India Can Learn the Cost of Neglecting Farmers from South Africa

The piece came in The Quint on June 21, 2017 

Web link: https://www.thequint.com/voices/blogs/what-india-can-learn-from-south-africa-about-the-farm-sector#gs.D1RGaZfR

Pradeep Baisakh

Five farmers were killed in police firing in Madhya Pradesh on 6 May while demanding a loan waiver. In April, farmers from Tamil Nadu camped in Delhi for 41 days, seeking speedy drought relief from the Prime Minister. In the month of March, more than 235 farmers killed themselves in Maharashtra.

Are governments in India oblivious to the farm sector’s problems? India can take valuable lessons from South Africa, where agriculture is controlled by corporates.

While anyone would comfortably tell about the percentage of people living under poverty in India, in SA people are more conversant with the rate of unemployment, as this is more pressing issue there.

The unemployment rate in SA hovers in between 25% to 27% in last some years. In India it’s just 5%. But food insecurity and hunger are issues for both countries.

In India, hunger and food insecurity are linked to the poverty figures. People living in poverty (22% in 2012 as per official figures) are entitled to get subsidised food through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

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The poverty figure therefore gives an idea about the level of food insecurity and associated vulnerabilities.

In SA the social security mechanism works differently. The elderly and the children are protected under the social security net unlike the ‘family’ approach in India. There, unemployment has a direct impact on income and consequent hunger.

Nature of Food Scarcity In SA

Right now, SA is witnessing exorbitant food prices. The farm sector in SA has been taken over by big corporates, which have monopolised food production, processing, and distribution. Small and marginal farmers are almost extinct. Barely 2% households grow their own food. People depend on market for food.

Organic farming is hardly favoured. Genetically Modified (GM) food and low quality processed food dominate the scene. So, people have access to food, but to junk and unhealthy food. This results in high rate of obesity and stunting among children. A number of people can’t access food due to low purchasing power resulting from unemployment.

“One in four people currently suffers hunger on a regular basis and more than half of the population live in such precarious circumstances that they are at risk of going hungry” finds Oxfam International, a global civil society organisation in 2014.

South Africa is mostly a mining based economy. Mining of diamond, gold and other metals began about 150 years ago.

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Mining needed largescale cheap labour. The Europeans, mainly the British, who had colonised several areas consciously destroyed the peasantry to attract people into mining. New “cash tax” was imposed, and farmers, who did not possess cash, were forced to work in mines as labourers in order to earn cash to pay taxes.

Thus, the availability and retention of labourers for the mines were ensured through legislation and coercion. This led to gradual extinction of farming for consumption, paving the way for corporate takeover of agriculture. Agriculture was commercialised and food patterns changed.

In due course, several mines have been deserted resulting in job-loss. In 1987 the mining employment stood at 8.3 lakhs whereas in 2016 it was 4.5 lakhs.

Bandile Ngidi, a SA-based economist opines, “Mining employment has declined in the last decade or more, despite a very recent recovery. This decline is caused by the rapid shrinkage of the gold sector.”

There are other causes of unemployment though. People also could not go back to farming, as that skill is gone. As things stand today, a large chunk of youth has nothing to do. This has spiked criminal activity across the country.

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In cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town and others one cannot walk alone safely. There are fears of being snatched and attacked by criminal elements.

On the other hand, in India, food security is linked to farm security.

The government procures the farmers’ produce at a ‘procurement price’. The produce is then distributed to poor and vulnerable at a subsidised rate. This mechanism protects farmers, keeps food inflation in check, and ensures food security.

After liberalisation in 1991, successive governments have neglected the agro-sector, resulting massive farm related suicides and exit of farmers from agriculture as its no longer remunerative.

The former UPA and the current NDA government have made efforts to substitute the PDS system by cash transfer. It has the potential to take away the protective cover from the farmers, destroy the peasantry, and make way for corporatisation of agriculture.

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As recent years have witnessed unemployment growth in India, its necessary to learn from SA and progressively protect the farm sector rather than destroying it.

India cannot afford to neglect agriculture as above 50% of the workforce is employed here. Admittedly, there is underemployment in the agro-sector, but the width of the sector helped India fight food scarcity. Otherwise, India may face the same fate as that of South Africa.

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(Pradeep Baisakh is a journalist based in New Delhi. He can be reached at 2006pradeep@gmail.com. To read his articles, visit blogspot: http://pradeepbaisakh.blogspot.com. The views expressed in this article are of the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)