
Mr. A.S Chhatariya, Managing Director
Chhatariya Foods Pvt. Ltd

 

[vishwa6]

main issue for farmers

Dear Sir,

This is just to highlight few issues faced by almost all farmers ( I am from Tamil nadu)

The first and foremost is the farmers are not getting the best for their hardwork they do for through out the year.
This can be increased only by increasing the cost of produce - produced by farmer.
Already there is no scope for reducing the input costs which are sky rocketing like Labourcost, Fertiliser costs, any cost for that matter.
Just a small example take the case of Sugarcane : The government is giving the purchase price of 2100 rs/ton
If you calculate the total cost incurred by the farmer for the whole 12 or 13 months for the cultivation it is definitely more per ton.
Also during harvesting the labour cost now is coming to around 700 to 800 rs per ton balance left is all spent for fertilsers, labour work day to day . so end of the day farmers are making losses.
Same goes for paddy cultivation also, which we were doing it for genrerations after generations, now last few years we faced heavy loss each cultivation period. so last 2 or 3 years we totally left cultivation of paddy.
Can you believe for the last one year we are buying rice from market which we never used to do for the last 400 years.
That is the truth, to conclude I want to put my suggestion, untill and unless the farmers do not get good value for their produce, we will not be able to convince our younger generations to do farming as occupation, every one will be going to cities and town in search of job, no matter what salary they get.

Sorry for writing such a long mail,

Thanks for your patience,

Regards,

Vishwa.

 

[editorialteam]

Negligible use of organic fertilizers by the farmers:
Even though farmers are well aware of the organic products they want to compete among themselves and be the best compared to the other farmers in production. Thinking of all the mis-happening may take still more years later and it may not affect them for a few generations.

The practice of using chemical fertilizer amongst the farming community still exists only because of their eagerness to earn more and more to survive in this modernized and costly living world. Nowadays a farmer, looking at all the comforts of life in the modern world does not want to make his next generation to take up farming.

As shared by-
Ch.Indirapriyadarshini, Technical Manager
Lotus Biotech

 

[agricose]

I would like to say the thanks to the editorial team for raising the very basis issue of Indian Agriculture. We talk a lot about the high tech issue, but we never discuss for the Basic problem of Farmers, hope that some valuable out put will come out an that will be beneficial for the farmers.


Problems faced by the farmers.......

I would like to divide the farmers problems in three major catagory.

Financial and Economical Problems,
Knowledge and Technical Problems,
Soil and water problems.
Cultivation Problems
Marketing Problems
Post Harvest Management problems
Political Problems

I will discuss on these problems one by one

 

[editorialteam]

We are the manufacturers of wheat and paddy seeds using organic process in Kashipur, Uttarakhand, India. We closely work with farmers and truly understand them. Here is our view on the problems faced by Indian farmers -

Problem - Farmers not able to use organic manure
Reason - See, if a farmer has to undertake commercial farming, he will have to use chemical fertilizer because organic fertilizer is not available in that quantity. Smaller farmer, who has 1 or half acre of land and 2-3 animals, may use organic manure and save money on chemical fertilizer. But the big farmer who has to grow wheat, sugarcane etc. in 50 or 100 acres will not get enough organic fertilizer in that quantity. Ultimately, he will have to go chemical fertilizer.

Problem - Water level going down day by day.
Solution - After the Green Revolution, we now need a Water Revolution in our country. For that, farmers should conserve water, like if they have some uneven area, they can store water in it. As I told you before, if they get their farm land leveled, they can save water. They can also save on the irrigation cost. If they don't do this, they will face problems in the coming days because they won't get the water in the required quantity and if they won't get the water, the crop won't be good. Second, our cultivated land is decreasing and population is increasing. If we have to increase our productivity in decreasing cultivated land, the farmer will need to use high yield seeds to give good produce. We want every person in our country to have rice and wheat to eat in the coming years. So, the research departments of the universities will need to educate the farmers, whether personally or via media that they should use this kind of seeds to get better yield.

