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The basis of conclusion is in the sentence itself. I know semi-literate farmers making good money in farming but same can't be said in IT where high skill is required. How many semi-literate people have startups in technological area?
A skill is special if it is rare and then it commands good remuneration and I am not disparaging any profession with respect to others. But the fact remains we all look for "special" and "high" skills which help us make more money and that's where agriculture fails. It is commoditized. And that's the reason no Indian parent dreams to develop agriculture skills in local agriculture university for their kids. Those skills simply are not able to distinguish them from others in profession.


Thanks. I am aware of that, the tomato pluckers from Mexico for farms in FL and CA especially . They are, as I mentioned, NOT called high-skill visas like say H1-B and some of the terms/conditions are degrading as human (again, no justification). Why? There is no dearth of people with those skills in those countries.

Disclaimer: I don't want to disparage or belittle any profession but fact remains we all (service professionals) try to develop "skills" which can be rewarding and it is not an exaggeration to call them "special" skills.

Again, why are you equating literacy with skills?

Anyone living in India should be aware that it is possible to have college degree without having any useful skills. Our engineering colleges churn out totally unemployable graduates every year, who are fully literate. Literacy is not a basis for skill.

In fact, IT is one area where plenty of unskilled people are holding on to jobs. As a tech entrepreneur for two decades, I have often lamented in on the forum that Pareto principle is very much alive in IT industry. Only 20% of the IT workers actually do anything technical, and rest of them push paper around.

In fact, as a matter of percentage, IT industry employs more unskilled people than agriculture.

I hope you are not talking of people who are dumping lots of fertilizers into the farm, spraying a lot of pesticides and then getting a so called "bumper" harvest of crops like sugarcane, as making good money ?

or for your example, how many so called tech graduates have successful start-ups ? OR have even tried to start a company on their own ? Of those who have, how many have survived long enough to live off that ?

I am NOT equating literacy with skill, I am equating illiteracy with lack of skill and there is a difference between the two. Illiterates are unskilled, literates are not guaranteed to have skill (which I never claimed).


Do you have some data to back that up? For example, I think 60% of our population is into agriculture and predominant part of illiterates (India literacy rate is 78%) of India are into agriculture and no formal education/training.
I am not denying there are no parasites/paper pushers/incompetent employees in IT but would consider your statement an exaggeration.

That is again wrong. Many skills (like farming) are not book learned skill, they are usually learned by working in a farm or by doing apprentice under other experts.

As long as you labour (unskilled, no doubt :D) under the impression that agriculture is unskilled work, it is pointless to argue.

I was trained to use the spade in my teen years. Recently tried my hand at it again along with my uncle at the family farm. Within seconds I knew I didn't have the skill anymore. The daily wage labourer was laughing at my awkwardness with the spade. Literacy has nothing to do with it.

Here is how none other than ILO (International Labor Organization) defines skilled labor:
Who are skilled workers and what are their
characteristics?
Skilled workers are part of the human resources, who
currently hold leadership/management, professional or
technician/associate professional positions.
Highly skilled labour is generally characterized by
advanced education (college and higher), possession of
knowledge and skills to perform complicated tasks, ability
to adapt quickly to technology changes, and creative
application of knowledge and skills acquired through
training in their work.



https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/pu...cms_428969.pdf

I don't see how illiterates can make a cut to this definition.

For political correctness or something else, you may choose to call everyone skilled, but they are NOT. By that logic there are skilled janitors, skilled garbage pickers etc. With all due respect, they are NOT skilled workers. And certainly not in the context of IT workers I mentioned earlier.

Every work requires skill but they are not paid equally and those are paid higher are "skilled" workers. Agriculture in that pyramid sits at one of the lowest. It's a fact.

Hello all

I have no knowledge of farming neither do I own a farm.
Stumbled across a Documentary called The Biggest Little Farm and I wanted to ask people about it here.

Basically its a couple from city buying a farm using investments from other people and running it full time. The thing that fascinated me was the concepts explored in their farming methods, bio-dynamic, circular farming, permaculture etc and these concepts have really piqued my fascination of farming and agriculture.

Has anyone here seen this movie and if so, what is the economic and ecological viability of such a process overall and also in India?
A very good watch for anybody regardless of their interest towards farming.

Thanks for the recommendation, will certainly watch it.
I started farming after spending close to 30 years in the service on our ancestral land. My father and grandfather too had not done farming so it was a new enterprise for me.

My learnings of last nine years, after trying majority of mentioned concepts are:

If farming is the only source of income and profession, I would say there are better alternatives. It has the potential of draining your resources very badly and learning curve is long, as we say in farming we look at time in terms of seasons and not by watch or calender.

If one has a green tooth, or a passion then I would recommend study some successful models, one that I know of is Beejom close to Delhi or Two Brothers in Poona some more like them.

There are some imperatives of a successful farming, farm located close to a reasonably big town, to serve the well healed customers directly, it is integrated with some dairy and poultry and cultivation of all ie fruits, veges and grains plus fodder.
Farming is a community level activity, you are always lending some helping hand to your neighbours and seeking their help every now and then, so some background relationship such as old kith, kin or clan connections help a lot.

The type of farming mentioned necessitate lots of manual labour, which is not unavailable but one must have ways to navigate village level politics.

Lastly systems driven approach doesn't work with this kind of farming but its requires continuous interventions to the extent of even checking wind direction two to three times a day and planning your activities accordingly. Standard industrial type of farming can still be managed using systems and mechanisation.

The annual Krishi Mela - organised by GKVK, Bengaluru will be on from 17-20 November, 2023.

Farmers, wannabe cultivators and garden hobbyists can pay a visit and benefit from the live exhibits and technological innovations exhibited there.

Could someone explain how to find good honey around Amritsar? Are there any beekeepers who could be directly contacted or visited?
The honey in the market is mostly adulterated.

One possibility is entities like:

www.shuddhamorganics.com

Thanks. Looks like a great website.

I was looking for some beekeper farm in or around Amritsar where one can visit and buy.

Then check locally. Go thru places like the local Agri University / Animal husbandry kind.

Here you go: https://www.angelnaturalhoney.in

If you are ever travelling along the Siswan dam road, off new Chandigarh, you'll find a few people selling honey on the way. I have picked honey from them a couple of times and each time it has turned out to be high quality. I may have gotten luck though.