A Letter received from : Dr.Shyamasundaran Nair
My dear Chandrashekharan Nair, Thanks. You have raised very important issues with logic. My admiration. I have not yet concentrated my attention on price issues of farm commodities, though in a general way I have made some superficial studies. Generally I do not go by the government approach. Nor do I get panicky with price fall like the farmers do. We must be very realistic. When the price of rubber fall below Rs. 20 we make great halla gulla. But when it goes above Rs. 50, farmers keep quite. Farmers should also appreciate that if the price of raw materials go beyond a level, the industry will naturally switch over to other sources, which in the long run is detrimental to the farmers. Similarly the Industry should also realise that if domestic prices fall to uneconomic levels, then farmers switch over to other crops. We had discussed this issue at length in the report of the WTO Commission. Farmers in Kerala have to find their own means to overcome this problem. Let us be realistic. Kerala is a part of India. India is our biggest market. Commodities produced in Kerala and of great interest to Kerala farmers such as rubber and coconut have no All-India significance more so in the present economic context of huge foreign exchange reserves. The Government of India (GOI) dictate terms. They are on the side of the industry and not that of farmers. Kerala has no political clout. We have only 20 members out of the 540 Lok Sabha even if all our MPS are united (which occurs seldom). We can not make any impact like the rice and wheat farmers of wheat rice belt (Punjab, Haryana, UP, Andhra Pradesh) with sheer political clout (This happens with the price support of the wheat and rice). The political leadership and farmers should understand this hard reality and get prepared to make necessary sacrifices when the going is good. But we can not go too far. We are also very weak. After all what other crops we can grow. Can you think of any other crops than coconuts (10 lakh hectares) and rubber (5 lakh hectares) in which they are grown. We have to be realistic. Within our state we can do quite a few things. First the government should recognise that in the area of plantation crops (25% of the area and 33% of the income) we have stake. The state is as responsible to these crops as rice and coconut. Plantation area is also part of the state. The state should take keen watch on its developments and anticipate problems. Second we should make use of the opportunities provided by the government of India. Third we should be realistic. Don't ask for 1300 crores and get 40 crores for drought relief. Sorry I have gone beyond your concerns. But do keep me informed . I may not respond to your letters always and quickly too. Sorry I have to use English. Given the logistics I can not have correspondence in Malayalam though email. Writing letters with hand now for me is unthinkable. Regards SHYAMASUNDARAN NAIR
