Why are farmers turning to commercial cropping and forgetting local crops in south Karnataka?
Traditional cropping has been followed for ages in India, providing a wide variety of crops and yields that are endemic to specific regions of the state. Most of these crops do not have much commercial value but serve as nutritious food to the locals.
Maize, pulses, oil seeds, and a wide variety of millets, are the traditional crops of Karnataka. If you happen to go to a village, you get to have local cuisines prepared using the above. Jowar muddhe (Smushed local corn dish), uchellu pudi (Niger seed powder), and pulse sambar, are some of them.
Previously, cropping was first a source of food for the farmers, second, a currency to purchase other commodities, and finally a commercial product for earning. Jowar or Ragi was being traded for other edible products at the local grocery store.
Lately, however, some of these traditional crops are getting replaced by commercial crops as farmers grow crops for commercial reasons first, more than as a source of food. The possibility to purchase food has allowed farmers to grow crops for only commercial benefits.
During my all-India cycle tour, speaking with a wide variety of farmers from all backgrounds, I got to hear from them about how some of the traditional crops aren’t being grown anymore and what the reasons for that are!
Nuclear families and work burden
For ages, the son of a farmer has remained a farmer. This has allowed large groups of people to stick together and live as joint families. The common vision of everyone living in the house is to serve the family through farming.
Everyone takes up individual duties in the family. The women wake up in the morning, pick up cow dung, and drop it in a space that is meant for preparing manure. This is followed by milking the cows, plucking flowers from the plants and trees, followed by carrying firewood to the house.
The water is kept for heating followed by preparing breakfast for the family.
The men go to the fields, water the plants and till the land when necessary. On the way back, they carry the feedback for the cows.
All the while, the work is equally shared among multiple people, allowing more than 30 acres of land to be farmed by a single family with 3 or 4 males. Bigger families had labourers come over and stay at the house for a lease period of a year. During this period, they are given the ration to their house, money for festivals, and food at home to carry out the landlord’s work.
Unfortunately, the current scenario is such that joint families have turned nuclear and the labourers are hard to find. Education and loss of culture have played a big role in the same (Read this article on culture and its importance in society). Labourers have turned to other work that allows them to earn more, making it expensive to hire them. Each labourer has to be paid rupees 500 a day, given food twice and even paid 50 rupees for their drinks each day.
This has left most of the land that is cultivable lie barren!
To cover up the lack of cropping in all the land areas available, people have turned to commercial cropping. This has allowed them to sustain with little work but led to the loss of a wide variety of crops that used to be grown earlier.
We have each district planting their own commercial crops entirely. Hassan district has areca nut, Chamrajnagar district has turmeric and sunflower, Ramanagar district has silk and Ragi, and Mandya district has sugarcane and rice. When such crops are planted throughout the entire district, many of the crops that used to be grown earlier are wiped out in order to profit more.
Bullock cart to tractor switch
Most people from what I hear told me that the affordability of a tractor has changed the game completely. Tilling large pieces of land has become easier. Since growing commercial crops is easier than before, any land being farmed is used to grow the same. All the time is invested in commercial cropping, leaving no time for traditional crops.
Unfortunately, some of the mango trees and jackfruit trees are taken down to make land available for tilling using the tractor.
I heard people complaining that the amount of jackfruit they used to eat in Chamarajnagar district has reduced significantly due to this reason.
Number of animals in the forest
A unanimous complaint I got to hear from people who I spoke with in my journey is that animals are increasing by the day. Elephants, wild boars, and peacocks, are among the main culprits that make farming almost impossible.
People have had their entire coconut plantations of 150 trees and also banana plantations taken down overnight by the elephants.
There are two opinions on this matter from different groups of people, as to why animals are increasingly entering the farms.
Conservation efforts
As the government has implemented strict rules on forest entry, hunting (Read about the Hakki Pikki tribals who are disallowed from hunting birds for their livelihood), and cutting trees, it has allowed wildlife to flourish in the forests. Some people even said that the elephant population increased with Veerapan’s death.
Every day efforts are made by the government to relocate the forest tribals out of the forest to localities close to the village. How much it has harmed the tribals is a topic for later!
Although efforts are made at protecting wildlife, the government has not taken measures into avoiding the entry of animals into the farms.
Laying roads on animal corridors
Although efforts at animal conservation have improved the quality of forests in Karnataka, the fact that roads are being laid across them has also harmed the animals residing in them.
The tar roads heats up drastically through the day driving the animals away. To circumvent this issue, animals have started taking new routes within the forest, allowing them to enter farms.
Privatization of crop yields
Entry of private sectors in farming has its own share of effects on the loss of traditional crops. Private firms offer seeds of all varieties to the farmer, manure, and also feed and fodder for the cattle. Although this has made farming easier for the farmer, it has increased the liabilities which need to be covered up.
Commercial cropping is the answer!
Indirect issues:
Previously the farmer was rid of the idea of currency. He lived a life of economic freedom. He ate what he grew. He traded what he grew for what he didn’t have. This made the person owning the largest number of fields the richest one.
That doesn’t apply in today’s world. The richer ones are the ones who can grow crops that sell more.
Other liabilities in the form of gas for the stove which replaced fire wood, animal feed which replaced grazing in forests, commercial manure which replaced homebred manure, commercial seeds which replaced seed storage skills, television and phone recharges, and finally, education to the kids, have burdened the farmer immensely.
Commercial cropping is the answer to everything!
Commercial cropping is also the answer to the loss of traditional food and health.
Soon, we will have each district producing a large amount of only one variety of crop yields. The farmer will have to pay for his food that is grown in the adjacent district as what he grows is only of commercial interest elsewhere.
Associated issues
There are two large risks associated with this progression.
- Loss of traditional crops
- Loss of quality of crops
Since what is being grown is not eaten but exported, insecticides and pesticides are used in an injudicious way, deteriorating the health of people who eat the same.
Probably there is an answer or there isn’t an answer to all this. Either way, make sure you wash your vegetables before cooking. Try to eat as much variety as possible. Look for seasonal food that you may never be able to see in the future. Savour the same. The traditional food you eat today is going to be the most sought-after in the near future.
To know further about what are the complaints of farmers in Karnataka, read this article.
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I am a 31 year young PhD graduate who has decided to travel the length and breadth of India on my cycle, to document the journey of meeting a vast array of people. In my journey, I intend to understand the characteristic features of the people of this nation and categorize them based on their demographics, age, profession, gender, traditions, and cultural differences.
It’s a very relevant topic da. Please take this as a constructive criticism, I personally enjoy the stories of people, this article would have been more interesting if you had included personal journey/views of a couple of farmers. Things that happened in their life. This feels like a general summary.
Thanks Lacchi.
I drifted off I suppose. Good that you pointed it out.
On re-reading, I see that there is no personal touch or a story here, unlike the rest of my blogs.
I hope the other recent articles have incorporated the same. Please let me know on reading.