FAMILY ENGAGEMENT - PRODUCTIVE AGRICULTURE

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT - PRODUCTIVE AGRICULTURE

Today I happened to be be in  my village Kollipara, Krishna Delta in Guntur dist known for its highly fertile soils with abundant water resources.

My interactions with few farmers from Reddy community revealed that own farming is uneconomical and many of them are leasing out lands to farmers from SC and BC communities. It is interesting to note that for this new generation farmers ,agriculture is giving decent livelihood other than elevated social status I.e., agri labourer to cultivator. It is possible because of involvement of their entire family in agri operations, resulting in better productivity and operational efficiency.

In upper class communities like Reddys, Kammas etc who are traditionally farmers, the entire womenfolk is almost out of agri operations and men seldom work. The over dependency on external labour resulting in lower productivity and inefficient operations resulting in lower  production.

My interactions with my maternal uncle who is self-made man and completely dedicated to agriculture with hands-on in farming, revealed an interesting social dynamics. He bought 3 truck loads of poultry litter and applied in the farm on his own alongwith his wife. The neighbours laughed at him and commented that you are having 10 acres  land and only one child, why are you working so hard. Instead of appreciating his commitment to work, he is seen as a miser.

About 15 to 20 years back, this was not the situation and most of the families used to engage in farm operations and joint farming was a common practice and farmers used to have decent incomes. Yesterday my uncle was recalling an incident, with sale of jaggery of one season, my father bought a piece of land which is worth 1.5 crores now, which is impossible with present state of affairs in agriculture. 

The farming community has to look at the present agrarian systems seriously and increase their direct engagement. There is no point in blaming external factors like markets, quality of seeds, input costs etc without putting our sincere effort.

B Guruva  Reddy-9866889246

grbonthu@gmail.com