Farmers are not able to get maximum benefit from the cultivation because of lack of awareness, and negligence from the government.
The government has made the policies, but the staff recruited by the government is not doing their job properly. What can the government or a local farmer can do. It is the responsibility of educated people to reach out to the farmer and educate them. If not regularly at least once in a year the farmer should be educated of the available provisions. But now, what is happening is that if a farmer who produces a good amount of any vegetable or other things and goes to the market to sell, gets some help from these government staff. If the farmer goes to their office to get some treatment for their crop affected by insects, they will suggest an insecticide and discourage the farmer to cultivate that crop. Instead they will suggest to cultivate something else. So instead of helping the farmer to understand his mistake, and encourage him to follow best practices, the government staff discourages him. I will give you a small example. I wanted to produce export quality banana, mango, etc. So I went to the local agricultural office and asked them for some help. Instead of telling me how to proceed with my plan, they asked me not to go ahead with my plan and that I will suffer lose in that. They asked me stick with the crops that can be sold in local market itself like green chilies. That’s their mentality.
Another problem is that though agricultural universities are there, but they don’t come for their research projects like the do in Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. These universities need some land to do their research work, so they will have a tie-up with local farmer to do their projects. So, in my area, these researches are not happening, the government is also not coming forward to educate the farmer. Hence farmer is not aware of the policies and procedures to get the maximum benefit from their yield.
Government has also declared some subsidies to the farmer. If a customer wants to buy a water pump, he can claim for the subsidy. A farmer can also take loans from the bank. There is Kisan credit card also available for their benefit. But the local farmer is not aware of all these facilities. Even the educated people also do not come forward to educate them, so there is a huge communication gap. Only during elections, these politicians come to villages and tell farmers about all the facilities available to gather votes.
Maximum problem is because of dry lands. Now also, a farmer depends on rivers and canals for water or rain. So the whole year they depend on only these sources, so there is a severe water shortage. If they buy a water pump, they are eligible to get subsidy from the government. But the farmer does not know that.
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Mr. Ashok Sahu
Rice Farmer in Orissa
