Small farmer implies that category of farmers who own holding of less than five acres. Their number in the country exceeds 60 million and in Punjab they constitute 45 per cent of the farming community of the province.
Due to the continuing division of land holdings their number during 1971 and 1991 has increased by 49.59 per cent. Reduction too, is going on due to this lot selling their land to big or large farmers or adopting other professions as the earning from it is not enough for them to survive.
Economists and experts have classed them as the "endangered species" needing protection, lest they vanish altogether. The number of suicides reported from this category is 380, mostly in Upper and lower Sindh. About 80 suicides took place in Punjab.
Enforcement of the WTO regime from January 1, 2005, will affect the minimum support price (MSP) for foodgrains. Here an attempt is being made to examine the chances of survival of small farmers after the enforcement of thr WTO regime. Current status of small farmer: A study of "small farmers: their problems and remedies", drew the following picture:
The average holding of a small farmer is put at 3.86 acres with five or six family members and an annual cash receipts of about Rs48,624. However, his expenditure is around Rs59,417 which compels him to borrow about Rs10,793 from the informal sector or arhtias at an interest rate of 24 per cent.
The yearly burden in the form of interest on the accumulated debt burden comes to Rs 1,897 per acre and the accumulated debt at Rs10,105 per acre. Today the outstanding debt of this category of farmers is put at Rs930 crore in Punjab alone with bleak repayment position. The short-term loans of up to 70 per cent are outstanding and more than 13 per cent have mortgaged their land.
To find the reasons of indebtness their behaviour was compared with the farmers holding more than 15 acres. Though, per capita income of this category is one-fourth to that of their larger counterparts but the expenditure per head in small farmer's family is about 5 per cent more than that of the large farmer.
Tendency to outshine the rich neighbour is the main cause of troubles among small farmers in Punjab, the study concluded. Accruing benefits from the subsidies like "free water" to the category of farmers under discussion are marginal as per the findings of the anjab Agriculture University.
This category does not own tubewells and gets water from those tubewell owners who get free electricity but charge money for sharing water under the pretext of maintenance cost and part of the capital cost incurred on installing the tubewells. The prevalent rate is between Rs100 and Rs200 per hour for a 5-HP tubewell.
Diversification and value addition: This category of farmers is advised to go for diversification and value-addition as a remedy to their ailment but none bothers to find out the availability of infrastructure for this purpose.
Considerable time and effort of these farmers go in the post-harvesting activity. They have little option except to concentrate on food grain production which covers more than 85 per cent of their land.
A bold realisation on the part of the government is needed to enable the farmers to go in for value-addition. This will require doing away with the rigid system of control over the food grain procurement and its movement, particularly the compulsion of marketing of the food grains through the committees.
The agricultural produce should be allowed to be sold in the fields like other cash crops whether to retail or bulk purchase by some intermediary agency who will undertake the value-addition measures jointly with the small farmers' societies. The cost of savings by avoiding the post-harvest activities will be substantial and the combined effect of the two measures will provide relief to this already distressed community.
Post WTO scenario: While analysing the impact of the WTO on agriculture one has to consider the specific situation of that part of the sector where farmers do not have any exportable surplus due to their small holdings. Hence, one is tempted to conclude that this category will not be affected by the measures introduced by the WTO provisions and counter-measures that may be taken by the national government will provide the needed level of protection.
Reduced domestic support: Under the provisions of the WTO agreement, if the product specific and non-product specific aggregate measure of support (AMS) exceeds 10 per cent in the case of a developing country, then it would have to be reduced by 13.3 per cent.
Comparing the prevailing MSP and the international food grain rates: The MSP for wheat is Rs 610 per quintal, while its international price is Rs430 per quintal, the AMS reduction cannot be held for long.
This will be the only lifeline available to small farmers so the condition of the endangered species is bound to become worse in the WTO environment. Will he survive is the question whose answer currently is in the negative. He will have to pack up and fade away from the scene.
