Urban rich take over farmers’ land in state

SHILLONG: The pattern of land holding in the state is changing with land moving from small and marginal farmers to wealthy urbanites who are keen on real estate development.
Bereft of land for cultivation, small and marginal farmers have to turn to daily wage labour to earn their livelihood, said Agriculture Production Commissioner KN Kumar at the first farmers’ parliament in the state on Tuesday.
The last agricultural census in 2010-2011 in Meghalaya brought out a “shocking” fact that a number of small and marginal operational holding has reduced by 10 per cent in one decade.
Speaking about the changing trend which is seen as a distress call, Kumar said, “Land ownership is going to a few wealthy urban people and they may know nothing about farming but they certainly know something about real estate.”
According to him, the state should not lull into complacence even as there are no cases of farmer suicide in the state but the distress call of farmers is seen in the growing signals of land alienation.
He said such a serious development should be brought to the notice of the chief minister and the agriculture minister through farmers’ parliament.
“They are searching for jobs. Those who stay back in rural areas appear that their lifeline is Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) as the evidence lies in job card of MNREGA,” Kumar said.
He informed that the job cards under the scheme have increased by whooping 31.5 per cent in five years that is from 2013-18.
“That people of our state are increasingly resorting to wage employment under MGNREGA to my mind is an indicator of serious rural distress,” Kumar pointed out.