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Food for thought

A farmer is someone who 'grows food' - everyone knows that. Food is one of our basic needs- everyone knows that too. Farming is therefore, a profession on which the very survival of human beings depends on. Inspite of that, it isn't the chosen profession for the vast majority of us.....

All these thoughts came to me as I was reading http://www.civilsocietyonline.com/jan10/jan101.asp.

Adike Patrike (http://www.adikepatrike.com/) is a magazine in Kannada written by & of agriculturists for everyone. As a regular reader, I am often in awe of the agriculturists featured. These men and women defy all the common, negative perceptions of a farmer as illiterate/uneducated/ someone who is forced to take up the profession because he isn't fit for anything else. Thanks to the magazine, I know that a lot of people have come up with their own ideas to face hurdles like water shortage, labour shortage, lack of marketing support from the government, etc. What's more, they are tech-savvy enough to keep in touch with the global trends and share their experiences through blogs, web sites, and, of course, newsprint.

Ours is a country that considers agriculture as the back bone of our economy. As far as I know, no other profession enjoys as many tax benefits and loan incentives. Which brings me back to where I started - why, then, is farming considered inferior? Why isn't there any encouragement to take it up as a profession? While the lean times of the farmer are highlighted everywhere, why do we restrict the good times to agri- magazines only? Why don't our movies glorify the annadaata? After all, even Bill Gates has to eat to survive!
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Comments

  1. https://wordpress.com/home/mukhamani.wordpress.com01 February, 2010

    I have seen so many people say to their children when they don't study well, ' you work in the thota', I think this sort of attitude makes people feel that agriculture is the last resort. It is really sad.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Soumya02 February, 2010

    Yeah. Another familiar demeaning phrase is 'Fit to pick up areca nuts only' :(

    ReplyDelete

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