Eminent food and trade policy analyst Dr Devinder Sharma has strongly criticised governments and scientists for making comparison between the Indian farmer and the western farmer, saying that in India, farmers are ‘incidental’ while in western world they are the most secured lot.
He made this observation while speaking on the ‘Plight of Indian Farmers in the Globalisation Era’ at the Institution of Agricultural Technologists (IAT) on Wednesday. The programme was jointly organised by IAT, Sahaja Samrudha, Thanal and Create.
Dr Sharma said, it is a shame that when the economy is booming with claims that the country’s GDP has touched around 9 per cent, farmers are committing suicide of whom 40 per cent are from Karnataka where half of the technologies of the country are developed.
‘Unfair and felonious’
He took a dig on the scientists for asking Indian farmers to compete with western farmers, who are more secured because of bulky subsidies. “A common statement from scientists is that the Indian farmers should be more efficient in the globalisation era to compete with European or US farmers. This comparison is unfair and felonious,” said Sharma, adding that in western countries each cow requires a shower, tubelight, fan and centrally heated room which is beyond imagination in India.
Even though subsidies are provided to the US farmers, the number of people in farming sector had reduced even there.
“The US farmers were forming 10 per cent of the population at the time India got independence, but now their percentage has reduced to one. In 2000, their population was around 9 lakh but in 2004 only 7 lakh people were in this sector,” said Mr Sharma.
He also wondered why Americans were distancing themselve saway from agriculture sector. He said, there must be some major problem in the policy at global level.
He informed audience that there were 20 thousand cotton growers in US and they were paid a subsidy of 12 million dollars a day.
Devinder Sharma also flayed the concept of contract farming. “No one is discussing whether contract farming has succeeded in the world anywhere in the world. Everybody talks of increasing usage of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, tractors, GM crops and contract farming but no one discusses about farmers’ suicide. Actually farmer is just incidental,” he remarked.
