By Barnes Mawrie, SDB
Perhaps of all the states in India, Meghalaya is one state that is totally dependent on the central government’s annual allotment. Should the centre stop giving us financial aid, our state would run dry and the people would go hungry. When it comes to food sufficiency our state fares miserably, for we do not produce enough cereals, vegetables or fruits to meet the needs of the inhabitants. Even eggs and fish need to be supplied from Andhra Pradesh and other states. The question we should ask is: Is our state not fertile enough to produce the food supply that we need? The answer to this is in the affirmative. Our state is capable of producing more than sufficient food required by the inhabitants. The principal reason why we are not able to do this is because our people have not realized the importance of agriculture. Many of the paddy fields and other cultivable plots in the rural areas are left uncultivated because the younger generation have abandoned their villages for the vain attractions of the cities. Therefore, what we witness today in rural areas are the old folk trying to cultivate whatever they can, using the old traditional methods which require more manpower but yield very little. The young generation who are educated and who could put to use their scientific know-how of modern farming, are reluctant to return to their villages and to undertake agriculture. They keep on lingering in Shillong looking for jobs even though those are no longer available. Shockingly, they prefer to live from hand to mouth in the city than grabbing the potentiality of generating wealth in their own rural areas.
I have not heard of any educated youth hailing from rural areas who has gone back to undertake agriculture on an extensive and modern way. In western countries, farmers are among the richest because they cultivate vast tracks of land, using modern technology. Sadly enough, in our state most farmers still have recourse to manual digging, planting and harvesting and as a result they are unable to cultivate larger plots and thereby produce very little. We often watch with envy how farmers in our neighbouring states like Punjab, Andhra Pradesh or Assam, are able to use modern technology so effectively so as to produce abundantly thereby adding to the Gross Agricultural Product of the country.
Another sad phenomenon in our State is the rampant destruction of our farm land be it in the urban or rural areas. Let me cite an example of Pynthor-Umkhrah and Langkyrding in the heart of Shillong. Six decades ago, these areas used to be rich fields where farmers used to grow paddy and vegetables. It was a vast stretch of field made of a very rich alluvial soil. As a young boy I remember how during the months of October and November these fields would be covered with the golden colour of ripened paddy and in spring season they used to be green with potatoes and other vegetables. Watch what they have become today. Urbanization has encroached into these fields and today we see hardly 20% of the field left cultivated. There are other examples which I could cite here. Even the so-called Dhankheti earlier was a paddy field and that is why it got that name. Today, we probably need to change the names of these two localities as they do not reflect reality at all. This dangerous trend is being seen in the suburbs of Shillong or Tura where in the name of expansion, many fields are lost for good. This will continue to happen because unlike in Assam and other states of India, there is no law in Meghalaya which prohibits people from encroaching into cultivated land. Destroying fields and cultivated land is like snatching away the rice plate from a person; it is depriving people of their daily food and cutting off the lifeline of the state. It is disheartening to see how land owners sell off cultivated plots to estate dealers who in turn sell the land plot by plot. Consequently, agricultural land in our state is fast shrinking and this should be a point of concern for the state.
Recently, we have heard of the Government talking about increasing fish production in the state by encouraging citizens to invest in this enterprise. The aim was to make Meghalaya self-sufficient in fish supply and not depend on Andhra fish which is often ridden with fear of contamination. Unfortunately, this effort of the Government has failed miserably since the goal has shifted from “providing” to “amassing.” A few days ago, as I was going towards Nongstoiñ, somewhere after Bynther, I was shocked to see a massive crowd of anglers sitting in long lines on the banks of the fish ponds. I reckon the number would not be less than a few thousands. The owner of those fish ponds, whoever they are must have collected lakhs of rupees on that day. This trend of making fish ponds for angling contests, is picking up very fast and thus we see thousands of ponds popping up everywhere and there are no dearth of anglers flocking to them, ever ready to shed away their hard-earned money for a few hours of pleasure. The pond owners definitely do not seem to be interested in the government’s project of making Meghalaya fish self-sufficient. They are bent on making huge bucks for themselves often at the cost of the poor.
It is common knowledge that fishing competition has become a new kind of gambling in the state and so many have become addicted to it. Imagine if the thousands of fish pond owners were to grow fish for the purpose of meeting the state’s demand, we would probably not need to import fish from anywhere else. But the reality is that fish growing has become only another method of personal wealth accumulation.
People in Meghalaya need to change their mindsetx from being economic introverts to being economic extroverts, in other words from being accumulators to becoming suppliers. Farmers in our state need to think bigger, which means that they should cultivate not merely for meeting their personal needs but produce on a commercial scale.
In conclusion I would like to cite the example of Israel. When Ben Gurion took over as the first prime minister of the new state of Israel in 1948, he told his collaborators “we shall beg for arms, we shall beg for medicines but we shall never beg for food.” In fact, the Israeli government then undertook agriculture on a war-footing and within a short period of time they had converted the deserts into fertile land. Today Israel has become one of the greatest agriculturally developed nations in the world. They are now exporting food as well as their agricultural technology to other countries. Sadly, our state of Meghalaya is going in the opposite direction for we are turning paddy fields into estate grounds and our cultivated land into wastelands. Buildings are cropping up in places where crops should have appeared. If we go on in this manner, we shall become perpetual beggars for food and sustenance from other states. Hope we will be able to see statesmen like Ben Gurion who would motivate people to make agriculture a major profession in the state so as to make Meghalaya self sufficient in food supply. God save our beloved state!