Agriculture Department Taking Farmers For A Ride

GUWAHATI: Famers cultivated chilli pepper at many places in Biswanath Chariali district. The plants grew but bore no chilli! In the Thelamara area in Sonitpur district, farmers sowed paddy. They, however, harvested only chaff. Farmers cultivated corn (makoi) at Borsola in Darrang district. There too, the plants bore no corn.

These are just a few examples. Every year seeds supplied either by the State Agriculture department or agencies approved by it, fail to bear any fruits. The farmers have to incur huge loss for no fault of theirs. However, the department doesn’t come forward to rescue the farmers who suffer such losses.

This is just one side of the farmers’ woes. Whenever there is flood in Assam hundreds of bighas of arable land are rendered unfit for cultivation due to siltation. In 2017, around four lakh bighas of cultivable land were damaged because of siltation. The government has no remedy for this perennial loss, nor does it extend any help to the loss-making farmers.

Agriculture is the prime livelihood for around 70 per cent people in Assam where agriculture contributes 20 per cent to the State’s net domestic products. However, the department continues to cut a sorry figure when it comes to rescuing farmers who suffers huge losses.

There’s no dearth of schemes for farmers in the State. Besides the KCC (Kisan Credit Cards), there are zero interest crop loans, soil testing and many more. The grim situation on the agricultural front in the State is: most of such schemes haven’t reached the target farmers as yet.

According to a study report, the yield of most of the crops in Assam is very low when compared with other States. Climate change also has its adverse impact on the State. Many arable areas in the State are witnessing drought nowadays, and the irrigation system has failed to cope with the changing situation. In fact, the irrigation system is very poor in the State where the Prime Minister’s slogan – Har khet me paani – has been rendered a misnomer.

Such a scenario makes people to question: What is the department doing, and whose purpose is it serving – of the farmers’ or of the agencies or farms supplying inferior seeds and fertilizers?

The department has given tractors and tillers to a few farmers, but majority of them haven’t got such benefits. Even now, farmers plough land with bullocks or through alternative irrigation but at their own cost.

The worst part of the State Agriculture department is the lack of a marketing system. As of now, the middlemen take away the profits, denying remunerative prices for the farmers.

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