Business

Going To The Mall

Cash crops keep the agro economy happy

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Going To The Mall
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"All my life I travelled in buses and now my sons have forced me to buy this," says Leeladhar Pathak, pointing to the new Bolero, splattered with cow dung, parked outside. Pathak is a small farmer in Bamhori, a village in the Udaipura tehsil of Raisen district, but his purchase reflects the good prices farmers have been getting for their produce here. As is evident from the zooming sales of mobile phones, TVs and the opening of the country’s first rural shopping mall (in Sehore).

MP’s farmers—72 per cent of the state’s population is dependent on agriculture—are increasingly shifting towards cash crops. But the fruits of this cash-rich rural economy aren’t reaching everyone. The big farmers have benefited from the various pro-farmer schemes, but the landless farmers still are working for a pittance—daily wages of Rs 40-50. In many cases, the NREGS is not meeting its objective. As for giving credit, the farming community is confused. They can hardly differentiate between what is coming to them via the Centre and the state government. All that matters is that it’s money.

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K.S. Shaini in Vidisha, Sehore, Narsinghpur, Jabalpur, Raisen

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