By Barnes Mawrie
With the onset of Corona pandemic, the whole world is experiencing crisis and pain. Millions of people have become unemployed and unemployment stares in the face of every government. In India we are witnessing trails of migrant workers returning back to their homes having lost their jobs in various metropolitan cities. The question arises as to what will these persons do? What is going to happen to them? Can the state governments provide them alternative jobs? Majority of these poor people have no more cash with them and hunger is their unavoidable plight. Many have already died from starvation. It is at this juncture that we realize how essential agriculture is to a community and to a nation.
It is a fact that farmers may not have cash with them but they will never die of hunger because they have food with them. In the Bible we have a situation of a global famine which took place during the days of Joseph. It was at the advice of Joseph the wise man, that Pharaoh ordered a massive cultivation and storing of crops. Thus when the seven years of famine arrived, Egypt had more than required supply of food, so much so that they could sell to other nations as well (Gen 41:47-49).
Since the great Industrial Revolution, there has been an ongoing migration of young people from the rural areas to the cities in search of industrial jobs etc. The craze for cash-based jobs offered by the cities has dealt a death blow to agriculture in general. Northeast India is particularly affected by this socio-economic phenomenon. In most of our states, the rural areas are quite deprived of young people since most of them have migrated to cities in search of jobs or higher education. Consequently, a vast track of agricultural land is lying fallow without any cultivation. Only a small percentage of land in rural areas is being utilized for cultivation and that too is left to the older folks. When crises like the present pandemic come, we feel the negative impacts of such a phenomenon.
A huge population of tribal youth who are migrant workers in different cities of India are returning home without jobs and sources of income. They are going to be an extra burden on their families and on daily sustenance. Due to limited agricultural activities in their villages, these migrant youth would certainly aggravate the situation. Why are our youth not attracted to agriculture? Why are they crazy about white-collared jobs in the cities?
In western countries farmers are the richest people and agriculture is considered a sacred profession. Unfortunately, in our country it is just the opposite. There is a misconception in our country that agriculture is meant only for illiterate people. The manual labour that cultivation involves is considered in India as a third class profession meant for the low rung population. The same mentality is being nurtured by the youth of our region. We have failed to realize that agriculture is a profession that requires not merely muscle power but intellectual power as well. When an educated person cultivates, he employs a lot of creativity and innovation. He or she is more knowledgeable in the use of modern machineries, hybrid seeds and other advanced technology. Consequently, agriculture would become a very viable profession and it can sustain not only individual families but the state and the region as well.
For Christians it is important not to forget that agriculture is a divinely sanctioned profession since the genesis of humanity. We read in the book of Genesis “the Lord then took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it” (Gen 2:15). Even Jesus in the Gospels uses a lot of agricultural imageries like the sower and the seed (Mt 13:1-9); the wheat and the weeds (Mt 13:24-30); the vineyard and the tenants (Mk 12:1-10).
In the medieval age the Benedictine monks in Europe spent a lot of time cultivating the land and they also taught people the art of agriculture, horticulture and apiculture etc. In the Khasi myth of the origin of the Hynñiewtrep Hynñiewskum, we are told that God decided to send man to Earth for the purpose of “tilling the soil” and looking after Mother Nature. It is evident therefore that agriculture is a noble profession and is closely linked to our own traditional spirituality. Therefore there is a need of rethinking on the part of the youth of Northeast India with regards to the indisputable place that agriculture has in the survival, development and prosperity of a community. Jai Kissan!