Farmers in Spain, Italy, and Greece are preparing to organize huge rallies. Some young farmers were seen spraying farm manure and cow dung on government buildings and at some busy thoroughfares, old tires and agricultural waste set to fire. The agitators stopped vehicles carrying imported foodstuff and dumped the imports on the streets. While supermarket shelves are getting empty of fresh farm produce in Paris, shopping mothers find it hard to answer the questions raised by accompanying children.

These protests are similar to the historic Indian farmers’ struggle of 2020 in which farmers camped in the outskirts and blocked the highways leading to Delhi. The protests in Europe have been triggered by the huge debts, squeezed by powerful retailers and agrochemical companies, battered by extreme weather, and undercut by cheap imports. In Poland, cheap imports of grain have brought the grain prices down by 30 percent. Adding fuel to farmers’ stir regimes in France and Germany withdrew diesel subsidies and increased insurance charges to farm machinery. The unwise sanctions on oil and natural gas imports from Russia also contributed to high levels of inflation and an energy crisis.

The root of the farm crisis lies in low prices of farm produce in the market and the market being subjected to the hanker of big agribusiness cartels and corporate houses. Ironically, the European Union ensues the WTO guidelines and subsidizes up to nearly60 to 70 percent of production costs to their farmers. European Union provides huge support of 107 billion dollars per annum, and European farmers, are among the highest recipients of subsidies and direct income support. However, 80percent of this goes to a mere 20 percent of rich farmers and seed, and agrochemical firms leaving the bulk of the small farmers to content with penury.

The protests are primarily against the denial of an assured and rightful price to farmers. According to a research paper published in Nature Food in 2021 in the EU a small farmer receives a mere 27 percent of what a consumer pays for farm products in a supermarket. In India, a farmer gets just 27 to 31 paisa for every rupee purchased by a consumer in a supermarket or a local store. The lion’s share is being pocketed in a value chain starting from local grain merchants to supermarkets or big agribusiness corporate houses. It is estimated that of the total agricultural GDP of 22 lakh crore rupees, an Indian farmer is losing nearly 15 lakh crore rupees to intermediate grain retailers and big corporate agribusiness and supermarket chains.

The oligopoly of agrobusiness corporations is so strong that 40 percent of the seed market is controlled by BASF SE, BAYER, Corteva Agro, Syngenta, and others, while a mere three agribusiness giants Cargill, ADM, and Zen Noh control nearly 50 percent of global grain supplies. Similarly, a handful of companies like John Deer, New Holland control 90 percent sales of global tractors, harvest combines, and other machinery. It is suspected that the food crisis witnessed in Egypt, Burkina Faso, Tunisia, Indonesia, and other countries was artificially created by these global grain cartels for big profits.

Farm distress experienced by small farmers in India was mirrored in the year-long Kisan struggle against the pro-corporate farm laws brought by BJP-led Union government. Both small farmers and the working class in India identified the big corporate bourgeoisie as the common class enemy and have been waging relentless struggles untimely for the last three years. They are demanding legal guarantees for the purchase of crop produce, regulation of soaring prices, and increased government expenditure in agriculture. The proposed Bharat Bandh on February 16, 2024, is called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Central Trade Unions (CTUs). An expected participation of nearly 20 crore (200million) toilers is likely to bring the country to a standstill.

During the introduction of the pro-corporate farm bills in 2020, Narendra Modi said that the reform would bring new markets (free markets) with the participation of major corporate houses to farmers, and that would promote competition and provide profitable prices. If deregulating agricultural markets and bringing corporate control over agriculture were a viable alternative, there is no reason why European farmers today are agitating against big Agricorporations. It is crystal clear by now that liberalized markets have failed to enhance farm incomes. It shows that tailored economic reforms are being implemented to benefit big agribusiness at the expense of small farmers.

The historical farmers’ struggle in India and the ongoing farmers’ protest in Europe are alike. The root cause of the crisis is the neoliberal policies that create unfettered profit for corporates and big agrobusiness groups. These policies result in the decline of income for small and middle farmers. Anti-austerity, pro-people policies for agriculture, and the class analysis on what and whom environmental laws should be implemented are the clarion calls echoed by the farmers’ protest in Europe. (IPA Service)