FARMER’S PROFILE
A farmer (also referred to as an agriculturer) is a person engaged in agriculture who raises living organisms for food or raw materials. The word typically refers to individuals who grow field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock in any mix. . A farmer may own the farmed land or may work on land owned by others as a laborer, but a farmer is typically a farm owner in advanced economies, whereas farmworkers are known as farm workers or farmhands. In the not-so-distant past, however, a farmer was a person who promotes or enhances the growth of (a plant, crop, etc.) through labor and attention, land or crops or raises animals.
MOST ESSENTIAL CROP
Wheat
Wheat, one of many species of Triticum (family Poaceae) cereal grasses, and their edible grains. Wheat is one of the oldest cereal crops and one of the most significant. Of the thousands of known varieties, common wheat (Triticum aestivum), used to make bread, durum wheat (T. durum), used to make pasta (food pastes) such as spaghetti and macaroni, and club wheat(T.compactum), used for cake, crackers, cookies, pastries, and flours, it is a softer kind. In addition, for the processing of starch, paste, malt, dextrose, gluten, alcohol, and other things, some wheat is used by industry.
In most varieties, the wheat plant has long slender leaves and stems which are hollow. Varying numbers of minute flowers, ranging from 20 to 100, make up the inflorescences. In groups of two to six, the flowers are born in structures known as spikelets, which later serve to house the next two or three grains formed by the flowers. Though cultivated in a wide variety of climates and soils, wheat is ideally suited to temperate regions with rainfall between 30 and 90 cm (12 and 36 inches). The two main types of the crop are winter and spring wheat, with the severity of the winter deciding whether a winter or spring variety is cultivated. In the fall, winter wheat is always sown; spring wheat is typically sown in the spring, but where winters are mild, it can be sown in the fall.
Nutrients:
With variations in environment and soil, the nutritional composition of the wheat grain varies considerably. On average, the kernel contains 12% of water, 70% of carbohydrates, 12% of protein, 2% of fat, 1.8% of minerals, and 2.2% of crude fibers. Thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and small quantities of vitamin A are present, but most of these nutrients are eliminated through the milling process with the bran and germ.
Usage:
Breadmaking uses the largest portion of the wheat flour produced. Wheat grown in dry climates are usually hard varieties, with 11–15 percent protein content and high gluten content (elastic protein). The hard form produces flour that is most suitable for bread making. Wetland wheat is smoother, with a protein content of about 8–10 percent and low gluten content. The softer form of wheat provides ideal flour for cakes, crackers, cookies, and household flours and pastries. For making pasta or dietary pastes, durum wheat semolina (from the endosperm) is used.
Wheat in India
The wheat crop is India’s most important staple crop, second only to rice. In the north and north-west parts of the world, it is mainly eaten. It is high in protein, vitamins, and carbohydrates and provides millions of people with a healthy diet every day!
The cultivation of wheat crops in India has a long history, with some early Mohen-jo Daro transcripts indicating that wheat was also cultivated. However, wheat production and productivity were very poor at 6.46 million tonnes and 663 kg/hectare respectively when India gained its independence in 1947 and India had to import wheat to feed the population.
India’s wheat crop production and productivity increased at a great level with the advent of the Green Revolution in the 1960s. In the current scenario, India is the world’s second-largest wheat producer after China, with a production of 87 million tonnes. In the latest report by the Indian Government, productivity increased at a good pace and was estimated to be about 2872 kg/hectare.
Local Farmer:
My local farmer owns 5 acres of land in which he produces wheat as well as rice. He started working on his farm when he was of 16 years and now his age is 58 years. His father was also in farming. It is a very tough job to regulate a farm and to keep the crops safe from insects and fresh. The field needs regular water for the proper growth of the crop. It is sown in the winters and then gets harvested in spring. It usually takes 7–8 months for a proper wheat crop to grow. As his father was also a farmer so he decided to help his father right after he completed his higher schooling and since then he is farming wheat and rice.
Government Laws-
In 2017, a range of model farming laws was published by the central government. However, the Standing Committee on Agriculture (2018–19) noted that the states did not adopt many reforms proposed in the model acts. In particular, the Committee found that the laws regulating Indian agricultural markets (such as those relating to the Committees on the Market for Agricultural Products or APMCs) were not being enforced in a fair and honest manner or serving their function. With excessive commissions, market fees, and the hegemony of associations, centralization was thought to minimize competition and (consequently) participation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the bills on 20 September 2020 as a landmark moment in Indian agriculture’s history and said the bills would “ensure a complete transformation of the agricultural sector” and motivate tens of millions of farmers. “In a radio address by Prime Minister Mann Ki Baat on 29 November 2020, he said that “all political parties have made promises to farmers, but these promises have now been fulfilled.
Largest Protest
The actions have faced protests from farmers in different parts of India alleging that their earnings would be affected. The key reasons for the opposition are the confusion with regard to the introduction of the reforms, the dispute around the minimum aid prices (MSPs), and the low bargaining power of farmers are some of the issues that contributed to the opposition to the bills.
The lack of legislative support in the MSP bills is a major concern, especially for farmers from Punjab and Haryana, where the Food Corporation of India and state agencies acquire 65 percent of wheat (2019) from MSP. Different demonstrations have been ongoing in different states of India since the proposal of these laws. These protests are the first large-scale protests by farmers since the current government came to power in 2014. Farmers from Haryana were prevented from entering Delhi on 26 November 2020 by the Haryana police. The media claimed that on some routes to Delhi, trenches were dug by police; the Haryana government dug the National Highway connecting Haryana and Delhi. On the march route to Delhi, sand-filled trucks and bulldozers were also positioned. Earlier, the house of the Chief Minister of Haryana was blocked by farmers.
