According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the world’s smallholder farmers produce around a third of the world’s food. Five of every six farms in the world consist of less than two hectares and produce roughly 35 percent of the world’s food, according to FAO. Even in our context, it is the small-scale farmers who are the real food producers.
Unlike in other parts of the world, fortunately till date, there is no ‘landless’ farmer in our society but the day is not far when we will be faced with such issues as well. All over the world, land is becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of the rich and powerful and the day is not far when we will face a similar scenario. However, the point that this column is trying to make is that small-scale farmers are the real food producers in our economy. Apart from the food imported from the plains of Assam and beyond, it is the small-scale farmers that are feeding us. As such, their wellbeing should be looked into.
Our small-scale farmers don’t simply just make a living off the land. Their land and territories are the backbone of their identities, their cultural landscape and their source of well-being. Therefore, we must ensure that land is not being taken away from them and concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. Our small-scale farmers are the custodians of most heritage seeds and the knowledge systems therein. Besides, our small-scale farmers have the smallest carbon footprint, they use minimal inputs for optimal production and their farming systems are more gender balanced.
Unfortunately, governments the world over are more interested in industrial modes of production. While it is now increasingly common to hear that small farmers produce the majority of the world’s food, even if that is outside of market systems, we are also constantly being fed the message that the “more efficient” industrial food system is needed to feed the world. At the same time, we are told that 80% of the world’s hungry people live in rural areas, many of them small or landless farmers. Ironically, most of the government support provided to small-scale farmers is to ‘mainstream’ them and not to help them improve what they do best.
Mainstreaming our small-scale farmers for a perceived ‘bright future’ that is dependent on brutal market systems may just not be helpful. What is needed are extension services for small-scale farmers. Help them in soil testing, nutrient management, pest management, soil and water conservation etc and they will do the rest. Help them with post-harvest management systems, value addition processes and help develop the local market economies.