Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits • Hacker News Board

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#31

Post by pradn » Thu, May 21, 2020, 4:11 PM UTC

bryanlarsen wrote: post #28

pradn wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agricultural landholdings in India are pretty small. The average size of a landholding is 1.08 acres. Large landholders, defined as those holding 10+ hectares, hold about 8% of the total agricultural land. (Among them, the average holding size is 15 acres.) http://agcensus.nic.in/document/agcen1516/T1_ac_2015_16.pdf

I should have left the farm size out of my post, it's fairly irrelevant. The relevant point is that it would double a Saskatchewan wheat farm's gross income whether it was 0.5 or 5000 acres.

Yes, makes sense.

Per-acre of per-bushel support doesn't work as well when many folks hold such little land. The money required for subsistence is constant per person. Smallholders may not be able to do non-farm work to make up for their low farm-based pay right now.

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#32

Post by Vysero » Thu, May 21, 2020, 4:34 PM UTC

balfirevic wrote: post #27

Vysero wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

? I am confused by this remark.. here in the US farmers are some of the poorest people in the country. Their land is nothing more than a burden and they live at or near poverty levels.

Surely they must be strictly better off than not owning any land?

You think so? Have you ever tried farming before? It's a rough life, and they never make money; they live off subsidies. When you own land you have to care for it and that costs: money, time and a substantial amount of effort. Most farmers I know would love to sell, but there is no one willing/able to buy.

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#33

Post by wtmt » Thu, May 21, 2020, 4:57 PM UTC

Mods, please correct this title. The title here is not the title of the news report and is misleading. You could include that this is in just one state in India (something like “Farmers in Indian state of Chhattisgarh to get direct cash benefits” may be easier to understand and appropriate).

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#34

Post by balfirevic » Thu, May 21, 2020, 5:47 PM UTC

Vysero wrote: post #32

balfirevic wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely they must be strictly better off than not owning any land?

You think so? Have you ever tried farming before? It's a rough life, and they never make money; they live off subsidies. When you own land you have to care for it and that costs: money, time and a substantial amount of effort. Most farmers I know would love to sell, but there is no one willing/able to buy.

Can they give it away? Can they let it go unmaintained?

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#35

Post by Vysero » Thu, May 21, 2020, 6:27 PM UTC

balfirevic wrote: post #34

Vysero wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You think so? Have you ever tried farming before? It's a rough life, and they never make money; they live off subsidies. When you own land you have to care for it and that costs: money, time and a substantial amount of effort. Most farmers I know would love to sell, but there is no one willing/able to buy.

Can they give it away? Can they let it go unmaintained?

If you had a plot of land worth millions would you give it away? No, they can't let it go unmaintained that's illegal.

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#36

Post by balfirevic » Thu, May 21, 2020, 6:43 PM UTC

Vysero wrote: post #35

balfirevic wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can they give it away? Can they let it go unmaintained?

If you had a plot of land worth millions would you give it away? No, they can't let it go unmaintained that's illegal.

>> Surely they must be strictly better off than not owning any land?

> If you had a plot of land worth millions would you give it away?

WTF is happening in this conversation.

Re: Indian farmers to get direct cash benefits

#37

Post by Vysero » Thu, May 21, 2020, 7:12 PM UTC

balfirevic wrote: post #36

Vysero wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you had a plot of land worth millions would you give it away? No, they can't let it go unmaintained that's illegal.

>> Surely they must be strictly better off than not owning any land? > If you had a plot of land worth millions would you give it away? WTF is happening in this conversation.

What is happening is that your being naive. You are attempting to paint a colorful situation with black and white. This is not a boolean if statement.

You're wondering why wouldn't these farmers just walk away from their farm? Well there are many reasons:

It's been in their family for generations. It's all they know how to do. They have legal obligations.

The land may be worth millions but if all the buyers are aware of the fact that it's not worth buying then all those $$'s just mean you can take another loan out against it; which is better than parting with it for nothing.

How about instead of asking questions you go do some research. I am not a farmer I just know a lot of farmers and they all drive old shitty cars and can't afford to get pay for their mothers dialysis.