The pests grow fiercer with every changing season, labour has vanished, and yet many still insist that the farmer's tools are the problem. A farmer speaks about what he truly needs to protect his crop and his future.
As told by a farmer of rural India
I am not a scholar, and I will not pretend to be one. I do not attend seminars or understand complicated debates. I know only one thing—my field. From before sunrise until sunset, my life depends on protecting it. So I ask the country for one simple thing: help me fight the pests, weeds and diseases that threaten my crop every season.
That battle is much harder today than it was in my father's time. The weather has changed. Rains are uncertain, summers are harsher, and every season seems to bring new insects and diseases. Whether it is pink worm in cotton or new caterpillars in maize, the threats keep growing while I still fight them with the same two hands.
So I say this plainly: arm me. A soldier guarding the border is given the best weapons available. I too stand on a frontline that feeds this nation. Give me modern crop-protection solutions, quality seeds and timely access to them. Do not ask me to fight today's problems with yesterday's tools.
When a crop fails, I lose far more than a harvest. I lose the loan I took, my family's security and sometimes even hope. We all know that failed crops and debt have pushed too many farmers to take their own lives. Protect my crop, and you protect my life.
Yet people who have never worked in a field often tell me that my farming methods are wrong. They ask me to give up crop-protection products and return to manual farming. Let me tell you what that means. It means my wife and children spending days bent over in the heat pulling weeds by hand. Labour has become scarce, wages keep rising, and hand weeding often costs more than the crop itself. When young people see only hardship in farming, they leave for the cities. Farming cannot survive on nostalgia alone.
I also want to acknowledge those who have stood beside me—the crop protection industry. When new pests appeared, they developed solutions and taught us how to use them safely, from the right dosage to protective equipment. They are not perfect, and I expect fair prices and quality, but at least they work with me in the field instead of judging me from a distance.
I also believe that farmers benefit greatly when modern agricultural research, scientific innovation and quality crop-protection solutions reach the field quickly and are accompanied by proper guidance on their safe and responsible use. Continued collaboration among farmers, scientists, industry and policymakers can help Indian agriculture become more resilient against evolving challenges.
I welcome the Government's efforts to modernise outdated pesticide and seed laws. India needs science-based regulations that allow safe and effective technologies to reach farmers while ensuring proper training and responsible use. Equally important is maintaining high standards of product quality and authenticity so that farmers can rely on the solutions they use to protect their crops.
I have no quarrel with safety. I want my family to be safe more than anyone else does. I simply ask for the best science, proper training, protection from substandard products and laws that match today's realities. Trust the farmer. Equip the farmer. Stand with the farmer. A farmer who is empowered with knowledge and modern tools is not a threat to the nation—he is its strongest protector.
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