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3.
Changes to labour relations
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One answer is
that local agriculture has always depended on a ready supply
of cheap labour. Cheap labour made it possible to keep oxen
for manure and draught power and get ploughing, planting and
harvest done on time. Now farmers must compete with the cotton
mills and other employers of local labour and they feel they
cannot pay the going rate and make a profit themselves.
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This is to
start to counterbalance the simplistic assumption that farmers
simply don’t know or don’t want to farm sustainably.
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Interviewee 4
BALA
Labourers can
get a permanent income from cotton mills and match factories
so there is little incentive for them to work on the land.
This has led to an increased demand for the labourers by farmers
but the farmers often resent paying higher wages when the
labourers work no harder and often stop at lunch-time to earn
money elsewhere.
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Labour relations
are a significant issue locally, compounded by cultural and
caste differences between labourers and landholders.
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Narrator 5B:
With these sorts of pressures
on profit, as well as rising costs and capped selling prices,
many farmers are no longer willing to invest in agriculture.
A good year means a reasonable profit, but a bad year results
in debt. As Velikaruvel needs no investment, it makes a lot
of sense to grow the shrub, in spite of the damage it inflicts
on the land.
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The story
of Velikaruvel, is not one about simple ‘good and evil’.
The issue of whether to discourage or promote its Velikaruvel
is complex, and there is no clear ‘path forward’.
The point of presenting it here is not to say what the policy
should be, merely to point out that this is an important social
issue which cuts right to the heart of the future of local
land-use.
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Narrator 6:
With the future of Thiruchuli
seeming to hold nothing more than day labour and the export
of charcoal it is worth noting that some farmers who are doing
well, even under these difficult conditions. One such successful
farmer is Dhanuskodi of Errampatti.
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The aim of
profiling Dhanuskodi was to introduce the idea that agriculture
can work locally. His relevance is not that all landless labourers
can become rich farmers or that struggling farmers should
copy his methods, but there are things to be learnt from his
approach.
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4.
A successful farmer
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Interviewee 5
- DHANUSKODI
I have land so
that is not a problem and I plant throughout the year many
different crops using rain-fed and irrigation methods of agriculture.
I plan ahead thoroughly and will change crops to respond to
a scarcity. Working for others as a labourer has given me
a great deal of experience and I also treat my labourers well.
If I break for tea then the labourers are also given tea.
When the demand for labour is high I pay well and always within
four days.
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Dhanuskodi
lives simply, reinvests his profits, treats his labour well
(and therefore gets good value for the money he spends on
their wages), and above all farms strategically: Responding
to climatic and market conditions and preparing fall-back
positions.
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Narrator 7:
Dhanuskodi started life as a landless labourer. Now he has
over 40 hectares of land thanks to hard work and careful planning.
His success is all down to strategy and care with his relationships.
His most successful crop is Jasmine….
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As a result
of his attention to detail and simple lifestyle, Dhanuskodi
is a ‘rich’ farmer. (Most local farmers have less
than 5 ha of land). However, he started life without any wealth,
working for someone else.
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Interviewee 6
DHANUSKODI
Jasmine is used
on special occasions so I check the dates of festivals and
auspicious days for marriages and plant the jasmine so that
it flowers at those times. I plan very carefully, watching
for rain and the general climate, so that I can make timely
and careful applications of pesticides and weed-killers ensuring
the plants flower just when I want them to. My jasmine flowers
are of a good quality and we harvest them early in the morning
so that I can then drive them to market on my motorbike in
advance of other farmers. Delivered early, on the right day,
just a kilogram of good quality jasmine will fetch a good
price.
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The districts
south of Madurai, which includes the area around Thiruchuli,
are known for jasmine cultivation. Jasmine is flown all over
India from the airport of Madurai, as well as further afield
to Singapore and Malaysia.
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Narrator 8:
Dhanuskodi’s success depends on being able to take many
complex factors into account and come up with a strategy that
works. Taking complexity into account means going beyond traditional
categories and set ways of thinking. A local issue where this
is important is use of animal manure for fertiliser
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The next section
develops another strand of the complexity of agriculture as
a local livelihood, more explicitly tying together the issues
of labour trends and land fertility.
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5.
Animal manure
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Narrator 9:
Most farmers in Thiruchuli
think that using farmyard manure for fertiliser is preferable
to chemical fertilisers in the long term. They say it helps
retain moisture and maintain soil fertility. However, many
use chemicals which give higher short term yields. The government’s
response is to encourage the use of manure by spending money
on poster campaigns. The assumption is that this will result
in farmers changing over from chemicals to more sustainable
practices.
The problem is
that farmers already know about farmyard manure and its role
in good farming practice. Although they would prefer to use
it if they could, there are important reasons that many don’t:
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The script
presents simplistic version of policy regarding chemical fertilisers.
As well as poster campaigns promoting chemical fertilisers,
the agriculture department makes subsidies and credit available
to buy fertilisers and pesticides. The signals given by the
system are contradictory.
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Interviewee 7
VENKEDRAMEN
Farmers know
that after a time spent using chemical fertiliser their yield
will go down and the soil fertility will be reduced whereas
manure protects the soil. But there are other concerns they
need to consider. The use of animal manure has declined, because
it’s heavy. The amount you need is measured in wagonloads,
whereas chemical fertiliser you can get by the sack. Manure
requires animals and animals require labour to look after
them, so the price keeps going up as labour prices go up.
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The evidence
from farmers is that the numbers of draught oxen in the area
are falling significantly, because there are other options
for many of the roles (eg. lifting water, ploughing, transport)
that they used to fulfil, and because their keep has become
relatively more expensive (ie. it costs time or money to care
for them, and labour prices are generally rising).
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Narrator 10:
Farmers already understand
the links between animal manure and the other factors that
affect its use, because its part of their day to day decision-making.
When it’s mapped out, their knowledge demonstrates linkages
between the use of manure and labour trends, climate, subsidies,
debt and a host of other factors.
Poster campaigns
aren’t going to change anyone’s mind when they already
have a good grasp of the issue, because it’s a solution
to the wrong problem. However, when policymakers take local
realities into account, even simple initiatives can have dramatic
effects by creating new opportunities for people.
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The graphics
are based on a ‘web diagram’, which shows the many
linkages that farmers are aware of between the use of animal
manure and other factors.
This
section wraps up the focus on agriculture and changes the
focus to policy and rural livelihoods in general.
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Annotated
script for use in conjunction with the video:
