A bitter harvest for the farmers

Who’s stopping farmers from going to Delhi? No one, according to the BJP’s Haryana president Mohan Lal Badoli. If they can’t walk, “let them take buses and trains”, he added. Ring a bell?

On 4 December, Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in the Rajya Sabha, “I want to assure the House that all produce of farmers will be purchased at minimum support price. This is the Modi government’s guarantee.”

So, why are farmers still agitating? Why— after every attempt by the administration to stop them from reaching the national capital, after 750 farmers were killed during the protests—have the farmers stayed camped at the Shambhu border for over 300 days? Because the Modi government has failed to honour its promises.

On 3 December, India’s Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar had questioned Chouhan at a public event about the committees set up to look into farmers’ demands. “[How] can we create a boundary between the farmer and the government? I do not understand why there is no dialogue with the farmers.”

Not only is there no dialogue, the prime minister had earlier called those who feed the nation “andolanjeevi” (agitators) and “parjeevi” (parasites).

On 8 December, having given in to the government’s condition of ‘no tractors’, a jatha of 101 farmers from Punjab and Haryana decided to march to Delhi on foot. As they resumed their ‘Delhi Chalo’ padayatra at the Shambhu border, they met multi-layered barricades.

Police and paramilitary personnel unleashed water cannons and lobbed tear gas shells. When the farmers refused to back down, the police went after them with lathis. Similar scenes unfolded along the Noida and Ghaziabad borders as farmers from Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Agra, Bulandshahr and Khurja in western UP attempted to reach Delhi.

Their demand differs from their Punjabi and Haryanvi counterparts in that they seek increased compensation for land acquired by the government for development projects. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the Centre when he posted on X, ‘Farmers are pleading for justice because your government has betrayed them repeatedly. The fraud of doubling farmers’ income by 2022, implementing Input Cost + 50% MSP, and forming a committee to give legal status to MSP. On top of that, farmers face an acute shortage of DAP and fertilizers!’

Jagjit Singh Dallewal, one of the leaders of the agitating farmers, has been on an indefinite fast for the past fortnight. His condition is deteriorating rapidly. No attempt has yet been made by the government to reach out to him. There is another grave issue that looms over the farmers of north India. The paddy procurement season, which usually begins in November, was fraught with delays this year. Although MSP rates were announced well in advance, procurement operations have been sluggish.

Paddy from the previous season remains piled up in mandis. Farmer leader Sunilam believes this situation is intentional.

“Many mandis that were once located on the outskirts of cities are now engulfed by urban expansion. With the rising value of land and property, these areas have become prime targets for industrialists looking to develop malls and other commercial ventures. As a result, mandis are being systematically dismantled. In Bihar, they have already been completely obliterated.” The inability to procure paddy is fuelling frustration among the farmers. While their crops remain unsold in the mandis, they face legal action for burning stubble.

This explains the distressingly frequent news of farmers destroying their crops—be it potatoes, oranges or garlic—either by burning them in the fields or discarding them on the roads, as they fail to secure fair prices.

This is not unique to India; agriculture worldwide grapples with similar challenges. The fundamental rules of the modern market economy seem inherently stacked against farmers, rarely allowing them to achieve sustainable profits. In most developed nations, governments step in with subsidies, price support systems or other forms of assistance to shield farmers from market volatility and ensure their livelihoods.

These interventions serve as a buffer against the uncertainties of agriculture, offering farmers some degree of stability and security. India, however, is yet to establish a robust system that farmers can truly rely on. Despite the critical role farmers play in putting food on our tables, the sector continues to lack adequate structural support. Policies that could provide meaningful relief to farmers—through guaranteed income, price stabilisation or risk mitigation—remain conspicuously absent from the national discourse.

What makes the situation even more alarming is the lack of urgency in addressing these issues. Policymakers have shown little inclination to engage in serious discussions about rescuing farmers from this persistent crisis. While other sectors receive inordinate attention and resources, agriculture—despite being the backbone of the Indian economy—remains overlooked and underfunded. Without meaningful reforms and support systems, the burden on farmers will only grow heavier, leaving an already vulnerable community in even deeper distress.

Of the 600-plus farmers’ organisations active across India, 550 were part of the historic 16-month agitation at Delhi’s borders in 2020–21 against the three controversial agricultural laws—a struggle that ultimately forced the government to backtrack and withdraw the Bills.

These organisations are now regrouping. They have issued a three-month ultimatum to the government, presenting three key demands: a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP), loan waivers and a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for farming families. If their demands are not met, they are preparing to launch another large-scale agitation. While most farmers in Punjab and Haryana rely on MSP to sell their crops, particularly wheat and paddy, they are increasingly worried about losing this safety net as privatisation gains momentum. They also contest government claims that the entire yield is procured by the government.

Research conducted over the years paints a grim picture of Indian agriculture, which has largely become a loss-making enterprise. Over the past few years, the growth rate of agriculture has fluctuated between 1 and 3 per cent, occasionally touching 4 per cent. With inflation consistently hovering around 5 per cent or higher, farmer’s earnings tip into the red, compounded by the rising cost of farming due to expensive inputs, erratic weather patterns and inadequate policy support. In the face of this bleak truth, the BJP’s long-standing promise to double farmers’ incomes is exposed for the lie that it is.

Some crops do not benefit from an MSP framework. In such cases, abundant yield brings despair instead of relief. When market prices plummet due to oversupply, farmers are left with little or no returns for their hard work.