The Holes in our Chappals

DIONNE BUNSHA
Amreli, Gujarat

Farmers are killing themselves in Gujarat too. But Chief Minister Narendra Modi would like us to believe that they are driving around in cars.

“Gujarat’s farmers aren’t like those in other states. Our farmers drive Maruti cars,” chief minister Narendra Modi declares in his speeches at public meetings. If he met the widows of farmers in Gujarat who have committed suicide, he would probably choke on his words.

Prabhaben Pungalpara was at her sister’s house when her husband Ramesh hung himself from a noose and ended his misery. He probably sent her there to soften the blow. Ramesh’s relatives rushed him to Rajkot hospital but it was too late. Now, Prabhaben’s nightmare was about to begin. “I have two girls and a boy. We will have to manage somehow. I sold off our two buffaloes after he died. My son has gone to Surat to work in a diamond polishing workshop. Ramesh’s brothers have taken care of us,” says Prabhaben from Sarapdar village.

Ramesh and his four brothers have a 20–acre farm. “Our cotton and jeera crop failed for two years, so he was very tense,” said his brother Amarsibhai. But the police report says that he killed himself because of a family dispute. “The first police report said that he died because his crop failed, but later the police changed the story,” says Prabhaben. “They told me ‘you have such a big house, there must be some other reason for the suicide. If we give compensation in one case, people will start killing themselves and we will have to give them all’. The police just want to suppress the case.”

“If the government can help Maharashtra’s widows, then why can’t they help women in Gujarat?” asks Prabhaben. Maybe because it would shatter the chief minister’s delusions? Across Gujarat farmers’ suicides are either unreported or wrongly reported. Ironically, the people raising a voice against this is the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), the farmer’s wing of the ruling BJP.

“The state is hiding the truth about the rising number of farmers’ suicides,” Praful Sanjelia, Gujarat president of the BKS said at a press conference recently. “While the government has declared there were 148 farmers suicides last year, we estimate that there are around 300,” he said. Sanjelia said the police are deliberately concealing the suicides. “The police are not registering an FIR, so many cases go unreported. If they do file a case, they attribute the reasons for the suicide to social tension and domestic disputes. Actually, it is a farmer’s financial crisis that could cause other problems like fights in the family.”

Pahubhai Dakhada, 35, preferred death to a life of debt. His suicide didn't make it to the government's recordsPhoto: Dionne Bunsha
“There are several police reports that say the person was ill and by mistake swallowed pesticide instead of medicine. That’s the ridiculous things they do to disguise the true number of farmers suicides,” says Vinubhai Dudheet, a BKS leader in Amreli. “We are very angry with the BJP government and have launched several campaigns against their policies. They have done nothing for farmers. Instead, now they want to give off our land to industrialists for Special Economic Zones (SEZs).”

But why is the BKS going against their own government? They first rebelled against the Modi’s BJP government when their founder and RSS pracharak, Laljibhai Patel, camped on the banks of the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad on a hunger strike when the state doubled power tariffs. Since then, the BKS has been on the wrong side of the chief minister. “Most BKS activists used to benefit from being aligned to the ruling party. They had clout with the local administration and used to get contracts etc. Now, it’s not so easy after they have fallen out of favour. So they too have an axe to grind with Modi,” said a local journalist, explaining the split in the Sangh Parivar’s ranks.

The BKS cadre are from the core constituency of the Sangh, basically traders and big landlords. Most of them have businesses ranging from sand mining to stone crushing to hotels. But raising the issues of farmers is crucial to keeping their local political support and clout. That’s why they are doing their best to bring farmers’ concerns into focus and embarrass the government. Whatever the political motives of the BKS, there is no doubt that small farmers in Gujarat are in distress.

Besides the police, families too have not reported suicides of their loved ones. Many widows are scared of dealing with police. “Though his suicide was reported in the newspaper, I didn’t report it to the police. I didn’t want to be harassed. They demand money and I didn’t have any,” said Vajuben Dhakhada (30) from Vadli village, whose husband Pahubhai (35) died on 12 July 2006. “In the past two years, our crop was destroyed. We had a debt of Rs 50,000. He kept worrying about how we would look after three small kids with no money and no crop in the field.”

Pahubhai Dakhada's wife Vajuben has to run the family from the confines of her house because widows in her community should not be seen in publicPhoto: Dionne Bunsha
Now, Vajuben depends totally on her relatives for help. By killing herself, her husband confined her to a life of isolation from society. She is a darbar (Rajput) and as a widow, is not allowed to leave the confines of her home, not even to fill water from the well. Her three young children help her with errands outside their home.

In the same village (Vadli), Prassanben, the wife of Anakbhai Dhakada (32) who killed himself on 7 April 2007, has a similar story to tell. She too is in purdah and cannot leave the house. But luckily, she lives in a joint family. And like Vajuben, she was too afraid to have anything to do with the police.

When contacted by Frontline, agriculture minister Bhupendra Singh Chudasama said, “Not a single farmer in Gujarat has committed suicide.” This contradicts his government’s statistic of 148. “The reason for those suicides are family problems. People have many marriages in their families. It is not the government’s responsibility,” he said.

Often, farmers who are heavily in debt worry about how the expenses of getting their children married. Most of them are in a crippling financial crisis because agriculture is no longer profitable. Production costs are increasing, while the prices at which farmers have to sell their harvest are not as lucrative. Their loans and interest burden increase every year, until they finally drown in debt.

The elders of the Kakane family decided to drown themselves in the sea. Vallabh (80), his son Mansukh (40) and their respective wives went to the beach near Somnath and drowned themselves on 3 November 2006. Now their house in Pania Dev village is locked and abandoned. Mansukh’s three sons went off to Surat in search of work. “This tragedy happened because they had run up a huge debt with the moneylender,” said their nephew Nilesh. They borrowed Rs 1.5 lakh at an interest rate of 60% to pay off their power bills. The moneylender was demanding Rs 12 lakh including interest. They offered him their land but he was not willing to take it.”

Grieving relatives of the Kakane family, whose four elder members committed suicide by drowning in the sea off Somnath as a way out of the clutches of the moneylenderPhoto: Dionne Bunsha
“They were under so much pressure that they couldn’t even eat properly. They would sit here in my parents’ house and ask them what to do,” said Nilesh. “Almost half the village is in the grip of the moneylender. They give a loan and then they take everything. Farming is not profitable anymore. The price we get for cotton is not as much as the rise in input costs or the price of living, so we are forced to borrow.”

The most industrialised state, ‘Vibrant Gujarat’, seems more feudal than modern. “The moneylender inflicts terror in the village,” said Nilesh. “They have taken away a Harijan’s home after he borrowed Rs 5,000. But no one will dare to speak. They will even pretend this mass suicide in my family never happened. The moneylenders are thugs and they have the police on their side.”

“Not a single small farmer is doing well. We are all starving. If farmers start doing accounts, we will all leave the farms,” said Kanubhai Ganniya, a farmer with five acres in Malak Nes village. “Many people are leaving the village or getting into other businesses. The cost of inputs like seeds, pesticides etc are rising every year. But the price of cotton does not increase as much.” Farmers estimate that they spend between Rs 7000 to 16000 per acre, but get around Rs 13,000-16,000 for their one-acre harvest.

Until now, Gujarat was considered the rare cotton-growing state that was immune to farmers suicides. Now inflation and the unsustainable commercial mode of cultivation has affected them too. “Earlier, farmers only had to pay for seeds. Now they pay for everything – tractor, power, water, labour. Farming has become more cost-intensive and less viable,” said Dr Sudarshan Iyengar, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Vidyapeeth.

Compared to states, Gujarat has a high yield (three times that of Maharashtra, where suicide rates are highest). It also has 44% of cotton farms under irrigation, compared to 4% in Maharashtra, or 18% in Andhra Pradesh, where suicides are the highest. This improves yields and reduces risks. Here, like in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, almost all cotton farmers use genetically-modified Bt seeds. These seeds are inserted with a bacteria that kills the bollworm, a common pest on cotton plants. You can’t find a non-Bt seed variety in any farm input shop here. However, many farmers use illegal home-bred versions of Bt seeds like Navbharat, which are cheaper than the Monsanto-MAHYCO Bollgard brand. While the environmental dangers of this illegal trade of seeds have not been studied, this home industry has reduced seed costs for Gujarat’s farmers in the short term.

Yet, other costs like those of either buying water from borewells or paying for power etc have gone up, and prices haven’t kept pace. “One pair of jeans that weighs around 500 grams sells for Rs 1500-1700 in the designer stores, but we get only Rs 13 for 500 grams of cotton. Those who are processing get all the profit, not those who produce,” said Vinubhai.

