agriculture 2007

8/2/2019 Agriculture 2007

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AGRICULTURE: FARMERS SUICIDE - 2007(January to December, 2007)

Compiled ByK. SAMU

Human Rights Documentation,Indian Social Institute, Lodi Road, New Delhi, India

Two of family commit suicide after officials auction their land (20)LUCKNOW: : Two members of a family committed suicide after revenue department officialswrongly auctioned eight bighas of their agricultural land for non-payment of a loan. KamleshSingh, son of Sharda Singh, and his cousin brother Suneel committed suicide in the first week ofDecember in Kaimi Bhood village, Lakhimpur district. Sharda Singh had taken loan of Rs 43,000in 2002 from a nationalised bank for starting a dairy business. He returned Rs 19,800 in Marchand Rs 10,000 in July 2007. Singh promised the bank he would pay the balance in six months.But on October 23, his land was auctioned without any notice. Reportedly, revenue departmentofficials did not even visit the village, which is mandatory for the auction. The village head RakeshSingh said no auction actually took place but the land was shown as auctioned to Jagdish Singh,a farmer. Witnesses, whose signatures are shown on auction papers, deny that they were

present. (Indian Express 2/1/08)

Farmers issues: UNPA keen on Left support (20)NEW DELHI: Ahead of the launch of a series of protest meetings across the country on thegovernments apathetic attitude towards the plight of farmers, the United National Progressive

Alliance (UNPA) on Monday met the Left party leaders in the hope of enlisting their support.Though the UNPA leaders said their meetings with Communist Party of India (Marxist) generalsecretary Prakash Karat and his CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan were routine courtesy calls,alliance convener N. Chandrababu Naidu did admit that they were looking for the Left partiessupport in the effort to mobilise opinion against the government on issues relating to theagriculture sector. Briefing mediapersons, the UNPA convener said large meetings were beingplanned in Aurangabad, Mumbai, Jharkhand and Haryana before the next session of Parliament.Thereafter, the UNPA will hold a massive dharna in here during the pre-recess budget session

of Parliament. The UNPA also criticised the government for imposing the Presidents rule inNagaland and said it was done with an eye on rigging the upcoming elections. All Raj Bhavansare being turned into Gandhi Bhavans, Mr. Naidu said. UNPA chairman Mulayam Singh andalliance spokesman Amar Singh focussed on Uttar Pradesh and how Chief Minister Mayawatiwas using the bogey of development to force farmers to hand over fertile land to contractors shefavoured. The Samajwadi Party would oppose the Noida-Ballia Ganga Expressway Project toothand nail since farmers were being pushed out. Prior to addressing the press conference, theUNPA leaders met the Chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices, T. Haque,and urged him to liberally fix the minimum support price for various crops in view of theprecarious situation facing the farm sector. Though the entire UNPA leadership was present atthe press conference, they fielded no political questions. As mediapersons sought to ask theformer Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference leader, Farooq Abdullah,whether he had joined the UNPA, and draw a comment from the alliance on reports of some of its

partners allegedly hobnobbing with the Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr. Amar Singh quickly declaredthe press conference closed. (The Hindu 8/1/08)

Vidarbha farmers still in the red (20)YAVATMAL (Maharashtra): As the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena set out to woovoters in suicide-hit Vidarbha, the farmers there continue to battle for survival even after the initialpromise of the Prime Ministers package. BJP president Rajnath Singh completed a whirlwindtwo-day yatra on Friday in Vidarbha while the Shiv Sena held a farmers rally at Shegaon onSaturday. In Bothbodan village, about 12 km from here, 18 farmers committed suicide in the last18 months, according to Anup Chavan, former sarpanch. It had the highest number of suicides for


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any village in the area, he added and 11 of them followed crop failure. There were 400 families,most of them belonging to the Banjara community. The entire village was in debt. All of us aredefaulters, said Kashinath Rathod. The Prime Ministers package benefited 11 persons in thevillage. Tukaram Rathod, who owned five acres, said: I was among those selected and thegovernment gave me a diesel pump. I have a well so I thought the pump would help me.However, he ended up paying Rs. 4,000 as a contribution to the cost of the pump. It did notwork even once. I started it and the whole thing burnt out, said a dejected Tukaram. Under thepackage, he said he was to be given a diesel pump worth Rs. 10,000 and pipes worth Rs. 5,000.Tukaram took a loan to contribute for the pump. The official said he would not give me the pumpif I did not pay Rs. 4,000, he said. His woes did not end there. In 2007, he bought 32 bags of Btcotton seeds on loan from the Krishi Kendra at Kini, a nearby village. Not a single seedgerminated, he said. The seeds cost Rs. 17,000 but I had no luck. I planted it on 15 acres whichI took on rent but I got no crop, he said. He later learnt these were fake seeds. Now the KrishiKendra, a private seeds and fertilizer shop, was harassing him for money everyday. I told them ifI am alive, I will repay you the amount for seeds and fertilizers, said Tukaram. I am on the brinkof committing suicide. I have a debt of Rs. 80,000 now and I dont know how to repay it, speciallyafter my entire crop failed in 2007. The Kendra charges an interest of 5 per cent per month. In2006, Tukarams 60-year-old mother Parvati killed herself. She was one of the three women fromBothbodan who committed suicide. We got no compensation as the land was not in her name.So many people came from Delhi even and promised me some money but nothing happened,

said Tukaram. Parvati took loans to get her two daughters married and for her crop but she couldnot repay them in time. . (The Hindu 13/1/08)

Suicides down 15 pc in Vidarbha cotton belt (20)NAGPUR, JANUARY 16: The six cotton-producing districts of Vidarbha begin the New Year withthe good news that suicides by farmers are now down by 15 per cent. From a record 1,448 in2006, the number came down to 1,230 in 2007, according to the official state governmentwebsite. The Indian Express had reported in September that the suicide rate was droppingslowly, thanks to a good monsoon and state and central government packages worth Rs 4,800crore. Markets provided further relief in the latter half of the year, with cotton being purchased atRs 2,300 per quintal and soyabean fetching a record Rs 2,000 per quintal. The correspondingprices last year were Rs 2,100 and Rs 1,300. In the crucial post-July period, the suicide figureshave dropped even more substantially by 21 per cent from 797 in 2006 to 628 last year.

This period is crucial as all major factors behind suicides lack of funds for farm operations, badmonsoon, access to pesticides and market trends come into play then. Trends over the pastfew years have shown the suicide tally is always divided lopsided between the two halves of theyear. In 2004, it was 94 and 314 (total 411), in 2005, 128 and 303 (total 431), and in 2006 651and 797, respectively. In 2007, the gap narrowed significantly, with 602 suicides before July and628 in the remaining five months. What is also interesting is that among these suicides, only 233have been attributed to agrarian causes (heavy loans, crop damage, harassment for loanrecovery etc). Enquiries in 163 of the 1,230 suicides are still pending. In 2006, 577 of the 1,448suicides were judged as agrarian. Thus, according to the Government, agrarian suicides camedown from 40 per cent of the total in 2006 to 21 per cent last year. The Government probes allsuicides to decide which are due to agrarian reasons. Among the six districts covered, Buldanaregistered a significant slump in suicide tally from 306 in 2006 to 186 in 2007. In Akola, thenumber come down from 174 to 125. But Yavatmal remains at the top with 359 suicides in 2007,

just one less than the 2006 tally. Corresponding figures for Amravati, Wardha and Washim are269-260, 154-128 and 185-173, respectively. (Indian Express 17/1/08)

Massive loan waiver scheme for farmers on the anvil (20)NEW DELHI: The Union government is set to unveil a debt relief package for farmers, accordingto sources in the Agriculture Ministry. The scheme envisages writing off the unpaid loans of thesmall and marginal farmers and a big relief for the big farmers over four years. An estimated 30million farmers had gone out of the institutional credit system due to defaults. On Monday, Union

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram agreed on the broadcontours of the policy, which will be finalised at the Prime Ministers level. We had a meeting. We


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discussed the package. It involves a huge investment but in principle we have agreed. Now wewill meet the Prime Minister, Mr. Pawar told The Hindu here. It will be decided at the PrimeMinisters level whether the funds needed should be raised by levying a farmers rehabilitationcess or surcharge or through a budgetary provision by diverting resources. The total outgo overfour years is expected to be about Rs. 70,000 crore. The Agriculture Ministry has proposedimposition of a one per cent cess on direct taxes and two per cent on indirect taxes. This isexpected to yield about Rs. 8,500 crore per annum. A credit risk fund, called the National

Agriculture Stabilisation Fund, will be set up to cover the risk of future default due to reasonsbeyond the farmers control. Under the package to be announced in the budget proposals, theMinistry has proposed the waiver of the entire overdues from the small and marginal farmersowning land up to two hectares, entailing an outgo of about Rs. 25,000 crore. Seventy per cent ofthe farmers who had availed themselves of loans come under this category. For the rest, therewill be a one-time settlement (OTS) scheme. It will be shared among the government, farmersand banks over four years. Those given debt relief will be eligible for fresh credit. It is estimatedthat the total overdue in the case of direct agriculture advances will be to the tune of Rs. 91,200crore. Of this, the Non-Performing Assets is estimated at Rs. 31,200 crore, the overdue aboveone year at about Rs. 30,000 crore and the less-than-one-year overdue at Rs. 30,000 crore. TheMinistry has also proposed that those paying back their loans regularly should be given a threeper cent interest subvention, such as bringing down the rate of interest from seven to four percent. This will be in line with the recommendation of the National Commission on Farmers. (The

