Name the farming process that disengages farmers from the production process and makes their own indigenous knowledge of agriculture irrelevant:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Contract farming
Option (1) Horticulture — Incorrect. Horticulture is the growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers. It is a kind of crop, not an arrangement that takes decisions out of the farmer’s hands.
Option (2) Liberalization — Incorrect. Liberalisation is a government policy, not a farming process. The policy that India has followed since the late 1980s entails participation in the World Trade Organization and the opening up of Indian markets to imports. Contract farming came with the globalisation of agriculture that followed this policy, but the policy itself is not the arrangement that takes decisions out of the farmer’s hands.
Option (3) Contract farming — Correct. Farmers sign contracts with companies, often multinationals, to grow crops which the company buys at a fixed price. The company identifies the crop, provides the seeds and other inputs, the know-how and often the working capital. So contract farming disengages many people from the production process and makes their own indigenous knowledge of agriculture irrelevant.
Option (4) Globalization — Incorrect. The globalisation of agriculture is the larger process of incorporating agriculture into the global market. Contract farming is one of its forms; the question asks for the particular farming process.
Note: The term in Option (1), ‘horticulture’, is not in NCERT (2025-26); it has been explained here for the benefit of the students.
NCERT (2025-26): “4.6 Globalisation, Liberalisation, and Rural Society … For instance, in some regions such as Punjab and Karnataka, farmers enter into contracts with multinational companies (such as PepsiCo) to grow certain crops (such as tomatoes and potatoes), which the companies then buy from them for processing or export. In such ‘contract farming’ systems, the company identifies the crop to be grown, provides the seeds and other inputs, as well as the know-how and often also the working capital. In return, the farmer is assured of a market because the company guarantees that it will purchase the produce at a predetermined fixed price. Contract farming is very common now in the production of specialised items such as cut flowers, fruits such as grapes, figs and pomegranates, cotton and oilseeds. While contract farming appears to provide financial security to farmers, it can also lead to greater insecurity as farmers become dependent on these companies for their livelihoods. Contract farming of export-oriented products such as flowers and gherkins also means that agricultural land is diverted away from food grain production. Contract farming has sociological significance in that it disengages many people from the production process and makes their own indigenous knowledge of agriculture irrelevant. In addition, contract farming caters primarily to the production of elite items, and because it usually requires high doses of fertilisers and pesticides, it is often not ecologically sustainable.…” |