Question 6 of 23intermediate🔍 AnalyzeShort Answer3 marks

Name some challenges that farmers face today. What might be their impact for people?

Correct Answer

Farmers today face several significant challenges that affect both their livelihoods and the broader population.

Decreasing size of landholdings occurs as land gets divided among family members. The average landholding is only about three-fourths of a hectare, making it difficult to earn sufficient income from farming.

Modern machinery, designed for larger farms, becomes difficult to use on these small fragmented plots, reducing efficiency and productivity.

Climate change causes unpredictable weather patterns, untimely rains, and extreme events like droughts and heavy rainfall. These conditions lead to crop destruction and heavy financial losses for farmers.

Debt traps occur when farmers take loans during hardships but cannot repay them, pushing them deeper into financial distress.

Dependency on seed companies for high-yield seeds creates additional costs and reduces farmer autonomy over their agricultural practices.

The impact on people includes reduced food production, threat to livelihoods of millions dependent on agriculture, and potential food insecurity. Alarmingly, many farmers are abandoning agriculture — as many as 2,300 every day according to some estimates. This threatens India's overall food production and the rural economy.

Exercise: Questions and activities | Q: 6 | (Page Page 27)
For More Understanding

Explanation

The chapter's 'Challenges' section (Page 25-26) details these issues: decreasing landholdings, climate change effects, debt traps, and farmers abandoning agriculture. It notes that 'as many as 2,300 every day, according to some estimates, have been compelled to abandon agriculture.' The Ganga basin example (Page 26) illustrates how environmental stress threatens agriculture and livelihoods of millions.

Solution Steps

  1. Decreasing landholdings — average only three-fourths hectare — makes earning sufficient income difficult

  2. Small farm sizes make using modern machinery designed for larger farms challenging

  3. Climate change causes unpredictable weather, untimely rains, droughts, and heavy rainfall leading to crop destruction

  4. Debt traps occur when farmers cannot repay loans taken during hardships

  5. Dependency on seed companies for high-yield seeds increases costs

  6. Impacts include reduced food production, threat to millions of livelihoods, food insecurity, and farmers abandoning agriculture (2,300 daily)

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