‘A farmer’s field is ablaze/ let’s see when he comes back to douse the fires,’ says Waris Shah in the anarchy-stricken eighteenth century.

Burning of crops, drought, starvation and above all taxes on agriculture are nothing new for farmers in this part of the world. Much before Waris Shah, the grand trailblazer in the field of Punjab’s literature Baba Farid vividly portrayed how the peasant’s crops were plundered by the parasitic powerful. Isn’t it ironic that he provides us, the residents of the cities, what sustains us but he is the one who is forced to lead a dog’s life by putridly extractive politico-economic system?

Underfed peasants keep us satiated and half-naked farmers keep us colourfully clad with what they produce. No society has survived so far without its agricultural produce. In case its terrain doesn’t allow farming, it has to have food if nothing else, no matter whether it begs, borrows or steals. But such a vital segment of society has been ridiculed and derided for being what it is; simple, guileless and hardworking. Even apparently wise man like Sheikh Saadi of Iran talked disparagingly of self-motivated people. ‘Salam-e-rostaigharzedaradd [A peasant’s greeting has a selfish motive]’, he writes. Interestingly the distrust is mutual. People from urban centres look down upon the peasants but covet what they produce. Peasants expect to get maximum price of their agricultural products from city-dwellers but take them as an incorrigibly cunning lot out to dupe them.

Pakistan in general and Punjab in particular still have a large agrarian base with the largest number of working hands employed in it directly and indirectly. Textile, the biggest industrial sector of the economy, is dependent on agriculture. But the land that has agricultural history spanning over more than five thousand years has no thought-out agricultural policy at the level of the state and government resulting in a whole slew of problems that periodically force the farmers to come out on the road to express their grievances. No authority hears them out and if it ever does so, it fails to understand. Offering any kind of solution is obviously beyond such an indifferent authority. The biggest problem the farmers face is related with inputs. Inordinately high prices of inputs add to farmers’ financial woes who are invariably cash-strapped and thus are forced to buy pesticides and spray for their crops on credit from the dealers and distributors on unfavourable terms or they have to borrow cash from the commission agents entrenched in the markets [Mandi]. Result in both the cases is the same; the farmers are at the receiving end in the bargain.They always have nagging doubt that they are likely to be shanghaied into buying counterfeit pesticides the agro-markets are replete with. Concerned authorities not only do nothing to put an end to this menace of illegal business but rather are complicit in the crime which ultimately affects negatively the over-all agricultural output at national level. The net result of all such a situation is that farmers at the end of the day don’t get fair prices for their crops. Imbalance between prices of inputs and output further impoverishes the growers. Subsides by the government, if and when given, are paltry, to say the least. The sad aspect of this process is that farmers work for long hours but don’t include their wages in the expenses incurred.

Another serious problem they are beset with is that of water. In order to grow crops they need reasonably good supply of water. The situation is quite opposite of what Coleridge painted in his ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. There may be a drop to drink but the water is not everywhere. Exponentially increased population and high consumption of water in the urban spaces have pushed the water shortage up to crisis level. People at the tail-ends of water channels suffer from acute water shortage. Supply can’t be pumped up as we foolishly sold three of our rivers to India decades ago. The crisis is getting worse and worse because we haven’t learnt the art of conserving the body of water we are left with. We do nothing to trap rainwater or flood water.

Yet another problem is systematic destruction of our diversified farming through the motivated and short-sighted policies devised by vested interests ensconced in the echelons of power. Sprawling sugar industry [in popular parlance referred to as sugar mafia] with high profit rate is an outcome of such policies. Sugar mills are largely owned by politicians and people with political connections. Growing sugarcane means excessive water consumption. Sugar when produced is sold at a rate higher than the rate of imported sugar. When millers produce sugar in excess, they coerce or cajole the government into giving them export subsidy in billions. A large number of mills in Punjab have been installed in cotton-growing areas such as Jhang, Muzaffargarh, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan. Pusillanimous bureaucracy has done nothing to stop such a disastrous development. The result is that water crisis has been exacerbated and the performance of textile industry, the backbone of our economy, stands impacted by shrinking cotton growing acreage. We witness rich cotton fields and magnificent mango gardens in Rahim Yar Khan district, for example, being replaced by sugar mills because of its soil; the cane grown there has richer sugar producing content. How can we be so stupid to trade sticky cane sugar for fine quality cotton? But stupid we are because of the vested interest of the ruling clique that is out to make big bucks at any cost. The question of what to do is no-brainer. Land reforms [big landlords pay no direct taxes and use their political clout to get big agricultural loans ], strict action against counterfeit pesticides producers and sellers, crop insurance, price control of inputs, fair harvest prices, water conservation by introducing new techniques such as sprinkler irrigation are some of the very obvious things to do. Do it now or be prepared to face the situation where large segments of repressed classes would not be able to buy food and clothes for themselves. Remember what the starved and unclothed can do. If faced with the real threat of extinction, they can make the well-fed starve and the clothed naked. — soofi01@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, December 10th, 2018