Agricultural labourers are difficult to explain. It is not possible for labourers to emerge as a separate class depending on full wages until capitalism develops in agriculture. Agricultural labour enquiry committee 1950-55 defined agricultural labourer as “those people who are engaged in raising crops on payment of wages“. According to the second committee, if 50% or more of wages is received from the agricultural sector, it can be classed to agricultural labour household. The number of agricultural labour has increased to 27.5 million in 1951. In 1981 the total number of agricultural workers has increased to 55.4 million and again in 1991, the total number of agricultural workers has increased to 74.6 million.

From the beginning, the landlords in this country have enslaved and oppressed these labourers for their own benefit and this system has been going generation after generation. After 50 years of independence, the situation has improved but they remain largely unorganized and thus economic exploitation continues.

Conditions and Problems of Agricultural Labour

As we know that 53% of the population in agricultural India is engaged in agriculture. But all these farmers still have to depend on the monsoon for crop production. Agriculture in India falls under the unorganized sector, so their income is not fixed.

• Marginalization of Agricultural Labourers – In 1951 the workforce in agriculture was 97.2 million and in 1991, it increased to 185.2 million. Agricultural labourers increased from 28% in 1951 to 40% in 1991. These facts indicate the first pace of casualization of the workforce in agriculture in India.
• Low wages and income – The daily wage and family income of agricultural labourers in India is very low. Although wage rates have risen since the green revolution, they have fallen far short of rising prices. At present agricultural workers in the rural area are getting around Rs. 150 per day under the MNREGA in rural areas.
• Gender issues in the agricultural sector – Women in agriculture are affected by issues of recognition and in the absence of land rights, female agricultural labourers, farm widows and tenant farmers are left bereft of recognition as farmers and consequent entitlements. They are excluded from their rights. On November 20, 2018, over 40,000 farmers had gathered in Delhi from across India. Chandravati from Ghazipur and 40 others women participated in Kishan Mukti March for their demand of compensation for the paddy crop that got spoilt in 2018, so as to sustain a livelihood. Female agricultural workers are generally forced to work harder and paid less than their male counterparts.
• Employment – Agricultural labourers are unemployed for most of the year and even have no alternative job opportunities.
• Indebtedness – Due to lack of banking system in rural areas, they are forced to take loans from moneylenders at very high rates. As a result, they often become involved in a vicious cycle.

Policy Implementation of Government of India

Indian agricultural policy has long been distinguished by its border and domestic intervention to protect farmers from international price concerns. To achieve this goal the Government of India has implemented a number of policies at various times –

• Land reforms – Government of India undertakes land reform measures for successful abolition of land intermediaries and transfer of land to actual farmers.
• Institutional credit -After the nationalization of banks in 1969, nationalized bank paid extra attention to the needs of the agricultural sector. Regional rural banks are established mainly for agricultural credit requirements. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was also set up. The importance of moneylenders for the needs of institutional credit to the farmers declined and as a result, their exploitation on the farmers also decreases.
• Procurement and support prices– Another policy measure of significant importance is the announcement of procurement and support prices to ensure fair returns to the farmers that even in a year of surplus, the prices do not tumble down and farmers do not suffer losses.
• Input subsidies to agriculture– The purpose of input subsidization is to use modern input to increase agricultural production. Under this government policy, various inputs are supplied to the farmers below the fixed open market price.
• Passing Minimum Wage Act
• Abolition of bonded labourers
• Providing land to landless labourers
• Provision of housing cities to houseless

Special schemes for providing employment:

• Crash scheme for rural employment (CSRE)
• Pilot intensive Rural Employment Project (PIREP)
• National Rural Employment Programme
• Rural Landless Employment Programme(RLEP)
• Jawahar Rojgar Yojana
• National Scheme of Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSM)
• Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP)

Another important government schemes in the agricultural sector-

• Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched by the NDA government in 2015 to promote organic farming across India. According to the scheme for farmers will be encouraged to groups or clusters and each cluster or group have 50 farmers willing to take up organic farming under PKVY and they will be provided INR 20,000 per acre by the government over three years’ time.
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) is the Government sponsored crop insurance scheme that provides insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests and diseases.
• Livestock Insurance Scheme aims to provide a protection mechanism to the farmers and cattle against any eventual loss of their animals due to death.

Government’s Scheme: Myth or Reality?

