Unaware of why Punjab and Haryana farmers had started the agitation on the Delhi border and why they concluded it, a group of farmers in Vijayanagar village in Sangli district is busy marking their farmland with cement poles.

The region known for grape cultivation is now dotted with cement pole markings as farmers are quitting farming and converting their land into residential plots.

“In the last two-three years, we have incurred heavy losses due to unseasonal rains and cloudy atmosphere. There was no other option other than to cut down vineyards,” said farmers adding that while some of them have turned to sugarcane, others are selling their land for construction.

“Hardly you will see any grape cultivation in this region now. Farmers have suffered because of unseasonal rains and the cost of cultivation soared because of changing atmosphere. The prices of pesticides are too much and grape farming is unaffordable. Farmers are reeling under loan burdens,” says Salim Kanwade. Salim is trying his luck in tomatoes and brinjal along with sugarcane. He is trying to sell his produce in the Miraj market on his own as traders want to buy his produce at a cheaper rate. However, even vegetable cultivation has turned into a loss-making venture due to unseasonal rains.

Salim predicts that more farmers will be converting their land into residential and commercial plots to recover losses in the last couple of years.

Farmers in neighboring Mhaisal village are developing plots for small restaurants and tea stalls. “In the last few years, green patches here have turned into concrete clusters. Especially the roadside farmland is vanishing rapidly,” says octogenarian Shanta Gaikwad who has witnessed this transition for decades.

Farming – an economic issue

Vilas Shinde, Founder and Chairman of Nashik-based Sahyadri Farms says that 99 per cent of farmers in India are into loss-making farming and this is not a recent phenomenon. “It is not surprising that farmers want to quit farming. There is capital and talent drain. We have to understand that farming is not a social and political issue, it is an economic issue and must be tackled as an economic issue,” said Shinde. He insisted that farmers must have a say in the market and have negotiation power to make farming profitable.

Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) like Sahyadri in Maharashtra are creating a network of small and marginal farmers to increase their negotiation power. However, the Union government’s decision to withdraw farm laws has come as a setback to FPCs. After the government's rollback, the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) have started slapping notices to FPCs to stop unlicenced trade outside mandis according to the MahaFPC, the consortium of FPCs in Maharashtra.

As the protesting farmers on Delhi borders are readying for a victory procession, more farmers in Vijaynagar are gearing up to mark their farmland for construction.

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