Hindu 23/1/08)

17,060 farm suicides in one year (20)Mumbai: Farm suicides in Maharashtra rose dramatically in 2006, more than in any other part ofthe country. The State saw 4,453 farmers suicides that year, over a quarter of the all-India totalof 17,060, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) in its report AccidentalDeaths and Suicides in India, 2006. That is the worst figure recorded in any year for any Statesince the NCRB first began logging farm suicides. The previous worst 4,147 in 2004 wasalso in Maharashtra. It has seen 36,428 farmers suicides since 1995, in official count. 2006 isthe latest year for which data are available. The suicides in Maharashtra mark an increase of 527over the 2005 figure. This was four and a half times bigger than that in Andhra Pradesh, the nextworst-hit State, which saw a rise of 117 farm suicides over 2005. It was also more than twice theincrease of 198 in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh taken together. Worse, it means farmers

accounted for half the increase in all suicides in Maharashtra in 2006. Significantly,Maharashtras upward spike occurred in the year when the relief packages of both the PrimeMinister and Chief Minister worth Rs. 4,825 crore in all were being implemented in theVidharbha region, where suicides have been most intense. The NCRB figures show anunrelenting uptrend in what can be termed the SEZ or (Farmers) Special Elimination ZoneStates. These States, which account for nearly two-thirds of all farm suicides in the country,include Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh (including Chhattisgarh).

As a group, the SEZ States saw an increase of 6.2 per cent in such deaths. Among them,Maharashtra (4,453), Andhra Pradesh (2,607) and Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (2,858) show asharp upward spike. Karnataka (1,720) reports a decline. So though the all-India numbers for2006 reflect a very small decline of 61 over the 2005 figure of 17,131, the broad trends of the lastdecade continue. And the trend of rapidly rising farm suicides, particularly post-2001 in the SEZStates, remains unchanged. So the minuscule decline in the figure for the country as a whole

marks no break from the dismal decade-long trend. NCRB data record 1,66,304 farmers suicidesin a decade since 1997. Of these, 78,737 occurred between 1997 and 2001. The next five years from 2002 to 2006 proved worse, seeing 87,567 farmers take their own lives. This meansthat on average, there has been one farmers suicide every 30 minutes since 2002. (The Hindu31/1/08)

Now, a farm suicide story from Punjab (20)NEW DELHI: Twelve families, mostly children and widows, of indebted farmers who committedsuicide in Punjab, a prosperous agricultural State, are here to knock at the doors of the Centre.On Thursday, the children will be joined by several others here in a solidarity march. They will


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wear T-shirts with the message, Every farmer counts. Every child dreams. The children had togive up their studies and are struggling to keep the local moneylender at bay. Nothing can bedone for you is the common refrain they have been hearing from the local administration foryears, even as the loans their farmer-fathers took multiply with huge interest. One farmers wifeburnt herself to death rather than face the ignominy of having the artiya (moneylender) on herdoorstep every week. Tears welled up in his eyes as 16-year-old Dharmendra from Chotia villagerecounted the death of his father, who consumed pesticide. Dharmendra has three siblings andmother to take care of. His father sold off his land and cleared part of the debt. The family stillowes Rs. 4 lakh-5 lakh to the local moneylender as well as some relatives. Last year this 10thClass student gave up his studies, though he loves to pursue education, and became a dailywager. We want karza-maafi [loan waiver], he said. Paramjeet Kaur, a mother of three children,became a widow at the age of 28. Unable to face the harassment for return of a loan, myhusband consumed spray and took his own life. Of the three children, the eldest daughter hascontinued her studies by taking up tailoring. Paramjeet herself is a daily wager and she evendoes household chores for neighbours. She wants karza-maafi and free education for herchildren. Education is free for Dalits, but not for us Jats, she said. Naresh Khan, 18, lost hismother who doused herself with kerosene and set herself afire. The loan keeps increasingbecause of high interest. Seventy-year-old Chamelis farmer-son committed suicide not beingable to return a loan of Rs. 1.5 lakh. Now Chameli, along with her daughter-in-law, works as adaily wager. There are so many of us in the same boat; nobody is able to help anyone in

Punjab, she said. Surprisingly, none of them has heard of the National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme. U.S.-based Harpreet Kaur of Sach Productions said activists came uponseveral families in Sangrur district, where the farmers had committed suicide. We arehighlighting the issue of farmers suicide and making a universal statement. These families arehumiliated. They feel stressed out and start trembling when the moneylender comes, threateningto take away their land or homes. In our research, we have focussed on mothers and children,especially children because they suffer most. Harpreet said this was the first time the childrenand women had come out of Punjab. We hope our efforts, with the help of local NGOs, Lokrajand Navdanya, can help them get pension and that people will come forward to adopt thesefamilies. On Thursday, the victims of farmers indebtedness will meet Agriculture Minister SharadPawar. They are also trying to seek an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (TheHindu 31/1/08)

NGOs protest march over farmer suicides (20)New Delhi, Jan. 30: Several non-governmental organisations, including Nav Danya, will march inprotest against the unabated suicides of farmers across the country and against the failure ofgovernments in checking the trend. The march will start from Mandi House and will end at KrishiBhavan, where they will sit in protest. A Texas-based NGO in the United States, which is makinga documentary on farmer suicides in Punjab, will also participate in the march. Also taking part inthe protest march will be the farmer families from Sangrur district of Punjab where cotton farmershave committed suicides after their crops failed. The story of a 12-year-old daughter of a suicidevictim, Jasbeer Kaur, is quite pathetic. Her mother abandoned her and two of her youngerbrothers when her husband Lala Singh took the extreme step after he failed to repay the loan tothe village moneylender. His one-acre land failed him when he sowed cotton. Now, the onlyperson left to take care of them is her 80-year-old grandmother. Jasbeer and her brothers arenow studying in the local school run by the government with a monthly handout of Rs 1,000

extended by a local non-governmental organisation. In another family, the wife committed suicideafter her husband was unable to pay back the loan in time. Sangrur also had a family which hadfour suicides in less than 10 years. First, Darshan Singh took his life on failure of a crop. Then hisyounger brother Nacchatar Singh took the extreme step for the same reason in 1995. Again, hisyounger brother Nika Singh committed suicide in 1998. In another case, the owner of a 10-acreland took his life out of depression. He sold the land after failing to repay the loan for cotton cropand became a landless labourer. This was unbearable for him as he passed through his sold landevery day. (Asian Age 31/1/08)

Karnataka farmers cook food on National Highway (20)


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Bangalore : The Cauvery issue took an interesting turn on Thursday with farmers turning theBangalore-Mysore highway into kitchen by cooking food for agitating farmers near Mandya andblocked the highway. In Bangalore, pro-Kannada activists staged a semi-naked demonstration onMG Road and also marched 40 goats to highlight the 'failure' of 40 MPs from the State. On thethird day of the protest against the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, more thana thousand farmers including women blocked the Mysore-Bangalore highway at Haleboodanoor,8 km from Mandya, the nerve-centre of the agitation. The womenfolk set up makeshift ovens onthe road divider and began cooking a rice dish in six large vessels for the agitators around noon.Tourists from Tamil Nadu, who came in two buses on their way to Mysore, also joined in cookingand they too were fed. In the only serious note to the agitation on Thursday, students of PESCollege and Government College in Mandya, boycotted classes and took out processions in themain thoroughfares of the town. They raised slogans against playwright Girish Karnad forsupporting the award and burnt his portrait. Later, they laid siege to Central and StateGovernment offices and ordered their closure. Members of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, themain pro-Kannada forum involved in the agitation, marched with 40 goats with placards carryingnames of 40 Lok Sabaha and Rajya Sabha MP's from Karnatata. The police detained 50 pro-Kannada activists who staged a semi-naked demonstration on MG Road. (Pioneer 9/2/07)

All that matters here is suicide count (20)DIALPURA, KISHANGARH (MANSA), FEBRUARY 11: In one corner of Kishangarh village,

supporters of political parties are busy preparing for the elections, just two days away. And inanother, an aged couple sit in mourning. Mounting debts have forced a number of people inKishangarh, Dialpura and Khadal Kalan villages to commit suicide. Balbir (30), was our only son.He was sensitive. He had gone to commission agent in Bareta. After returning home, heconsumed spray (pesticides), says Nachhatar Kaur. In Dialpura, Tej Kaur has a similar story. Herthree sons killed themselves about ten years ago. Two consumed pesticides and the third hunghimself. She attributes the suicides to the debt her family is reeling under. But successivegovernments have turned a blind eye to the problem. We continue to reel under debt. Thegovernment has not helped us, says Tej Kaur, adding that her family is being pressured to votefor a particular candidate. Pata nahin, kehri ginti aundi eh, she says when asked about theamount they owe. A relative, Kheera Singh (20), states it to be over Rs 1 lakh. Bhagwan Kaur, ofthe same village, lost one son in late 90s. Krishan (her 27-year-old son had consumed pesticide)had asked what would happen if they failed to repay an installment. Vo bole jail bhi ho sake hai,

jameen bhi jaa sake hai (They said it could lead to imprisonment and even auctioning of land).Bhagwan Kaur, at sixty, is still waiting for pension. I was widowed at the age of 25. Till date Ihave not received any pension. My pension account was opened, but I am yet to receive anymoney, she says. BKU Ekta (Ugrahan) block president Jugraj Singh said they conducted asurvey and found that over ten persons committed suicide in each of the villages of Khadal Kalan,Dialpura, Kishangarh, Khatriwala, Akbarpur Khadial, Rangrial and Tahlian in the past decade. Arepresentative of the farmers body from Dialpura, Bhola Singh claims over 20 suicides werereported in the past decade from his village alone. He puts the toll at 40, if counted from the late90s. Kulwant Singh, husband of sarpanch Ranjit Kaur of Kishangarh village and a formersarpanch himself, attributes the suicides to complications caused by the poor economic conditionof people.