How the policies adopted by the government has a positive impact on farmers or completely fail to protect the interest of farmers, as an example, farmers from Vimchur, a remote rural area in India’s Maharashtra province planted large quantities of grapes in March and exported them to various parts of India. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown from midnight of 24th March, he gave India’s 1.3 billion citizens barely for hour notice. It was a cruel joke that had a huge effect on millions of farmers. By that time, a farmer form Vimchur had dispatched 100 quintals of grapes to Bangladesh, but 350 quintals were still on vines in the fields. The Modi government had arranged special jets to bring back all reach people who are stranded abroad. But the train service was completely stopped and the farmers failed to sell their grapes. Even if they arranged a truck, but the permits were not granted despite pleas to the government.

The Indian parliament has passed two primary farm bills in this pandemic year. The upper house passed the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020 and the Price Guarantee and Farm Services Bill Agreement for Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) 2020 that are collectively referred as ‘Farm Bills’. This will assist small and marginal farmers as the law will move from the farmer to the sponsor the risk of market unpredictability. On the other hand, in ‘Mandis’ the laws likely to affect powerful commission agents (known as ‘arhatiyas‘ in Punjab and Haryana), who don’t want to lose their hold on the farmers (Sahoo, 2020). Due to the loss of Mandi tax, the strong source of revenue, the state government of Punjab and Haryana will be affected most, however, it is expected that the loss would be recovered under GST collection. The opposition claims the government wants to ‘enslaved farmers’ to capitalism. In response, the government says that monopoly of APMC Mandis will end but they will not be shut down and will continue to function as normal and that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) will not be scrapped. Thus the complex question remains whether farmers will benefit from the surplus at all if the crop is sold through a mediating private agent?

Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh demand repeal of the controversial farm bill by their ‘Dilli Chalo’ campaign on Constitution Day, 26 November 2020. Police fired water cannons and tear gas at the protesting farmers. A large number of the farmer were oppressed by the government with the assistance of the police to disperse them. However, later the government invited them to have a discussion with them on the bill.

According to the World Bank, about 40% of Indians depend on agriculture for their livelihood but this sector has been under pressure for many years due to crop failure and price drop. A 2015 study found that about 40% of farmers committed suicide due to economic pressure for crop failure. Although the Modi government has introduced Minimum Support Prices for crops, few farmers are benefiting. The government is also in the thick of a controversy over the Prime Minister’s Cropping Insurance Scheme. In the other words, all the policies that the government is adopting in the name of security without planning are in fact nothing more than a myth. In fact, the government’s formulation of all these policies is the only way for farmers to be dependent on the private sector.

Conclusion

For the progress of the agrarian country, first of all, the necessary steps should be taken to improve the condition of the farmers because the improvement of their condition can be conducive to the benefit of the whole society. The government needs to focus on better implementation of legislative measures, improvement the bargaining position, resettlement of agricultural workers, creating alternative sources of employment, regulation of hours work, credit at cheaper rates of interest on easy terms of payment for undertaking subsidiary occupation, proper training for improving the skill of farm labourers. Therefore, in the interest of electoral politics, the ruling class must refrain from oppression in the name of protecting the labourers by using them as tools. In this way, a developed society will be built.

Reference(s)

Padhi, K. (2007).Agricultural Labour in India – A Close Look. Orissa Review

Sahoo, S. (2020). Impact of India’s New Farm Act 2020 on Farmers and Markets. Biotica Research Today, 2(10), 986.

Chand, S.”8 important policy measures introduced in the agricultural sector in India”, Your Article Library, (Dec 1, 2020)

The post AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN INDIA AND THE FARM BILLS appeared first on WISER WORLD.

The Green Revolution in India began in 1965 under the leadership of Congress leader Lal Bahadur Shastri, which led to an increase in food grain production, particularly in Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. This program was introduced as a package since it depended on regular and adequate irrigation, fertilizers, high yielding seed varieties, pesticides, and insecticides. High-yielding varieties of wheat and rust-resistant strains of wheat were the main milestones in this undertaking.

Need for The Revolution

During British rule, the Indian economic condition had been terrible due to exploitation. Thus, after Independence, the weakened country became vulnerable to frequent famines, low productivity and financial instability. In addition, the rapidly increasing population further led to the need to increase agricultural productivity.

