Twenty-year-old Kamaldeep Kaur is annoyed with her father Devinder Singh, a farmer, who has not kept his promise of buying her a two-wheeler which she needs to commute to her college. Devinder Singh blames the declining profits in farming for his worsening economic condition. Hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of crops announced every year is usually meagre as compared to rise in costs of inputs, he says.
Similar is the plight of a majority of the farmers in this agrarian state. The Centre has raised the MSP of paddy by Rs 170 per quintal for the 2012-13 kharif season, but farmers say this is not sufficient given a substantial rise in input costs.
"The rates of diesel, fertilisers, labour etc have gone up substantially. Besides, there is constant pressure from landlords to increase the annual contract rate," said Sanaur farmer Harbir Singh. "For small and marginal farmers, it is getting harder to survive in this occupation. We are into farming for generations, but are looking for some other lucrative vocation," he added.
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