Vidarbha: Farmer suicides cross 100 (20)

Nagpur, Feb. 11: The number of suicides by debt-ridden farmers in Maharashtra's Vidarbharegion has crossed the three-digit mark in the first 40 days of 2007 with 15 deaths reported duringthe last three days, including six on Saturday. While most of the 106 suicides have taken place inthe six dry-land farming districts of Yavatmal, Amrayati, Akola, Buldana, Washim and Wardha inwestern Vidarbha, one farmer in the rain-fed paddy growing Gondia district in eastern Vidarbhatoo ended his life on Saturday. The unabated incidence of suicides are significant in the backdropof the recent revelation by state finance minister Jayant Patil that the central government hasdisbursed only a fraction Rs.24.8 billion of the .promised Rs.-294.1 billion in Prime MinisterManmo-.han Singh's relief package of July 2006. The promised Rs.294.1 billion is a part of thetotal package of Rs.375 billion meant exclusively for completing the pending irrigation projects in


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western Vidarbha, which will cover an additional 0.15 million hectares of the total 3.5 millionhectares of cultivable area. Currently, the area under irrigation is 0.45 million hectares. Almost 98per cent of more than 1,200 suicides in the last 20 months have occurred, in the dry-land farmingarea in the region 93 per cent of which will not be irrigated even after completion of all the ongo-ing projects with the support of the Prime Minister's relief fund. (IANS) (Asian Age 12/2/07)

Bt cotton has failed in Vidarbha: study (20)MUMBAI: A new study on the introduction of Bt cotton in Vidarbha reveals that it has failed in theregion. Suman Sahai, Director of Gene Campaign, told journalists on Wednesday that despitespecific knowledge that Bt cotton would not work in rainfed areas, the government had introducedit in Vidarbha. The result was that in an area with a history of indebtedness, the high input costsof Bt cotton had increased indebtedness. The study had shown that 70 per cent of small farmershad already lost their landholdings as collateral for loans that they could never repay. The GeneCampaign study, which will be ready in four to five weeks, consisted of a technology adoptionstudy to look at how Bt cotton was adopted in Vidarbha. It is based on interviews with around 500cotton farmers from Amravati and Yavatmal districts. Preliminary data shows that farmers whohad adopted Bt cotton had a net lower income than non-Bt cotton farmers. Dr. Sahai said that Btcotton did better in irrigated areas and that it was a mistake to introduce it in an area likeVidarbha. It did not perform well in the region because inputs costs were high, including the costof the seeds, there was an abundance of spurious seeds and the technology had been adopted

without any preparation of the farmers for the complex management practices that were needed.Seed dealers, she said, encouraged farmers to buy far more fertilizer and pesticide than wasneeded, thereby raising their input costs. They promised farmers that they would get between 12to 15 quintals per acre when the actual production was in the range of three to five quintals peracre. At the same time cotton prices came down with the import of Chinese cotton. The studyreveals that on average, farmers who adopted Bt cotton lost Rs. 1,725 per acre. "Sucheconomics cannot work," she said. The study revealed that many farmers adopted Bt cottonbecause they believed it was a "government seed" and did not know that it was privatelyproduced and marketed. They also accepted it because the government was actively promotingthe technology. While local officials, like the Agriculture Commissioner of Amravati, were aware ofthe failure of Bt cotton, the state agriculture department continued to promote it. "The role of thegovernment has been irresponsible and damaging," said Dr. Sahai. .. (The Hindu 16/2/07)

6 Farmer suicides per day (20)New Delhi, Feb. 17: Nearly 7,000 farmers committed suicide in different parts of the country in

just three years, according to government statistics alone. The average is even more frightening:it works out to six farmers killing themselves every day during that period. Despite this, nomechanism has been put in place to monitor the progress of implementation of the PrimeMinister's special package for the farmers of 31 suicide-prone districts across Andhra Pradesh,Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, according to the reply furnished by the Union agricultureministry to a set of questions posed by this newspaper under the Right to Information Act. Thefigures, complete only till November 2006, reveal that 6,899 farmers had committed suicide tillthat date. Of the affected states, Maharashtra, which was singled out by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh for a special visit, registered a tremendous increase in suicides by farmers withthe toll rising from 577 in 2005 to 1,843, according to figures compiled by the state government tillOctober 31, 2006. Kerala, according to government statistics, has registered an increase as well

from 120 deaths in 2005 to 146 till November last year. Andhra Pradesh, which had witnessed1,126 farmer suicides in 2004-05, brought the figure down to 92 last year, while Karnataka'shighest of 708 deaths in 2003-04 has been reduced gradually to 44 till November last year. (Asian Age 18/2/07)

Farmers role in food security to be recognized (20)NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 21: A group of tribals from Orissas Koraput districtseemed a little out of place at a conference in Delhi. But their presence is the firstindication that India is ready to acknowledge their role in food security. The


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Koraput tribals have been cultivating rice and have stuck to traditional varietiesfor generations. Germplasm from their seeds was used by researchers todevelop more than 20 popular varieties of popularly-grown rice. For the first time,the country is starting a system by which they will recognise and register thesevarieties. When a trait is used from this germplasm to further develop new

varieties, farmers will get the benefit. Starting on Monday, the Protection of PlantVariety and Farmers Rights Authority (PPV&FRA), set up in November 2005,began the documentation and registration of varieties of 12 crops from. Many ofthese landraces have rare and economically resistant genes, such as betteradaptability droughts and floods. Farmers have conserved, improved andselected a variety of both wild and domesticated germplasm while the othersmoved to modern, high yielding varieties. Everyone else has become richer byusing these germplasm. Its the turn of the farmer now to gain from this, said SNagarajan, chairman of the PPV&FRA Authority. The authority will registervarieties of these crops based on distinctiveness, uniformity and stability. Afterregistration, a farmer/farmers groups can submit a claim of benefit sharing in the

prescribed form and fee to the authority, if his material is used in thedevelopment of the variety. .(Indian Express 22/2/07

Farmers stage massive meet on highway (20)Jaipur, Feb. 22: Agitating farmers in North Rajsthan, demanding more canalwater to irrigate their crops, staged a massive meeting on the highway nearJaipur on Thursday. They were stopped from entering Jaipur by the police.Communist Leaders Prakash Karat and Atul Anjan addressed the farmers andcriticised the BJP government. The farmers and BJP government have been atlogger heads for last three years on the issue of canal water. The farmers, led bya CPM affiliated union,started moving towards Jaipur on February 18 with aKisan Chetna Rath Yatra. The farmers given a call to laid a siege to the pink cityof Jaipur if their issue was not resolved. The farmers body announced to launcha Jail Bharo movement from March 7 through out the state. The police putbarricades to stop the marching farmers at Bandi river bridge ,20 Km from statecapital of Jaipur. A crowd of Over 8,000 farmers staged a dharna near theriver,disturbing traffic on Jaipur-Bikaner high way. Talking to media persons, MrKarat said the government should talk to the farmers to redress theirproblem.CPI leader Atul Anjan said the BJP government was functioning indictatorial manner, we will not hesitate to go any extent to protest against BJPgovenments repressive polices, Mr Anjan said. The Raje government had siegepeoples right to raise voice,the CPI leader said. A heavy deployment of policeforce prevented farmers entering Jaipur to lay an indefinite siege to the pink city.The farmers demanding 58 per cent of water from Indira Gandhi Canal. Thefarmers claimed that the share of water was fixed when the government signedan agreement with the farmers during the agitation. But the state governmentsaid it was providing the required quantum of water to the farmers. Thegovernment said that there was no base of such agitation and farmers were notsupporting it. Former CMP MLA Hetram Beniwal and others were under judicialcustody for last few months as they refused to get bail. The BJP govenment


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unleasehed repression and they were beaten up by police, says CMP MLA AmraRam. Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and Bikaner districts witnessed violent farmersmovement in past three years. (Asian Age 23/2/07)

In Maharashtra, farmer ends life outside distcom (20)NAGPUR, FEBRUARY 23: A farmer committed suicide outside the office of Maharashtra State

Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) in Amravati district, on Friday. He allegedlytook the step after local MSEDCL officials cut off power supply to his borewell, which they saidhad been drawn illegally. Ramrao Tulshiram Mate (48), a resident of Hirapur village, killed himselfby consuming insecticide (Monocrotofos) at around 11.30 am after Junior Engineer DharmendraRajput refused to the restore power connection to his borewell. Mate, who had four acres of landat Chinchone village, had dug a borewell after taking a loan of Rs 50,000 from Maharashtra Bankin October last year, after his open well dried up. He had then connected the power supplyoriginally meant for the well pump to the borewell. That, according to MSEDCL, was illegal. Myfather had tried to plead with the officials that this was a routine practice in the area and that hewasnt the only one to do so, said Mates son Prafulla. Rajput, however, didnt budge. Prafullaclaimed his father was asked to cough up Rs 20,000 bribe to stop the impending disconnection.On January 23, the officials eventually disconnected the power supply. On February 9, aharassed Mate faxed a request against the power cut to Chief Minister and Power Minister,

issuing a warning that the responsibility for the consequences will rest with the officials. He said,his rabi crops of wheat and corn were drying due to lack of water. He reportedly kept frequentingthe Bhandaraj office for the past fortnight, but to no avail. On Friday, Mate came again and Rajputrefused to entertain his request. In a fit of rage, he consumed insecticide catching the officials off-guard. Later, a crowd of around 400 people gathered in front of the MSEDCL office, demandingregistration of offence against the officials under Section 306 of the IPC. Mates relatives andvillagers refused to handover the body for a post-mortem till action was initiated against MSEDCLofficials. MSEDCL Managing Director Ajay Bhushan Pande has suspended Rajput and orderedan independent inquiry by one of the executive directors of the company. However, MSEDCLsaid that Mate had illegally shifted the original 3HP motor connection to the 7.5 HP borewellmotor, which as per the New Electricity Act of 2003, amounted to power theft. (Indian Express24/2/07)

3 more farmers commit suicide (20)Amravati, Feb. 24: Three more farmers have committed suicide in the last 24 hours in Vidarbha,Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), a non-governmental organisation working among farmersin the region, claimed on Saturday. These included one each from Akola, Amravati and Washimdistricts, the VJAS added. The NGO gave their names as Devidas Umarkar of Akola district,Vasant Khandar of Amravati and Ramrao Ingale of Washim. Another farmer and his wife are in acritical condition in Amravati after both of them attempted suicide separately in their village byconsuming poison on Saturday. The farmer, Pandurang Sitaram Raut, attempted to end his lifeafter hearing about the suicide of another whose "illegal" power connection had been snapped.His wife attempted suicide when she was told erroneously that her husband had died. .Accordingto Kishore Tiwari, convenor of the VJAS, the farmer who belongs to Hirapur village in Anjangaon-Surji tehsil of this district, consumed poison on Saturday morning after hearing the death ofRamrao Mate on Friday. He was rushed to a hospital here after he consumed an insecticide.Later in the day, Raut's wife Shakuntala was told that her husband had died, when, in fact, he

had not. Distressed, she also consumed insecticide in an attempt to end her life. Shakuntala, too,was rushed to a hospital here. The condition of Raut and his wife was stated to be critical as bothare on ventilators, Mr Tiwari claimed. A section of the media, however, reported that both Rautand his wife had died. Mate had consumed poison inside the office of Maharashtra StateElectricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) on Friday after company officialsdisconnected what they described as an "illegal connection" on his field. Mate later died at ahospital here. An MSEDCL spokesman said, Mate's power supply was disconnected on January23 as he had shifted the supply from an open well in his field to a bore-well without informing thecompany and was also drawing more load than sanctioned. Shifting of a power connection


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without permission was treated as "theft" as per the provisions in the new law, and hence actionwas initiated, the spokesman said. (Asian Age 25/2/07)

Farming hope in suicide belt (20)MULGAVAN, ZARI (YAVATMAL): JOY isnt a word used frequently in Vidarbha. But now,

Anandwan seems within striking distance. With help from Vikas Amte, Baba Amtes youngestson, Vidarbhas farmers are learning to turn around crisis to opportunity. Vikas was witness to hisfathers land army of leprosy patients and the physically challenged creating Anandwan but afew months ago, he decided to set up base in the regions suicide capital - Yavatmal. It took himtwo months to set up his makeshift camp on a rocky upland leased to him by the government.Now, his land army is working overtime to create facilities that could turn this godforsaken land ofKolam tribals bordering the Naxalite-infested part of Andhra Pradesh into another Anandwan. Sofar, eight farm ponds have been built in fields of cotton farmers from the village, a check-dam isalmost ready, run-off formations are being levelled, roads have been laid, a hospital with ECGand X-ray facilities has been put in place to serve at least 15 nearby villages, watersheddevelopment works have been undertaken at vantage points, a nursery has been started and ashed has been erected to provide vocational jobs and training for the youth of the area. A fewbullock-carts, tricycles and other implements are the first products of training. The AnandwanBrigade has completed works worth Rs 40 lakh within two months. Ours must be the first modelwhere the disabled are training the able-bodied, Vikas says proudly. We have started working

simultaneously on all crucial fronts with a broad-spectrum, holistic approach. Farm crisis iscompounded by health and unemployment problems. We are taking care of both. We plan to trainthe farmers here in farm techniques that have worked wonders in Anandwan, says Vikas. UnlikeBaba and younger brother Prakash, who have been serving tribals in the catchment area ofMaharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh in Gadchiroli, Vikas does not wear shorts butthat is where the difference ends. After Baba left Anandwan to join the Narmada agitation, Vikastook over the project. This time though, the son is walking on his own. While most appear tospread pessimism, Vikas is creating an air of expectancy and optimism, says his father. If thephysically-challenged can create this marvel, why are the able-bodied, whom I call welfare-addicts, wanting to commit suicide? Which is why Vikas calls his Mulgavan project the Centre forSocial Action. Our attempt will be to divert the people from cotton. We will take the farmers in theregion to Anandwan to train them in growing different crops in a profitable way. We wontprescribe any particular method of farming like organic or natural farming. We will make use of

government schemes too, like the Gharkul (housing) scheme and will build houses for thevillagers, he says. A model house is already under construction in the village. (IndianExpress 25/2/07)

Panel on farmer distress to miss Budget deadline, report in May (20)NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 26: Set up at the behest of Prime Minister ManmohanSingh after his visit to Vidarbha last year in the wake of farmers suicides, thecommittee looking at ways to reduce the problem of rural indebtedness is unlikelyto submit its report before the Budget. Committee sources told The IndianExpress that the report is likely to be ready only by May. The farmers problemsin rural India are apparently far more profound and diverse than expected, andthe committee feels that to rekindle their confidence in farming, more than

rudimentary thinking has to go into the entire exercise. In Punjab, where the ruralindebtedness problem is the most severe, the panel headed by Dr RRadhakrishnan, the Director of the Indira Gandhi Institute of DevelopmentResearch, found that farmers indebtedness had more to do with their caste thantheir loans. States where poverty is negligible, income poverty is absent buttheres a different type of poverty. In Punjab, indebtedness is increasingly asocial phenomenon 80 per cent of the indebted households belong toScheduled Castes and have small, marginal holdings. And their proportion is


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rising, a member of the committee revealed. And it gets worse. There is nostate in the country where we can say that agriculture is doing well. Moreover,the despondence among farmers has got worse. An NSSO survey, conducted atthe request of the Agriculture Ministry in 2002-03, had found that 40 per cent offarmer households wanted to quit the occupation. But in our interactions, we

found that given a choice, no farmer would like to stay in agriculture, said acommittee member. Interest rates for homes and cars are much lower than farmloans. Even banks and micro-finance institutions charge 18-24 per cent intereston farm loans, the committee has found. Though the government promisedagriculture loans at 7 per cent this year, farmers are paying a higher interest rateand have to make a lot of trips to get loans cleared, the committee memberpointed out. With loan rates high and returns from agriculture lower, once youtake a loan, you become indebted, he explained. The committee also found thatborrowings from the informal sector, such as local moneylenders, are still highand credit supply from the formal sector has dipped in the last three years,though there is some u-turn recently. Its not that theres no credit-absorption

capacity in the sector, it just needs proper planning. The intentions are goodwhen loans to the sector are doubled, but there are no institutions for servicedelivery, the member said. With the causes and levels of indebtedness varyingacross the country, the committee has set up four regional sub-committees.Contrary to perceptions, Bihars agriculture has progressed a little due toremittances from the states migrant workers who are now found working as faras Kerala. However, the lack of land reforms and the strong feudal forces inBihar and Uttar Pradesh are a problem. (Indian Express 27/2/07)

50 lakh farmers to get loans (20)New Delhi, Feb. 28: Finance minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday outlined the number ofmeasures to revive the agricultural sector. The measures include stepping up outlay for the

accelerated irrigation benefit programme, increasing credit flows to the farm sector, direct fertilisersubsidies to farmers and continuance of the agricultural insurance scheme. In order to deal withfarmer suicides, Mr Chidambaram referred to the Prime Ministers special package beingimplemented in the 31 distressed districts in four states. The corpus of Rural InfrastructureDevelopment Fund (RIDF), which sanctions and disburses funds to state governments, will beraised to Rs 12,000 crores. The state governments will be urged to use these funds primarily inthe distressed districts. Mr Chidambaram has fixed a target of Rs 2,25,000 crores towardsinstitutional credit flows for the farmers. It aims to bring 50 lakh farmers into the banking system."The goal of doubling farm credit in three years was achieved in two years. The target of Rs1,75,000 crores set for 2006-07 will be exceeded comfortably and is likely to reach Rs 1,90,000crores. This year, until December 2006, 53.37 lakh new farmers were brought into the institutionalcredit system," Mr Chidmabaram said. The ban on forward trading in wheat and rice may help inreduction of prices, apart from helping farmers. The two per cent interest subvention scheme forshort-term crop loans will continue and a budgetary provision of Rs 1,677 crores has been madeavailable. The government has proposed to expand the integrated oilseeds programme. Therewill be a sharper focus on scaling up the production of breeder, foundation and certified seeds.Public as well as large private sector companies will be invited to submit plans to scale up theproduction of seeds. The Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) has been revamped inorder to complete more irrigation projects in the quickest possible time. Thirty-five projects arelikely to be completed in 2006-07 and an additional irrigation potential of 900,000 hectares will becreated. (Asian Age 1/3/07)

