My questions to Shri Narendra Modi for Chai pe charcha on Agriculture related issues: Shriman Modiji, There are few issues that concern me a lot and I wish you seriously take this up in your discussion. 1. Agricultural land is shrinking very fast due to following reasons: a. Since agriculture has become more expensive and returns are less lucrative, many farmers are selling off their lands or constructing houses in their lands. b. Agricultural land is being taken over by government under SEZ to be given away to industrialists. c. There isnt sufficient water due lack of government support for irrigation, lack of regular power supply and groundwater has been depleted due to irrational use 2. The younger generation from farmers families do not want to continue agriculture. They want to get educated and move to cities for jobs. Who will take over agriculture for next generation? 3. Incessant use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers have polluted the groundwater, which cannot be cleansed forever. What are we going to do about this? 4. Division of agricultural plots within families reduces the the yield. Is it not possible to boost agriculture by merging land and undertaking agriculture on a co-operative basis? 5. Why cant we have big firms undertake agriculture on a commercial basis, use more scientific and economic ways of agriculture? Let the conventional and commercial systems of agriculture thrive side by side. 6. Genetically modified seeds may seem scientific. Many governments have fallen prey to this menace. Please, you MUST stand up against the perils of GM crops and dont let disaster to happen. We are counting on you for this. 7. Buying agro products from farmers and letting them rot in so-called government godown is a sin of highest magnitude. Please you must ensure that food is not allowed to waste like this. We know that is a scam of sorts, to sell the rotting grains to distillery units. 8. While the farmers get paid very little for their produce, the final packaged product in the retail store is very expensive. It is the people in middle who make most money. Isnt there a way where we can bypass this system and have farmers sell their produce more directly to wholesale/retail buyers? 9. It is sad to see that citys sewage is being used to irrigate farmlands. This is horrible and poor governance. We are consuming poisoned food, no wonder why cancer rates are increasing. 10. There must be continuous education given by government/NGO to farmers about best agricultural practices, bio-farming, crop-rotation etc.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 10:32:40 +0000
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