When I visited Malak Nes village, a group of farmers were eager to show me their chappals. They threw their chappals on the floor and told me, “Our chappals have gaping holes and are broken. Can you please send them to Narendra Modi? And ask him which farmer in Gujarat has a Maruti? We can’t even afford a new pair of chappals.”



Frontline, June 2-15, 2007 Also available here

Cotton aflame

By DIONNE BUNSHA
in Yavatmal

The cotton harvest is ready. But the state hasn't yet opened most procurement centres. At the few that are functioning, farmers have been queueing up for days. The frustration has led to violence in Wani.

Finally cotton gets weighed at the Shindola procurement centre after farmers waited in queues for several days.Photo: Dionne Bunsha

A fire was still smoldering under the burned papers and broken furniture in a room at Wani’s agricultural market office. The flame was alive, even three days after the fire was put out and police opened fire to disperse angry farmers who ransacked the office.

Here in Vidarbha, Maharashtra’s cotton belt, the flames were fanned much before 8th December 2006, when the police fired on farmers in Wani. The state government started cotton procurement this month, delaying it by two months after the crop was harvested. In several places, procurement centres are yet to open. With their harvest ready for sale, farmers were restless. The queues piled up at the few places that have opened. One of them was Wani.

“There were around 1,500 farmers were waiting in the cold with their bullock carts for four days. The state government’s cotton federation wasn’t buying all the cotton. Graders would clear one cart and by-pass the next four. Finally, farmers got angry with a Cotton Confederation of India (CCI) grader, Shukla, who refused to buy the cotton saying it was moist. They started fighting with him. He ran into our office and locked himself in. The farmers chased him, set fire and destroyed the office,” says Dr Moreshwar Pande, chairman of the Wani agricultural market committee. “Obviously, the farmers were livid. They were just asking for their rights.” Dr Pande’s organization has suffered the most, yet he is sympathetic to those who ransacked his office.

“It was the fault of the CCI and the state cotton federation, but we had to bear the losses,” says Dr Pande, sitting amongst the ruins in the market yard. “In fact, were on the phone with a government official telling him that the procurement situation was bad and that they should enhance facilities when Shukla came running into the office.” The police was called in. Students from a nearby college joined the brawl. It became even more difficult to control. They fired twice to disperse the crowd. The riot spread to the town centre. Curfew was imposed for three days.

Shukla really shook the town…and the state. It’s the first time that police have fired on farmers here, at a time when the agricultural crisis has reached tipping point. There have been 1,200 suicides reported since June 2005. Around 75 per cent of families (12.75 lakh households) in Vidarbha’s six districts are in distress, says a state survey. With around three to five suicides occurring everyday, bullets will not resolve the unrest.

“What happened in Wani can happen again anywhere if the state doesn’t give us a fair price for our cotton, doesn’t grade it correctly and keeps making us wait for days on end,” said U.N. Sur, a farmer who had been waiting for three days at the Shindola procurement centre in Yavatmal with his three bullock carts. After the Wani tension, there has been a temporary reprieve. “They have stopped private traders from operating here, since there is not enough storage space for state purchasing. Within a day, see how fast they are clearing all the bullock carts. Earlier, they were just harassing us.”

Unloading the cotton harvest after waiting for several days at the procurement centrePhoto: Dionne Bunsha
“In this very yard, the private traders began buying cotton in October, but the government only started now,” said Namdev Nimkar, who had been waiting in the Shindola yard for six days. “If they had started sooner, there would not have been such a crowd. But the state doesn’t want to buy cotton. They want to keep us in the clutches of traders.” Currently, the state is procuring cotton at rates ranging from Rs 1,700 to 1,990 per quintal. Traders are buying at around Rs 1,800 to 1,850. When you agree to sell and unload the cart, they lower the price to Rs 1,750, and over that you have to pay them a commission. That’s why we prefer to sell to the government,” said Sur.

Private traders have already bought 44.74 lakh quintals, while the state cotton federation has only procured six lakh quintals. “This is the game the traders are playing. They buy up all the good quality cotton and then leave it to the state to buy the lower quality and suffer the losses,” said Sudhir Goyal, divisional commissioner of Amravati.

“The traders and corporate sector are to blame. They create a psychology of surplus and exhaust farmers till they accept a lower price. Why don’t the textile mills buy directly from farmers? The textile mill lobby is highly organized and makes sure they get cotton dirt cheap.” A metre of ordinary cheap cotton costs Rs 50, but the farmer gets only Rs 5 of this, he pointed out. “The clothes that we wear are stained by the blood of farmers,” Goyal said.

“In Wani, farmers anger was not directed at us, but at the CCI and private traders. We are unnecessarily being blamed,” said Dr N.P. Hirani, chairman of the Maharashtra State Cotton Federation. “The farmers got angry because CCI does only selective purchasing. On that day in Wani, they purchased only 50 carts while 500 were waiting. It’s not our fault that procurement is low. Farmers prefer to sell to traders and CCI because they get immediate payment while we pay after 15 days. Also, we deduct half their bank loan repayment, while they don’t.” Dr Hirani said that the state could not procure more because of power cuts. “Ginning factories can only work one of three shifts. They are processing the purchases at a quarter of their capacity. There is no place to store the cotton. That’s why we cannot purchase more,” he said.

Maharashtra’s Monopoly Cotton Procurement Scheme was introduced in 1972 to assure a fair and stable price to cotton farmers and protect them from traders who rigged the market. The state government set up a network of procurement centres to buy cotton directly from farmers and eliminate middlemen. The scheme started making losses after 1995, when the price of cotton collapsed in the world market. The government was buying at a price higher than the market rate. Since then, every government has tried to dismantle the scheme, denying farmers the only protection they had.

At one of the few procurement centres that are functioningPhoto: Dionne Bunsha
Procurement prices have been lowered to cut losses. “In 2001, the state government offered upto Rs 2,700 per quintal. Now, it’s less than Rs 2,000. How are farmers supposed to survive when the prices of everything else are rising?” asks Vijay Jawandhia, Shetkari Sanghatana leader.

The Congress-NCP alliance promised a cotton price of Rs 2,700 per quintal before the election. But when it came to power, it lowered the price from Rs 2,250 to Rs 1,750. “What is Sharad Pawar doing as agricultural minister? He is only safeguarding his constituency and the sugar lobby,” said Ganesh Nagure from Mendoli village in Yavatmal.

When the Prime minister toured Vidarbha in July this year, he announced a Rs 3,750-crore ‘package’ for Vidarbh’s 30 lakh farmers in distress, including an interest waiver and an order to banks to issue loans. But the PM glossed over the crux of the farm crisis – price. While the cost of production has risen, prices have fallen. Farmers are finding it difficult to make ends meet and driven deeper into debt. Issuing fresh loans just saved them from the moneylenders this time round. But what happens at the end of the season when the farmer can’t pay back the loan once again? The pressure to pay up drives several farmers to kill themselves, leaving their wives and children to take on the burden.

Dinesh Gogul’s family has been left without a breadwinner for a different reason. He left the village to sell his cotton and returned a dead man, mowed down by police bullets in Wani. His family is still reeling from the shock. “My son is only 12 years, and my in-laws are old. How are we going to survive?” asks Savita, his wife, only 32 and widowed.

The family of Dinesh Gogul, the farmer who was killed in the police firing at WaniPhoto: Dionne Bunsha
When trouble broke out in Wani, Maharashtra’s Home minister R.R. Patil was only three hours away attending the state assembly session in Nagpur. But he didn’t bother to visit the site. Instead, he hosted a dinner party for journalists at his bungalow that night, while the flames in Wani were still being doused. Two days later, he arrived at Savita’s doorstep with a cheque of Rs three lakh.

Dinesh’s son inherits a grim legacy of loss. His generation is likely to witness growing restlessness as deprivation deepens. Wani may be just the beginning. The fire is still quietly smoldering..

Vines of debt

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Nashik, Maharashtra

Onion or grape, farmers of Nashik in north Maharashtra have very little to choose to escape debt, and now death.

Pandurang Kadam's daughter-in-law Sunita with her children. Burdened by debt, Pandurang set himself on fire in the Lasalgaon market yard.Photo: Dionne Bunsha
While writing out the receipt for Pandurang Kadam’s onion crop, the trader didn’t realise that it would be forensic evidence.

The next day, 20 April 2006, Pandurang returned to the Lasalgaon market and set himself on fire. The town watched shocked as Pandurang burned in the yard where a thousand farmers’ hopes are extinguished everyday. In his pocket, they recovered the receipt. Behind it, Pandurang had written his last words.