Key Aspects of the Revolution

A major aspect of the revolution was in the form of developments particularly in wheat, rice, and maize forms. The foundation is a modern science-based capacity to change the climate so as to establish better conditions for crops and livestock than nature itself can give such as dealing with the dryness, low soil fertility, invasion by pests, and weeds, threats to livestock and many more. It even looked into the energy requirements if more of it is needed to till the land, mechanize and use fossil fuels. The yield increase in the farming systems of the industrialized countries over the last 150 years can be interpreted as the implementation of this paradigm. The green revolution of the 1970s was focused squarely on this, where the improved rice and wheat varieties could benefit from the use of natural inputs that offered good growing conditions. An important part of this transition was the development of socio-economic fostering conditions that opened up for the use of these products and established opportunities to sell the produce.

However, its overall impact remains debatable, as it has been appreciated as well as criticized too by many on various factors. Let us look into the various socio-economic impacts

Regional Disparities

The Green Revolution brought great economic prosperity in its early years. However, this economic prosperity was limited to certain regions such as Punjab, Haryana, and parts of western Uttar Pradesh. The revolution was hence limited to certain parts of India. The reason for the same is the intensive demand for resources required in these modern technologies. Therefore, states which could easily suffice the increased requirement of irrigation systems and other resources were the only ones to benefit from it. This led to regional economic and infrastructural disparities resulting in fast economic development in certain parts while some states show slow agricultural production throughout.

Unequal Distribution of Wealth

The supply and demand mechanisms before the Green Revolution were worrisome as it dealt with two famines in a span of two years which further reduced the supply drastically. Also, the Indian population has been relatively very high which accounted for high demand but very low supply. With the green revolution, the supply took a major increase which reduced agricultural imports. This was due to the new hybrid variety of seeds which could produce more harvest per acre of land. However, this was beneficial for large agronomists who could easily afford these seeds and other mechanization systems along with insecticides and pesticides and soil nutrient requirements.

Small farmers were not able to finance the various seeds and fertilizers and failed to provide the required irrigation levels leading to crop failure or less than optimum produce. Since supply had increased rapidly, the price of crops fell per acre which was beneficial for the large farmers as the quantity sold increased relatively more than the decline in prices. The sufferers were the small farmers who didn’t even have the stock to supply and even the existing prices fell which reduced their incomes.

Moreover, loans were taken for the same but with declining incomes, they fell into a debt trap. This has been significantly responsible for high suicide rates among farmers.

Following the above-mentioned point, it also led to income inequalities, hence widening the gap between the poor and the rich. With income disparities widening, it gave birth to other socio-economic disparities that led to the over-exploitation of the poor

Employment Dynamics

“If the green revolution is regarded as a package consisting of HYV and fertilizers, its contribution to employment has been substantial. Also, tube wells seem to have contributed significantly to the employment of labor….” “The net employment of tractor-use may turn out to be negative when tractorisation of farms is complete. A harvest combine would displace labor on a large scale while its land-augmenting effect would be negligible.”

Billings and Singh, in their studies on the state of Punjab, have found that the use of irrigation increases the demand for labor whereas the use of tractors or wheat reapers reduces the demand for the same.

However, due to inadequate data, it is difficult to assess and analyze the impact of biological-technological innovations on farm labor.

Environmental Harm & Corresponding Consequences

Ecological balance is equally important which was hampered by the introduction of new technologies and methodologies. Loss of soil fertility, erosion of soil, soil toxicity, depleting water resources, pollution, and salinity of underground water, increased occurrence of humanity as well as livestock diseases and global warming are some of the negative impacts of the Green Revolution. Various scientific studies and surveys conducted on fertilizer and pesticide residues over the last 45 years indicate the presence of nitrates, organochlorines, organophosphates, synthetic pyrethroids, and carbamates at a higher level than the permissible limit in milk, dairy products, water, fodder, livestock feeds and other food products.

Moreover, the overuse of urea, a nitrogen-rich fertilizer, has significantly contributed to global warming. These systematic damages could lead to irreversible consequences to the life of people who are benefited just once if timely, adequate, and sustainable measures are not taken up to mitigate the harm done by the Green Revolution. With the implementation of the green revolution policy in the early 1960s, it was hoped that the pattern of rising food grain production would continue. But sharp variations in the production of food grains were observed in later years, causing insecurities for both farmers and consumers.

