I was at the airport, on my way to another city from Dhaka. I was told that the flight would get delayed. I was disappointed, but I had no choice. As compensation, the airline crew gave me a sandwich. After four hours, they told me the flight had been cancelled.
However, this time they gave me two sandwiches. I argued about my missed flight. They said that they were very caring, and they could give me three sandwiches!
The airline and the sandwich can be a mere analogy of the countries’ behaviour towards the farmers. On the surface, they are providing subsidies, loan waivers, and cheap products (rice, inputs). However, none of these measures create any real progress to help and support the farmers of Bangladesh in today’s economy.
Let’s face it. The Bangladeshi farmer is not cared for. He is on a drip feed on a hospital bed, sustained by subsidies, and is being kept alive for the votes. The Tk10 bank accounts for the farmers seem great in the short term when we say some thousand farmers now have bank accounts, but has it increased their access to finance?
Are the banks now “comfortable” if a farmer walks in and asks for a loan to cultivate maize in one acre of land? If this gap is not closed, will Bangladesh ever really progress? There are obvious downsides to subsidies as well. The government has to borrow increasing amounts of money, which in turn leads to higher capital costs for power and infrastructure projects. All these lead to higher inflation.
Yes, we can live like this – constantly rising prices, the rare infrastructure projects that are too little too late, and poverty with its associates of poor healthcare and low literacy. But all this can change. Many South Asian countries were in a similar situation 15-20 years ago. However, these countries have implemented sound economic policies, focused on massive long and mid-term development projects (rather than cheap vote-bank projects), and changed the face of their rural economy and the country overall.
While it’s easy to blame the politicians, it is also true that we elect them. And agriculture subsidies probably do bring in more votes. The intoxication of cheap rice is high. It makes the voters believe that the government is doing something right, and everything is running smoothly. But can we sustain this? For how long? Is this good for the country in the long run?
Development in agriculture is not only about setting up irrigation projects and enhancing crop yields. There are many other areas of development. In countries like Hong Kong and Singapore, butter and cheese are imported from Australia. Winter in Russia does not allow growing all the required crops and harvesting them, and during that time we grow and harvest our potatoes and create a glut in the local market.
Russia’s per capita consumption is 112kg – one of the highest in the world. Now, a small farmer from Thakurgaon can only think of a market to which his nosimon can travel, Russia is beyond his imagination. The cooling chain and reefer containers are things which the public or private sectors have been given access to.
With the right public and private initiatives, if RMG and the software industry can provide service and products abroad, there is no reason why a Bangladeshi farmer should be denied of such a lucrative market.
Some might argue that we need to keep potatoes, rice, or maize in our own country. There are several holes in that argument. First, if a farmer makes more money, he will invest in more cows or land, or buy quality inputs to increase production and productivity.
Secondly, we do not force our service sector or the corporate sector to sell products and services exclusively for Bangladesh. Then why force the farmers? To not provide better access to high rice markets and provide them with cheaper rice – is that how we show we care for the rural economy?
The government and quasi-government entities try to keep tight control over farm produce for the sake of internal food security. However the fear is overblown, and excessive and unplanned control has prevented world-class output. Food that isn’t grown due to poor efficiency and technology is food destroyed.
These days, if you ask a farmer’s kid about his or her future plan, he or she will never get back to you with the answer: “I want to be a farmer.” Because farming is not cool anymore; probably coming to Dhaka to work as a security guard is cooler than working on your own land to grow crops.
Why aren’t farmers considered “commercially important persons” just like top exporters and businessmen? Agriculture can still be one of our competitive strengths, if we can make agriculture cool again.
