Samik Basu

Rural Development

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Migration And Agriculture

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Climate Change- Rural Livelihoods - Migration

Agriculture and allied sectors are highly sensitive to Climate change. It is directly touching livelihood and human being as well. India is basically agriculture based country where majority of the population is associated with Agriculture and allied services. The unrelenting droughts and floods are affecting the livelihood of millions of people worldwide who depend on agriculture with other countries India where 70% of the population lives in rural areas and in one way or other they are associated with Farming are getting affected.

Climate change has a ruthless impact on the rural livelihoods mainly focussing on small and marginal farmers globally. With the passage of time the income of small farmers and marginal farmers of developing countries are gradually decreasing day by day due to various factors and one of the major factor is climate change. This insecurity among rural population is hovering which leads to migration of younger generation between the age group of (15yrs to 30yrs)  to distant far off places in search of work.

We all know very well that main reason of climate change is global warming, the temperature of Mother Earth is increasing due to excess release of CO2 from industries and burning of fossil fuels which make a thick layer on Earth that leads to the rise in temperature of the Earth and the sea water level is increasing rapidly.

In the context of developing nations such as India, where agriculture continues to support the livelihoods of more than two-thirds of the population and impact of climate change on agriculture and people’s livelihoods assumes important is getting badly affected every day. Small and marginal farmers mainly depend on weather for the cultivation of their crops so due to rapid change is the weather they are facing problem in cultivation. Agriculture and allied activities, such as livestock and fisheries, constitute an important component of India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contributing nearly 25 per cent of the GDP and providing livelihoods to two-thirds of the population. Still the farmers and rural population who are directly or indirectly associated with farming are not encouraging their next generation to get into farming.  According to FAO Globally the most Rural Youth Distress migration takes place within the country and it is about 740 million and there are many root causes of migration and one of the main causes is Environmental Degradation. If this kind of environmental degradation will continue then it is very difficult to reach UN SDG Mission “Zero Hunger” by 2030.

The quantity of production of crops are  getting affected in some areas where the sea water level is increasing and the land is going under the water or the land is becoming unfertile due to salty water  and on the other hand in some places where lands are becoming barren due to rapid fall of ground water level  .

Due to this factor Rural Youth Distress migration is becoming a major concern in present days scenario. In this situation one FARMER PRODUCER COMPANY has come forward in the district of Hooghly,West Bengal keeping in mind the three factors climate change -Rural livelihoods- migration.

Hooghly Vegetable Growers Producer Company Ltd, promoted by National Vegetable Initiative For Urban Cluster (NVIUC) Govt of India in the year 2010-2011 Balagarh, Hooghly is the first FPC in the District which has come forward to take the  initiative to promote Poly house or Green House farming among the farmers in rural areas of Hooghly and helping farmers getting a sustainable source of Income.  Coloured Capsicum, Bell pepper, Tomato, Green Chilly, Horticulture flowers (Gerbera) are mainly grown under poly house as the farming is under full controlled system related to water usage, fertilizer usage so it has become very popular. The main objective of the FPC is to reduce the wastage of water, fertilizer and increase the income of the farmers. The FPC is closely working with NABARD, District Horticulture Office Hooghly, Government of West Bengal and Hooghly KVK to attract younger generation youths to stop migration and Providing them alternative source of income through cultivation under Poly-house/Green House.

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Livestock Development for Sustainable Livelihood of Small and Marginal Farmers

P. C:- Prachi Mishra

Animal Husbandry has been making indispensable contribution to the national economy and socio-economic development in the country.  In rural India where over 15-20% families are landless and about 80% of the land holders belong to the category of small and marginal farmers, livestock is the main source of livelihood.  In the absence of fertile lands and assured irrigation which are controlled by a small population of rich farmers and lack of employment in the industrial and service sectors, most of the rural families belonging to socio-economically weaker sections of the society maintain different species of livestock to supplement their income of the family.  While the land owners prefer cattle and buffaloes, the landless prefer to own sheep, goat and poultry. Especially the women folk in rural areas play a vital role in keeping Livestock as a alternative source of income generation and support of family.  Unlike many parts of India  Purulia District of West Bengal is a low  rain fed area. Cultivation of this district is predominantly mono-cropped. Near about 60 % of the total cultivated land is upland and about 73 % of the total agricultural holding are fragmented smallholding & belongs to small and marginal farmers .  Only 17% of the net cropped area is under multi crop cultivation. Goatry,Poultry,Piggery is one of the major source of income for small and marginal families of this District. So, Farmer Producer Companies in Purulia District of West Bengal, like Bagmundi Sindhri Agro Producer Company Ltd, is encouraging 43 female members of the FPC to keep livestock like Piggery and Poultry and supporting them in Market Linkage.Going into deep we can easily find that from education to Marriage Livestock plays a vital role. But Due to lack of  proper Technical support and  awareness on Livestock maintenance some times it causes heavy damage to rural economy. Livestock is a major industry which can give employment to many rural unemployed youths and provide them proper sustainable livelihood. Government and different line departments should come forward  and encourage this sector so that more young youths get attracted and take it as a profession.

