SIX STEPS TO MAKE AGRICULTURE AN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

AGRICULTURE AN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY – FOLLOW THESE SIX STEPS

Farmer is the real king. He owes nothing to anybody. He works as per his will and pleasure. Out of his labor, mother earth provides all types of boons to the mankind for its very survival. Agriculture is an Economic Activity. However, no factories producing mechanized gadgets, arms, clothes and what not can do what farmer does – provide nourishing and necessary food articles. There is a saying in Hindi, “Uttam Kheti madhyam Ban Adham Chakri Bheekh Nidhan”. Translated into English, it means that for human beings agriculture is the best profession, followed by Business, followed by Service and last is Begging.

All nations salute two classes – its soldiers and its farmers.

Given such a high place in the society, it is worth considering why the farming community at most places is under stress. That it is under stress is beyond doubt.

Just compare the cost of food articles and others such as cloth, steel, petrol, gold, land, rents etc. etc. in the past, say twenty years ago, and today. Prices of all others are far far higher than those of food articles which are only marginally higher. That is the stress of the farmers. True their land value is going up but the produce value is just even stevens.

A farmer is forever egged on to increase the production to get some marginally higher returns. Meanwhile due to expansion of family, the land available per farmer goes on decreasing. Value of fertilizers, the labor rates, machinery costs keep on mounting. That is farmer stress.

The root cause of stress is artificially lowered rates of his produce by governments of the world. Why – so that people and the government can spend money after money on entertainment, lavish lifestyle, arms race, etc. etc. That is why farmers are going into service and other businesses. That is farmer stress. No value in Agricultural  an Economic Activity!

However that is not what this blog concerned about. It is only concerned about what can be done to alleviate farmer stress. How the pristine glory of farming can be restored.  How to revitalise agriculture as an Economic Value way of life.

AND THAT MEANS INCREASING INCOME OF FARMER IN SYNC WITH GENERAL PRICE INCREASE.

THE SOLUTION: TREAT AGRICULTURE AS AN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY — AS ANY OTHER INDUSTRY. CALCULATE YOUR INVESTMENT, PROFITS AND LOSSES.

So Farmer friends, say NO MORE to HIT AND RUN techniques of yore. I give below the SIX most essential steps to plan agricultural activity in your farm designed to raise the income. Just forget how you or your elders did farming and follow, if you like, the steps suggested. So here we go.

Be knowledgeable (to make agriculture an economic activity)

Climate change is no longer a big ticket discussion topic now; it is happening – climate change is happening. Farmer needs to tune in to the weather predictions, study the pattern changes and do planting/sowing accordingly.

What WiKi says about climate change

Wiki has following explanation on this climate changes.

“The effects of global warming in the Arctic, or climate change in the Arctic include rising air and water temperatures, loss of sea ice, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly, observed since the 1970s. Related impacts include ocean circulation changes, increased input of freshwater, and ocean acidification. Indirect effects through potential climate teleconnections to mid latitudes may result in a greater frequency of extreme weather events (flooding, fires and drought), ecological, biological and phenology changes, biological migrations and extinctions, natural resource stresses and as well as human health, displacement and security issues. Potential methane releases from the region, especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates, may occur.

Presently, the Arctic is warming twice as fast compared to the rest of the world. The pronounced warming signal, the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming, is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming. The melting of Greenland’s ice sheet is linked to polar amplification. According to a study published in 2016, about 0.5°C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980”.

Keep updated Soil and Water data

Another aspect of Being Knowledgeable is update soil and water data on a regular way. This will allow farmer to change fertilizer quantities and fertilization schedules as required by the particular crop – what is called DESIGNER CROPPING. This will save costs on use of excess or unrequired fertilizers and time on unnecessary fertilization scheduling.

Go for Variety

Agriculture scientists world over have found, and keep on finding, varieties of different agriculture seeds, plants etc., which have more power to resist diseases and viruses. And even pest resistant. And require less watering. There are methods of inter cropping which provide big benefits of fertilization and also of pest resistance. And then one can plant two types together to protect from pests. Farmers please this is a big subject and it is not possible to deal with this in this blog. But I hope you understand what is being said in this Para.