4 more farmer suicides in AP (20)


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HYDERABAD, MARCH 8: Four more farmers have committed suicide in Kurnool district ofAndhra Pradesh after failing to repay debts. One farmer allegedly killed himself after officialsrefused to release money to him for the house he had started constructing under thegovernments Indiramma scheme. Officials said P Suri Babu, a sugarcane farmer, committedsuicide as he could not sell his crop. A local sugar factory had allegedly refused to buy the crop,citing lack of resources. Another farmer, M Venkateswarlu, also committed suicide onWednesday by consuming pesticide. He too had failed to sell his crop. He had taken a loan of Rs2 lakh, but was unable to pay back. The fourth was C Narsimhulu. (Indian Express 9/3/07)

Pawar faces Elders' wrath over suicide by farmers (20)New Delhi : Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar faced wrath in the Rajya Sabha on Fridayon the issue of farmers committing suicide and the Elders cutting across party lines sought toknow concrete measures taken by the Government to address the serious problem. Even asPawar tried to convince the House that the Centre was making all efforts to prevent the farmersfrom taking the extreme step, members charged that suicides were unabated even after thePrime Minister announced a financial package for the distressed farmers in six districts ofMaharashtra. They also said the stranglehold of the private moneylender remained intact and thisprompted Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to ask the Minister to ensure that the Statesimplemented the Money Lenders Act. Raising the matter during the question hour, Sanjay Raut(Shiv Sena) said the Prime Minister's package had not made any difference to the poor farmers

and the officials were not releasing funds thereby forcing the hapless farmers to commit suicide.In fact, for more than 45 minutes of the question hour the farmers' suicide issue was taken up.Satyavrat Chaturvedi (Congress) said the rehabilitation manual for providing relief to the farmersafter destruction of their crops had remained unchanged since 1970. The cost of growing of crophad gone up manifold but the compensation in case of a calamity remained meagre, he saidadding this added to the problems of the agriculturists. Pawar's party colleague Datta Meghe alsodrew his attention to the sorry plight of the farmers in the Vidarbha region. The Minister in hisreply said the Centre in the last six months released Rs 1,530 crore or 40 per cent of the Rs3,873 crore package announced by the Prime Minister for relief to farmers in six districts of theVidarbha region. The amount released included Rs 784 crore for waiver of interest on loans takenby farmers and about Rs 700 crore for irrigation projects, he said. The Minister added therehabilitation manual was also changed some months back following a strong representation byseveral States. Pioneer 10/3/07)

Farmer's death at Singur unnatural' (20)Kolkata: A farmer who, it is being claimed by those opposed to the setting up of the Tata Motors'car manufacturing plant at Singur in West Bengal's Hooghly district, was one of their supporters,is suspected to have committed suicide. The police investigating the incident have described thedeath of 78-year-old Haradhan Bag as "unnatural." It is believed that he had died after consumingpoison at his residence in the Berabari area of Singur. The body was sent for post-mortemexamination. Preliminary reports reveal that the death could be the fall-out of family anxieties,said Raj Kanojia, Inspector-General of Police (Law and Order). Local Trinamool Congress MLARabindranath Bhattacharjee said that the farmer had taken his life out of despair following theforcible acquisition of a plot of his land by the administration for the project. The TrinamoolCongress-led Krishi Jami Raksha (Save Farmland) Committee has been opposing the setting upof the automobile project on agricultural land. Sources in the committee claimed that Haradhan

Bag was its supporter. Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy said that Haradhan Bag mighthave been driven to suicide after the Government signed the land lease agreement for the projectwith the Tata Motors' management on March 9. The State Congress leadership has demandedan inquiry into the incident by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI is already inquiringinto the death of a teenage girl Tapashi Mallick, whose charred body was found in the Singurarea when the agitation against the automobile project was on last year. The death had led to astorm of protests by the Opposition parties with the Trinamool Congress leadership claiming thatshe had been murdered by those trying to stifle dissent against the project. (The Hindu 13/3/07)

Police fire in air near Bharatpur (20)


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JAIPUR: Police fired in the air to disperse farmers blocking the national highway between Jaipurand Agra at Dehra Mod near Bharatpur town in Rajasthan on Tuesday. The highway was blockedat different points during the day as the farmers, victims of freak weather conditions whichbrought rain and hailstorm, got on to the streets to press their demand for compensation. Thosewho sustained injuries in the reported stone-throwing by farmers included R.K.Tripathi, the actingCollector of Bharatpur. Superintendent of Police Anand Srivastava said the police fired fourrounds in the air to disperse farmers at Dehra Mod police chowki and cleared the roadblocks. Thefarmers picketed the road at Chiksana, Ooncha Nagla, Phid Fani, and Darapur and atChokerwada. Pradesh Congress Committee president B.D. Kalla, talking to journalists after a tourof the affected areas here in the evening, said 10 farmers sustained injuries in police action inBharatpur district. He demanded free treatment and a relief of Rs.50,000 to the injured persons.Mr. Kalla, who toured Amber tehsil of Jaipur district to assess the damage caused to farmers,said 20 districts of Rajasthan Ajmer, Alwar, Bundi, Karauli, Jalore, Barmer, Bikaner, Jaipur,Sikar, Churu, Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Jhunjhunu, Dholpur, Pali, Sirohi, Nagaur, Dausa,Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur were so far affected by hailstorm. The Government should order a"girdawari" (assessment of damages) in the affected areas and provide compensation to farmers,he said. Mr. Kalla, who narrated heart-rending scenes he came across while visiting the affectedvillages, said a 60-year-old farmer had died in Amber tehsil out of shock at the damage to hisstanding crops and another was admitted to the Sawai Man Singh Hospital here. Mr. Kallademanded waiving of farm loans up to Rs.10,000 and conversion of short-term loans into long-

term loans, besides adequate compensation to the affected. (The Hindu 14/3/07)

Church to aid of Vidarbha farmers (20)Nagpur, March 13 : Roman Catholic churches under the patronage of Catholic BishopsConference of India (CBCI) and NGOs have come forward to help distressed farmers of theVidarbha region in Maharashtra, which has been reeling under a severe agrarian crisis. As part ofthe programme, the counsellors will initiate confidence building measures and adopt traditionalmethods such as street plays, songs, play and display of posters, besides talking to the familymembers of those farmers who have committed suicide, and to those who are in distress, CBCIwestern region president Archbishop Abraham Viruthkulangara said. The farmers would beprovided with psycho-social counselling, awareness about eco-friendly methods of farming, small-scale watershed development programme and income generation programmes and networkingwith government agencies to ensure resources reach the right person on time, he said. The

unabated suicide of farmers in the region was discussed by CBCI, which has decided to engageNGOs like Caritas, a social wing of CBCI and Action For Food Programme (AFPRO) in thecounselling in six affected districts of Vidarbha, Abraham said. A meeting of representatives ofCaritas, AFPRO, CBCI social service committees and representatives from Archdiocese of

Amravati and Chandrapur was held in city. It will hold its next meeting on April 18 at Yavatmal,which is the most affected district. Counselling centres are being set up at all the places foraffected persons and families. We will assess the needs of farmers and help them in sustainablefarming and organic farming to come out of the crisis, said D Manavalan, Executive Director of

AFPRO, a secular socio-technical development organisation. A self-help group of women,particularly widows of deceased farmers, will be run with the help of social service committees ofCBCI . The SHG will not be restricted to women but also include farmers, said Manavalan, aretired IAS officer. The programme includes monitoring of the financial help reaching the affectedfamilies, he said, adding that the possibilities of exploitation of widows with both reported and

non-reported cases will be dealt with. (The Indian Exp 14/3/07)

'Save farmers, not the Doha Round' (20)New Delhi, March 15: Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, social activist Vandana Shiva, formerIndian ambassador to Gatt S.P. Shukla, writer Arundhati Roy and Mr Prashant Bhushan areamong the 50 eminent personalities, who urged the government to shed its "Save Doha Round"bias in favour of "save small and marginal farmers." The leaders pointed out that the Centre hasbeen organising a seminar on saving Doha and delivering development. "Now the Indian gov-ernment is being used by the US and the EU to bulldoze opposition to the Doha process andclear the ground for its resumption and early conclusion. And the save Doha seminar was part of


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this bulldozing. The bias of the save Doha seminar in terms of who have sponsored it, who areinvited and what will be discussed," the eminent persons said. They said, "Today, the food pricesare going through the ceiling in India. The ruling party at the Centre recently lost elections in twostates and it has been admitted at the highest levels of the party that increase in prices.of foodand essential commodities was a major factor contributing to the electoral defeat. Trade liber-alisation translates into falling prices for farmers and rising prices for consumers, with the increas-ing polarisation of prices, generating super profits for agribusiness." The US has been pressingthat India should play a role and Indian government is only too willing to oblige. "It is rushingahead to provide market access to the United State in wheat, corn and wine imports and inreduction of duties on industrial products. The US-India Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture,although a bilateral agreement, is part of the Indian government response," they added. (Asian