Problem - Farmers have uneven farmland
Solution - First of all, the farmers with uneven farms should use laser leveler and get their farmland evened out. This can save them a lot of fertilizer and water and also increase their productivity by 10 to 15 percent. Second, they use hero or batela to plough the farm, which consumes a lot of diesel and increases the cost. They should use rotowetter instead, which uses less diesel and reduces the cost. We also ask the farmers to make a small pit and gather all the bio-mass in it to make fertilizer. This maintains the fertility of the soil. These 3-4 things can greatly benefit the farmers.

I would like to conclude sharing one experience - There used to be a director in Pusa, Dr. S I Patil, who is now an agriculture advisor in Karnataka Govt. He told us that we should change our line of action. He told us to transfer technology along with seeds to the farmer. Be it agriculture technology or veterinary science technology. So for that we also signed TOT programs with RBI Bareily and also with Pusa University. RBI told us how farmers can improve their crop, prevent diseases. We counseled the farmers under TOT program

Inputs given by -
Mr. Sandeep Goel, Director
Astha Beej Pvt Ltd

 

[editorialteam]

Mainly we face labor problem for all of the crops. While rubber and sandalwood need minimum labor, paddy and sugarcane need more labor. In our area almost all farmers are small farmers having agricultural land of about 1 to 15 acres and machines are not available for cultivation and harvesting. We hire harvester by paying huge prices ranging from Rs 1800 to Rs 2200 per hour. Most of the harvesters are from Tamilnadu. Locally nobody owns it and even Government Agricultural office is not having such machines for the farming. APMC is in Kundapura but they do not act properly by purchasing paddy at reasonable rate. Sometime they purchase a few kinds of paddy only. Then the farmers are forced to sell the paddy in open marker for fewer prices. There is good irrigation facility in our area. Government started irrigation channels (Varahi Project) by spending about Rs. 350 crore during last 15 years and still work in going on as only a few kilometers of channel is dug in highly disorderly manner (even not connected to each one so that they may start partial irrigation to some areas) and we have no hope of getting water from this project in our life time. We have only one Sugar factory nearby which was shut down 10 years back. Every Government and politicians are saying every year “our will start the factory next year” and which next year, we don’t know. Then there are natural calamities, such as drought, rain flow, flood, forest animals, mass destruction due to insects and so many problems we face every season.

Nowadays farmers are not interested in farming due to lack of modern facilities at their villages for cultivation up to the level of harvesting. Subsidies are very minimal, and prices of pesticides and fertilizers are so high, apart from labor scarcity. You believe it or not, in our area agricultural labor costs per day are more than Rs 350.00 because everybody goes to other works and are getting Rs 350 to Rs 500 per day, but is it affordable to farmer? No coordination among village farmers. Government should safeguard the farmers by implementing crop insurance and make honest efforts to change farmer’s problems. I request all the agricultural land holders with good financial background to do something to agriculture, not for making money, but to enjoy the farming, and do something to guide and educate the farmers in your area. Rotary District 3180 has adopted one of its District programs, which will be beneficial to farming and in educating the farmers.

Shared by -
Ganesh Shetty Molahally - Farm Owner
Gaurav Farm

 

[editorialteam]

Dear Mr. Ganesh Shetty,

Are you aware of the subsidies available from government for farming? Do you make use of the same? If yes, are the procedures easy to follow or too difficult and lengthy?

Regards,
Shweta - Editorial Team

 

[editorialteam]

Dear Mr. Ganesh Shetty,

Are you aware of the subsidies available from government for farming? Do you make use of the same? If yes, are the procedures easy to follow or too difficult and lengthy?

Regards,
Shweta - Editorial Team

There is no subsidy for the paddy and sugarcane growers. Rubber is provided with fencing subsidy, drip irrigation subsidy and planting subsidies from Rubber board. Application is filed but Rubber board is not sure about the sanction due to delay in filing application. Earlier growing sandalwood was prohibited but 2 years back government has taken steps to grow sandalwood in Karnataka. Nobody bothers to cultivate sandalwood plantation because of its survival and one can get the yield only after 15 years. If anybody is having vacant land, water, money and patience, then they can try for the best.

Shares -
Ganesh Shetty Molahally - Farm Owner
Gaurav Farm