Agricultural reform? Small farmers will be more vulnerable, corporates to ‘fix’ price

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Agriculture employs 42% of the total work force whereas it contributes only 16% to the country’s GDP. The average annual growth rate in agriculture has remained static to 2.9% since the last six years. This means that the post-green revolution conventional agriculture has reached its peak. Responsiveness of soil fertility to fertiliser application, an indicator of stagnancy in agriculture, shows declining trend since 1970. The worst sufferer has been the small and marginal farmers who constitute 86% of total farmers.

Post-green revolution agriculture, on one hand, has helped increase production of some crops, mostly cereals, but on the other hand, during this period, agriculture has gradually become more dependent on seed and pesticides/herbicides companies. The high yielding or hybrid seeds replaced the indigenous seeds, the chemical pesticides and herbicides replaced the traditional pest management and agronomic practices.

Farmers now follow the package of practice (PoP) written in the label of the seed or pesticides packet, or as prescribed by the dealers/agent or government extension workers. Eventually the context specific knowledge and practice which evolved during 100s of years got replaced by the knowledge written on the labels of the packets. Farmers stopped using their wisdom, skill and knowledge – a process called deskilling in agriculture.

Source: Counter View