The Indian farmer has always been like an areca nut in a nutcracker—always under pressure from both the supply and the demand sides. With about 92% of them being wholly owned and self-operated, we may assume that we have about 130 million farmers. When a farmer plants a crop, he does not know what the likely market price of his produce will be. Existing farmer organizations are aligned with political or other special interest groups and are neither objective nor scientific in their approach. At peak times, like sowing, transplanting, harvesting, etc., it is very difficult to get sufficient farm labour.

Source: Mint June 27, 2017 19:41 UTC