Agri posted a 4.8% growth. Why are farmers between Scylla and Charybdis?

THE manner by which growth is reported at the official level has the elements of a grand deception. But the most deceptive are the stats on agriculture. In the latest NEDA report, the robust 6.9 percent growth for the last quarter of last year was partly attributed to the supposed recovery of the agriculture sector, an amazing 4.8 percent growth, a rebound by any benchmark.

Yet, my naked eyes and your naked eyes have seen nothing else but this depressing scene – small farmers sliding deeper into debt and poverty. I am a farmer. Deep, deep in my heart, I always held on to the dream of small farmers getting out of the debt and poverty trap. But nothing of this miracle has taken place. The next generation of farmers will remain the literal men with the hoe.