Age 16/3/07)

Farmers' rehab scheme a failure, says House panel (20)New Delhi : A Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture has said that schemesannounced by the Government for rehabilitation of farmers and to streamline their loans have notbrought any relief to them. "The package announced by Prime Minister for Vidarbha region inMaharashtra not reaching the farmer, and it is a glaring example of the inefficiency of theGovernment in ameliorating the conditions of the farmers," the committee report said. The grantsprovided under these schemes have not taken care of their existing loans, which the farmers are

not able to repay in the case of failure of their crop while the interest on the principal is piling up.Taking note of at least 12,000 farmers committing suicide in the last five years, the committeeheaded by Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav asked the Government to abolish thePublic Debt Recovery Acts, which provides for imprisonment of farmers who default in repaymentof loans. Under the provisions of the Act, after exhausting all other avenues for recovery of loans,banks invoke this legal provision to secure arrest warrants for the defaulters. "How any lawstipulates for recovery of food, transport and other expenditure from a farmer detainee in acountry where even hardened criminals have free food and shelter in jail," the committee asked.The committee also expressed dismayed to note that the recommended scheme for enhancingsustainability of dryland farming has not been implemented yet. "The confusion between the

Agriculture Ministry and the Planning Commission is yet to be cleared. As a result, the fate of thisimportant scheme is in doldrums," Agriculture Standing Committee in its twenty-third report said.It was also unhappy that the Government was dilly-dallying implementation of the scheme. "The

scheme should continue during Eleventh Plan Period," it said. The committee blamed theGovernment's low MSP for the procurement fiasco last year. "Government's pricing policy foragricultural commodities should safeguard the interest of farmers at initial stage itself whileannouncing MSP rather than giving bonus at a later stage when farmers have sold most of theircrops to private market. "The committee are not in agreement with the logic given by thedepartment that when MSP was Rs 650 for wheat, the farmer benefited by selling it at higherprices in the open market and afterwards for the benefit of consumers, the Government had toimport it."The committee recommend that at initial stage the MSP should be attractive enough forthe farmers so that they sell their produce directly to the Government agencies. In this way, thestock of the Government godown would be sufficient and Government would not have to importfoodgrains at a later stage which results in imbalancing the market prices and loss of foreigncurrency to the exchequer," the report said. (Pioneer 21/3/07)

Rajasthan: Chaos in House over relief for farmers (20)Jaipur, March 23: The issue of relief package for farmers, affected by the recent hailstorms,rocked the Rajasthan Assembly once again on Friday. While the ruling BJP announced a reliefpackage of Rs 170 crore, the Congress MLAs staged a walkout alleging that the package was toolittle. The government also waved off electricity bills for four months and promised to provide 100kilogram of wheat to the affected families, as part of the package. During zero hour, theOpposition MLAs created a ruckus in the Assembly demanding that the state governmentannounce a relief package for farmers. Sayvam Lodha of Congress said the government shouldstick to its promise of announcing it on Friday. Soon after, the other Congress MLAs joined himand raised slogans against the Raje government, following which Speaker Sumitra Singh


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adjourned the House. After the proceedings resumed, CM Vasundhara Raje announced a Rs170-crore-package, of which Rs 70 crore will be provided by the CRF as per its norms. In theinterim relief, we had promised to provide the farmers Rs 1,000 per hectare of non-irrigated land,which has now been increased to Rs 3,000. For those farmers who have used power for irrigationwill receive Rs 4,000 per hectare, while those who have used diesel will receive Rs 6,000, perhectare, she stated. (Indian Express 24/3/07)

In dry Vidarbha, village reaps a rich harvest (20)PIMPRI-HATGAON (YAVATMAL), MARCH 25: In the past, Hatgaon village and the surroundingareas located in the cotton bowl of Vidarbha have been in the news for farmers suicides. But thatmay soon be history. Hatgaon has become the first village to own a minor irrigation project which it partly built and is now operating and maintaining on its own. The project was formallyhanded over to Hatgaon at a function in Wardha on Saturday. The neighbouring village of Dhotraalso secured ownership of its irrigation dam. The Rs 2-crore project, partially funded by KfW, theGerman development bank, began about three years ago. The drought-ridden village now has adam, built on a local nullah, with over 1 million cubic metres of water. The project is beingmanaged by the villages Water Users Association (WUA). Under the Participatory Irrigation andDevelopment Process restricted to 100-250 hectare irrigation area KfW provides one-thirdof the project cost, while the villagers have to fund the rest either by way of cash or labour.Maharashtra Water Resources Departments Local Irrigation Sector provides the technical

assistance while a local NGO in this case Wardha-based Dharamitra is roped in formotivation and administrative guidance. Since last year, 94 of the 110 families in Hatgaon arereaping rich dividends. Not only have their yields increased, but they no longer have to depend ona single cotton crop as they are able to produce as many as three crops annually. The grossagricultural production of the village has gone up roughly by Rs 5 lakh per annum. I used to getonly three-four quintal of cotton till last year. This year, I had 12 quintals of cotton. Moreover, Ialso have a second crop of wheat and a third crop of hot-weather gram, says Husen Raut, afarmer in the area. So, although the last cotton picking is usually done in January, Raut still hasabout two quintals of cotton left in his field. Similarly, Bapurao Meshrams three acres of landyielded just one quintal of cotton last year. This year, he got a bumper 12 quintals. He also sowedsoyabean and got six quintals of gram. While he invested Rs 12,000, his returns added up to Rs30,000. Earlier, we had nothing to do after the kharif crop, so most of us would work as labourersin neighbouring villages. Now, we are busy even at this time of the year. We had never grown

soyabean, wheat and gram, says Maroti Thakre. But acceptance took time. In fact, the Germanbank had tried to peg the project in Bihar and Rajasthan, but failed. Progress was initially slow asthe Participatory Irrigation and Development Process was a new concept . Initially, the farmersexpected the government to pay for everything, recalled Kevin Smith, the projects Indiaconsultant. The farmers incomes have increased by three-five times in the first season, and theyhave been able to recover their investments in a single year, he added. (Indian Express 26/3/07)

101 farmer suicides in Kerala since May 06 (20)KALPETTA, MARCH 26: On an average, at least one farmer has been killing himself every thirdday in Kerala after the V S Achuthanandan government came to power. Some 101 of them havealready hanged, burned or poisoned themselves to death since May 2006. Presenting thestatistics at the state Assembly today, Agriculture Minister Mullakkara Ratnakaran, however,

added that over 800 farmers had committed suicide during the last Congress-led UDFgovernment. Unofficial estimates say the numbers may be at least twice as many and manysuicides are still being officially looked into. A bulk of these have been taking place in Wayanad,once internationally famous for its pepper, cardamom, ginger and coffee, besides Kozhikode,Idukki, Palakkad and elsewhere in smaller numbers. Droughts, price crashes, bad crops and debttraps have hit Wayanads once-booming local economy, which had caused over 125 bankbranches to come up in this sparsely populated hill district. The overall credit-deposit ratio inWayanad is now 171 per cent, compared to the statewide average of a little over 50 per cent,officials of Canara Bank, the lead bank in the district, told The Indian Express. But even that is afall from the 182 per cent a couple of years earlier. Last year, the banks in Wayanad disbursed


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loans worth Rs 756 crore, most of them being agricultural loans. Yet, private money lenders, whocommand a great clout in Wayanad, did great business too, admit banking sources. A good manyof the suicides have been blamed on the latter. We are now going to amend the moneylendingregulations drastically to control them. The existing laws just wont do to contain them, said stateFinance Minister Thomas Isaac. Till the late 1990s, the district was a prosperous agricultural belt.By 2000, Wayanad began going under prolonged spells of seasonal droughts, crop prices begansliding uncontrollably, and viral and fungi blights also affected the crops. By around 2004, evenpepper (Wayanad accounted for the largest share of the countrys production) was down to lessthan one-fourth of its price in 2000. Things did not look up since. They need to keep borrowing tosurvive, even if they may not be able to repay soon with no alternate source of income, a localbank manager said. When repayment appeared to be flagging, many banks transformed theinterest and principal into fresh farm loans, resulting in the farmers going under far higher debtsthan the original loans involved. Sensing the opportunity, moneylenders stepped in. With the stategovernment under pressure, the State Level Bankers Committee first put off revenue recovery forsix months and agreed to offer more repayment time for short term loans. It is now also workingon waiving the interest on overdue farm loans under a government scheme, besides gettingcommercial banks to waive a part of the loans of farmers who killed themselvesthe stategovernment chipping in to make up the remaining where large amounts are involved. (IndianExpress 27/3/07)

Rs. 200 crore compensation for Haryana farmers (20)CHANDIGARH: Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday announced thatfarmers in the State would be given Rs. 200 crore as compensation for the damage caused totheir crops due to hailstorms and heavy rainfall this past February and March. Addressing apublic meeting at Hansi, Mr. Hooda said the Congress was committed to completing theremaining portion of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal in Punjab territory and the issue was underconsideration of the Supreme Court that is likely to deliver the verdict soon. He appealed to thefarmers, artisans and petty shopkeepers in the State to avail of the opportunity offered by theGovernment for waiving off interest on cooperative loans. He assured the local MLA, Amir ChandMakkar, of full cooperation in carrying out development activities in the region. Referring to thecriticism of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being made by some leaders having "vestedinterest", Mr. Hooda asserted that "unemployment cannot be tackled without SEZs". (THEHINDU 8/4/07)

