Essay on Life of a Farmer

Farmer is a person who is engaged in raising livestock and agriculture. Around 70 % of India’s population are farmers. India is an Agro based country. Farming contributes around 60 – 70 % to India’s total income each year. Farming is an important and most common profession for Indians.

India from the start has had farming as her main source of income and it is the same till today. Farmers grow crops and livestock not only for their own food but also for a source of income. Farmers to grow crops in their field, needs money to buy the seedlings, pesticides etc. for the crops and they get that money by selling the crops and livestock in the market.

The excess products that is left over after satisfying the whole country’s needs, is exported to other countries. In this way India through its farming not only feeds herself but also other countries as well.

A life of farmer is excruciatingly difficult but they are willing to face that difficulty as long as the end results are satisfying to them. In fact they will endure all the pain with a smile on their faces if the crops they are growing bring results.

Daily work of a farmer 

Farmers wake up really early everyday and go visit their fields to look after the crops that they are nurturing like a child. During the day they take their livestock to the fields so that they can feed on grass. During the day when the crops needs, they are provided with water and sometimes the field is flooded with water even.

The livestock are left in the fields for the whole day and during the evening; the livestock are brought back to the firm. Some of the livestock are cows and goats who give milk. During evening after the livestock are back from grazing, the farmer’s wife collect milk from them to feed the family.

The daily activities differ from time to time like during the harvesting season, sometimes the farmers have to sleep on the fields in a makeshift bed so that no one can steal their crops.

At this time, the farmers spend their whole day which is from morning to the late evening in the field busy harvesting the crops and making heaps of them and then covering them with plastic to keep them at one place and to secure them from harm like rain or drizzle or away from the livestock so that they cannot eat them.

Farmers consider their crops as their gold. As a matter of fact, the rice plant right before harvesting and after a light rain, looks and sparkle like gold when sun rays falls on them. Farmers lead a very hard life and if they don’t get the end result, they get real disappointed but they hardly give up.

For the farmers every year does not go the same way. Some years the crops they produced are really good and some years due to certain weather conditions, the crops that they produced are not up to the mark. Farmers always look past the disappointment and every year they grow crops and wait for the result like a bird waits for rain.

Difficulties faced by the farmers 

There are a number of difficulties that a farmer face each and every year which does not allow them to produce as much and as good crops as they wants to. Some of these difficulties are as follows –

Lack of finance – Most of the farmers face the problem of lack of finance as each year does not go as productive as they would like it to which is why they have to make up for those years with the savings from other years. Because of this the farmers most of the times lack finance. They also have to buy pesticides and seedlings each year which costs a lot too. When looked at the overall costs of farming it will be seen that it is more than average.

Pre-determined rate – As the farmers lack finance, they enters into agreement with local money lenders in which they will provide the farmers with the money but when the crops are harvested, the crops will be sold to them at a price pre-determined by both of them which most of the time is quite less when compared with the actual market price of the products. The farmers have no choice but to accept this agreement as they at the end is getting money when they needs.

Climatic conditions – Climatic conditions affect the crops very much which is one of the main problems faced by a farmer. Sometimes the rain does not occur during its season which doubles the work load of the farmers as they have to give water to the crops from other sources.

Then other times sudden rainfall occurs which harms the ready to harvest crops quite badly. Due to heavy rainfall, flood occurs which most of the times floods the entire field and the water remains there for all most a month which affects the crops in a bad way.

Insects – This is another problem that sometimes the farmer has to face. The problem of insects is severe and most of the time it destroys the crops totally. Sometimes due to various reasons the insects gets inside a field and starts eating the crops.

These particular types of insects are a nightmare for the farmers. In which ever field they goes in, they eats out the whole crops and at that time a farmer can do nothing but watch it happen. To take measure against the insects the farmers have to buy an insecticide which is quite costly.

Small and fragmented land holdings – Many farmers own small land side by side, which makes it difficult to do anything in that small part of land. The problem of small land holding is very severe in India.

A farmer who owns a small land cannot buy a full bag of pesticides as there will be quite an amount of portioned left in it and the bags of pesticides are not small and are not sold open either. So, the farmers after whatever portion they need, throws away the rest which is a waste of money. Problems like these frequently arise for a farmer who owns a small land.

Conclusion 

A farmer is the one who provides us with food. Without farmers we won’t be able to eat anything as everything we eat comes from the products that the farmers produce. Farmers are the life force of this world as after oxygen they are the ones who provide us with the most important basic needs of life which is food.

Farmers face many hardships in life but they keep on fighting. They discover a solution for most of the problems that they face while farming. Farmers are people who do not go after money. They go after the smiles that they can bring on other people’s faces.

For them silver or gold are not as important as their crops. They nurture their crops like a mother who nurtures their child. They also have the support of the government.

Government are doing everything they can for the benefits of the farmers which starts from educating them to provide loans at cheap interests. They are the true heroes of the society without a doubt. They have our immense respect and support.