Problems cannot just be solved in the legislative assembly or parliament - the goals and interests there are different. We need to put in the work before it will have the right outcomes there.

n/n

Active participation and not passive hand-wringing is something we have to re-learn - it has been lost. Also we need to relearn working together collaboratively, contributing from our own pockets and time and investing in our whole local communities in India - not just "people like ourselves".

5/n

Meanwhile it's more convenient for us to keep making the compromises it requires to do the same things (care for the land, care for the people, care for the laws, for fairness and care to participate in healthy civic debate).

4/n

It's always someone else's job (govt, NGO or solitary warriors) to be doing these things on our behalf while we focus on getting the things we want.

3/n

This is very rarely the case. The problem is more broad based - our apathy to giving time and attention to things before they become too big to solve is rarely acknowledged.

2/n

We need to look beyond worn-out prescriptions that cold chains or increased scale & productivity will solve problems of agriculture in India (hasn’t worked elsewhere).

We also need to be wary of new prescriptions about drones, precision agriculture and big data being the farmer's true saviour.

5/5

There is also the growing belief that engineers and technology are some sort of magic bullets that will solve all the problems of Indian agriculture. And by extension, there’s a hope that
tech giants are going to emerge as saviours for the sector.

Amazing, right?

4/5

The legends of “educated city dwellers” revolutionizing farmer fortunes with WhatsApp, a portal or some technology are somewhat condescending. Even more so is the suggestion that farming novices can master agriculture in a couple of years.

3/5

This narrative does two things: one, it makes us oblivious to the state of agriculture and farmers in India, and two, it makes us believe, erroneously, that all we need is education and technology to turn things around for farmers in India.

2/5

The legends of “educated city dwellers”
revolutionizing farmer fortunes with WhatsApp, a portal or some technology are somewhat condescending.

Even more so is the suggestion that farming novices can master agriculture in a couple of years.

2/2