Nonetheless, it’s not hidden how environmental harm impacts the economic well being of a country in the long run. It might seem productive and lucrative in the short-run however but with its deep-rooted consequences such as acid rain that pose harm to agriculture by altering the acidity of the soil, reduce productivity, and eventually affect overall output. Similarly, other factors too have long term impacts on the economic well being such as added stress on water resources and agricultural production leading to a lack of raw materials for the manufacturing sector.

Conclusion

To conclude, consumers can be considered as the greatest beneficiaries of the Green Revolution. Real prices of the essentials such as rice and wheat reduced significantly in the markets. Food prices throughout Asia declined to owe to the high yielding, cost-reducing technologies built around improved seed-fertilizer-weed control components. This helps to tackle the rising poverty levels since reduced prices benefit the poor more than the rich as a relatively larger portion of income is spent on food by the underprivileged and poor. Also, the rural incomes were seen to improve but for the large farmers only whereas the small and marginalized farmers suffered. The productivity also improved but just for those who were privileged enough to have access to money as well as natural resources. It has also been reported that with the construction of tube-wells, flour mills, and threshers, the drudgery of women had been significantly reduced. Moreover, in many studies, it has been reported that gender-based bias further deepened with the development of the revolution.

ALSO READ: AGRICULTURAL LABOUR IN INDIA AND THE FARM BILLS

The post GREEN REVOLUTION: SUCCESS STORY OF INDIAN AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY appeared first on WISER WORLD.

The Trifecta of Ordinances

The Modi government passed some agricultural ordinances in June which were aimed at reforming the current system. However soon enough, these ran into controversy and faced wide-spread opposition from farmer unions and groups.

These new laws include: first and foremost, the government has done away with important provisions of the Essential Commodities Act, which amended the restrictions imposed on stocking of food, allowing the Centre to regulate certain agri-products during emergencies or otherwise. Second, a new law called the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020 or the FPTC Ordinance opens up direct agricultural trade to outside players and businesses other than APMC stakeholders. Lastly, contract farming has been legalised.

There are many pros and cons of these novel ordinances, but one must first wonder as to why these laws were passed through ordinances bypassing Parliament rather than through the proper procedure. What was so urgent or controversial about these laws that they could not be subjected to proper debate and were passed hastily in the midst of a pandemic, when there are more pressing issues to deal with? Another important aspect is the fact that agriculture is a subject on the concurrent list i.e. both state and central governments have to legislate through cooperation. But the authority of the states and their right to regulate Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) of their respective states has been contravened. This not only undermines their authority but also reduces their right over revenue from this source significantly. So on the face of it, the second ordinance appears to be unconstitutional…It remains to see if it will be challenged in the top court by any of the stake-holders.

Evaluation of these ordinances requires a two-pronged vision: acknowledgement of their effect on the corporate sector, and on farmers. The first ordinance is the amendment of the Essential Commodities Act which allows the government to impose stock restrictions on certain agricultural products under special circumstances like famine, flood or any other emergency. The base for such restrictions is the rise of inflation to 100% for perishable items and 50% for the rest. Given the inflation trend in India, these conditions are all too often, as was proved by the staggering rise in onion prices last year. The ordinance also removes stock limit restrictions for value chain stakeholders provided that the stocks are within their storage capacity, and also for exporters who can prove that a large demand exists. This might encourage businesses to invest more in agriculture, but it also opens the door for large-scale hoarding which is already rampant in the nation. Plus there is no way for states to validate that stocks are being stored according to permissible levels, especially if private players are now allowed more freedom in the market.

The second law seeks to “do away” APMCs and open up the selling of agricultural produce to private businesses outside the established state mandis, and that too without any tax barriers. The aim is to liberalise the market in order to ramp up the competition and allow corporates to deal directly with farmers, promoting better prices for the latter. The pre-existing APMC system is riddled with inefficiency. Only 7% farmers manage access to MSP, and the rest go through rampant exploitation and are severely underpaid. There is a lot of monopoly at play, giving rise to a middlemen mandi-mafia which illegally regulates pricing. On top of this is the bureaucratic apathy, measly infrastructure and for name-only elections. Often farmers are forced to sell their produce below the Minimum Support price outside these mandis or dump their goods on the streets. Hence, there is a universal agreement that the system is in need of dire reform. This new ordinance will benefit the North-East which grows a range of exotic produce and will now able to tap into the international demand chain. But is undermining APMCs the way to go? The new ordinance will allow big corporates to exploit farmers, for it is evident that the farmers do not have much bargaining power. Instead of benefitting from this new competition, there are higher chances that they will become victims of the tug-of-war between mandis and corporates. Lessons learnt from Punjab’s doing away with APMCs and subsequent restorations have proved the same. Farmers from Bihar, a state that eroded APMCs in 2006, flock to Punjab to get fair prices for their produce. (In re second ordinance, it must be noted that many farmer unions have demanded an accompanying amendment that MSP be implemented in the deals outside APMCs to ensure fair-returns)

