Orissa, the 8th largest State with respect to area and 11th largest in terms of population occupies 4.74% of India’s landmass and accounts for 3.58% (2001, Census of India) of the country’s population with 87% of its population living in rural areas. About 50% of the people live below the poverty line as against the national figure of 26%.
Agriculture is the mainstay of Orissa’s economy providing livelihood support to more than 80% of population. The State comprises 4.74% of India’s landmass with total cultivable land of 61.80 lakh hectares of which only 25.20 lakh hectares under cultivation and 41.41 lakh hectares (around 67%) is in rainfed areas. Little more than 88% of the total workforce in the state are rural workers while 84% of the farming households having small and marginal land holdings. The State has all its districts coming under the rainfed regions. The distribution of rainfall is very uneven in terms of time and space. About 60% of the area receives an annual rainfall of no more than the normal of 1451.2 mm. The production potential of these areas is obviously quite limited. Rainfed areas also suffer from droughts almost in every year in the era of ‘changing climate’.
The agriculture sector contributes nearly 30% of the State’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and employs over 70% of the workforce. Out of the total population, 87% live in rural area depending heavily (nearly 73%) on agriculture for employment and sustenance. Marginal and small holders account for 83.8%. 49.7% of the people are BPL (Below Poverty Line) against 26.1% at the national level.
However, in spite of the large population relying upon agriculture, the growth rate in this sector has been consistently low during the last four decades, hovering around 1% per annum.[1] There has been a steady decline in the new investment plan (plan outlay) made by the state government for agriculture and rural development since the official liberalization and opening up of markets began in 1991-92. Moreover, the percentage outlay for the agriculture and allied sectors has increased during the 11th Plan, against 1.26% allocation during 10th Plan period, but still less in comparison to 9th Plan (3.75%).[2]
In recent times the emphasis is laid on 4% growth in agriculture during the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12) Period. As a part of the strategy to achieve the stated target the recent Orissa State Agriculture policy 2008 (OSAP-2008), designed for the development of Agriculture Sector redefines the “development” in terms of economic development rather than sustainable food production. Thus stating a shift in approaches where food growing lands are increasingly converted to commercial crops driven by market forces. The area growing staple food crops (rice and millets) in the state has steadily been shrinking since 2003-04. However, the area under cash crops, e.g. cotton has been doubled during the same time line. According to Orissa Agricultural statistics[3], in between 2002-07, the area under rice has increased by 4%, under cotton by 106%, under floriculture by 800% and agro-fuels were grown in 20,000 hectares in 2007-2008. However, during the same period the area under millets has decreased by 22%. The high external input based ‘Green Revolution’ strategy also continuous in OSAP-2008 which suggests increasing the Seed Replacement Rate (SRR[4]) and the State has achieved 14% SRR in paddy till 2008-09.
The strategic approaches of Green Revolution have already shifted the multi-approach farming system with diverse crops to high external chemical input based mono-cropping system. The policy promises to encourage promotion of farm mechanization by offering a 50% subsidy on all agri-machineries, fertilizers and pesticides. According to the Economic survey of Government of Orissa, the fertilizer consumption has increased by 39%, pesticides by 66% and ground water for irrigation by 102% during the same period.
Farmers in Orissa are more dependent on the monsoon than others, thus more vulnerable to minimum weathered variation. For over a decade, Orissa has been teetering from one extreme weather condition to another: from heat-wave to cyclone, from drought to flood. The state has been declared disaster-affected for 95 years out of the last 105 years: floods have occurred for 50 years, droughts for 32, and cyclones have struck the state for 11 years[5]. The occurrence of drought has become a phenomenon in the State. During the 1950s, only three districts were drought-prone. By the 1980s, the whole of western Orissa, consisting of five districts, became drought-prone. During the 1990s, 25 of the 30 districts became drought-prone. The ‘usual rainy days’ is decreasing; there was poor rain during Kharif-2010, 17 districts out of 30 were declared as drought prone with an average crop loss up-to 70%[6] and the rain fall in the midst of winter i.e. December also ruined the remain harvest[7].
Decrease in farm biodiversity, inadequate food supply system, mono directional policy etc. are likely to make the livelihood systems extremely vulnerable and in turn assumes increase in trend of farmer suicide, conditions of indebtedness, hike in poverty level etc[8]. Degraded natural resources and unpredictable climatic conditions make both farming system and farming community further vulnerable. These have also shown adverse impact on the expenditure-saving and non-economic livelihood strategies of landless, marginal and small farmers such as food-fodder-firewood collection and gathering activities. This has severely affected the decline in the availability of the overall food sources and the food diversity. This rapid decline in farm productivity [food stuff (bio-mass) produced, gathered or collected from a unit land] has serious implications both for dry land farming as well as food security of the state. Today ‘seed replacement’ is being promoted as solution to hunger and nutrition deficiency. A number of indigenous cultivars being cultivated have been irretrievably lost and many are in the process by very limited varieties of genetically uniform semi-dwarf high yielding varieties along with hybrids and genetically modified (GM) crops and made skilled, self-driven farmers to highly depend upon external agencies which put farmer in a never-ending debt trap. This got reflected in the increase in the rural credit.
