On Farmers

 

This book has been on my bucket list for a long time. In the midst of the ongoing farmer-agitation on the borders of Delhi, mainly by the farmers of Punjab and Haryana, a friend kept referring to this book, urging us to read it to understand better the dilemma being faced by the farmers.

The first thing that strikes you is that for a book written nearly 50 years ago, it continues to be quite relevant today. The poorest farmers in undeveloped countries continue to be exploited, countries continue to chase policies that prioritise cultivation and export of foods consumed by rich countries, leaving their own people to grow less for their own consumption, and a dependence on the  processed foods, which, in turn are produced by MNCs.

The question raised at the outset is this: 

"Why would the North concede anything when the Third World could make no credible threats and had little to do give in exchange except a clearer conscience?"

The book might be a bit dated but it presents a range of eye-opening examples - of how soyabeansOn came to dominate farms in Brazil; of how MNCs teamed up with Rockefeller and Ford Foundation to promote Green Revolution and build a market for their own fertiliser-pesticide-seed companies; of the opaque ways of Cargill, a family-held company that dominated the food value-chains;  of companies like Massey-Ferguson funded research studies on farm mechanisation while promoting their own tractors, and the ways in which USAs Food for Peace Law (PL 480) vastly increased US commercial markets for food abroad.

Susan George is quite scathing on the Green Revolution:

What is GR doing to research? Since most agronomic research takes place in the developed countries...an inordinate amount of research is devoted (a) to high carbohydrate HYVs, (b) to the climatic zones where they can be grown, and (c) to fertiliser-sensitise plants that can be protected from disease only by chemicals.

I was also struck by the description of some individuals - especially Frantz Fanon, the black psychiatrist and Matinique who put himself to the service of the Algerian freedom struggle.  Then there are stark facts - there are 80,000 known edible plant species - but a mere 50 of them provide 90 percent of our food. 

In the context of the ongoing farm protests in India, its interesting to know that George had warned - back in the 1970s! - about the implications of Punjabi farmers (among the 'small privileged stratum of larger landowners') shifting away from a wide range of crops to focus on wheat and rice. 

Now the Punjabi chickens have come home to roost. Grandchildren of the farmers who wholeheartedly accepted the changes brought in by the Green Revolution are now blocking the streets, demanding not only a continuation of government support and subsidies, but also a buyback at 'minimum support prices' that are way above the the global prices of foodgrains! 

..............................................................................

REFERENCES & LINKS:

* George, Susan (1976): HOW THE OTHER HALF DIES - The Real Reasons for World Hunger

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Dies