Only frowns grow on brown earth: Farms are cracking and farmers are ready to give up

This year marks the fifth straight year in which the weather office has overestimated the likely rainfall for the country. Rains were 91 per cent of the long-term average at the end of July-September monsoon season, compared with a forecast of 97 per cent. 

This is also the second year in a row in which the monsoon was below normal, with one-fourth of the regions including key crop-growing northern states receiving less rain than needed. Some others, like Kerala, were flooded.  

For a country that receives 70 per cent of its rainfall through monsoons, and whose farm sector is largely and hopelessly dependent on the season for irrigation, a missed season makes all the difference between life and death.   

DNA looks at a slice of the western strip of the country — from Rajasthan through Gujarat to Maharashtra — and the picture seems to be grim.

Output low

In Maharashtra, whose agricultural and allied sector was expected to register a negative growth rate (-8.3 per cent) for the fiscal ended 2018, 201 tehshils are drought-prone, while 170 are likely to face  severe drought in the  months to follow. Most of them are in the north of the state and Marathwada region.

According to a state disaster management report which was released on September 28, some 1,41,255 hectares of farm land, a major chunk of which lies in Yavatmal district, has been affected. Other districts where crops have been affected include Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalgaon and Gadchiroli, mostly in the eastern  part of the state. 

Because of poor rainfall, the produce of cotton, soyabean, pulses and grains has suffered, says the report. In the absence of timely precipitation, the state’s food production will fall.

In Gujarat, 2018 has shaped up to be a disaster, bringing only 637 mm rains, which is 77 per cent of the state’s 30-year average. Farmers in traditionally drought-prone areas have been hit hard, and the brunt is being borne by the dry areas of Kutch and north Gujarat that received 111 mm and 347 mm rains, respectively. 

Last year, the state received 834 mm rainfall, which was more than the long-term average of 810 mm. While Kutch got 107 per cent of average rainfall, north Gujarat 139 per cent. Additionally, Narmada waters were available for initial phase of sowing, and there were rains at regular intervals, which facilitated good produce. 

The situation changed drastically this year, with Gujarat having overused its available share of Narmada water. It was no longer available for the summer crop and even for the early part of kharif crops.

Hear it straight from Baldev Makwana, a farmer in Aniyali village in Lakhtar taluka of Gujarat’s Surendranagar district which has high degree of salinity, and therefore  subpar food productivity. Till October 5, the taluka has received 161 mm rains, which is 28 per cent of the seasonal average of 584 mm.

Baldevbhai has two farms. Last year, he had grown castor in one field and cumin on the other, smaller farm. At the time, water from Narmada canal was available for first phase of irrigation, and monsoon was good. Both his farms thrived. 

This year, the monsoon arrived late, and water in the Narmada was all but exhausted. He could only seed one farm. 

He practices crop rotation, and this year, he was planning to grow Bt cotton. The  genetically modified cotton strain is the largest cultivated crop in Gujarat. But it requires more water for irrigation. 

With scarce rains and limited supply from the Narmada canal, Makwana has had to drop the idea. 

“This year, nature has played truant. Monsoon was delayed and Narmada water was also not available. I am not able to sow any crop in my smaller farm. I have  grown castor in the larger farm,” said Makwana. 

He also grows jowar (sorghum) to provide feed to his cattle. But even that hasn’t yielded  great results. It doesn’t help that his farm falls in a region with high degree of salinity. It’s obvious to him that production will decline as a consequence. 

Last year, on an average, he reaped seven mann (20 kg) of castor per bigha (a measure of land that varies locally, but is anywhere between a third of an acre and an acre). This is likely to whittle down to about four mann this year.

Inflating costs are deflating spirits

Rapidly rising input costs and decelerated growth in income has restricted farmers in a number of way, Makwana said. 

“About a decade ago, the cost of growing cumin on a bigha of land was Rs 1,000-1,500, and the income from that was about Rs 7,000-8,000. Now, the expenses are about Rs 5,000-6,000 while income is in the range of Rs 8,000-12,000. So practically, there is no rise in net income,” he said.

He also said that consumption patterns have changed over the years. In the Lakhtar region, he said, local wood was used earlier for cooking, and kerosene was used to run pump sets. These have now been replaced by cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) and diesel, which are more expensive. 

“The government has given us LPG cylinders. But the prices are rising. Diesel is now very costly,” he said. 

He further said that despite all the technological changes, illiteracy in the farming community has not gone down. It continues to render them susceptible to the  con of traders and middlemen. 

“Farmers don’t know which seeds and fertilisers are good. Traders just put anything in fancy packaging and claim that it is much better than the previous item and charge a hefty premium. This is causing the cost of inputs to rise phenomenally for the farmer. On the other hand there isn’t a commensurate increase in productivity. Income is uncertain,” he said.

Balwantsinh Padheriya, a farmer of Adroda village in Sanand taluka of Ahmedabad district said that in over a decade, the cost of inputs had multiplied, but selling price of their produce hadn’t. 