According to a report published by National Sample Survey Organization, Government of India in 2005, titled “Situation Assessment Survey-Indebtedness of Farmer Households”, 48% of farmer households in Orissa are indebted of which approx 70% have less than a hectare of land. According to report released by the State government, only 34% of total population in the state gets two square meals. The report on Global Hunger Index 2008[9] states that 13 out of 31 districts in the state have been categorized as Severely Food Insecure and 5 come under the Extremely Food Insecure. This hunger and starvation situation of the State ranks it to 6th and 2nd highest position in MMR and IMR respectively[10]. To count on more figures 45% of children under age five are stunted or too short for their age, 61% of women have anemia and two-thirds of expectant mother are anemic.[11] The per capita debt is raised to Rs 9316 in the state[12], but the actual figure estimates much higher than the declaration.
A farmer generally mortgage or sell their land to repay the loan amount, in turn loses control over the land and food system which leads to either migration (indicating the increase of current fallow by 158% and the Net shown area reduced by 11% in last fifteen years, between 1992-93 to 2007-08[13]) or suicide.
The government has not been hesitating in claiming ‘record production’ every other year. But in each of the years, ‘crop loss due to supply of fake or low-quality seed’ or ‘late supply of seed’ has been reported. Post harvest paddy procurement is an all-time issue among the farming community in the state. Distress sale of farm produces is another cause to farmer suicide. For the Khariff-2010, though the Government has declared Rs 1000/- and Rs 1020/- for normal and fine paddy respectively, but the actual price received by the farming community ranges between Rs 720/- to Rs 850/-[14]. Moreover, till date government has procured only 26% of the total produce and the rest has been procured by the private vendors. In addition, the ‘check’ system of payment for the produce has another cause that distresses the debt bound marginal-small community to approach the government.
A trend of debt bound farmer suicide cases has gradually emerged in the State; the Agriculture Minister has informed in the assembly session on 15th February that Newspapers had covered as many as 64 alleged suicides by farmers during 2009-10 and till 10th February of 2010-11. The Minister also counts that altogether 2,639 farmers had allegedly committed suicides from the year 2000. As per SCRB, between the year 2000 and 2008, more than 250 farmers took extreme steps every year in the State except 2000. From 2002 to 2004, number of such suicides crossed 300 in a year. Moreover, the actual estimation counts 73 numbers during the same period and still more heads are yet to count. However, the State Government has found no evidence of ‘agriculture failure' to be the reason behind farmers’ suicides in the State since the year 2000[15].
It is evident that many farmers who ended their lives had taken loans from cooperative societies, micro-finance organizations and even from money lenders. They were under pressure to pay back the loan amount. Activists say the crop loss due to drought during Kharif 2010 along with unseasonal rain in November and December 2010 had also led to spate of suicides of landless, marginal-small farmers’ in the State. While the government was taking steps to increase soil fertility, farm mechanization and irrigation facilities through bore-wells in hard-rock areas in 17 districts, added by the Agri-Minister. But, again it seems to create more vulnerable situation only rather than providing sustainable solutions to the small farm holders.
In such a situation, it is imperative to find ways and means to enable the farmers to assess their collective indigenous knowledge and resource base, establish their rights over it, and find avenues to use it more productively improving the quality of their own lives.
Thus, it demands to analyze the situation of farmer suicides through actual estimation of the factors that regulate/control the ‘farm-family economy’ of landless, marginal and small land holders. It pushes a study, involving the community very directly will possibly explore an analytic critic regarding the complex situation of loss of livelihood opportunity, food crisis and farmer suicide.
Hence, this is the need to expose the system that contributes towards destabilization of farming system approach resulting in food crisis and in turn enhance hunger-poverty-migration and social-economical-environmental imbalance pushing the farmers towards such extreme steps.
[1] Mamta Swain, Performance of Agriculture in Orissa, Inter-temporal and Spatial Variations, Orissa Development Report, Planning Commission, India, 2005.
[2] Annual Plan 2008-09, Orissa
[3] An annual publication brought out by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Orissa.
[4] SRR refers to the percentage of area under a specific crop in which improved / certified seeds are used replacing the traditional seed varieties in a given crop season in order to increase the productivity.
[5] www.infochangeindia.org
[6] As answered by Agriculture Minister on 10th December in Assembly session.
[7] The state has received 5 to 93.6 mm rain during 6th-10th December 2010 leading to huge crop loss, as answered by Agriculture Minister on 10th December in Assembly session.
[8] Suresh Tendulkar report on Poverty Estimation says that in Orissa, 57.2% of population lives under poverty, a 15% hike over the estimation: http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?670861
[9] The report is released by Food Security Outcome Index (FSOI) & Health indicators published by the Institute for Human Development and UN World Food Programme.
[10] SRS 2004-2006 & SRS Bulletin, Vol-44 N0.1, October 2009.
[11] National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2005-06, Government of India
[12] As answered by Finance Minister on 6th December 2010 in Assembly questionnaire session
[13] Economic Survey 2007-08, Directorate of Economics & Statistics, Bhubaneswar, Govt. of Orissa
[14] A survey made in Southern Rayagada, Eastern Nayagarh and Western Baragarh district of Odisha
[15] State finds no evidence of ‘farm failure' behind farmers' suicides: Satyasundar Barik; http://www.hindu.com/2011/02/16/stories/2011021661310300.htm
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