Apathy sows anger among farmers

Guwahati: Bhola Nath Deka (name changed), a farmer from Morowa village in Nalbari district, neither has irrigation facility for his farm, nor can he avail of benefits under the Kisan Credit Card, a government scheme that gives poor farmers access to adequate credit. Deka's small land holding makes him ineligible for the scheme.
Like hundreds of poor farmers in lower Assam, Deka hopes that political parties will pay heed to his demands in the run-up to the election.
Insufficient irrigation, collapse of traditional methods of farming, heavy promotion of hybrid seeds instead of natives ones, non-implementation of policies aiming at boosting cropping intensity and double cropping, non-promotion of native types of paddy, lack of policies for landless farmers and climate change are some of the issues farmers have been crying hoarse over for years.
Simanto Kalita, programme coordinator of the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Assam, a national institution with a mandate to promote environment awareness, said political parties should include farmers' issues in their election manifestos. "In Assam, traditional methods of farming are dying. There is need for political intervention to prevent this. Climate change is another issue that needs to be addressed," Kalita added.
Both farmers and organizations working with them said the preservation and conservation of native varieties of rice through sustainable agriculture, especially in lower Assam, is something politicians needed to think about seriously. With the government's aggressive championing of high-yield variety of rice, there is hardly any scheme for the preservation and conservation of native varieties like Joha, Kola Joha, Mainagiri, Phool Pakhori, Tengre, Samraj, Boka Dhan, Tulsi Joha, Konkoni, Biru, Kajali Bah, Bordhan, Kalamdani, Manohar Sali, Phulgaz and others.
"Irrigation facility is inaccessible in some areas. There are schemes for farmers but making them reach the intended targets is important," said Tapan Baishya, secretary of Lotus Progressive Centre (LPC), an NGO working with farmers in Morowa.
"Political leaders should realize that schemes meant for marginalized farmers are not reaching them. Instead, beneficiaries are being selected improperly," said an adviser working with another farmers' group.