Ensure reasonable monthly income for ryots, says agriculture expert

Agriculture policy expert and writer Devinder Sharma has urged the government to ensure a decent monthly income for ryots and fix a minimum support price for all farmer produce in the country.

Agriculture policy expert and writer Devinder Sharma has urged the government to ensure a decent monthly income for ryots and fix a minimum support price for all farmer produce in the country.

Interacting with farmers and environmentalists at Sulthan Bathery on Thursday, Dr. Sharma said, as ryots, who constituted 50% of the total population of the country, were the most backward community in the world, successive governments had the responsibility to protect them.

The programme was jointly organised by the Wayanad Prakruthi Samrakshana Samiti and Grama Jyothi farmers club at Kallur.

Most farmers quit farming and keep their farms fallow or decide to end their lives owing to anti-farmer policies of successive governments, Dr. Sharma observed.

The US government was providing a huge sum to the farming community, which constituted 1.5% of the total population of that country, as subsidy, but farmers complained that it was not sufficient, he said.

Such subsidies were yet to be provided to the community in India, Dr. Sharma said. Citing official statistics, he said the annual income of an average farmer in India was ₹10,000, and that it was pathetic, he observed.

Climate change and global warming are the other two challenges facing the agrarian sector. As it was found that 3% of greenhouse gases are emitted from the agriculture sector, many farmers in developed countries are giving up agriculture, and researchers are focusing on developing a system of cultivation without farmers and soil, he said. However, many a farmer in the country had come out with successful models to address the issue by following eco-friendly and natural farming systems, he added.