This is my first blog on my site. It is appropriate that it is devoted to farmers worldwide. Farmers who toil hard facing the nature in all its colors from being friendly to adversary, fighting the odds of infestation by pests and blights, of having been supplied with inferior seeds, of insufficiency of irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, uncertainty of quality and volume of produce. And when it comes time to get his rewards by selling the produce, again face uncertainty of price received. Many a times farmer would not receive even the price for his seeds, fertilizers, irrigation and his time what to say of opportunity cost. There are a number of mechanisms the governments of various countries have made to avoid such disappointments to farmers but all are singularly not even approaching the objective. And the reason is very obvious – the governments need to first consider the expectation of local populace to have plenty of food at affordable prices. And therein lays the rub. What is affordable price to the populace means that farmers would not get the required price of their produce for also having a life style compatible with those who work in offices and factories. And the irony is that those who work in factories and offices do not have to face the elements in its raw form face to face; they are assured of monthly income and pensions when they retire. But the farmers who daily face the raw elements would not be assured of their yearly income and retirement corpus…. They would have to work till the end of their lives. And why because the governments are more committed to keeping prices of food stuff at a level considered affordable by the populace.
This thought process is now turning out to be an egg and chicken example. Because affordable price for the populace is determined by the earning capacity of the individual. The governments have to keep a lid on the salaries disbursable at all levels of the jobs tied to a standard. If the standard is higher, individuals across the job spectrum – be it office workers, factory workers, the politicians, the armed personnel, even the president of the country – all get higher salaries. Consequently their interpretation of affordable food price is tilted towards higher side and the farmer would also benefit. Exactly the opposite would happen in case of governments who due to their peculiar conditions – could be the population is very high, low GDP, low natural resources, etc. – need to down side the salaries, obviously the farmers would get lower prices for their produce.
And this is the point: Regardless of which government the farmers are situated, the costing for produce would remain the same. The farmer would still have to work hard fighting elements, fighting for irrigation, fertilizers, pesticides, and facing uncertainty of volume and quality of his produce at the end of his labors. So for farmer he has to do same amount of labor and investment to get his produce. So should such a farmer be in a country where affordable price is on the lower side he would get fewer amounts for his produce. Such lesser amounts ultimately tell on the sustainability of the farmer and his farming. The country would ultimately suffer. Imaging a country where all are factory workers or office works and there are no farmers!!!
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Hi ; I have had opportunity to travel widely and have keen watched whatever farming practices the local farmers were engaged in. Back home been growing gerberas mostly in polyhouses, but outside in kitchen garden as well. i love these hardy perennials. good for business too if done in a routine orderly scientific manner. Also engaged in farming of wheat and organic vegetables on a small scale for me and family. My service profile has been that of an electronic and telecom engineer and now am engaged in web site creation and blogging.
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