“The co-operative society bank’s Rs 23,500 still remains. Electricity bill Rs 4,000-5,000. Ashok Rs 3,000, Champalal Rs 1,000. All the onions went for Rs 151 (per quintal). I could not pay back the loans. My prayer to the state and centre is that farmers must get a price of Rs 300-400. With this prayer, I end my life’s journey.”

It was the harvest season, and Pandurang (60) went to the market hoping this year would be different. But it wasn’t. He wasn’t able to make up the last two years’ losses on his one-acre farm. “The market price was too low for him to recover any of the costs,” says Sunita Kadam, his daughter-in-law in Somthan Desh village. “He had sold one bullock, the cart and even the tractor. But even that wasn’t enough.”

Driving through the lush green fields of Nashik, no one would imagine that farmers here are in the red. The hilly landscape is lined with leafy grape vines reaching up to touch the sky. Lasalgaon is one of the largest markets for onions in Asia. Nashik district is one of the more developed districts in Maharashtra -- called India’s California. But here, dreams have soured as prices have crashed. For the first time, 17 farmers suicides have been reported here. Higher production has actually led to their ruin.


There’s poverty amidst plenty. “Production and exports are reaching record highs every year. But prices are falling, since there is a surplus,” says C.B. Holkar, vice chairman of the National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation. “Farmers can’t even recover their costs.”

Onion production all over India has risen from 40 lakh tonnes five years back to 60 lakh tonnes last year, says Holkar. Exports have doubled to almost ten lakh tonnes. But the prices this year have been the lowest in the last five years. The price this year is Rs 200-250 per quintal, while the cost of production is around Rs 350-400. “The government must ensure a minimum support price for perishable goods, just as it does for wheat or oilseeds. Otherwise farmers cannot survive,” says Holkar.

Since onions were a dead loss, several farmers started grape cultivation. Punjaram Thakre’s onion crop has been in losses for many years. Last year, he spent Rs 1.5 lakh to put up a grape orchard. “In the last two years, we weren’t able to recover our costs on the onion harvests. I spent Rs 20,000 to grow onions, but I got back only Rs 8,000. The rate was only Rs 160 per quintal,” says Thakre. “So then, I decided to also invest in a grape trellis. The initial cost was Rs 1.5 lakh. Every year, you have to spend around Rs 50,000 to 70,000 on pesticides, fertilisers, labour. But I got only Rs 40,000 when I sold the grapes.”

Thakre’s bank loans have piled up to Rs 2.5 lakh. “I sold half an acre of land, two bullocks and the cart, my tractor and motorcycle. There’s nothing left to sell, but I haven’t been able to repay the bank for the past two years,” says Thakre.

Punjaram Thakre and his son at their grape orchard. Punjaram's wife committed suicide after the loans they took exceeded Rs.2 lakhs. Their onion crop had incurred losses for several years and forced them to try grape cultivation as well.Photo: Dionne Bunsha
His wife, Shantibai couldn’t deal with the pressure of the paybacks. She jumped into a well on 1st July and ended the ordeal. When we visited Punjaram, they had just completed her 11th day prayer. “For any villager, a ‘lakh’ is a very intimidating figure. My wife had never even spent Rs 500 in her entire life, so we was very worried about how we would pay back more than two lakh.”

Though much more expensive to grow, grape prices were lucrative until two years ago. So, several farmers shifted to grape farming. “In two years, the area under grape cultivation in Nashik district has doubled to 100,000 acres today. The costs of cultivation have also doubled. It’s now Rs 80-90,000 per acre for grapes grown for the Indian market. (Those growing for export spend more than Rs 1 lakh per acre). But the prices have halved from Rs 10-20 per kg three years back to Rs 6-10 now,” says Balasaheb Kshirsagar, from the Maharashtra Grape Producers Association.

“People switched to grape cultivation because no other crop was proving profitable. But now there is greater production, even the price of grapes has fallen. And costs just keep rising. For instance, the price of one pesticide has doubled from last year. And, farmers have to use more than 12 different types of pesticide, and spray six times,” Kshirsagar explains. It costs Rs 11-12 to grow one kg of grapes, but farmers have to sell for Rs 6-10 per kg.

At the market in Niphad, onion farmers, disappointed at the price they get for their crop which is far below the cost of production.Photo: Dionne Bunsha
Until now, farmers have been able to muster up the money for such high cultivation costs because this region is more developed than others. Peasants have better access to water and credit. But as they hurl towards bankruptcy, banks are unlikely to give them loans. “Niphad taluka has the highest amount of loans from banks. Around 87% of farmers have taken loans. Credit is not a problem,” says Ramdas Khedekar, Sub-Divisional Officer of Niphad. “There aren’t many moneylenders here. We will never go to them. They charge 10% per month,” says Sakari Dargude, a farmer from Brahman Gaon village.

Sakari’s son, Vijay (19) killed himself by swallowing poison in the cattle shed on 2nd April 2006. “He didn’t want me to sell the cattle to repay our loan instalment of Rs 1.35 lakh. But without repaying, we would not get a fresh loan for the monsoon season. I didn’t get a proper price for my onion crop, so I had to sell the cattle to pay back,” says Sakari. “So I went and sold them without telling him. When he reached the shed and found the animals missing, he was so upset, he swigged the pesticide.”

“Until they give us a fixed price, we will never progress,” says Sakari. “When vegetable prices in the city go up, they create havoc to make it lower. But the state doesn’t reduce the costs for us. When prices in the city go up, we don’t get higher prices. The middlemen make all the profits. And, no one bothers when prices crash during the harvest season and it’s time for us to sell.” He adds, “What is agricultural minister Sharad Pawar doing for farmers? He wants us all to be out of business and hand over the land to US companies on contract.”

“Why is the government willing to import wheat at Rs 1,400 per q, but it won’t pay its own farmers more than Rs 800-900 per q? Why do city people and the media raise such a ruckus if the price of onions or tomatoes goes up?” asks Kshirsagar.

“Can’t they spend Rs 50 per month more for their food, so that those producing it don’t starve?” he asks.

Frontline, Aug. 26 - Sep. 8, 2006 Also available here

Harvest of death

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Wardha and Yavatmal, Maharashtra

Everyday in Vidarbh, there are three suicides reported. Farmers are living only because they are not dying.

Chandrakant Gurnule (35) had always been the prankster in his family. He would sneak up behind people and scare them, always had a wise crack at hand, entertained the kids. But, on 1st April 2006, he wasn’t kidding when he told his wife that he wanted to commit suicide. He had said it before. No one took him seriously.

She laughed, “When are you going to do it?” That afternoon, Chandrakant doused himself with kerosene and lit a match. In flames, he ran out of the house where the kids were playing. They screamed for help. His brother Prahlad managed to put out the fire and took him to the hospital. But he died there of severe burn injuries. This was no April fool’s prank.

In the last year, Chandrakant’s sense of humour had dimmed as he sank deeper into debt and depression. “Over the years, the farm was making losses. The loans kept increasing. He used to say, ‘There’s no option but to die’. We didn’t take it seriously,” said Prahlad. “We even planned to sell four acres of our 16 acre farm and use the money to start some small business. No one expected him to do this.”

Chandrakant had a bank loan of Rs 1.05 lakh. He had pawned jewellery worth Rs 30,000. His family has no idea how much he owed moneylenders. He couldn’t pay back the debts because farming was no longer profitable. “He spent Rs 60-70,000 on the farm. He got back only Rs 40,000 by selling the cotton crop, of which he gave Rs 15,000 to the bank. The jowar crop failed. There was no grain in the house. Everyone in our house was ill with the chicken guinea disease. He had no money to sow the next crop,” said Prahlad. “He had sold his buffalos, his motorcycle, his thresher machines. Finally, he finished himself.”

There have been 680 suicides up to August 2006 – more than three per day - in Vidarbh, the north-eastern and most neglected region of Maharashtra. The rich, black soil is ideal for cotton – once called ‘white gold’. For a decade, Vidarbh is experiencing a desperate farm crisis. Since 2001, there have been 2,279 suicides. Cotton is no longer profitable. In 1970, one quintal of cotton had the same value as 12 grams of gold. Now, it is a harvest of death.


Vidarbh borders the cotton belt of Andhra Pradesh, where peasants’ suicides have also spiralled. The suicides are the most desperate sign of a much larger agrarian crisis. “There’s not much difference between those who killed themselves and those of us who are still living. Everyone is in the same distress,” said Jitendra Tatte, a cotton and orange farmer, with a huge farm of 60 acres in Lehegaon village, Amravati.

