Agrarian crisis-overview-sambhaavna.pptx

Presentation on Agrarian Crisis, its Causes and Solutions. Made by Kirankumar Vissa and Kavitha Kuruganti on behalf of Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA Kisan Swaraj) in March 2018.

1. Agrarian Crisis in India: Structuring the Problem KAVITHA KURUGANTI & KIRAN VISSA, Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture

2. MANIFESTATIONS OF THE CRISIS….

3. GDP Contribution may be just 13.9%, BUT… … 9.02 crore households (HHs) are “Agricultural Households”* - NSSO 70 th Round (Dec 2014) (8.9 crore ‘farm HHs’ in 2003) This is ~ 57.8% of total estimated rural HHs, with Rajasthan having highest & Kerala least 45.4% of these agricultural HHs are OBCs (45% in terms of rural HHs also); 16% SCs (20% of rural HHs) & 13% STs (12% of rural HHs) *an agricultural household is a HH receiving some value of produce more than Rs3000/pa from agri activities, with at least 1 member “self-employed in agriculture” *keeps out those households which are completely dependent on agri labour ! Well being of agri labour is in some ways related to well being of farmers

4. P ersons in agriculture 47.1% of total workers or 20.4 crore workers employed in agriculture ( NSSO 68 th round) 64.1% rural workers in India (59% male and 75% female) engaged in agriculture ( NSSO 68 th round); as per Census 2011, 72.3% in Agri. Total cultivators: 11.9 crores (70% male); Total agriculture labourers : 14.4 crores (57% male) All of them are performing the vital function of securing food for all of us, and production & supply of raw materials for several industries

5. Their story and status Largest displacement in human history happening in Indian agriculture 3.1 lakh farmer suicides from 1995: one, every half hour – there is under-reporting and data manipulation Indebtedness (52% HHs) – debt burden intensifying (In 1992, debt-asset ratio for cultivator households was 1.61, which rose to 2.46 in 2013) – institutional credit cover low (more than 3 crore agri HHs with less than 1 acre of land have only 17% of their O/S loan from institutional sources – exploitative moneylending trap) Incomes : V ery low, precarious, stagnated or declined (micro-studies) D isparity b/w agri incomes and other sectors widened Variation of incomes based on landholding class increasing: equity issues within sector L and ownership : B etween 2002-03 and 2012-13, a decrease of nearly 14.86 million hectares of land for rural households in India Resource Degradation and Climate Change compound the existing neglect and inequity

6. Monthly Incomes Avg monthly income of agri HHs, from all sources of income (incl. non- agri ), was only Rs . 6426/- while the average monthly consumer expenditure per HH was Rs . 6223/-. 47.9 % of this income was from cultivation and 11.9% from livestock. = only Rs . 107/- daily earnings per adult from all sources, taking 2 adults on an average per agri -household. In most places, this would be below minimum wages prescribed for unskilled workers. A round 6.26 crore agricultural households are running on a debt economy , so to speak. On an average, there is a deficit of Rs . 856/- per month per household in terms of their expenses exceeding receipts, for these households. This is the situation of nearly 70% of agricultural households in India . EXPERIENCE SHOWS THAT UNLESS GROWTH MODEL IMPROVES FARM INCOMES, GROWTH IS NOT POVERTY-REDUCING

7. Environmental Crisis in Indian agriculture Land degradation – soil health issues Water depletion and contamination Agro diversity erosion Agro-chemical contamination and impacts on ecology Mono-cropping increasing – including in forests, to replace podu

8. Social Issues Landless farmers, mainly dalits and women aspire for land ownership By size of land holding: 6.26 crore marginal holding households (less than 1 hectare) are neglected when it comes to institutional credit, insurance, market support, viability/scale By cultivation status: 10% of farmers are tenants/land lessees, officially at national level – no institutional support systems available (even in suicide deaths, not recognised as farmers!) – as high as 34% in some states (even this under-reported?) – upto 80% of farm suicides in some states are of tenant farmers By social background: Women farmers (increasing feminisation but totally invisible and unrecognised – Census 2011 counted 3.6 crores ) – masculinisation trends too By unique vulnerabilities: Adivasi farmers ( de facto user rights rather than land titles/integrated livelihoods from numerous sources/intimate dependence on (state of) natural resources) NEW FARMERS, DE-SKILLING, LACK OF COMMUNITARIAN ETHOS….

