Government must invest in agriculture to save India’s food producers: HungerFREE campaigners
New Delhi, 15 October 2007: India’s food producers sadly have little to celebrate on World Food Day, say HungerFREE Campaigners.
India’s economy is booming at 9% growth rate, but agriculture is lagging far behind. The share of agriculture to India’s GDP has reduced from 44.8% in 1972-73 to hit a low of 20.85% in 2004-2005.
Declining government investment in the agriculture sector, which accounts for 60% of India’s employment, is pushing farmers and agricultural workers to the brink. According to official sources, investment in agriculture fell from1.8% in 1993 to 1.3% in 2003.
“Agriculture in India is facing a deepening crisis. Shrinking investment and dwindling support systems such as subsidies for farmers are two of the most worrying trends,” said Umi Daniel, who leads ActionAid food and livelihood work in India.
“This is eroding livelihoods of more than 600 million Indians who depend on agriculture for their survival,” added Daniel
The situation is compounded by a neo-liberal growth model which has widened the gap between haves and have-nots. From a wheat surplus nation only a few years ago, India today has turned into the world’s largest importer of wheat.
Farmers are incensed at government’s decision to import wheat at Rs.1,650 per quintal while wheat was available from Indian farmers in ample quantities at the rate of Rs. 850 per quintal.
“Instead of buying wheat from the global tenders at a higher price the government could have offered a better price to the country’s own producers,” said Daniel.
“Lack of support from government is leaving farmers with few options. With insecure income they are forced to borrow at high interest rates. Debts mount up and too often farmers end up paying with their life,” added Daniel.
Though there are no national statistics on the subject, farmers suicides remain a burning issue.
In the first six months of this year, 24 farmers killed themselves in drought-struck Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, just one region in one State. This week, bereaved and debt-ridden families of some of the 500 farmers who committed suicide in ‘vibrant’ Gujarat since 2003 came to the capital, New Delhi, to put their case for immediate assistance.
On World Food Day, HungerFREE campaigners are calling on the Government of India to reverse the decline in agricultural investment, specifically to:
- Increase subsidies available to farmers to help them cover increased prices for agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizers etc.
- Ensure parity in procurement price so that Indian farmers get a fair deal. And to source grain from local producers wherever possible.
- Invest to encourage food production rather than converting fertile land to industrial use.
Campaigners are also calling for proper implementation of social security schemes like public distribution system (PDS) and integrated child development scheme (ICDS) for India’s poorest communities in both rural and urban areas.
ENDS.
Note to editor:
ActionAid's HungerFREE campaign, which spans more than 30 countries, calls on governments to deliver on their Millennium Development Goal commitment to halve hunger by 2015, by ensuring that they respect, protect and fulfil the right to food; strengthen corporate regulations; expose companies when they exploit poor people; and protect poor women's access to land.
Since the launch of the HungerFREE in New York last month attended by Shabana Azmi, campaigners have collected over 20,000 messages to the UN member states in 25 countries demanding that governments end hunger and deliver on the right to food.
For more on HungerFree: www.hungerfreeplanet.org