Killing debt is just the consequence, not the cause of the farm crisis. The crux of Chandrakant’s problem was something beyond his control – high costs, low produce prices. The minimum support price for cotton (Rs 1,750) fetches less than one-fourth the cost of cultivation in Maharashtra. “In the last 10 years, the prices of farm inputs have risen dramatically. Urea was Rs 80 per bag, it’s now Rs 280. A bottle of pesticide was Rs 40, but now it’s Rs 240. But, the state government lowered the procurement price from 2,250 last year to Rs 1,750 per quintal. How can we survive?” asked Prahlad.

So, why hasn’t the price kept up with costs? The international price of cotton lint fell from $ 1.10 per pound in 1994 to 38 cents in 1998. There was a gush of imports into India. “Between 1997 and 2003, we imported 110 lakh bales, more than the total volume of imports since Independence,” says Vijay Jawandhia, activist with the Shetkari Sanghatana. So, farmers found no market for their product.

India doesn’t protect her farmers from imports. Cotton farmers are the least protected. The import tariff for cotton is only 10%, whereas it is 60% for sugar and 80% for paddy. International rules allow the government to increase the cotton tariff up to 150%, but it chooses not to. China has protected its farmers by imposing a 90% import tariff.

Farmers in countries such as the US or China can sell at a low price because they receive direct subsidies. Our farmers cannot afford to sell at this artificially lower price and so keel over. For instance, in the US, it costs $1.70 (Rs 79.90) to produce one kg of cotton lint, but it is sold for $1.18 (Rs 55.46). To offset the losses, around 20,000 cotton farmers in the US get more than $4 billion in subsidies – approx. Rs one crore per farmer per year, according to the Centre for Science and Environment’s (CSE) report on the cotton industry. US farmers get a subsidy of $1 for every kg of cotton produced, roughly the rate of cotton in the world market. Our farmers get no subsidy. Vidarbh’s 30 lakh-odd cotton cultivators spend Rs 3,000 per quintal, but they get only Rs 1,750.

If, like US or Chinese farmers, Chandrakant had been given a direct subsidy payment for every quintal of cotton he produced, he would not have had to pawn his jewellery or borrow from moneylenders at interest rates ranging from 60 to 120 per cent. He would have probably been alive today. If the Indian state can’t give a subsidy, at least it can protect farmers through tariffs. But it is not even willing to raise the import tariff. So, the textile industry can import raw cotton cheap, manufacture with cheap labour and export the finished cloth back. “We have become like slave labour for the export market,” says Jawandhia.

“On the rare occasion that the retail price of tomatoes or tur dal goes up (like they did just before the monsoon), the media flash it on TV all day, and people in the cities complain. But they are quiet when the prices fall soon after. Do they bother to come here and talk to us then when prices crash and we are in a crisis?” asked Prahlad.

If prices are low, can farmers try and reduce costs? Each year, prices of inputs go up. And the chemical-intensive method that farmers use depletes the fertility of the soil. So every year, there are more doses of fertilisers and pesticides needed. It’s a vicious cycle. Maharashtra has the highest area under cotton cultivation in the country, but the lowest yield. The cost of production is Rs 70 per kg - double national average, says the CSE report. The state is supposed to send extension workers to guide farmers on effective farming techniques. But extension officers are rarely seen in the fields. Farmers rely on advice from pesticide dealers, advertisements and each other.

Until now the only technical advice has been from agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and film star Nana Patekar peddling Monsanto’s Bt cotton seeds. They are supposed to prevent attacks from boll worms, but not other pests. So, farmers still spray insecticide, and also spend more on Bt seeds. Of the 634 farmers who committed suicide in Vidarbh (from 1st Jan to 10th July 2006), 450 were cotton growers, and 314 of them had sowed Bt cotton last year, according to a survey done by the Vidarbh Janandolan Samiti.

Several organic farming techniques have been scientifically proven to be effective. They have yielded the same, or better, output without spending much on pesticides and fertilisers. Organic pesticides, fertilisers and growth promoters can be prepared from plants and materials available locally. Only a few NGOs have bothered to promote organic farming. There’s no money to be made by advocating less spending.

If cotton cultivation is unprofitable, why not shift to other crops? Farmers in Vidarbh (and most of India) still practice dryland farming – totally dependent on the monsoon. Besides cotton, farmers here grow mainly soyabean, wheat, coarse grains, tur dal, groundnut and oranges (in some areas). Vidarbh has only 10% under irrigation. “That leaves us with very few options. Besides, prices are low not only for cotton but for most other crops and vegetables. Whatever you choose, there are losses,” said Prahlad Gurnule.

There isn’t enough water for fodder, so dairy, which could provide a regular income, is also not possible. “Earlier, when we grew jowar, there was a steady source of fodder. But, people have stopped jowar because it isn’t profitable, and neither is the dairy business. Now, there are distress sales of our only assets – cattle and land,” said Sanjay Tigaonkar, a farmer from Wardha.

The Prime Minister arrived for a tour of Vidarbh on 1st July, and left with a pathetic Rs. 3,750-crore ‘package’ for Vidarbh’s 30 lakh farmers – one-fifth the cost of the Mumbai metro that he inaugurated a few weeks earlier. He announced an interest waiver on loans and fresh loans to be issued to defaulting farmers. This may offer temporary relief. But what happens at the end of the season when the farmer is left with no money to pay back the loan once again? And, what happens to farmer’s debts with moneylenders?

When the state government suddenly arrested moneylenders in November 2005, farmers were in a financial crunch. Moneylenders are their main source of funds, since banks don’t lend enough. Moreover, it was found that Congress MLA Dilip Sananda and his family are moneylenders with 40 cases registered against them. The government hasn’t taken any action against them, only against the small fry.

The PM promised Rs. 2,177 crore to complete 524 irrigation projects in these six districts over three years. Across the country 40 % of the cotton crop is irrigated, but in Vidarbh, only 3 % of the crop has irrigation. Irrigation schemes here have been incomplete for the last 20 years. One visit by the PM is unlikely to be the magic wand.

One month after the PM left, there were 80 more suicides. Banks had not yet issued loans though sowing had begun a month before. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh admitted that the state has not been able to curb the crisis. “We are doing our best, both the Centre and the State is doing what it can. It's true the suicides are not reducing. Whatever help we are giving, we have not been able to solve the problem or fully control it. We are looking for suggestions,” he said. Several groups in Vidarbh have come forward with suggestions, but the government has ignored the root of the problem.

Textiles are India’s second largest export. Yet, why are at least 3 cotton farmers like Chandrakant Gurnule killing themselves everyday, leaving behind a stunned widow and children? These disparities are growing as India globalizes. Its elite is enthralled in malls, while agricultural labourers earn just Rs 25 a day – less than a parking ticket. One metre of cloth sells for a minimum of Rs 50 per metre. The cotton lint needed to make it costs only Rs 6.

“India is becoming super India and Bharat is becoming Ethiopia,” says Jawandhia. “Farmers are living only because they are not dying.”

It’s a cruel joke called ‘globalisation’.

Frontline, Aug. 26 - Sep. 8, 2006 Also available here

Bt rice trials uprooted

DIONNE BUNSHA

By uprooting Bt rice trials in Tamil Nadu, farm activists and Greenpeace have stirred up the debate on GM food testing. And they have support from unlikely quarters - rice exporters.

The tranquil routine of Rangaraju’s retired life was in for a rude shock. On the morning of 10th November, people from the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association landed up at his doorstep. They wanted to uproot the harvest in his paddy farm. The farmers told him his rice field had a genetically modified crop whose harvest could contaminate food supplies if it was not destroyed.

A bewildered Rangaraju didn’t know how to react. He asked them for time to consult Mahyco, the company that was conducting a field trial in his plot. But before he knew it, the 150-odd people in the crowd had uprooted the Bt rice crop from his field in Ramanathapuram village near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. In a matter of one day, this unassuming retired schoolteacher found himself in the midst of an international controversy over genetically engineered crops.

“We didn’t know what kind of rice they were growing,” Hemalata, his daughter, told Frontline. “My father signed an agreement with the company, but didn’t study it carefully. We thought it was a hybrid seed, we didn’t know it was something different.” Hemalata’s family feels cheated. “It is fraud by the company. They did not tell us much. Let’s hope it will not put our next crop in danger.”

