Agriculture & Food Management

In India, many small and marginal farmers face economic challenges due to various structural, financial & educational barriers. For instance, small land holdings, high input costs, market fluctuations, improper transportation and storage structures, extreme weather conditions, lack of government support, subsidies and policies, labor shortages are the main causes leading to economic instability. In remote villages, farmers are still reliable on informal sources of finance from landlords and middlemen who in turn take huge amounts of interest which farmers fail to pay and get caught in a vicious cycle of debt and, ultimately, they are forced to handover their land holdings to the credit provider if not paid money on time. Now let us understand, through an example (flow chart 01).

As shown above for example, Farmer A is more economically, educationally and structurally weaker than Farmer B. To address these challenges, we can help farmers to get rid of these barriers by adopting several practical measures. They are:

1. Better market availability: Improved infrastructure should be developed to reduce transportation and storage losses. Further checks should be made on fetching better market prices for the farmers so that they are not under loss.
2. Availability of formal credit sources: NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) is the apex body for financing loans to farmers in India. There is a need to set up more RRB’s (Regional Rural Banks) for providing credit facilities to small and marginal farmers.
3. Extension Services: Agricultural Extension workers should teach farmers about the new technologies, cultivation practices, pest & disease control, multiple cropping to enhance their profit.
4. Adoption of Organic Farming: Organic produce fetches higher prices in the market due to consumer preferences. They taste better & are environmentally friendly too. Organic farming is not dependent on synthetic inputs. Instead, on-farm generated inputs are used, which in turn reduces input cost and ultimately, cost of cultivation. If a farmer gets certified as an organic producer, he can access the international market for export purposes that pay more for organic produce.
5. Diversified Farming: Integrated Farming System(IFS) should be adopted by farmers. For example, incorporation of livestock with crops reduces the risk of crop failure during natural calamities or sudden crop loss.
6. Resource availability: Inputs like seeds and fertilizers should be available at fair prices so that even small and marginal farmers can purchase them.
7. Government subsidies and policies: Extension of subsidies from government can reduce the input and total cultivation costs. The government should provide schemes like KCC (Kisan Credit Card) and crop insurance for farmers to mitigate the loss during a disaster.