Uniformity of contractual forming provisions is what the third ordinance propagates, that too without any additional taxes, although many of its provisions are yet to be notified. Contract farming is not a novel thing: it is prevalent with proper rules in multiple states; many contractors and companies have had agreements with farmers through intermediaries. Even landlords and tenants have informal system centering around such a practice in many regions of the country. Newly formulated rules aim to regulate the practice and allow farmers to fetch higher prices by directly deal with corporations. The ordinance provides for a contract that specifies tenure, quality, agreed payment, etc., proper online registration and an official dispute resolution mechanism. All this seems good on paper, but in practice, there are many hurdles that blot this rosy picture. Large number of farmers, especially small and marginalized, would not have much bargaining power on the ground level when faced with big corporations. The same farmers also have unequal access to official dispute resolution forums as compared to hotshot corporates with top-class lawyers.

A Juxtaposition

Unlike industrially developed regions like the US and Europe, agriculture in India is not a very profitable affair. Majority of farmers indulge in subsistence farming to satisfy their own needs and are devoid of technology, HYV seeds, etc. (except for Green Revolution areas like Punjab, Haryana, and western UP). In such an agrarian economy capitalist policies aimed at opening the market ought to be implemented very carefully.

But even the US, largely considered the food bowl of the world, has not escaped the drawbacks that come from excessive agricultural liberalisation. Majority of American farmers rely on exports to fetch a good price for their produce. But the Covid-19 crisis along with a prolonged trade war with China has spelt losses for them. China was a major importer of American agricultural produce, and the tariff one-upping has deprived the farmers of the Chinese market. Apart from this, the entire American agri-business is controlled by a bunch of mega-corporations that increasingly control and manipulate the market, enabling them to dictate prices and push out small farmers and competitors out of business. Their eco-political clout also allows them to influence policymaking. The result is that today an alarming number of farmers want to leave the business, and family farms are over their necks in debt. Excessive industrialization and capitalism have led to over-production, which ultimately translates into poor returns.

Vietnam is a developing country where the agricultural contribution to overall GDP is almost the same as India, and it is on its way to becoming one of the highest rice producers. It has shifted from a collectivized model to deeper integration into the world economy. There is no doubt that technological advances and new liberalizing policies have led to immense development, but there is also a certain price to pay. The country is faced with an environmental crisis due to over-exploitation of resources in a bid to increase production and meet international commitments. There has been an increasing loss of farmer welfare, and the main beneficiaries are foreign companies and MNCs that benefit from lax labour laws and increasingly liberalizing thrust. Lack of transparent information and demand-supply regulation has unleashed a crisis, and hence the government has brought in new reform measures regarding land, food safety, etc. but many are of the view that direct state involvement will not prepare the country for international competition, and it is better to facilitate rather than lead reforms.

Conclusion

The ordinances, prima facie, cannot be said to be redundant or perfect. A policy needs a lot of groundwork and cooperative effort from various stakeholders to be effective.  India is still a heavily agrarian economy with more than 40% of the population employed in the sector. But despite this, it does not have the profits to make up for such widespread participation. This is indication enough that the field is in need of dire reform, and the espoused policies seek to open up agriculture to capitalist forces aiming to liberalize farming and increase gains. Before this can be established, there is a need to bring the average farmer up to mark with the goal that the government seeks. Lack of education, capital and technology has forced farmers to cultivate meagre land-holdings. Even the existing framework of protectionist and fair-price policies like APMC and MSP is inaccessible to a huge section of the tillers, then how will they be able to deal with profit-based corporations. Rather than overhauling and creating an alternative space, there is a need to plug in the loopholes of the existing system in order to ensure efficiency and accessibility.

The post AS YOU SOW, SO SHALL YOU (NOT) REAP appeared first on WISER WORLD.