Rangaraju is not alone. Last month, the Bharatiya Kissan Union (BKU) burned the harvest of Bt rice trials in two farms in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. In Rampura village in Karnal district of Haryana, they burned the field to prevent contamination. When they reached Rudrapur village, Gorakhpur district in UP, BKU activists got the police to seize the grain that was lying in the plot. Along with Panchayat president of the village, they filed a police complaint against Mahyco, the Department of Biotechnology and the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, for several violations found in a GM Rice trial plot.

Here too, the farmers and the panchayat were not aware of that the seeds were genetically modified and had no clue of the likely dangers of growing them in their fields. They had merely leased out the land to Mahyco and signed the agreements without knowing what genetically modified actually means. The company is conducting 10 field trials of Bt rice in six states across the country.


"They are toying with farmers’ ignorance about GM technology,” said Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of the BKU. “Knowing the unreliable track record of the company and the state regulators, we had to destroy the crop to prevent contamination from the trial plots into the food supply chain where unwary consumers are eating untested products. This is all the more dangerous in a Basmati rice growing belt of the country. The department of Biotechnology’s guidelines require destruction of the GM plant material after the trial. By burning the crop, we have made sure these guidelines are not flouted."

Bt rice is a genetically engineered seed designed to make the crop resistant to pests like stem borer and leaf folder. The seeds are created by inserting a synthetic version of a gene (called Cry1Ac) from a naturally occurring soil bacterium called bacillus thuringiensis (bt) into the plant’s DNA so the plant creates its own toxin to destroy the pests. India has allowed the commercial sale of Bt cotton seeds, and the trials for Bt Brinjal are also underway.

In September this year, the Supreme court temporarily stopped the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) from granting permission for any more field trials for GM crops. The court was responding to a petition which pointed out several irregularities in the regulatory procedures. Currently, Indian rules allow field trials to start even before biosafety tests are completed. Moreover, monitoring of these trials are extremely lax, almost non-existent.

The petition also pointed out the inherent conflict of interest evident in the constitution of regulatory authorities. Senior office-bearers and members of the GEAC are also part of biotech industry-promoted bodies or are crop developers themselves in their personal or institutional capacities. Currently around 150 trials for GE food crops are underway ranging from brinjal to tomato, mustard, maize and of course, rice.

No country in the world has cleared the commercial sale of Bt rice. The impacts on human health have not yet been fully tested. A recent study in Madhya Pradesh found that farm workers exposed to Bt cotton had allergies – skin eruptions, swollen faces. Moreover, the Bt toxin can enter the human digestive system and interfere with the bacteria in the intestines.

The Cry1Ac gene is a powerful immunogen and can prompt adverse reactions from the immune system. Studies worldwide have shown that eating GM food could result in wasteful growth of gut tissues and bacterial proliferation, intestinal tumours, immune system suppression, interference with the development of the body’s vital organs and reproduction. Earlier this year, there were mass deaths of cattle grazing on the remains in harvested Bt cotton fields in Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh.

GM plants could harm the environment and biodiversity. Once out in the fields, there is no way of knowing whether normal plant varieties have been contaminated by the GM variety through pollination, which could lead to the extinction of local crop varieties. Moreover, there is also a danger that insects could develop resistance to the toxin, after which more pesticides would be needed to get rid of them.

Farmers groups aren’t alone in their protest against GM crops. Recently, rice exporters held a press conference with Greenpeace demanding that the government halt field trials. They are worried that if there is any contamination, it could harm exports. In August this year, US rice exports were adversely affected when it was found that certain consignments contained GM contaminated rice. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) admitted that a variety of Bayer’s Liberty Link rice that was not approved for consumption or cultivation in the world (LL rice 601) had been detected in rice intended for export. This raised an alarm in the EU and Japan and adversely affected US rice trade. Indian exporters are scared that our exports could be similarly harmed if there is even a slight doubt of contamination.

“It is shocking and unfortunate that the government is allowing even small-scale, field trials of GE rice in the Basmati-growing region. This is a matter of grave concern for all Basmati rice exporters from this region," said Brigadier Anil Adlakha, Executive Director of the All-India Rice Exporters Association (AIREA). “Any contamination from GE rice field trials will be a death knell for millions of farmers and exporters. We want the government to draw the correct lesson from the plight of the US rice industry and stop further GE rice field trials in this region now. If the government doesn’t heed our warning, it could prove to be a costly and irreversible blunder.”

Greenpeace recently found that GE rice from field trials in China had found its way into imported Chinese rice products in France, Germany and the UK. Indian exporters are afraid our trade will suffer if any part of the harvest from field trials in India finds its way into food supplies. At present, India exports 400 million tones of rice worth Rs 700 crores.

Activists from the Tamil Nadu Farmers Association destroying a GE rice trial crop in Ramanathapuram, 20 km from CoimbatorePhoto: Greenpeace
“Why are they so concerned about exports? We should think of filling our own bellies first. Bt rice will help increase productivity by reducing crop damage due to pest attacks,” M.K. Sharma, managing director of MAHYCO told Frontline. As much as 20% of yield could be lost due to the stem borer pest, which Bt rice guards against, he added. Sharma said that Bt cotton sales have been rising exponentially every year because farmers find them effectively. However, he dodged the fact that the places in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh where Bt cotton use is amongst the highest are also the areas where farmers suicides are the most.

Outraged at the protests on MAHYCO’s field trials, Sharma said, “These people are preventing technology from reaching farmers. They are standing in the way of scientific research. While testing is still underway, how can they say that the crop is dangerous? They have done this for cheap publicity and we have filed a police complaint against them for damaging our trial crop.” He countered the allegation that proper norms were not adhered to. “We have followed all the rules, keeping a 20-metre isolation around the field to prevent pollination outside. The question of contamination does not arise as we were about to burn the field as per the regulations so that there is no trace of any plant material. Moreover, the farmers had full knowledge of the trial. They signed agreements with us in which all the conditions were laid out.”

Environmental and agricultural research groups insist that they too were asking for scientific and transparent research. “While dealing with such technology, we have to follow the precautionary principle,” said Kavitha Kuruganti from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Hyderabad. “Until independent scientific laboratory studies show that this crop is safe for human consumption, the government should not allow any field trials to take place.” At present, the biosafety testing is done by the company itself.

Even though signatures were taken, field trials were conducted without warning the plot owners about the environmental hazards. “Contamination can take place even beyond the isolation distance. State and local authorities weren’t informed either. Regulatory agencies are not monitoring the field trials properly,” Ms Kuruganti said. During field trials of Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, it was found that untested products from the trials were being sole in the local market, she added.

Often GE technology is pushed as the solution to India’s food security problem. However, environmental groups challenge this assumption, asserting that there are several other indigenous plant varieties that can boost farm productivity. “The real solutions for sustainable rice production already exist in farms around the world. They are based on traditional knowledge combined with cutting-edge technology, and are far more reliable and acceptable than destructive industrial agriculture and imprecise genetic engineering,” said Nammalwar, a well-known organic farming scientist from India.

“The world’s most important staple crop is too important to gamble with. There are as many as 140,000 different varieties of rice, with an enormous diversity of traits, such as resistance to different pests and diseases and capacity to grow in salty or dry conditions,” said Divya Raghunandan from Greenpeace India. “We don’t need genetic engineering to take advantage of these traits – we need to preserve this resource and knowledge and combine it with safe hi tech breeding techniques.” Greenpeace has just released a report called ‘The Future of Rice’ by scientists Dr Emerlito Borromes and Dr Debal Deb which explains that GE technology is unnecessary since other more sustainable options exist to increase rice yields.

Judging by the way field trials are being conducted, it seems like it’s not only the farmers like Rangaraju on whose plots the tests are underway, but also the Indian public, who are left in the dark, clueless of the dangers that GE technology could unleash.

Frontline, Nov. 18-Dec. 01, 2006 Also available here

Back to the Basics

DIONNE BUNSHA

Organic farming is not the only solution to the problems contributing to the farm crisis. However, it is the only one within the farmer's control.

WITHIN THEIR CONTROL: Farmers can get the same or a better yield without spending on pesticide and fertilizer.Photo: Dionne Bunsha

While hordes of media swamped Vidarbha just before the PM's visit, I was there with two agricultural scientists Vipin and Devang on a different trip.

Vipin and Devang are from Sristi, an organisation that works to develop eco-friendly solutions to local problems. They have a long-term remedy to the farm crisis, one that will go beyond the temporary relief that the PM has doled out. Yes, immediate action is important. It may prevent several suicides. The PM's interest waiver and re-scheduling of bank loans will give people much-needed loans to sow their next crop of cotton and soyabean. But then what? What happens at the end of the season when they can't pay off their loans once again?

