Dear Balaji, I came across the above answer of yours by chance and I could not t

ell you how surprised I am with your pre-conceived ideas about Indian agricultur
e. Balaji, isn t it true that what we read is what we become? And sadly you chose
to read what the western world wants you to read, hence you ve become a supporter
of increasing yield and cutting farmland by using modern methods.
Farmers worldwide are becoming poor. This is the fact. By farmers, I refer to pe
ople who produce food in a natural, sustainable way, fighting against industrial
practices/corporations. Globally there is a rush to turn small family farms in
to commercial enterprises and that clearly isn t aimed at feeding the needy. Comme
rcial enterprises performing farming are becoming rich, no doubt. But please don t
call them farmers. That is demeaning the real farmers.
And by saying this you can count me as someone who has an unreasonable level of
romanticism towards agriculture. I feel immensely proud that you think most of I
ndia has this romanticism. We come from the belief that food is human right. The
re are so many articles published about what the British and the travelling Fren
ch, Italians and other westerners thought about Indian farming practices during
17th century or before and their conclusion is clear that they had a lot to lear
n from us and nothing to teach us. Make no mistake small, local family farms a
re the bedrock of global food security. Large agribusinesses have rewritten the
rules of the global agricultural economy, using free trade agreements to turn food
into a commodity for profit rather than a human right. The global corporatizati
on of agriculture has had disastrous effects on farmers, food security, and the
environment. Even the staunch supporter of industrial practices cannot deny this
fact. So before you suggest reducing at least 1% agriculture land to allow tech
nology in, please remember that food is to be eaten and not to be exported.
We can feed the world with the farmland we have and with our farming techniques
from 4000BCE. If it worked for so long, it sure will work in the future as well.
What we need to focus is on the external factors and go back to what we were do
ing 50-70 years back no chemicals in our food and not treating food as a commodi
ty. And stop believing the rumors that world is running out of food and farmland
. We eventually will, only if we succumb to these corporations!!
Sorry for the long post.