Nine sugarcane farmers attempt suicide in Jewargi (20)JEWARGI (GULBARGA DISTRICT): Nine sugarcane farmers attempted suicide by drinkingpoison here on Wednesday. The desperate move came after a three-month agitation by farmerswhose sugarcane had not been purchased by Renuka Sugar Factory as promised. A two-wheelerbelonging to the cane development officer of the factory was set ablaze by the protesters. Thenine farmers are said to be out of danger. Five of them have been shifted to the GovernmentGeneral Hospital in Gulbarga. The Jewargi Raitha Horata Samiti and the Jewargi TalukSugarcane Growers' Association, which are spearheading the agitation, have called for a`Jewargi bandh' on Thursday in protest against what they termed the adamant attitude of thesugar factory. The venue of the farmers' dharna and relay hunger strike, in front of the tahsildar'soffice in the town, was tense since the morning. The Government had deputed AssistantCommissioner Nagappa Sirasagi and senior police officials to talk to the sugarcane growers and

persuade them not to go ahead with their threat to commit suicide. But a group of farmerssuddenly brought out pesticide bottles and gulped down the contents before the police couldprevent them from doing so. Immediately after the nine farmers were taken to hospital, the othersblocked the Gulbarga-Jewargi National Highway for more than two hours. They were arrestedand released later. Another group of farmers, after setting the motorcycle ablaze, detained thecane development officer of the factory, Basavaraj Thatti. He had not been released till late in theevening. The farmers' grouse against the officer was that it was he who had persuaded them tocultivate sugarcane. He had also promised that the factory would purchase the sugarcane in time.(THE HINDU 12/4/07)


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Rajasthan to spend over 200 crore on agriculture (20)JAIPUR: The Rajasthan Government has set the target of spending Rs. 202.31 crore onagriculture and related services during the 2007-08 Annual Plan to produce 1.6-crore metrictonnes of food grain. An official release stated here on Tuesday that while food grains would besown in an area measuring 1.26-crore hectares, oilseeds would be sown over 46.05-lakhhectares, cotton over 5-lakh hectares and sugarcane over 5,000 hectares. Over 15-lakh fruitbearing trees will be distributed and saplings planted in a 5,000-hectare area during the Planperiod. The Annual Plan allocation for the National Horticulture Mission amounts to Rs. 2 crore.Besides, the State Government has set the target for disbursement of loans worth Rs. 3,670crore to farmers through cooperative societies during the year. According to the official release,18 districts have been included in the State Forestry and Biodiversity Scheme funded by theJapan Bank. A provision of Rs. 54.65 crore has been made for the scheme during 2007-08. Theworks under the scheme will include those of plantation, maintenance of trees and land and waterconservation. As part of the agricultural services, Rs. 8.61 crore will be given to AgricultureUniversities in Bikaner and Udaipur, and Rs. 88.22 crore will be spent on farm production, Rs. 47lakh on water conservation, Rs. 17.35 crore on animal husbandry, Rs. 85 lakh on fisheries, Rs.2.70 crore on storage of farm produce and Rs. 8.96 crore on cooperative activities. (The Hindu18/4/07)

Debt-ridden farmers get a helping hand (20)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The banks and the Government are earnestly attempting to takerelief to the crisis-ridden farm sector in the State, judging by the data relating to loan write-off,interest waiver and loan reschedule presented at the State Level Bankers' Meeting (SLBC) hereon Tuesday. As on March 26 this year, commercial banks and urban cooperative banks havewaived interest amounting to Rs.100.72 crore on loans taken by farmers of the distressed districtsof Wayanad, Palakkad and Kasaragod. And the cooperative banks have done this to the tune ofRs.117.58 crore, taking the total interest waived for farmers of the State to Rs.218.30 crore. In thethree distressed districts, the commercial banks and urban cooperative banks have rescheduledfarmers' loans totalling Rs.387.44 crore till March 26. With the cooperative banks reschedulingloans amounting to Rs.323.05 crore, the total farmers' debt rescheduled for repayment in theState is of the order of Rs.710.49 crore. According to the package announced by the UnionGovernment for the farmers of the distressed districts, the burden of the waiver of overdueinterest has to be shared equally by the State and the Union Government. The State Government

released Rs.50 crore to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in March this year towards partialrepayment of the interest waived by commercial banks. It also released Rs.68.648 crore in Marchitself to the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to make good theinterest waived by the cooperatives. (The Hindu 25/4/07)

Cotton farmer, 2 daughters end life (20)BHUBANESWAR: Abject poverty and failure to repay loan taken for cotton cultivation forced afarmer and two of his daughters to commit suicide in Bolangir district of Orissa. The threeconsumed pesticide in their field on the outskirts of Malikamunda village under Patnagarh block ofBolangir on Thursday. While the farmer Akrura Sahu, 48, and one of his daughters died whilebeing taken to the hospital on Thursday, the second daughter breathed her last on Friday.

Although the exact reason behind the suicides was not known immediately, it was said thatdeteriorating financial condition of the family had forced them to take the extreme step. The

farmer had a loan burden of Rs. 25,000. He had availed of the loan from a cooperative society forcotton cultivation last year, but had not been able to repay the loan due to crop failure. Reportsindicated that the farmer was under severe mental stress as he was worried about his failure torepay the loan and marriage of both the daughters. It was the third incident of suicide by cottonfarmers in the State in less than a year. Two such incidents were reported from Bolangir andRayagada districts earlier. (The Hindu 28/4/07)

Farmers need not submit `no due' certificate (20)NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India has waived the condition for farmers to submit a `nodue' certificate for obtaining bank loans up to Rs. 50,000. Instead, banks have been directed to


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provide such small loans to farmers on the basis of a self-declaration. Announcing this in anotification, the RBI said the present procedure to produce the NDC from various banks orcooperative financial institutions operating in the area to get loans from any of the commercialbanks ``entails considerable amount of time and money.'' The RBI also asked the commercialbanks to provide loans for crop cultivation to landless labourers, sharecroppers and oral lesseesagainst certificates of identity and status issued by the local administration, including panchayatiraj institutions. (The Hindu 2/5/07)

Farmers need not submit `no due' certificate (20)NEW DELHI: The Reserve Bank of India has waived the condition for farmers to submit a `nodue' certificate for obtaining bank loans up to Rs. 50,000. Instead, banks have been directed toprovide such small loans to farmers on the basis of a self-declaration. Announcing this in anotification, the RBI said the present procedure to produce the NDC from various banks orcooperative financial institutions operating in the area to get loans from any of the commercialbanks ``entails considerable amount of time and money.'' The RBI also asked the commercialbanks to provide loans for crop cultivation to landless labourers, sharecroppers and oral lesseesagainst certificates of identity and status issued by the local administration, including panchayatiraj institutions. (The Hindu 2/5/07)

'State govt ignoring farmer suicides' (20)GANDHINAGAR: The Sangh Parivar farmers' wing, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) said onMonday that the recent official declaration of 148 suicide deaths among farmers is "only a tip ofthe iceberg". Talking with mediapersons on Monday, BKS general secretary Maganbhai Patelsaid, "The police stations do not register farmers' suicide deaths. These suicides are brushedaside as resulting from domestic problems. But the problems arise because of the farmers' poorplight in rural Gujarat." "Only eight days ago, a farmer from Khambha village in Amreli districtcommitted suicide after failing to repay a debt of Rs 7 lakh. The BKS has registered a case ofsuicide and has demanded state compensation. A fortnight ago, another farmer from Halwad inSurendranagar district had committed suicide," Patel said. "A sharp rise in the input cost and theinability to get good prices have forced farmers to borrow," he added. Disputing state agricultureminister Bhupendrasinh Chudasma's claim that the outgoing fiscal year's agricultural productionhas been a stupendous Rs 32,000 crore, BKS president Prafull Senjalia said, "These are all

fudged figures. Had this been so, we would have been richer than the government is today."Patel and Senjalia were addressing mediapersons at the completion of the BKS representatives'meet where they were re-elected to their posts for another three years. An analytical comparisondrawn up by the BKS suggested that the price for agricultural commodities has increased verymarginally over the last decade, ranging from nil for edible oils and sugarcane to three per centfor cotton, 12.5 per cent for potatoes, 13 per cent for paddy, 20 per cent for pulses and 26 percent for wheat. On the other hand, the input cost of diesel has gone up by 390 per cent, and thatof power by 120 per cent. All-India BKS organising secretary S K Kulkarni declared that the bodywill launch a massive agitation against the special economic zones (SEZs) being built all over thecountry, including 33 in Gujarat. "We do not want private developers to build SEZs. Under nocircumstances should farmers' land be taken away for SEZs, even if they are priced higher thanthe market price. We want a complete change in the SEZ laws. All SEZs should be built by thegovernment." State BKS leaders said they had received complaints from Jamnagar farmers who

had been lured into selling their land to a top business house. "The situation is not very differentin other parts of the state," they added. "In Saurashtra, the entire green belt from Mahuva toVeraval faces the prospect of destruction if an SEZ comes up in that area," pointed out (Times ofIndia 8/5/07)

Farmers protest against SEZ (20)MUMBAI: A month after Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh stayed land acquisition for the Mukesh