Crux of the crisis
They will be in the same dilemma simply because the cost of farming is higher than the pathetic price they receive for their inputs. That is the crux of the farm crisis — spiralling costs, miserable prices. In the last 10 years, the cost of living has risen dramatically, but the price of cotton has fallen. That's why the rural economy is collapsing. All the other symptoms — inadequate bank credit, exploitative moneylenders, the unscrupulous input traders, illness, school dropouts — are aggravated by this basic problem.

There is not much farmers can do to change government policy that determines output prices, trade tariffs, social security and subsidies. That is beyond their control. But the one thing farmers can do is to try and reduce costs of cultivation.

That's where Sristi has a plan. They have developed and verified several indigenous, organic farming practices that have worked. Farmers can get the same or a better output without spending a penny on pesticides and fertilizers. All they have to do is prepare organic pesticide, fertilizer and growth promoters from plants and other material available in their own environment. There's no need for them to depend on a shop owner and get entangled in a web of exploitation and debt.

"In fact, the solution is simple," says Prof. Anil Gupta, founder of Sristi. "Why spend so much resources on pesticides? Go along with animal rearers in your area and look for plants that animals do not eat. These plants are the potential source of pesticides, because animals do not eat them; the toxicity inherent in them." Sristi tries to document, develop and share local solutions, ones that farmers have invented.

Several tried and tested organic techniques may save farmers from the clutches of trader-moneylenders. For instance, farmers can use the whey from buttermilk as a growth promoter. You don't need Bt seeds to ward off the bollworm; you can use whey or lantana extract. This is a two-in-one solution — you control lantana weed and at the same time get a local cheap pesticide. Calotripis or many other such plants found abundantly around the field, uneaten by animals, can be sprayed or even mixed with irrigation water. Farmers in different parts of Gujarat and other states have developed these techniques.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, organic farming doesn't mean low productivity. The output is the same or sometimes more than that of others who use chemical inputs. Sristi makes sure each method they advocate has first been tested scientifically by an independent research organisation before it suggests that farmers adopt the technique.

We met a bunch of farmers in Wardha who have switched to organic cultivation. They are not as anxious as most other farmers here who illogically douse their fields with pesticide and fertilizer. They don't have to worry about how they will get a loan, or how much pesticide to buy in the coming season. Most farmers dread the end of the season — it's payback time. But organic farmers look forward to a good crop that they can sell at the price they choose, not that dictated by exploitative moneylenders.

Pramod Kadam, a farmer and agricultural consultant from Wardha, is still paying off a huge debt he accumulated while using chemical inputs on his 15-acre field. "Now that I have switched to organic cotton cultivation, my costs have reduced from Rs. 5,000-8,000 an acre to around Rs. 3,000 an acre (for seeds, hiring bullock carts and wages for labourers). My yield is higher. The average here is around 2.5 quintals per acre, but I get four." So, he has saved on costs and gained in productivity.

Switch to organic
Many small farmers are apprehensive about the switch to organic. They feel it is too much of a risk, an experiment that can only be tried by big farmers or those who have irrigated land. But many of the organic farmers we met had small holdings. "Small farmers gain the most because we can't afford the high costs of cultivation. Big farmers can afford chemical cultivation," explained Sanjay Tigaonkar, an organic farmer from Wardha.

Organic farming is not the only solution to the problems contributing to the farm crisis. But it is the only one within the farmer's control. All other factors like prices, credit or irrigation are decided by a government that is more concerned about the Sensex than suicides. The farm crisis will continue until the Government decides to protect our farmers like the U.S. and EU protect theirs. Farmers in the EU are paid one dollar a day for every cow they rear — more than the daily wage of agricultural labourers in India. Until we protect our farmers, they will remain on the edge. Organic farming will definitely ease the burden of costs. But if that is not a viable route, will the government spend a fraction of the money it spends on promoting non-sustainable technologies on promotion of non-chemical alternatives?

Technical inputs
Besides monetary inputs, Vidarbha also needs technical inputs. If there were better agricultural advice, there may not have been such a dire demand for credit. There has been no competent agricultural guidance for decades. Few have thought of creative solutions. Even simple things like finding other sources of income like planting trees or rainwater harvesting in a region where only 11 per cent of farms are irrigated.

Until now the only technical advice has been from agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and film star Nana Patekar peddling Monsanto's Bt cottonseeds. Most people can't remember the last time they met an agricultural extension officer. So it's left to the input shop dealer to give advice, pushing the most expensive products to increase his sales.

Despite the massive failure of the Bt cotton crop last year (after which the Government had to compensate farmers), most people still opt for the seeds this year. Why? Simply because the company has lowered the price from Rs. 1,800 to Rs. 750. Now, it's only Rs. 200 cheaper than the hybrid variety. Might as well try it again. Though proven to be more effective, organic methods will never get the kind of hype that surrounds Bt cotton, simply because there is no money to be made from promoting self-reliance.

Vidarbha's crisis shows that we have gone full circle and it is time to go back to the basics. "India aspires to be a knowledge society but in agriculture, there is hardly any effort to draw upon our rich data base of agricultural practices (many of which have been compiled by Sristi for dissemination). How many sites exist where scientists are working with farmers' on their fields? We have to promote farmers' experimentation and innovations to generate sustainable solutions," says Prof. Gupta.

Sometimes the answers are right in front of us, but we can't see them because they are too simple.

For more information: Sristi

The Hindu Sunday Magazine July 16, 2006 Also available here

Weddings in the time of suicide

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Amaravati, Maharashtra

On the mass weddings in Vidarbha, a phenomenon that has grown due to the agrarian crisis.

Kishan Bansod, 27, greets us as we enter, peering through the strings of plastic beads dangling from his forehead. He is the bridegroom. "You seem very excited," we remarked. "Let's see how long it lasts," he laughs.

The bride, Asmita Wankhede, arrived and they sit at the front of the line of couples waiting to get married. While Bansod continues grinning and joking with his friends Asmita plays the demure bride. They wait patiently to get on stage while an aged woman sings and the master of ceremony invites local leaders on stage to give a speech. Sisters and little nephews and nieces bustle around the couple.

Many other couples are sitting in the line. Most men are in white shirt and trousers, with maybe a small sehra (head-dress). Only one wears a turban. Many have decked themselves up with nail polish and mehndi. The women too are dressed colourfully, but without much jewellery.

We are at a mass marriage in a small school courtyard in Amravati, a district that has witnessed many farmers' suicides. Community weddings are part of the government's rehabilitation package for farmers in this region. "Many of those who committed suicide had borrowed heavily from moneylenders for their daughters' weddings. Several of them can't afford to get their children married," says Vijay Wankhede, a member of the trust that has organised this wedding.

"There are 12 couples here from different communities. As part of the scheme, the government also gives them a mangalsutra, a gas cylinder and some vessels totally worth Rs.10,000." So far, 6,740 couples have been married at mass weddings in the Vidarbha region.

A mass wedding in Amaravati. The State government has sponsored many such ceremonies as part of its rehabilitation policy.Photo: Ranjit Deshmukh
"We came here because the situation in her house is very bad. Her father wouldn't have been able to afford the wedding otherwise," said Kishan. Asmita's father was sitting away from the ceremony, in a classroom on the first floor of the school building.

"I got my first daughter married to my nephew so there weren't too many expenses involved. My niece got married in a mass wedding a few months back," Namdeo Wankhede tells us. "I don't have any money, so we got the wedding done here. I can't even find the funds to sow the next crop, so I have leased out one of my three acres of land. If people with more than 10 acres can't make both ends meet, how are we supposed to survive?"

Many have not survived. There have been 592 suicides since June 2005. Spiralling costs of inputs and falling output prices have meant huge losses. There is high use of pesticides and fertilizers, increasing farmers' costs but not their yield. Flow of bank credit has not kept up with rising costs, so farmers have to borrow from moneylenders at interest rates varying from 60 to 120 per cent. The government has not protected cotton farmers with trade tariffs. Farmers do not get proper advice about agricultural techniques owing to the dearth of government extension work.

Once a rich cotton belt, Vidarbha is now drowning in debt. The State government has neglected the farm crisis here. The rains have arrived a month late and sowing should soon begin, but most farmers are desperate because they have no money for seeds and other inputs.

For Namdeo, there seems no way out of this tight spot. "Every year, we make losses. There is barely any work on the fields so I can't even earn as much as a daily labourer. The banks won't lend us money. And I refuse to take a loan from the moneylender because he asks for my land title deed. Why should I mortgage it to him for a pittance?"

As the men chat upstairs, the marriage continues below. We meet Kavita Athavale and Sachin Vaidya sitting in the queue. "We like this wedding. There are different people from different villages. And most importantly, it saves our parents from spending," says Kavita, an undergraduate student of arts.