We need boiled eggs every morning at our breakfast table but we don’t want to keep poultry at the backyard of our house because of social stigma.

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Bringing Agriculture into Mainstream Education.

Few days back I got an opportunity to meet a farmer from Purulia District of West Bengal who is anxious about  future of his son so he is  keen to send his son Uttpal Mahato a boy of 26 Yrs to Goa in a hotel as a steward/Pantry Boy. The salary offered is ₹ 96000 annually before deduction but never in dream think to engage him in farming. This is the condition of farming community of India who doesn’t neither want to continue farming nor engage next generation into farming.

If this mind set will continue for longer period it is impossible to feed the global population which is expected to be 9.7 billion by 2050.  Then What about ”UN Zero Hunger”. At the school level there is no scope at all  to get exposure to farming neither there is any type of  information given to the students at the Middle school level which will help them to get interest into the farming as a profession in future. The subjects which are taught in schools, students get aligned to that profession  but in our case If a student does not study well  at school his parents scold him and ask him to go to village and do farming.

Every parents have a desire to make their children either Doctor, Engineer, CA, Administrative officer, Judge but not into Farming or Agri Business because  status  in the society matters. we are lacking the new generation into farming more over the farmers also don’t want their children to adopt farming as sustainable livelihood . We feel proud to say that India is a agriculture based country where 250 million people are directly or indirectly involved with farming but we don’t want our children to get into this Profession is the tragedy.

India is the world's largest producer of many fresh fruits and vegetables, milk, major spices, select fibrous crops such as jute, staples such as  oil seed. India is the second largest producer of wheat and rice, the world's major food staples but still education system doesn’t take interest to educate the children  about farming at school level, for this reason only the generation next is far from this farming. We consider farmers as small and marginal, live in villages, less educated and so on. Did our system ever think to produce educated farmers who are fully equipped with information and technology.

For many a times we see that different eminent personalities from local area are invited to schools as Guest Lecturer to motivate students and share their Journey to success. But we never seen any farmer has been invited to class to share how he struggles every day.

Now the time has come to bring  agriculture to the mainstream education system  at school level where we step in  first.

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FPC A Ray of Hope for Farmers in  Bengal.

Over 70% of rural India depend Agriculture, but the saddest part is three out of four farmers want to quit and find an alternative job or migrate to a nearby city or town and with no choice they have to become a daily wage labourer as they are lacking the skill set of the industry. Mainly the younger generation of rural Bengal does not find any Interest in agriculture sector, In this situation, Buddha Deb Patra  and Rajib Lochan Dey two young friends of Garbeta Block of Paschim Mednipur, West Bengal who  were working in a local rice Mill where farmers are bullied by the system came forward to make change in the Community and the village.

“I was feeling helpless how to help the famers from our village to get rid of this system of being bullied

 by the middle man”. Said Buddha  .

They came forward after hearing from Department of Horticulture of the District regarding Promotion of Farmer Producer Company is going on in his block. In the 2015 these two friends with many farmers of the block registered a FPC named Digri Garbeta Agro Producer Company Ltd under company Act of Ministry of Corporate affairs , Govt Of India. They used to make the farming community understand the benefit of FPC.

Now the FPC has recently received matching grant from SFAC and it has become a ray of hope for the farming community of that Block. Now they are reparing concrete Business plans to scale up Business- Green House, Ware House, Custom Hiring Centre . Different Government schemes are being rooted through this FPC. Buddha and Rajib have lined up many schemes for the betterment of  farming community like Vermi compost, Distribution of Seeds, Power Tiller etc . After receiving matching grant from SFAC farmers have become more determined to make the FPC a dream project.

To form FPC every farmer has to pool in 1000 as paid up capital while the incubating agency will give up to 10 lakh in the company for Agribusiness. Under the FPCs there are many groups which are known as FIGs which consists of 20 members.

Many line departments of Government of West Bengal are helping them now by giving training, machineries, seeds , Organic Pesticides .

This FPC not only help farmers in input and output linkage but also give training to farmers regarding new Agriculture Practices and machineries.

Digri Garbeta Agro Producer Company Ltd now has set an example for younger generation to come forward to become Entrepreneur rather than migrating to cities and towns without any perfect destination.