Ambani-led Reliance SEZ project in the Pen-Panvel-Uran belt in coastal Raigad district, nowfarmers in Alibag tehsil in the same region led by former chief of naval staff admiral L Ramdas


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have demanded immediate withdrawal of the notification for allotment of land to the India BullsSEZ project. On September 21, 2006, Deshmukh had convened a special meeting to considerthe proposal of India Bulls infrastructure development corporation for setting up a multi-productSEZ in Alibag tehsil. On October 27, 2006, the government issued an extraordinary notificationempowering the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to acquire nearly 5,000acres of land in 22 villages and hand over the same to India Bulls. Angry farmers have stronglyopposed the proposal saying the land proposed to be acquired is highly fertile. "We will not partwith our land, we dont need an SEZ for the development of Alibag," said Amit Patil, president ofthe Gao bachao Sangharsha Samiti. Significantly, Patil has obtained all the relevant informationon the SEZ by invoking provisions of the RTI Act. A few days ago, when a MPCC delegation ledby former MP Sanjay Nirupam visited a section of villages, they had to face the wrath of the localfarmers for the unilateral decision of the Congress-led Democratic Front government to acquirethe land for the India Bulls SEZ. Ramdas said it was a new strategy to grab land. "It will have anadverse impact on 50,000 farmers of Alibag," Ramdas said. The land proposed to be acquiredincludes a plot allotted to Ramdas. Meanwhile, as per official records, even though the notificationfor acquisition of land was promulgated on October 27, 2006, the Raigad collector has not yetinitiated any steps for the purpose. MIDC chief executive officer Rajiv Jalota made it clear thatunder no circumstances would there be forcible acquisition of land. (Times of India 9/5/07)

Suicide by farmer in western UP (20)

BHILAVALI (Agra): Kedar Singh wasn't a marginal cotton cultivator in the killing fields ofVidarbha. But like many of them, he was debt-ridden. Threatened by the moneylender, distressedby crop failure and swindled by the man to whom he had sold off his land, the Dalit western UttarPradesh farmer ended his life last week. "He ate just one roti and went off to sleep on theneighbour's roof," says wife Rajan Devi. They found him hanging by a hook the morning after.The ration card says he was 40 years old though his relatives insist he was only 26. And lookingat Kedar's photograph on the ration card, it is possible to believe them. As per official statistics,8,263 farmers have committed suicide in seven states. Bountiful western UP appeared to havebucked the trend. But after a visit to Kedar's house, located about 25 km from the Taj Mahaltown, one gathers that perhaps both grinding poverty and oppressive social structures combinedto kill the Jatav farmer on May 2. Kedar's relatives say that the cultivator was conned by a fellowupper caste villager, who had bought his entire land 1.75 bighas, to be precise. Underprovision 157A of the 1950 Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act in UP, agricultural land

owned by Schedule Castes cannot be sold to a non-SC without obtaining permission from thedistrict administration. Villagers say the buyer, a Brahmin of the adjoining Chhoti Bhilavali hamlet,had sidestepped the rule through a benami transaction involving another SC villager. Hepromised to pay Kedar in a few days but never did. (Times of India 9/5/07)

Farmers' suicides in Punjab (20)MOGA: A survey conducted by the Administration has found that 498 farmers have committed``suicide'' in Moga district of Punjab since 1990. The maximum number of suicides (70) has takenplace in Kishanpura village, followed by 64 in Mari Mustaffa village, 30 in Himatpura village, 27 inMachhike village, 26 in Bhinder Kalan, 23 in Kussa village and 22 in Rauke village, officials saidhere on Friday quoting the survey. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has directed all DeputyCommissioners in the State to collect data on farmers who have committed ``suicide'' during2002-2007 along with the details of loans taken from any bank. - . (The Hindu 12/5/07)

2 more farmers end lives in Akola (20)AKOLA: There seems no respite to the suicides of farmers in Vidarbha, despite Chief MinisterVilasrao Deshmukh claiming a drop in farmers suicide case. Deshmukh, had in a letter to primeminister Manmohan Singh recently, said the number of farmers' suicides have reduced sharplyfrom 61 in March last year to 16 for the same month this year. According to figures cited byDeshmukh to the prime minister, 575 farmers had committed suicide due to agrarian crisis in thesix worst-affected districts of Vidarbha in 2006 with the first three months accounting for 168deaths. According to official estimates, 40 farmers have committed suicide in the six districts of

Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha, Washim and Yavatmal during the first three months of this


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farmer was a resident of Khaserveri area in Singur, about 40 km from Kolkata in Hooghly district.This is fourth unnatural death in the area after the hostilities began. While two people, includingTapasi Mallick, a Farmland activist, were murdered, another elderly farmer committed suicide byconsuming pesticide a couple of months ago as he was also depressed at having to concede hisland to the Tata project. Das' land was acquired by the Government for the Tata Motors small carfactory coming up in the area and he was suffering from depression since the forcible acquisition,Becharam Manna, the leader of the committee said. "He was depressed. He had not been able totill his land for one year and was worried about the future of his two daughters. He had refused toaccept money as compensation for the Tata project and was an active member of themovement," Manna said. Earlier on March 13, a farmer Haradhan Bag had committed suicide inSingur. Anti-Tata project activists had claimed that land loss was behind that death too. Thehapless farmer's death comes a day after the proposed Nandigram peace talks failed afterTrinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee walked out from the all-party meeting holding theWest Bengal CPI(M) responsible for the failure of the peace process. Meanwhile, Nandigramflared up again with bombs and gunfire being exchanged between CPI(M) cadres and Trinamoolbacked Bhumi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee since Thursday night, sources at the districtadministration said. "About 70-80 bombs were hurled at Tekhali, Sher Khan Chowk, Bhangaberiaand Baharganj," police said adding 30-40 rounds were also fired from both sides. No casualtywas, however, reported. Sources said the resumption of hostilities was a direct fallout of thefailure of the peace talks. . (Pioneer 26/5/07)

Five more farmers commit suicide (20)NAGPUR: Even as Union ministers, chief ministers and top level officials were busy discussingthe crisis in agriculture sector in New Delhi on Tuesday at a meeting presided over by the primeminister, five more farmers committed suicide in Vidarbha. With these deaths reported in the last24 hours, the farmers'suicide toll this year has mounted to 406, according to Vidarbha Jan

Andolan Samiti. The five who ended their lives were identified as Subhash Dongare of Mahgaonin Akola district, Gopal Dani of Baradkinhi in Chandrapur, Narayan Thak of Kotha village inYavatmal, Shyam Rathode of Manora in Washim and Devanand Ambedare of Tekapar inBhandara. Ambedare died in Bhandara civil hospital on Monday after he was rushed there in aserious condition as he consumed poison. He had owned five acres of land. He leaves behind hismother, wife, a daughter and unpaid loans worth over Rs 50,000. Samiti convenor KishoreTiwari has alleged that claims made by the chief minister in his presentation before prime minister

Manmohan Singh that farmers'suicides in Vidarbha had declined, were false. Last July, the PMhad visited Vidarbha and announced a special relief package for the farmers in the six districts ofregion's cotton growing belt. Tiwari said even the government website of the relief mission citedthe number of suicides last year at 1427. This year too the rate was alarming in the first fivemonths. "But the government is trying to play down the crisis. The state is taking a stand thatmost of the suicide cases were out of non-agrarian reasons," said Tiwari. He has demandedurgent steps to ensure food security in the affected districts. (Times of India 30/5/07)

NDC calls for law to save farmers' land (20)New Delhi : Several Chief Ministers have expressed concerns that contract farming could lead toland alienation. A sub-committee of the National Development Council (NDC) has called for a lawto prevent displacement of farmers from their land as a consequence of contract farming. Theworking group on marketing reforms, contract farming and agro-processing while encouraging

various models of contract farming, said, "It is necessary to prevent by law the displacement offarmers from their land as a consequence of any contract farming agreement." "Some Stateshave opposed contract farming, while others feel that the partnership should be monitored. Weare not in favour of any policy that alienates people from their land, and do not encouragecorporate farming. But contract farming is not harmful and States are free to devise their ownpolicy," Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said. The group alsocalled for a dispute resolution mechanism, preferably headed by sub-divisional magistrate, tomediate between sponsoring companies and farmers in case of disagreement between the two."In the event of violation of contract farming agreement, either party should be in a position toapproach an authority which can meditate and settle the dispute," the group said. Experience with


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contract farming has been mixed. In States like Maharashtra for instance, fruit exporters haveorganised farmers, provided better seeds and know-how, and procured harvest directly from thefarmers. But in traditional agrarian States like Punjab and Haryana, the response has beenlukewarm. It seems that the concept has worked where farmers have been able to organisethemselves to grow a single produce. With more corporate entering the retail network, andbridging the link between consumers and farmers, more companies are expected to contract theirproduce to farms. Drawing the distinction between corporate and contract farming, the reportsaid: "Corporate farming for promoting agricultural diversification, value addition and exports maybe encouraged only when the country attains a reasonable level of food security at both macroand household level. Contract farming can perform the above mentioned functions equallyefficiently and, therefore, contract farming should get preference over corporate farming." Thesub-group has recommended that land leasing policy should be such as to help promote contractfarming so that tenant farmers could benefit from the adoption of new technology and assuredprice ad market provided by any company. The group recommended that land leasing should bemade legal in all areas, along with a provision that the size of holding of a farm family should notbe above the ceilings fixed in respect of various categories of land in each S

agriculture 2007

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