Kavita Athavale and Sachin Vaidya, after their weddingPhoto: Ranjit Deshmuk
"My father is a daily-wage labourer. We don't have any land. He doesn't get much work. There is no food at home, and there is lot of tension. We have been waiting for a year to get married. When we read about this in the newspapers, we decided to come here." Kavita will leave her village to join Sachin who works as a security guard in Nagpur. When we ask to meet her father, Sachin says: "He must be somewhere at the back, crying because his daughter will leave."

We find Kavita's father sitting at the entrance, just outside the shamiana. "I'm still paying back the loans I had taken to get my three other daughters married. We get work for only two or three days a week and wages are only Rs.40 a day," says Dayaram Athavale. "I couldn't even give her a gift. It is such a bad time. There is no rain, no work," says Kavita's uncle.

The father of the bride, Dayaram AthavalePhoto: Ranjit Deshmukh
Inside, the couples are finally called on stage, after enduring the speeches. At one end of the stage, there is an array of photos and paintings - the Buddha, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, Shahu Maharaj, Shivaji. The ceremony is not too elaborate. A sloka is recited, the couples exchange garlands and a mangalsutra. No priest, no fire, no rituals.

"This is better than my wedding. There weren't so many people at mine and the expenses are much less," Kavita's sister Sunita Ogle says. "I will also get my kids married like this."

To many families in distress the mass marriages have brought some desperately needed joy. And to the grinning groom Kishan who may not have otherwise been able to take home his bride proudly.

Frontline, July 1-14, 2006 Also available here

Biotech Brinjal

DIONNE BUNSHA

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had a rather unusual bunch of visitors last week - Greenpeace protesters dressed up as sheep and cattle, who camped outside his office. The "animals" were asking for an investigation into the death of 1,600 head of cattle and sheep in Andhra Pradesh in April 2006. The deaths were closely linked to prolonged consumption of Bt cotton stalks and leaves that were left in fields after the harvest.

Bt cotton is the only genetically modified (GM) seed sold in India. In the four years since it has been in use, not only has it failed to live up to its claim of being a `miracle seed', but it has also had harmful effects on biosafety.

At a time when the safety of Bt cotton is highly suspect, the government's Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) is considering clearance of large-scale field trials of Bt Brinjal. It is the first time that GM Brinjal is being released for an advanced stage of field trials in open conditions anywhere in the world. It is also the closest India has got to sanctioning GM food crops.

If cleared, it will be the first time that the GEAC allows large-scale field trials for GM food crops. Such field trials could lead to the uncontrolled release of genetically modified organisms into the environment, which could contaminate normal varieties of the crop. Japan and several European countries have banned cultivation of GM food crops. But India is allowing it entry without taking adequate precautions.

Greenpeace Activists demonstrate outside Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's residence against GM agricultural products, in New Delhi on June 16.Photo: S.Subramanium
Bt seeds are created by inserting a gene (Cry1Ac) from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into a plant cell. This gene is supposed to protect the brinjal from insects such as the fruit and shoot borer. Bt cotton provides resistance to bollworm because the insect dies after eating the Bt toxin; the toxin disrupts its digestive process.

Biosafety tests for Bt brinjal started in 2002. After two years of greenhouse evaluation, Mahyco, the company producing the seed, started field trials in 11 locations with five hybrids in 2004. The results of the limited field trials have been posted on the GEAC website. The GEAC has invited public feedback before it decides whether to give clearance for large-scale field trials.

Several environmental groups and farmers' associations have appealed against the trials. But the GEAC is dismissive. "We would like some concrete objections based on the data placed before us by Mahyco, not general, emotional arguments," B.S. Parsheera, Chairperson of the GEAC, told Frontline. However, environmentalists opposing the trials say that the data are too sketchy to provide scientific feedback. "This shows how the GEAC takes decisions that affect the health of millions - based on meaningless presentations by companies," said Kavitha Kuruganti from the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

Top biotech scientists are also critical of the manner in which the GM tests are being conducted. "It is an absolute scandal for us to allow further trials despite the failure of Bt cotton. The seed should be withdrawn immediately, just like faulty drugs are removed from the market. We are being taken for a ride by the MNC [multinational company]-government nexus. These committees don't even have specialised scientists. They exist only to promote the interests of powerful companies, not of the country. And these MNCs, such as Monsanto which is promoting Bt seeds in India, have a notorious record all over the world," said Dr. Pushpa Bhargava, founder of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, a world-renowned pioneer of genetic engineering in India.

"No country in the world has a satisfactory system of assessing the risks associated with the release of GM plants into the environment. What has happened in this extremely lax environment all over the world is extremely disturbing, " Bhargava explained. "It is shocking that no tests were done to monitor the effects on cattle or sheep if they ate the leaves of the Bt cotton plant, even though in India crop plants are often fed to cattle as fodder. That is why so many animals died in Andhra Pradesh. The main problem is that there is a conflict of interest in using the tests and data provided by the company."

The GEAC denies any such vested interest. "What vested interest? We are following all the norms laid down. Many institutes across the country are conducting the tests," said Parsheera.

The effects on human health are numerous and often unknown. A recent study in Madhya Pradesh found that farm workers exposed to Bt cotton had allergies including skin eruptions and swollen faces. The Cry1Ac gene is a powerful immunogen and can prompt adverse reactions from the immune system. If humans eat Bt brinjal it is possible that the Bt toxin can enter the human digestive system and interfere with the bacteria in the intestines. There are severe limitations to current allergy testing procedures for genetically modified organisms. Many GM crops such as beans and Starlink corn were found to produce allergies after they were sold in the market.

The NptII gene used as a marker in Bt brinjal can affect antibiotic resistance. The cauliflower mosaic virus, a viral promoter used in Bt brinjal, is similar to the hepatitis B virus, and could reactivate dormant viruses. Studies worldwide have shown that eating GM food can result in wasteful growth of gut tissues and bacterial proliferation, intestinal tumours, immune system suppression and interference with the development of the body's vital organs.

Mahyco, however, denied that there were any health risks. "Bt is no more immunogenic than any other protein that human and animals are exposed to," said Mahendra Sharma, managing director of Mahyco Monsanto Biotech and general manager of Mahyco. "It does not have any effect on the gut of mammals. It only kills insects. Studies have shown that if mammals consume 100mg of the toxin for every 1 kg of body weight, there is no adverse effect. We conducted tests on cooked Bt brinjal and they showed that the DNA disintegrated with the heat and there was no harmful effect. There is no risk of antibiotic resistance or risk of re-activating any viruses." None of Mahyco's claims has been verified independently, said Bhargava.

Genetically modified plants can harm the environment and biodiversity. Once out in the fields, there is no way of knowing whether normal plant varieties have been contaminated by the GM variety through pollination, which could lead to the extinction of local crop varieties. This is the reason for the `buffer zone' that most GM crops have rarely followed in India where land is scarce. Moreover, the Cry1Ac gene affects butterflies and moths and alters soil microbiology. Farmers using Bt cotton in India report decline in soil productivity. However, Mahyco said that its tests had ruled out the possibility of any such adverse impact on the environment.

Three varieties of the Bt cotton seed were denied permission of extension by the GEAC, based on the Andhra Pradesh government's analysis that their performance was inadequate. Two more varieties were banned by the Andhra Pradesh government after farmers' crops failed and the company refused to pay compensation. Yet, the GEAC feels that India needs GM technology. "We are far behind the rest of the world in biotechnology. We should catch up or we will face severe food security problems," said Parsheera.

"It is absurd to say that GM crops will bring us food security. Is there no food security in E.U. countries that have banned GM?" asked Bhargava. "It may kill biodiversity. Several organic methods of cultivation have proved far more effective," he said.

Field studies by the Deccan Development Society disproved many of the claims made about the advantages of using Bt Cotton. It is supposed to reduce expenses on pest management and increase productivity, but the study found that organic farmers had higher net returns and lower pest management costs.

The government is racing headlong into the genetic engineering maze, though agricultural studies are showing that natural processes are more effective. In just four years of GM technology, we have seen many disastrous results. Will no one listen as nature strikes back?

Frontline, June 17-30, 2006 Also available here

Villages for Sale in Vidarbh

To draw attention to their desperation, many villages in the suicide-ridden Vidharbh region have declared that their land and kidneys are up for sale.

DIONNE BUNSHA
in Amravati and Wardha, Maharashtra.

'Kidney Sale Centre’: proclaims a banner sprawled across a ramshackle bamboo tent in Shingnapur village in Amravati district. Farmers here are threatening to sell their kidneys.

