Even if the farmers in Punjab are not using the rotavator machine to cut the straw in their fields and mulch it into the soil, the Adivasis in and around our farm are!!
This is a machine that is attached to a tractor and it cuts the agricultural biomass left after harvesting into tiny shreds and mixes it into the soil. It became popular initially in Punjab for cutting the rice stubble that was otherwise being burnt when the Government banned straw burning and provided subsidies to farmers to buy this and other machines that could provide an alternative to straw burning. However, it costs quite a lot to run these machines as the farmers in Punjab have a lot of land. Then the wheat sown in this mulched straw does not germinate properly and so the output is less.
The companies that make these machines have spread their use in the rest of the country to keep up their production in the face of falling demand in Punjab. And so these machines have reached Dewas district where our farm is. The Adivasis are using them with gusto after some farmers have bought these machines with the subsidy provided by the Government. They have very small farms of two or three acres at the most and so the cost of renting this machine is not much as they have to spend Rs 800 per hour and it takes an hour to mulch a one acre field. They have got round the problem of tardy germination by first sowing the wheat and gram seeds dry and then irrigating the farm. It appears this results in very good germination and also lesser weed growth. So the Adivasis have stopped burning the agricultural waste bio mass from the Kharif season harvest and are instead mulching it into the soil.
Thus, we see that once again the combined power of the market and government has led to the adoption of a farming practice. The first such instance was of course the adoption of Green Revolution chemical agriculture. Even though in this particular case the use of the rotavator for mulching waste agricultural biomass into the soil is a good practice, overall the continuing support for chemical agriculture is proving to be detrimental.
This is where we activists have lost out. We may shout ourselves hoarse that there should be a complete switch from chemical to organic or natural farming but we just do not have the power to sway the market and the Government. This power of the market and Government has grown continually over the years and so the effectiveness of activists has gone down with time. Indeed even among farmers' organisations there is little support for such a switch as they are mostly demanding that the subsidies for chemical agriculture and the support prices of the produce be increased.
This is further brought home by a recently published book that has fifteen case studies on social enterprises trying to make profits while paying the farmers a remunerative price. None of these enterprises have succeeded in doing either and are heavily dependent on grant support.
Its a Catch 22 situation. Without power we cannot counter the market and the Government whereas the process of getting power is a corrupting one that results in those getting to power losing sight of their goals. We are thus doomed to remaining powerless in the time of market absolutism.
The companies that make these machines have spread their use in the rest of the country to keep up their production in the face of falling demand in Punjab. And so these machines have reached Dewas district where our farm is. The Adivasis are using them with gusto after some farmers have bought these machines with the subsidy provided by the Government. They have very small farms of two or three acres at the most and so the cost of renting this machine is not much as they have to spend Rs 800 per hour and it takes an hour to mulch a one acre field. They have got round the problem of tardy germination by first sowing the wheat and gram seeds dry and then irrigating the farm. It appears this results in very good germination and also lesser weed growth. So the Adivasis have stopped burning the agricultural waste bio mass from the Kharif season harvest and are instead mulching it into the soil.
Thus, we see that once again the combined power of the market and government has led to the adoption of a farming practice. The first such instance was of course the adoption of Green Revolution chemical agriculture. Even though in this particular case the use of the rotavator for mulching waste agricultural biomass into the soil is a good practice, overall the continuing support for chemical agriculture is proving to be detrimental.
This is where we activists have lost out. We may shout ourselves hoarse that there should be a complete switch from chemical to organic or natural farming but we just do not have the power to sway the market and the Government. This power of the market and Government has grown continually over the years and so the effectiveness of activists has gone down with time. Indeed even among farmers' organisations there is little support for such a switch as they are mostly demanding that the subsidies for chemical agriculture and the support prices of the produce be increased.
This is further brought home by a recently published book that has fifteen case studies on social enterprises trying to make profits while paying the farmers a remunerative price. None of these enterprises have succeeded in doing either and are heavily dependent on grant support.
Its a Catch 22 situation. Without power we cannot counter the market and the Government whereas the process of getting power is a corrupting one that results in those getting to power losing sight of their goals. We are thus doomed to remaining powerless in the time of market absolutism.
No comments:
Post a Comment