When the Budget Session of the Odisha Assembly started Tuesday, the Congress staged a walkout protesting Governor S C Jamir’s speech which the Opposition party said ignored issues such as suicide of farmers and instead painted a rosy picture of the state. Rosy it was because tall claims of growing foodgrain production masked a grim state of affairs in Odisha’s farm sector.
A provisional NCRB report revealed that farmer suicides in Odisha have more than doubled between 2015 and 2016. Only last year, the state was in the midst of an agricultural crisis after 29 out of 30 districts were in the grip of natural disasters. Fearing loss, farmers torched their crops and many ended their lives. The government, though, has been in a constant state of denial. In a state where agriculture is at the mercy of nature, farmers have reasons to feel let down.
A third of Odisha still does not have 35 per cent irrigation facilities which the Naveen Patnaik regime promised when it came to power 18 years ago. For the last three years, it has not been able to finalise a land-leasing law which would have recognised sharecroppers and given them access to financial assistance as well as compensation during calamities. With little improvement in agriculture infrastructure, marketing links and access to institutional support, farmers have been caught in a vicious circle of impoverishment.
Crop diversification can address agrarian distress but the opposite has happened in Odisha. According to Economic Survey 2018, crop diversification index in the state witnessed the sharpest fall among the states between 1994-95 and 2014-15. No wonder, the monthly income of an agricultural household in the state stands at Rs 4,976, one of the lowest in India and much below the national average of Rs 6,426.
The latest announcement of a Rs 100 crore Millet Mission to procure the cereals and provide remunerative prices to farmers is a right step but way too inadequate. Naveen must bring in structural reforms in the farm sector and not just pay lip service.