IE: I know now why farmers kill themselves: August 12, 2009

 

Khusru, a farmer in the small town of Akbarnagar in Bihar’s Bhagalpur district, says he now knows what it is that has been driving thousands to suicide in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in recent years.

“We used to wonder what it was. Now we know the pain. There is no bigger trauma than to see our land dry at this time of the year. I feel there is almost no point being alive,” he says.

As of August 8, paddy had been sown on only 3 per cent of the total cultivable land in Bhagalpur. In the adjoining districts of Banka and Munger, the figures were 9 per cent and 12 per cent. In the middle of what is supposed to be the rainy season in Bihar, massive tracts of farmland are lying unsowed — acres of cracked, dry earth stretching endlessly to the horizon, patched at places by burnt-out paddy saplings.

Agriculture in Akbarnagar is dependent almost entirely on the monsoon. Across Bhagalpur district, an elite group of rich farmers own pumps, but they can irrigate around a third of the cultivable land at best. The government hasn’t so far provided any diesel subsidy for the pumps. “Even if the subsidy comes now, it will be of no use. The season is over. We have given up. The government will now have to give us grains to survive,” says Khusru.

Bhagalpur, Banka and Munger — located in a cluster in Bihar’s southeastern corner adjoining Jharkhand — are the worst affected of the 26 districts (out of a total 38) the state government has now declared as drought-hit. In 8 of these 26, the sowing of kharif paddy — Bihar’s main crop — is down to 10 per cent area or less.

Between June 1 and August 6 this year, the state has received 331.7 mm of rain, 42 per cent less that the normal 568.5 mm over this period. Paddy plantation is at 38,22,967 acres, down 58 per cent from the targeted 87,722,41 acres. According to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, nearly 1.26 crore (12.6 million) families — or roughly 6.3 crore people, assuming five people to a family — are affected. The drought is feared headed towards being the worst the state has seen in four decades.

For farmers here, the nakshatras of Pukh, Punarvasu, Ashlesha and Singh (between July and August) make up the paddy-sowing season. If sowing enters Singh (mid August), it generally means a drought.

In Bazar Chatma village, small farmer Nandkishore Singh said renting a pump set was unaffordable. “We would have to pay the owner between Rs 120 and Rs 150 every day. The pump needs to run for at least six hours to make a bigha of land muddy enough to sow.” For the entire season, the cost of renting a pump would add up to at least Rs 2,000 per bigha, out of reach of most farmers here.

In Ramchua village, also in Shambhuganj, middle-aged small farmer Jinnu says he cannot remember when he last saw so little sowing of paddy. “The government has declared a drought only now, but we knew what was coming by July 15, when we saw no sign of rain.”

With his crop having failed, Jinnu has no other means of livelihood. He — and scores of others like him — will have to borrow from local moneylenders at high rates of interest. Said Raghu, another farmer, “We do not know when and how much government help will reach us. By that time, most of us will probably have accumulated huge debts.”

At Baijani-Phulwaria village near Banka, Ramesh Paswan said, “I could manage to plant paddy in only three bighas of land.” Paswan does sharecropping on 15 bighas owned by upper caste farmers.

The story in Munger is similar. In Gauravdih village, farmer Rak Kumar said, “I used to grow enough rice for a year, but this year the situation is very different. Government help passes through so many channels, I wonder if it would finally reach us.” Rak Kumar too made the point about the absence of government subsidy for diesel, and the rapidly closing cropping window.

Yet, government help is now practically all that the farmers of Bihar can look forward to. Chief Minister Kumar has asked the Centre for a bailout package of Rs 10,152 crore, and the state government plans to present New Delhi with a detailed list of requirements soon. The Bihar Cabinet on Monday decided to give farmers diesel subsidy, and cleared loans and grants for 4.64 lakh private handpumps. The government has also allowed the postponement of repayment of cooperative loans and realisation of land rents, cesses, irrigation tax and surcharge.

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