Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Feb 04, 2002
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Feb 04, 2002 |
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Opinion
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Letters Small farmers
Perhaps it is not the `Western cow vs Third World farmer' (Business Line, January 31), but the Western cow and the Western farmer vs the Third World cow and the Third World farmer. It may not be possible to create or grant Indian small farmers more fields. Any such attempt would only drive many of them away from their fields and make them serfs. But they can be educated, given power, modern tools, techniques and other infrastructure facilities to increase productivity, improve the quality of their produce, change crop patterns whenever required, given storage and marketing facilities, and subsidies on par with their western counterparts. The proper use of by-products and agro-industries could provide employment for many. Requisite land reforms and other concessions could be brought in to stop the fragmentation of land. Even providing electricity to every village could remove much of the ignorance and make the process of change easier. The small and marginal farmers need to be guided and supported in their endeavour to make farming competitive and remunerative. This would improve the macro-economy's prospects. The coming Budget should make provisions and pave the way for this.
A. Jacob Sahayam, e-mail
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