Why is Fertile Ground Working in Assam?  ProblemUnregulated use and lack of awareness about chemical pesticides and herbicides is threatening the health and well-being of consumers, agricultural workers and the local environment. There are few, if any, regulations in place in Assam controlling sale or use of pesticides and herbicides. Products banned internationally for use on agricultural crops, including DDT and 2,4-D and paraquat are advertised on billboards on major roadways and available in many local markets. How this affects families in AssamWorkers who apply pesticides are generally illiterate and have no knowledge of health or environmental risks, or of the need to wear protective gear when spraying and mixing chemicals. In the past 10 years, aggressive marketing on the part of chemical companies, and various lending schemes promoting by the Central Bank of India in partnership with NGO's and state agricultural departments, have resulted in many farmers shifting to chemical-based farming practices. In the hope of increasing their incomes, an increasing number of farmers have taken out loans in order to purchase expensive fertilizers and pesticides and hybrid vegetable seeds. Many families have cleared forested land and abandoned their kitchen gardens to begin cultivating tea bushes and hybrid vegetables varieties (cabbage, cauliflower, tomato) for sale in the market. If they are successful, they may earn more money from the sale of these crops, but at the end of the growing season, because their costs of production are so high, the family’s income is often no higher than it was previously. In the meantime, there is a serious reduction in natural soil fertility which results in the need to purchase more fertilizers in the coming years. Farmers are caught in a never-ending cycle of debt. The percentage of poor in Assam is the highest among the seven states in northeast India. Around 36% of the state's population continues to live below the poverty line, a figure considerably above the national average of 26%. Four out of ten people in rural Assam are likely to be below the poverty line. In 1980, Assam's per-capita income was 27% lower than the national average. By 1999, per-capital incomes were 45.5% less than the national average, and the gap is widening. Women living in rural Assam face significantly greater barriers to economic, educational, health and social well-being than the national average. The majority of women workers in Assam are either unpaid or poorly paid and belong to the category of unskilled labour.  Women have been living with high levels of violence, insecurity and uncertainty due to ongoing social and political instability and insurgency. They also face aggression and domestic violence and a growing problem of harassment in the workplace. With a life expectancy of 56 years, Assamese women can expect to live about 5 years less than their counterparts in the rest of the country. Women living in rural Assam can expect to live almost 10 years less than their urban counterparts. The total population in rural Assam with access to safe drinking water is 43%, compared to an all-India figure of 62%. About 70% percent of women in Assam have varying degrees of anaemia. The prevalence of anaemia is relatively higher for rural women than for urban women. Among children the prevalence of anaemia is also high. Excerpts taken from a recent report on Assam released by the United Nations Development Program |