“Per litre price of diesel has increased from about Rs 25 to Rs 75, that of DAP” — diammonium phosphate is a fertiliser — “has risen from Rs 350 per 50 kg to Rs 1,450. Similarly, price per 20 kg of seeds has increased from about Rs 150 to about Rs 600-1,000, that of pesticides from Rs 100 per litre to about Rs 600 per litre, and of labour from about Rs 50 per day to Rs 300 per day. Compared to this, the selling price of a mann of paddy has increased from Rs 150 to no more than Rs 250,” said Padheriya, who owns about 50 bigha of land. Paddy is his main crop.

Informed sources told DNA that in kharif season last year, the price of paddy ranged over Rs 250-325 per mann in different markets of Gujarat. 

However, in cooperatives of south of the state, the price was upwards of Rs 350 per mann. The state had announced minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,750 and Rs 1,500 per quintal (100 kg). Initially traders bought paddy below the MSP, at about Rs 250 per mann. But  after a hue and cry from farmers, the price rose.

He believes, that if input costs are controlled and farm products are protected by remunerative prices, there would be an incentive in the field. 

“If I am earning from farming, I will buy more land, employ more people, leading to new job creation in villages. But if I am not earning, how will I employ people?” said Padheriya. 

Market intermediaries are the ones who make the most by buying dirt-cheap produce from farmers and selling with high margins to retailers. 

So even though the end consumer pays more, the farmers do not see the profits.

Sons, don’t take to the soil 

Things are even more devastating for those farming in the driest and largest state, Rajasthan. As the southwest Monsoon withmdrew on September 29, twenty-nine days after its normal withdrawal date, it dumped water on their crops. Over 70 per cent  of urad dal crop across Hadoti region in Kota  division was laid waste.

The rainfall that was witnessed as the monsoon beat a retreat in the last week of September did more harm than good. It left thousands of farmers debt-ridden, with no assurance of compensation from any quarter for the damaged crops.

The state government has not yet announced any arrangement to purchase the remaining crop, which is 20-30 per cent of the total, at a minimum support price.  

Suffering constant losses of crop and cash for the past three to four years, farmers of Hadoti are discouraging their progeny from taking up farming as a means of livelihood, and pursue greener pastures. 

Sanjay Choudhary, 45, a farmer of Alphanagar village in Bundi district, owns 50 bigha of agriculture land. He  cultivated urad on about 22 bigha, but rains played havoc in the last week of September, damaging  over 70 per cent of his crop when it was ripe, ready to be reaped and sold.

“I have been left with 4-5 quintals where I had sown for 25 to 30 quintals,” Choudhary rued, while questioning the government’s uncertainty over support prices. 

“Earlier, I had cultivated wheat on over 50 bigha, but its quantity fell to 75-100 quintals due to whimsies of monsoon, leaving me about 250 sacks of wheat,” he said. “With so much left to chance in this occupation, I have sent my son to prepare for entrance exams to medical colleges.” This is NEET.  “My daughters are  undergraduates in commerce. Farming is risky. You can’t let your kids bet their lives like this,” Choudhary said.

Rajendra Mehara, 42, of Sitapura village in Bundi, also doesn’t want his children to be farmers. “I sowed urad over nine bigha but most of it has been damaged by sudden rains at the end of last month. The remaining crop seems to be of low quality,” he said. “I won’t ask my son, who in Class 6, and daughter, who is in Class 10, to take up farming. It isn’t practical or proftable,” Mehara said.

The monsoon may have officially withdrawn, but it has left behind unfulfilled expectations, which the ernment is perhaps unequal to meeting.

(Inputs by Keyur Dhandeo, Rajiv Saxena and Sudhir Suryawanshi)

MAHARASHTRA DATA

REGION-WISE RAINFALL

NASIK: Of 40 tehshils , four tehshils received rainfall between 25-50% rainfall, 22 tehshils 50-75%, 12 tehshils 75-100% and two tehshils more than 100% rainfall received this year.

PUNE: Out of 39 tehshils, 12 tehshils received rainfall between 25-50%, 16 tehshils 50-75%, four tehshils 75-100% while six tehshils more than 100% rainfall.

KOLHAPUR: Out of 33 tehshils, two received rainfall between 25-50%, nine tehshils 50-75%, 13 tehshils 75-100% while nine tehshils more than 100% rainfall received.

AURANGABAD: Out of four tehshils received rainfall between 25-50%, 21 tehshils between 50-75%, three tehshils between 75-100% rainfall.

LATUR: Out of 48 tehshils, three received rainfall between 25-50%, 23 tehshils between 50-75%, 16 tehshils between 75-100% and six tehshils more than 100% rainfall received.

AMARAVATI: Out of 56 tehshils, 23 received the rainfall between 50-75%, 25 tehshils between 75-100%, and eight tehshils more than 100% rainfall received

NAGPUR: Out of 64 tehshils, 21 received rainfall between 50-75%, 30 tehshils between 75-100% while 13 tehshils more than 100% rainfall received.