Ever since the pandemic hit the humanity, there is a new realisation among many people about healthy food, healthy living, importance of nature, etc. The default eye-catcher is your neighbour or a distant relative, who seem to be leading a "dream life" with a farm and eating food directly from there, strolling down the mud paths of the farm breathing the pure air, etc. Many businesses are encashing on this enlightenment (or craze depending on your point of view). There are companies and individuals offering "managed farms", farm tours, supplying farm-fresh produce, renting/leasing a chunk of farm land, consultancy to setup a farm, farming workshops, etc. Some policy changes by the govt related to buying farm land are assisting this transformation. Slowly but steadily we are able to see a flurry of activities in the farming sector, which is definitely welcome
There are several people who are jumping into the bandwagon with different objectives like an alternative career, helping the farmers, healthy food, farm-house fun for weekends, etc. Many of them are genuinely pursuing these goals whereas a few have already understood that their current lifestyle cannot be sustained just by farming and they need another source of income to feed them (and the farm!). Many of those who really couldn't sustain the farm life and it's expenses have already moved out of it after trying for couple of years. This has led to the question: Has farming become a "Rich Man's Hobby" in India?
(Un)Fortunately the answer is "YES".
It is absolutely true that the farming sector is always in crisis all around the world. The reasons are many and I am not going to discuss them in this post. But it is true that the soil quality is continuously getting degraded due to uncontrolled use of chemicals and its side effects. This is resulting in less yield for more effort, which causes more distress and make them quit farming.
When the farmers are busy focusing on wading through and surving the current season to recover their expenses and payback the loans, they are caught in a vicious cycle. Any amount of preaching about chemical-free farming falls on deaf ears. Price crash after the harvest makes the farmer frustrated, but once again nothing much can be done to fix it in a market driven by demand and supply. It is also true that most of the staple food India is being grown in excess quantity (although it is full of pesticides) and only option is to reduce the expenses of farming to make some money. Therefore it is important to change the agriculture practices to grow better quality food. It is equally important to change the crop patterns based on the changed soil and climate as well as the needs of the upwardly mobile middle class. This is were the "Rich, Hobby-farmers" can become the harbingers of freshness in the farm sector. My definition of a "Rich Man" in this context is a person who is into farming, but doesn't depend on the income from the farm and most of the times he/she is ok to spend on the farm from his/her pocket.
Traditional farmer in India is caught up with multiple hurdles like lack of proper education, fragmented small-holdings, expensive machinery vs manual labour, family disputes dragging across generations, etc. This reduces their risk-taking appetite to experiment with new things which most probably will also require some travel and learning. And they cannot afford any failures. The first-generation farmers who are buying the farm land and getting agriculture can afford to travel, study, learn, experiment and fail a couple of times because they are not really dependent on the income from the farm. But in the long run, these are the people who can bring in innovation and change the collective thinking of the traditional farmers. These people can also help in de-fragment and consolidate fragmented land which can lead to optimisation of the farm work and reducing the farm expenses. This is what is the "fortunate" part of this"Rich Man's Hobby".
The unfortunate part is that a sense of fatigue setting in leading to abandoning the farm activity, making it more like a waste land. Farming needs a long-term commitment and passion and any lacuna can bring this fatigue and/or frustration very soon. This can be a real tragedy if the land remains unused forever. I have already come across a few people who have reached this stage.
I remain optimistic about this new found hobby of the rich man transforming the farm sector and bring it back on track.