Food Insecurity Before the Pandemic

 The Middle East and surrounding regions have always suffered from food insecurity when compared to the rest of the world. According to a report by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, “The number of chronically undernourished in the region has doubled from 16.5 million people in 1990–1992 to 33 million people in 2014–2016.”

War and a generally unfavourable climate have persisted for producing and distributing food in the region. This led to a dependence on imports for food, which was a worrying trend. There is a huge deficit between the import and export of food in the region. Even when food was available, it did not lead to a transition of nourished populations. 1 in 5 people in the Middle East and the areas around it have been undernourished. The number of poor in the region is high, and according to the FAO, the poor typically have to spend between 35 and 65 per cent of their income on food. In such a backdrop, food insecurity was likely to worsen with the pandemic.

Food Insecurity in Light of Covid-19

There are several ways the pandemic has worsened food insecurity – several people have lost their livelihoods. Lessening in purchasing power has led to tighter budgets and food becomes difficult to afford. Plus, the quality of food that can be afforded also decreases. People shift to packaged, processed foods and away from fresher foods, leading to a significantly less nutritious diet. But the price of food has definitely risen in the pandemic – In Syria alone, a 200 per cent price hike for basic food has been noted in under a year – a level not seen before in the country’s nine-years of civil war.

This is especially worrying considering that the pandemic has also weakened the already feeble food supply chains. Consider the aforementioned dependence on imported food – restrictions on movement and enforced social distancing is a unique characteristic of the pandemic, which is going to affect trade like never before. The world merchandise trade can drop between 13 and 32% in 2020 due to the pandemic – such occurrences will affect the availability of food. Even domestically, food transportation requires movement which is being restricted as much as possible. 

Apart from these obvious ways, there are a host of related problems that the pandemic has brought. Recently, locust outbreaks have affected food crop production. Closing down of borders and restrictions on movement will hinder locust control operations, further deteriorating crop production. In lots of areas, nutrition is provided to children when they go to school. However, with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down schools, another way to access food has become unavailable. From war-torn countries, refugees and asylum seekers cross the borders to get better lives and basic amenities. These displaced people will have to remain in situations with no access to basic amenities such as food and clean water as the pandemic forces borders shut. 

Moreover, the region already has a host of diseases. For example, for the last few years, Yemen has also been dealing with an endemic of cholera – between October 2016 and November 2019, over 2.2 million cases of cholera had been reported in the country. With the coronavirus likely to put pressure on the already weak healthcare infrastructure of these regions, these endemics can also worsen. All in all, both pandemic and endemic are slated to disrupt people’s livelihoods and safe access to food.

Conclusion

The region, already having unfavourable factors such as war, locust outbreaks, other endemics and unstable regimes has always suffered from food insecurity. The further unemployment, restrictions on the movement of goods both globally and domestically and rising food prices caused by the pandemic have all led to an even tenser situation. Food insecurity is not just a problem, it is also a cause of different problems. Food insecurity in this pandemic is made dangerous by the perception that “foreigners” bring in the virus. This attitude can lead to discrimination and further shunning of refugees. Limited food supplies in refugee camps can cause strife between local communities and refugees.

The people in this region are already at risk – due to poor healthcare facilities and less nutritious diets, they are likely to have underlying health conditions and suffer from malnutrition. This makes for weaker immunity systems. The region has been engulfed in a vicious cycle – of food insecurity leading to weaker immunity systems, followed by higher cases and more diseases. This, in turn, leads to disruption of food supply chains and hence, food insecurity. The heartbreaking reality is that even if these countries can somehow manage to save their citizens from coronavirus – they might just die from hunger anyway.

The post THE TWIN DANGERS OF FOOD INSECURITY AND CORONAVIRUS IN THE MIDDLE EAST appeared first on WISER WORLD.

Swarming

The swarms are enormous masses of tens of billions of flying bugs. Locust swarms can travel up to 81 miles and more each day, with 40 billion to 80 billion locusts packed in half a square mile. A swarm of locust in the year 1988, flew from West Africa to the Caribbean, covering a distance of 3100 miles in just ten days. One of the locust’s species- the desert locust, is found in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, they inhabit an area of about six million square miles or thirty countries. Desert locusts possess a threat to the economic livelihood of a tenth of humans. Locusts are migratory, transboundary pests. They ride the winds, crisscrossing swaths of land until they find something they want to munch on. They especially love cereal grain crops, planted extensively across Africa. 

How Do Locusts Affect Food Security?

