Western Producer reporter Mary MacArthur continues her travels across India, exploring the land many say could become the next big market for Canadian farmers.
SAGUNHA, INDIA
Shyamji sits with two friends under a thatched hut on a white blanket on the side of the road that leads to the airport in Varanas.
The rain has started and the three farmers have lit incense to keep away mosquitoes.
Shyamji has taken his produce to the market and is visiting before he returns to his village, where he grows turmeric, garlic, onions, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, peas, mustard and sugar cane on a one-acre plot.
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He takes his ripe produce to sell at the wholesale market in Varanasi three times a week along with400 to 600 other farmers.
The wholesaler then resells the vegetables to local vendors or across the province.
Shyamji earns enough money selling vegetables to feed his family but has little left over. He estimates he needs $75 a week to live.
He said his needs are fewer now that he is older, but few young people stay on the farm, choosing instead to find jobs in the city.
Sometimes he helps other farmers for extra cash, or takes the odd construction job at the nearby airport.
Even though many of his family now work in the city, he usually has enough help working the farm.
He rents a tractor when he needs it or pays workers $2 a day, plus food.
Shyamji said there is enough water in this area of northern India along the Ganges River. He has access to water to irrigate his crops, and the rain is usually plentiful.
What is always in short supply is fertilizer and seed. The government subsidizes the fertilizer, but there is not always enough to go around, or it arrives late.
Sometimes vegetables are in abundance elsewhere, the prices drop and he can’t make a profit.
Shyamji said extension workers helped him apply the correct fertilizer and find the right seed.
He said he farms because that is what he has always done. He said the land was passed through his family.
“What else would I do if I wasn’t a farmer?” he said through a translator. “I have to feed my family.”
