He was addressing farmers at a “symposium on agriculture, farmer, land and environment” as part of Indian Farmers’ Day jointly organised by Krishi Bhoomi Samrakshana Samiti, Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha and Tamilnadu Organic Agriculturist Movement at Bharat Scouts and Guides Bhavan here on Wednesday.

About 84 crore people in India spend only Rs 20 per day, where majority of them are farmers. But they are not getting proper returns to their labour with the entry of multi-national companies to agricultural field, he regretted.

Expressing worry over the decline in the number of farmers year after year, Dr Sharma said by 2020 all 600 million farmers would disappear from the earth if the present trend continued. “About 27 million farmers were pushed out of agriculture in the last 100 years in USA; now only 7 million are left there,” he noted.

Over 76 per cent of the total land is in the hand of 23 per cent population, and by 2020 only 2 per cent population will own the entire land on earth, he said and added that 60 per cent of farmers would be pushed out of agriculture in the next 12-15 years.

Mechanisation

In the name of ‘rising productivity,’ the total scenario is being mechanised. By 2050, there will be only robots in the world to perform the works which are presently handled by human beings. In the name of green revolution, the money power of rural areas have been taken to urban areas, Dr Sharma criticised.

He said that direct income support to farmers had always been refused in the era of globalisation.

Speaking on the occasion, farmer leader from Vidarbha, Vijay Javandiya said there was an inevitability of formulating own economic policies and social structures if all farmers should be saved.

He also appealed the Union government to include villages in the 6th Pay Commission.

He said farmers’ suicide was just a tip of the iceberg indicating the entire crisis of agriculturists in India.

Consumers Co-ordination Council of India President Pof Doraisingam narrated the story of how over 3,000 farmers in Tanjavur district were changed from chemical farming to organic farming. 

Dr D Chandrashekhar Chowta from Manjeshwar chaired the symposium. Tamilnadu Organic Agriculturist Movement President Dr Nammalwar among others were present on the occasion.