“The locusts are in your field for a morning, and by midday, there’s hardly anything left in your field, it’s just eaten.” Locusts are voracious eaters. Each locust can eat its own weight in plants, so a locust’s swarm comprising of 40 to 80 million locusts can consume about 423 million pounds of plants every day. The largest locusts outbreak occurred in 2003 and lasted till 2005, and damaged crops worth $2.5 billion. Studies showed that the effect of this outbreak was largely felt by the subsistence farmers. This in return affects the education of the children who grew up in that period since it was difficult to go to schools, and girls were disproportionately affected. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), locust invasion is an unusual threat to food security and livelihood in parts of East and West Africa, South West Asia, and India. Africa is very vulnerable since they had consecutive years of droughts, heavy rains, and floods. The potential hunger threat to Africa is tremendous since it is a region where 42 million were already slated to face acute food insecurity.

The map points towards the Global Forecast for desert locust (May- July). The map shows the threat to agricultural production in East Africa, the Indo-Pak border, Sudan, and the Sahel in West Africa. The danger is likely to increase due to rainfall and spring in East Africa. The swarms have begun migrating from Baluchistan and can be seen in Rajasthan, India. The locust attack can be termed as a “two-front war” since it is a challenge for India and the African continent to ensure food security as well as fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Food security in the Afro- Asian region is at risk since the locust is breeding in East Africa, Yemen, and Southern Iran.  

According to the 2020 Global Report on Food Crisis, there are 135 million severely food insecure people spread across fifty-five countries and territories. Most of these people are in the Middle East and Asia, Lake Chad Basin, Central Sahel, Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, and Central America. A study by the World Food Programme shows that 130 million more are thrust towards hunger due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This gives a total of 265 million food-insecure people who would need food and nutrition as they lack any means to survive the health and economic consequences of the crisis. The monsoon season in East Africa and India would create a perfect environment for locusts to breed. Food shortage already prevailing in these regions, further these locusts attack would lead to increased food security. 

In India already 1.7 hectares of agricultural land in Rajasthan and Gujrat has been destroyed by locust attack. The presence of locusts is also detected in Punjab and Haryana. Experts suggest that locust mainly breeds in rainwater and areas affected by the cyclone. The rising temperature and changes in the climate would worsen the situation in the upcoming month. The Agricultural Ministry is investing in spraying equipment and drones to prevent the attacks. Since they can have catastrophic on Rabi crops in Rajasthan and Gujrat. Scientists warn that the locusts could push agrarian parts of India to the brink of disaster, severely disrupting food supplies and slashing earnings for millions of struggling farmers. 

How is the World Fighting Locust Attack?

Countries are taking various steps to the invasion under control, but with the outbreak of the coronavirus, it has become more difficult to fight the locust attack. In this difficult time, it is important to adapt to integrated environmentally safer measures. These may include:

1. Preventive Measures: Early detection infrastructure can be used for tracking, thus helping in keeping an eye on the spread of locusts. 
2. Post-outbreak Control Measures: Using environmentally friendly biopesticides, since it will not harm the environment and ecosystem.
3. Integrated Approach: Countries shall form effective policies and enhance social security programs, including compensation for farmers, producers, and local community residents.

The primary effect is taken by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, which runs the Desert Locust Watch to track locust migration patterns. A US $ 500 million program approved by the World Bank to support countries like Africa and the Middle East affected by the locust attack. The main aim of the program is to help the affected households, cover up their immediate food needs and protect their physical and human capital assets while building up national surveillance and early warning systems to diminish future outbreaks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has teamed up with the United Nations to remodel technology earlier used for tracking smoke plumes from fires to foresee a locust attack.

Conclusion

The combined crisis of Covid-19 and Locust is a major challenge and may lead to more disasters such as drought, disease, and increased poverty. The loss of agricultural productivity, the discontinuity of supply chains, the lack of labour, and the disruption of wholesale and transport markets due to the lockdown have had a catastrophic effect on the economy. The closing of borders as part of the quarantine measures has imposed restrictions on the movement of probable aid to tackle the locust problem.

This calls for an integrated strategy with increased monitoring, surveillance, and expenditure in a preparedness program to make vulnerable nations more immune to locust attacks. Social security, such as insurance, must be given to farmers and consumers through effective governance.

The post LOCUST ATTACK: THE WORST LOCUST ATTACK IN 27 YEARS appeared first on WISER WORLD.