Great to have farms close to home

Man is by nature a social animal and likes to lives in a cluster – a village, a city. This puts a strain on a farmer as then he is away from his farm for considerable time in a day. In some analysis done elsewhere, it was found that a successful farmer had his home where his farm was. This becomes one of the essentials for success in farming in developing economies.  The developed economies, with easy availability of satellite based visual and sensor monitoring provides comfort – though travel times still exist.

Diversify or don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Farming based purely on agriculture is a losing business. Farmers need to diversity – make farming an all-encompassing activity which runs all 12 months, all days, all the year round like any other economic activity or an industrial activity. Planning, Supervision, Monitoring and Control Techniques as applied to industry need to be applied to farming as well, and in the same routinized manner diligently. Dairy, Poultry, Agriculture, Storage, Value Addition… (Tomato ketchup), .Dairy would provide good amount of fertilizers to the field for your crops as required. Farmer would also make his own type of pesticides. Storage allows freedom from distress selling. Plant would allow utilizing unsold inventory of fruits and vegetables to be put into bottles can be sold to neighborhood malls. Earmark some part of your land for poly houses where due to large control on environment all year round production is possible.

Idea is not to put all your eggs in one basket. So always farmer would have fail safe options to remain financially viable.

Be Ready With Strategies and Solutions for Any Risks.

Like in war Like in peace. Never take things for granted. There is some where a law which says that if things can wrong, likely they will go wrong. You may have ploughed beautifully, sown the best seeds, given the best fertilizer, the sun is bright, and things seem good. But what happens weather all of a sudden turns bad, locusts arrive from nowhere, there are so many things which can go bad for a farmer. Farming is not a controlled environment activity. It is here that farmer needs to be ready with pre-thought out responses to such exigencies and ready with solutions for same. New seeds, special spray material and machines for same, fast response all would count.

Conserve and Transform Waste into Fertilizer and Pesticides.

It is very obvious and yet so many of us would burn the residuals from wheat, rice, vegetables and what not. NO the correct thing is conserve and transforms all such waste in to fertilizers and pesticides. There are a number of methods how to do it. The easiest is to put all waste in a heap and let it rot into fine fertilizer material. The process can be accentuated by layering it with dung material and also by worms. I would refer to my blog on same.

Keep Up With government Schemes but Not Be Blinded By miss-selling By Agencies.

Governments do try to alleviate problems faced by agriculturists. They do it in various ways. It is done according to agreed formula in the WTO forum. This is so that global marketing is competitive. Governments directly or through its various agencies provides for incentive s and subsidies separately working in fields of agriculture or horticulture or floriculture or vegetable production or fisheries etc. Now the farmer faced with a number of schemes needs to concentrate on what would be really beneficial to him. There are schemes which could have riders attached requiring farmers to delve in newer activities. Newer activities could clash with the routinized activities of farmer and may sometimes not result in any gains at all.

Always Maintain a Balance Sheet of Expenditure and Income.

This is one of the most essential activities. So what is a balance sheet? It is a statement of financial position of your agricultural and allied economic activities where your assets, liabilities and your own equity are shown at a particular time, generally once a year. It shows your net worth.

Have also your Income Statement and Cash Flows statement updated.One needs to count all the monies, expend it well to obtain calculated returns on same. Allocate funds in the beginning, plan for fund flows (as you sell your produce) and for investment on items such as seeds, fertilizer, water, electricity, purchase of new equipment, maintenance, wages for labor employed and salary and bonus for yourself and savings for next cycle.

A very strict monitoring is required, monetary discipline being the key. Normally a farmer does not fuss about such matters; but believe me it is a must must. As the title of this blog says AGRICULTURE IS AN ECONOMIC ACTIVITY. And profits out of this activity must be had.

Do you realize your anticipated profits? please do share.

About nkp

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.