How farmers in India get fleeced by all...

We should do away with all the mediators in India. In fact, all governments, local munispalities and cop-operative agencies are interfering unncessarily with the marketing structure of Indian farmers. Farmers have to wat different entry level taxes, commisions etc beside going through mutly-level mediators. They should be able to sell direct to the market but in India there is no organized infrastructure that deals with the farmers directly.

Some states have come up with the concept of "Kisan Mandi" where farmers can sell their produce at current rates and there is no middleman. But the drawback is that Kisan mandis are put up mostly in cities and farmers have to travel every week. In Pune where I stay, Kisan Mandi takes place every week on Sunday.

A lot needs to be done to empower these farmers. Waiving off loans or giving them free loans. Freebies of any kind has to be discouraged for longer run. I agree that they should be empowered and educated and should have their own co op society to regulate things. Farmer loans and waiver become a major political issue and serve nothing more than playing vote bank 

Arunima Singh wrote:

A lot needs to be done to empower these farmers. Waiving off loans or giving them free loans. Freebies of any kind has to be discouraged for longer run. I agree that they should be empowered and educated and should have their own co op society to regulate things. Farmer loans and waiver become a major political issue and serve nothing more than playing vote bank 

Absolutely true. Unfortunately in India, most of the political parties give more importance to waiving off loans for famers but not in empowering them. That's why Indian farmers remain in poor conditions as compared to farmers in many foreign nations.

 

On the one hand the state govts give the farmers free electricity and loan waiver which ultimately is going to be a heavy burden on the tax payers . Karnataka has announced a loan waiver of several thpusant crores ,but now wondering and struggling to get funds for it and other expenditure. We get the leaders we deserve, both the population and the leaders are short sighted ,never wanting to make farmers independent thinkers and providing them the right kind of knowledge and tools to do so. Any help they get is from other more educated and informed agriculturists . I have come across a couple of cases where rainwater haresting was implemented successfully by farmers on the advise of  a teacher who is also a cultivator..but no help came from either co operatives or any other governmental agencies earlier or now..

arjun sai wrote:

Some states have come up with the concept of "Kisan Mandi" where farmers can sell their produce at current rates and there is no middleman. But the drawback is that Kisan mandis are put up mostly in cities and farmers have to travel every week. In Pune where I stay, Kisan Mandi takes place every week on Sunday.

In my city most of grains and vegetable sell in Kisan Mandi. But here  too much difference in vegetable price in wholesale and retail Price.. here grains are sold in open auction..

When Devendra Fadnavis became CM of Maharashtra, one of the first things he did away with was to get rid of middlemen between farmers and the consumers so that the farmers get the maximum returns for their hard work. Many farmers did indeed benefit greatly from this, but the nexus of the middlemen and the politicians (mainly NCP) is too great to be broken easily. It is the NCP politicians who own most of the co-operative societies that are established for farmers and dairy farmers and they stood to lose the most when middlemen were done away with. So they started actually buying numerous farmers by dubious means and got them to stick to the methods of farming and distribution that have been followed until now, plus taking part in agitations, demonstrations and what not. Word is that even majority of farmers committing suicides have been made to do so by certain politicians. So how long this vicious cycle will carry on is anyone's guess. But to blame only the BJP government for neglecting farmers will not be really fair.

I totally agree with Kalyani. The strong nexus of politicians and middle men are the real culprit and they thrive on playing dirty politics over the plight of farmers. The recent agitation and protest in Delhi was a well ignited political move by opposition. The plight of farmer has continued since long times and is not something that furnished in BJP times.

Evidently BJP cannot only be blamed for the plight of the farmers since it is something that has been going on for decades . But unfortunately , they too have sat on it , having done previous little in 4 years ..I remember when there were too  many farmers suicides during drought situation ,last year how a few ministers and MLAs from both Karnataka and Maharashtra went on a tour to Australia and New Zealand along with their families. It shows utter disregard and a totallack of sensitivity by our leaders . The rate of farmer suicide is the highest in Maharashtra and Karnataka . This also shows that no matter what party they belong to , our politicians are the same , uncaring about people.

https://www.google.co.in/amp/s/m.timesofindia.com/india/why-maharashtras-farmer-are-protesting-and-why-mumbaikars-are-supporting-them-10-points/amp_articleshow/63263394.cms

 

suni51 wrote:

We should do away with all the mediators in India. In fact, all governments, local munispalities and cop-operative agencies are interfering unncessarily with the marketing structure of Indian farmers. Farmers have to wat different entry level taxes, commisions etc beside going through mutly-level mediators. They should be able to sell direct to the market but in India there is no organized infrastructure that deals with the farmers directly.