"We have invited the Prime Minister and the President to inaugurate this kidney shop. They should allow us to sell our kidneys. We are all ruined by debt. Many farmers are killing themselves. Our kidneys are all we have left to sell," says Madhavgir Champat Giri, who sold all his land to pay his bank loan.

Not only Shingnapur, but other villages in Vidarbh – Dorli, Lehegaon and Shivni Rasulapur - have declared they are up for sale. They can no longer survive by living off the land. It’s the first time that people have protested against the suicides here. Everyday, local newspapers report at least two or three more suicides. Since June 2005, around 309 farmers have killed themselves, unable to bear the pressures of huge debts, grim poverty and lost self-esteem.


"Earlier, I even had money to dig a well on my field. Now, I have nothing,” says Madhavgir. “I sold my land. I can’t find work. No one can afford to pay farm labourers. There’s no food at home. We have become hungry and naked, roaming like dogs. We just drink water to fill our stomachs and go to sleep.”

This once-prosperous cotton belt in eastern Maharashtra has been ruined in the last 15 years of liberalisation. Production costs have multiplied three to five times, but the market price of cotton has fallen from Rs 2,500 per quintal in 1991 to Rs 1,785 today. Prices of other crops have also fallen. Most farmers are running up huge losses, and have to borrow heavily to keep afloat. Since many have defaulted on loan repayments, they can’t borrow from banks. Their only recourse is the trader-moneylenders, who lend at 60 to 120% interest. Farmers are trapped in debt.

“This year has been very bad,” says Suryapal Chavan, a Kisan Sabha activist from Shingnapur. “Both the soya and cotton crops were washed out by heavy rains. Worse, the government has lowered the price at which it procures cotton by Rs 500. People are worried about how they will run their homes and get money to sow in the next season.”

It’s the end of the harvest season, but the government hasn’t even opened procurement centres to buy cotton. Yards that were once crowded with bullocks carts loaded of cotton and where farmers would wait for days to sell their produce, are now deserted. Farmers are selling to traders since they are offering a rate only slightly lower than the government - Rs 1500-1700 per quintal. “There was once a time when cart loads of cotton would leave this village. This year, not a single cart has left,” says Giri. Government procurement is just 6.25 lakh quintals of cotton this season, compared to 185 lakh quintals last season, a drop of 96%. Last year, the government had opened 410 procurement centres. This year, there are only 160.

Once, cotton was considered 'white gold', and Vidarbha's black soil was perfect for cotton cultivation. With liberalization, the 'white gold' is now worthless. The government has withdrawn market controls, tariffs and subsidies for agriculture, leaving Indian farmers to compete with farmers in the US and EU, who are protected by trade restrictions and given billions of dollars in subsidies. The US 2002 Farm bill alone gave $ 190 billion to large companies growing cotton, wheat, corn, soybean, rice, barley, oats and sorghum.

"Ten years back, the international price of cotton lint was $1.10 per pound, but now it is 52 cents. The retail price of cotton then was Rs 40 per metre, and it is now Rs 80. Retail prices have doubled but farmers are forced to sell their produce at half the price," says Vijay Jawandhia, Shetkari Sanghatana activist. The government doesn’t even provide proper infrastructure like irrigation or marketing facilities.

The Indian government could protect its producers from imports and crashing international prices by hiking the import duty on cotton. At present, it is only 10 per cent. Import duty on other products like sugar (60%), rice (80%) and second hand cars (180%) are much higher. “The government is willing to protect sugar farmers and foreign car manufacturers here but not cotton farmers. Imports have flooded the market and prices have fallen,” says Jawandhia.

A banner that announces the "sale" of Dorli village.Photo: Dionne Bunsha
The US, EU, Japan and Canada restrict trade from developing countries by keeping tariffs at 350% to 900% on food products. But India provides incentives to agricultural imports. Even within India, the ‘free market’ doesn’t apply to all agricultural goods. Some are favoured more than others. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has ensured that Maharashtra’s politically powerful sugar co-operative lobby remains protected. “The central government regulates the flow of sugar into the market so that the price of sugar is steady. Why don’t they do the same to protect cotton farmers?” asks Jawandhia. Left to their own devices, farmers in are threatening to abandon agriculture and trade in their kidneys.

The flash point in Shingnapur came when suicide struck closer to home, in their village. Now, it wasn’t something ‘out there’ in someone else’s backyard. On the night of 16th December 2005, Jagdish Deshmukh (40) killed himself by swallowing pesticide. “We held a meeting and decided that we have to unite people. So we started this kidney sale agitation. What other solution? People are so desperate that some would really sell their kidneys, if given a chance,” said Chavan,

Jagdish’s wife, Sangeeta is left to look after their three children…and the debt. He owed the bank Rs 11,000, but she doesn’t know how much more he had borrowed from moneylenders. “This season, we got nothing - just 20 kg of cotton and no soyabean. Bank officials came to demand the loan five days before he killed himself. They also came three days after,” said Sangeeta.

Now, she grows vegetables on their farm and sells them to earn Rs 10 to 20 everyday. “We have an electricity bill of Rs 7000. Yesterday, they came and threatened to cut our connection if we don’t pay. If they do that, then I won’t be able to grow vegetables without the water pump. We’ll be left with nothing.” Her son, Sandeep (12) stopped going to the secondary school in Shivni village, four km away, because they can’t afford the Rs 4 bus ticket. Now, he goes around the village selling vegetables. The recession has affected all aspects of village life – children’s education, health, there’s no money to marry daughters, and people are selling off their cattle.

The "Farmers' Kidney Sale Centre" in Shingnapur village.Photo: Dionne Bunsha
For the first time, landless labourers from Shingnapur have migrated to cities. Meet the ‘Mumbai Return’ gang – eight who ventured out to try their luck finding work in the big city. Their first adventure outside their village didn’t last long. “We went to a construction site at Nerul, where we worked for two days. Then, there was no work and two of our friends got malaria, so we spent all our money to put them in hospital. As soon as they got out of hospital, we hopped on a train ticketless and came back home,” said Maruti Ade, a landless worker.

Maruti and his wife Reena’s find it more difficult to get work even once a week. Landowners can’t afford to pay wages. “Many are shifting to soyabean, and cultivating less cotton and jowar because their prices are so low. That means less work for us, because there’s no need for much labour in soyabean harvesting. Cotton harvesting gives women a lot of work, and men are needed for the jowar crop,” said Reena. “Those who used to grow tur and jowar and distribute it to us don’t have grain in their own homes now.”

The crisis has affected all – rich and poor. Meet Anil Tatte, a prize-winning farmer from Lehegaon in Amravati district. He won a Krishi Bhushan award from the state government. His innovative farm techniques made his yield double that of other farmers. Today, Anil is sinking along with the rest of this village. They too have declared that their village is up for sale. “This year, I even tried Bt cotton. It’s expensive. I spent Rs 80,000 on my 10 acres, and got only Rs 50,000. This award-winning farm is now in losses.”

Lehegaon was once prosperous, situated in what was once called India’s Orange County. “In the last five years, there has been very little water. I have had to cut all the 2000 orange trees in my orchard. They all dried up,” says Anil. Like most places in Vidarbh, the problem here is irrigation. Only 10% of land in the region is irrigated. In Lehegaon, even private wells have run dry, as the water table has fallen. “The Upper Wardha dam is near our village, but we don’t get water from it. Pipelines from there go to the adjoining Wardha district.”

The ginning factory in the village, which used to employ 400 people, hasn’t opened this season. Dairy has collapsed. “Ten years back, we had 600 cattle. Now we have 60. The price we get for milk is too low. There’s a bank here. But now only a few traders go there. Recently, the government arrested many moneylenders. Even they have stopped lending. They were the only source of funds for farmers,” says Nilesh Tatte, a young farmer.

Shivni Rasulapur, next to Shingnapur, has also said that they will mortgage the entire village to pay off their debts. “The only time officials visit us is when the bank officers come to collect our loans. Or when the electric board threatens to cut our lines. Otherwise, no one has bothered,” said Purshottom Bansod, a farmer leading the agitation.

“I want to sell my land. But no one has the money to buy it,” says Arun Chambhare, a small farmer from Dorli, the first village to declare it was for sale. “We are living in darkness. They cut my electricity line. My daughter studies for her 12th standard exam with a lantern.” Dorli, a predominantly Dalit village, has 47 families, of which 32 are registered as below the poverty line. Many more are sliding further downhill.

How much longer before the threats and protests to sell land and kidneys become a grim reality?

Frontline, March 11 - 24, 2006 Also available here