Agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, and most noble employment of man,” quoted George Washington. Indeed, Agriculture is the mother of all cultures. If you ate today, thank a farmer. In order to acknowledge the importance of farmers, countries across the globe celebrate the farmers’ day.
National Farmer’s Day (Kisan Diwas) is observed every year on 23rd December in India to remember the role of Indian farmers in the economy.
The day is observed to mark the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh as he brought farmer-friendly policies and worked towards the welfare of the farmers.
The agriculture sector is resilient, even withstood the COVID-19 shock and registered an above average real growth of 3.6 per cent in 2020-21, even as the overall economy (real GVA) contracted by 6.2 per cent.
Indian livestock sector attained a record growth of 6.6 per cent during the last decade with India emerging as a major producer of milk, eggs and meat in the world.
With operational land holding size declining gradually, livestock is emerging as an important source of stable livelihood for not only the small and marginal farmers but also the landless laborers. In fact, dairying offers round the year source of income to farmers.
Despite being mountainous with only about 38% net sown area, J&K is agrarian with about 70% populace directly or indirectly deriving livelihood from agriculture and allied activities.
The agro-based cottage industries also depend on agriculture. It is therefore the mainstay of our economy. Traditionally cereal cultivation, vegetable production, horticulture and animal husbandry activities have contributed immensely but off late cold water fisheries and floriculture too have gained prominence.
Apart from food crops the popularization of cash crops have increased the income of farmers. Interventions such as protected cultivation (green houses), high density orchards, cultivation of exotic vegetables, Artificial Insemination (AI) of cattle, broiler farming and improved varieties of backyard poultry have increased the production immensely.
All agricultural components are usually interlinked. A farmer owning an orchard and growing fruits needs manure and has to dispose of the farm wastes.
He keeps cattle which eat the orchard grass, consume the farm wastes, produce manure and provide him milk. For pollination purpose he keeps honey bees, practices apiculture and gets honey as an additional product. This setup is known as integrated farming system.
But a farmer owning a high density orchard would hesitate to keep cows as they would damage the small and closely spaced trees. He has to rely on chemical fertilizers and apply fungicides which is detrimental to bees.
But high density has some advantages as the trees bear more fruit quite early. Another farmer may establish a flower-cum-vegetable nursery and grow seedlings and sell them to other farmers.
There may be yet another farmer who may cultivate mushrooms within his limited space. Someone may rear Sheep and utilize the grazing lands. So the type of farming varies as per the peculiarities and interest of the farmers.
“Farming isn’t something that can be taught. Each plant tells its own story that has to be read repeatedly” quoted Kelsey Timmerman. Farmers toil hard in the fields and pass the knowledge of farming to the next generations. “Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can’t hurry the crops or make an ox in two days” quoted Henri Alain.
Though farming is remunerative but one can’t become an overnight millionaire by practicing agriculture. Nowadays hard working unemployed youth are taking up agriculture not just as traditional farming but as agreprenurship in tune with the market needs and consumer preferences.
They are reaping rich dividends, scripting success stories and acting as role models for others. There is plenty of scope for unemployed youth in taking up agriculture and allied activities as a career option as food is the basic necessity of mankind!
Author is an alumnus of SKUAST-K
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.