Very true, when Mr Modi can arrange to give the subsidy directly to bank accounts and open bank accounts for every rural person, surely he can do this as well to remove the mediators but Modi is not paying much heed to farmers needs as such and hence the agitation is a validation of his negligence more than anything else.

Also the fact that the mediators are many and they are also voters may be supporting his decision of not being so serious to farmers issues.

Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:

When Devendra Fadnavis became CM of Maharashtra, one of the first things he did away with was to get rid of middlemen between farmers and the consumers so that the farmers get the maximum returns for their hard work. Many farmers did indeed benefit greatly from this, but the nexus of the middlemen and the politicians (mainly NCP) is too great to be broken easily. It is the NCP politicians who own most of the co-operative societies that are established for farmers and dairy farmers and they stood to lose the most when middlemen were done away with. So they started actually buying numerous farmers by dubious means and got them to stick to the methods of farming and distribution that have been followed until now, plus taking part in agitations, demonstrations and what not. Word is that even majority of farmers committing suicides have been made to do so by certain politicians. So how long this vicious cycle will carry on is anyone's guess. But to blame only the BJP government for neglecting farmers will not be really fair.

Yes most of governments are neglect farmers. In my area farming is based on canal water. Water in canal is depends on Punjab government.  Agitation for water is work of every day. But government and burocrates is not serious about it. Farmer is facing problem at every step. With hard labour they are producing grains. it is very disappointing for them not to get fair price of their crops. System is not in favor of farmers.

There seems to be no end to their plight and asfar as the leaders are concerned,  even if there is something they have thought of, they will not implement it until election time to get maximum mileage ..

Another distressing story of a farmer

https://m.indiatimes.com/news/india/farmer-invested-rs-2-lakh-to-produce-2-657-kg-of-onion-crop-earns-only-rs-6-sends-it-to-cm-fadnavis-358260.html

 

usha manohar wrote:

There seems to be no end to their plight and asfar as the leaders are concerned,  even if there is something they have thought of, they will not implement it until election time to get maximum mileage ..

Another distressing story of a farmer

https://m.indiatimes.com/news/india/farmer-invested-rs-2-lakh-to-produce-2-657-kg-of-onion-crop-earns-only-rs-6-sends-it-to-cm-fadnavis-358260.html

Its very sad if it is true. They invest so much to produce their yields and if the return is just a paltry sum like that, no farmers will be motivated to continue farming.

I would however like to be cautious about reading such stories. Farmers even if illiterate are wise people. I had the opportunities of interacting with farmers in Rajasthan for around 2 years. As far as I know, before they take their products to markets, they get all the details such as transport cost, market price, likely return and so on. I am sure farmers in other parts of India are no different.

No doubt, sometimes farmers make loss but to get just a pittance is really doubtful. It might be an exaggerated version may be on the behest of some political parties.

Totally agree with Usha. Many such stories are exaggeration to make up a political backing. Things are misused and presented in a very misguiding way. Fake news and fake videos are something that can not be ruled out in today's time where there are so many sources of information and news and not all are reliable.

jabeen wrote:

usha manohar wrote:

There seems to be no end to their plight and asfar as the leaders are concerned,  even if there is something they have thought of, they will not implement it until election time to get maximum mileage ..

Another distressing story of a farmer

https://m.indiatimes.com/news/india/farmer-invested-rs-2-lakh-to-produce-2-657-kg-of-onion-crop-earns-only-rs-6-sends-it-to-cm-fadnavis-358260.html

Its very sad if it is true. They invest so much to produce their yields and if the return is just a paltry sum like that, no farmers will be motivated to continue farming.

I would however like to be cautious about reading such stories. Farmers even if illiterate are wise people. I had the opportunities of interacting with farmers in Rajasthan for around 2 years. As far as I know, before they take their products to markets, they get all the details such as transport cost, market price, likely return and so on. I am sure farmers in other parts of India are no different.

No doubt, sometimes farmers make loss but to get just a pittance is really doubtful. It might be an exaggerated version may be on the behest of some political parties.

Let us sincerely hope that it is an exaggeration because if there is any truth, then there is something totally wrong with our system. Having said that , I come from an agricultural household and know for a fact that the government run co operatives pay around 12-15 percent of the market value when they buy..