9. Politically…. ….with rapid urbanisation, rural India and farmers will become politically irrelevant too, apart from being ‘economically irrelevant or unimportant’ as voters Political leaders more and more from a non-farming background Farmers don’t come together with a primary identity of being farmers – divided on religion and caste, and now, commodities! (Absentee) land owners and peasants/workers continue to have a tension in aims and aspirations Farmer unions split and weak Industry and industrialists take precedence in policy – funding of parties co-related to this

10. Farming: Risky at all stages Farming Physical & Financial Inputs Quality of inputs: RISK Impact of inputs: RISK If need for (expensive) inputs increases (treadmill technologies), (high interest) borrowals increase: RISK Climate Change & Natural disasters incl. pest and disease outbreaks, wildlife-related losses, weather RISKS Ownership of resources threatened: RISK Economic Context : ‘development’=displacement from agri ; LPG Environmental Context : Degraded resources + Climate change Social context/status : Precarious/ Undignifying ; Increasing lifestyle related aspirations; Communitarian systems becoming individualistic Nouveau Farmers: Knowledge/Skills??; Others: De-skilling; Marginalised farmers Priced out due to cheap imports; Input dealers/ commission agents fix price; N o ability to retain for better price realisation ; Small volumes: RISK Farm Produce Resource Degradation RISK Many Landless!

11. Trapped in a Vital Function

12. What needs to change for things to improve? THERE IS NEED FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN BOTH (MACRO) POLICIES AND (MICRO) FIELD LEVEL PRACTICES Net Incomes have to improve and be assured (however “produce-more-and-prosper paradigm” which focuses on topline is not an answer) Risks have to be reduced/ minimised to fullest extent possible Sustainability brought into farming & farm livelihoods Entitlements from the state should be accessed equitably (from resource ownership to various support systems & services)

13. Income Improvements Reduce cost of cultivation “ internalise ” various inputs – use Nature’s free products and processes have communitarian systems for some operations r educe need for credit and thereby, indebtedness (will also break credit-distress sale trap that exists) Create remunerative & assured markets Improve harvest retention ability Attain scale by collectivisation /aggregation Processing and value addition Fair trade principles in the market space Address information asymmetries

14. Income Improvements MAKE GOVT INTERVENTIONS ACCOUNTABLE TOWARDS DELIVERY OF MINIMUM LIVING NET INCOMES , NOT PRODUCTION/YIELD ALONE POLICY CHANGES : AWAY FROM RISKY TECHNOLOGIES; EXCESSIVE FOCUS ON YIELDS; LACK OF EQUITABLE INVESTMENTS; FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS THAT THREATEN FARM LIVELIHOOD SECURITY TOWARDS INVESTMENTS ON ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE, COLLECTIVISATION OF FARMERS, INVESTMENTS ON POST-HARVEST POSSIBILITIES FOR FARMER PRODUCER ORGANISATIONS; BETTER PRICE & PROCUREMENT POLICIES INCL. PRICE INSURANCE

15. RISK REDUCTION/MINIMISATION Farm Level/Technical Agro-ecological practices (mixed cropping, better water conservation/management etc.) Assured emergency irrigation Diversification of income sources (Integrated Farming Systems) Communitarian farming ( collectivisation , knowledge-sharing and capacity building, marketing of harvest etc.) Institutional Institutional credit coverage improvements Improvements in crop insurance (design & delivery) Effective disaster compensation Price Stabilisation Fund No resource grabbing or monopoly-building policies (land acquisition, seed patents etc.)

16. Where does ecological agri come in? Low cost, no ‘borrowed investments’, decreasing indebtedness Resilient – less risky More profitable, incl. because of premium prices Safer – healthier – less medical expenses? Organic & smallholder farming are mutually “symbiotic” Ecological agriculture provides more autonomy to women farmers – their practical and strategic needs met better