Currently, Yadav says, as many as 80% of farmers don’t receive the promised amount. What farmers really want, says Yadav, is the government to actually guarantee that its minimum prices for farm produce are accessible to all farmers. The problem is the laws in the country which do not allow big corporations to purchase land.” There are large groups which want to enter agriculture. “Similar proposals were put to previous governments as well, but no government had the political courage to do it because they knew it would be very unpopular with the farmers. “For many years, a certain agri-business lobby, backed by some of the biggest corporations in the county, has been wanting to enter agriculture,” says Yadav, of Swaraj India. Instead, they fear that instead of trying to help farmers, the government is opening the door to big corporations who may eventually force them off their land and out of business. While the government says the new laws will “empower farmers,” farmers’ unions say that the rule changes are not policies they have asked for. Why have farmers been resistant to the reforms? “We have a situation where Indian agriculture is the site of enormous livelihoods and economic opportunity, but it has also been riddled with huge challenges and a lot of economic distress.” “There’s no doubt that agriculture and markets need a lot of very serious public investment and reform,” says Mekhala Krishnamurthy, a senior fellow at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi think tank. They also outlaw the practice of stubble burning, a change that farmers have demanded be reversed despite its environmental benefits. They allow businesses to bypass markets where farmers’ produce is normally sold, and strike direct deals that farmers worry will be less subject to regulations. But they do get rid of previous restrictions on corporations buying land and stockpiling commodities beyond a certain level. The new laws do not eradicate the guaranteed minimum prices, which will remain in place. But the system has also affected crop diversity, impacted the environment and disproportionately benefited larger farms over smaller ones. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, officials estimated there would be 100 million tons of grain available to see India through the lockdown, enough to last at least 18 months. Combined with advances in farming technology, that system has helped India move from widespread hunger to big annual food surpluses. Since India’s “ Green Revolution” in the 1960s, the Indian government has run a scheme where it guarantees farmers a set price for certain crops. But Can Its Residents Survive the Economic Collapse? What are the Indian government’s reforms? Read more: India’s Biggest Slum Successfully Contained COVID-19.
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