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Agriculture is facing economic problems all over the world, the main reason for which is that the number of sellers of agricultural products is very high while the number of buyers is very less. Sometimes those buyers work together to exploit the farmers. This is the reason that in the last few days, there were reports of farmers protesting by ramming tractors on the streets of different cities in the most developed countries of Europe, but the reason for the problem of farmers in India is different and serious.
The problem of most of the farmers in India is that they have very little to sell but they are dependent on agriculture sector profession and the number of people dependent on agriculture is also increasing. They don't even have that much employment in farming. They are idle most of the day and most of the year. They also want to work but there is no work. Then the produce from that land does not meet the needs of those farmers' families, due to which they have to resort to loans. With time, that debt becomes such a burden that it cannot be paid off even with the available resources, due to which there have been reports of suicides due to this debt in different parts of India for the last several years. Nowadays, provincial governments have set up debt relief forums at the district and provincial levels to resolve matters related to agricultural debt. These forums have the powers to adjudicate on cases. Moneylenders have to register themselves in the system prescribed by them. Then the maximum interest rate is decided. If a borrower has paid double the principal amount then the case of that loan can be brought before the District Forum. Due to day by day decreasing income per family, increasing debt and increasing cases of suicide in agriculture sector, such provision was very necessary but it is not a permanent solution to the entire problem, even if it is for a short period of time. . Can free the farmer's family from exploitation.
However, farmers in Europe and other developed countries of the world face major problems, despite the fact that they also have very large farms and hence do not suffer from debt. The main reason for this is the heavy burden of population on agriculture in India. Still, 60 percent of India's population is dependent on agriculture, whereas in developed countries it is not more than 5 percent. India's development has been uneven. Some areas have seen major industrial development while others have none at all. The difference between urban and rural development is clearly visible. Villagers also have to go to the city for employment. The village youth are forced to go to cities in search of employment because no employment has developed in the village except farming. In the late sixties, the Green Revolution in India brought great relief to the farmers for a short time, but due to the provision of easy loans in this Green Revolution, the increase in debt also started at the same time. This Green Revolution depended mostly on the use of chemicals and was more successful in areas where there were more irrigation facilities. This was the reason why in Punjab, Haryana and UP they were more successful than other provinces, but the effect of Green Revolution also remained for a short time and after some time farmers were left with excess produce, the cost of which was increasing day by day. Was staying. a relief. He became disinherited and then faced financial difficulties.
The result of the weak economic condition of the farmers was that in a recent survey it was reported that 40 percent of the farmers wanted to leave farming on their own and take up other occupations but the difficulty was that alternative occupations were not available and especially in the villages where agriculture was the main occupation. However, there is a severe lack of alternative occupations. The 2016 Crime Records Report stated that from 1997 to 2016, 5 lakh suicides occurred in rural areas of India due to agricultural debt. Although Punjab is very developed where agriculture sector contributes more than 28 percent of India's total domestic production, yet 3954 farmers and 2972 agricultural laborers committed suicide in Punjab during the same period. Punjabi University conducted a survey for the Indian Council of Social Science Research in which it was revealed that 85.9 percent of the farmers of Punjab are burdened with debt. The average loan per family among farmer families is Rs 5.50 lakh.
Another fact came to light in this report. There is a strong relationship between loan and the size of land holding which means if one has more land the loan will also be higher depending on the borrowing capacity of the farmer. It was told in that report that the loan of marginal farmers (less than 2.5 acres) is Rs 2.76 lakh, while the loan of large-scale farmers whose land is more than 15 acres is Rs 16.37 lakh. Medium farmers who have 10 acres of land. There is a debt of Rs 6.84 lakh on land and Rs 5.57 lakh on farmers with less than 5 acres of land. Similarly, 80 percent of agricultural laborers are burdened with debt, but they have a loan of Rs 68330 per family. But 92 percent of employees take loans from non-institutions for which the same interest rates are offered. This report makes it clear that if a farmer has more borrowing capacity, he takes more loan and borrowing is the compulsion of the farmer or agricultural labourer. Taking a loan is not a crime but a loan that can be converted into a productive asset can be a boon. In the year 1969, the government nationalized 14 big private commercial banks and gave them special instructions to give loans to agriculture and especially small farmers so that they could be freed from paying high interest on the loans given by moneylenders. While many other factors helped in the Green Revolution, credit also played a major role. In fact, the problems of agriculture are related to the fact that the law of diminishing returns on agricultural produce applies very rapidly. As more fertilizers, chemicals, etc. are used in agriculture, their yields reduce. Land size is the biggest factor in agricultural production, but in India's agriculture, population has a greater burden on land. Many reports suggest that as some members of farming families have other jobs or businesses, those families have less debt and their agricultural output is also higher.
To reduce debt, alternative occupations other than rural agriculture should be developed and the population should be shifted from agriculture to other occupations as has happened in developed countries. In the near future, there is a need to adopt a special policy to link agriculture with industries and service sector so that the population burden on agriculture can be reduced.
