Hillary talks of farmer suicides, fighting hunger

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New Delhi: US Secreatry of State, Hillary Clinton was in the National Agriculture Science Centre on July 19 where she stressed on the problem of global hunger, saying that India could play a lead role in alleviating world hunger. CNN-IBN Correspondent Rupashree Nanda asked her about the wisdom of pushing expensive seeds from the US (genetically-modified seeds) into India at a time when farmers are unable to recover their input costs and are fighting hunger despite growing the food we eat.

Question: In our country farmers who grow the food we eat are the ones who fight hunger. We have 230 million tonnes of foodgrains, yet 47 per cent of our people are malnourished. When you push very expensive seeds and inputs into our market, input costs of our farmers will rise. This will not be matched by the price he sells his produce for. Is that then a good idea?

Hillary Clinton: That is as you suggest a complicated problem. But what is happening at this institution - as 50 years ago with the green revolution - has the potential for transforming the opportunities for farmers to enhance their income. We just, for example, saw a form of rice that uses 30 per cent less water. That will benefit farmers in India and elsewhere. I don't think we can look at where we are today and extrapolate where we'll be tomorrow. I think we have to look at what are the problems farmers face today. Lots of farmers cannot get their goods to the market, farmers need to organise, they need transportation like farm-to-market roads, storage facilities, refrigeration. There is a lot that can be done right now that will enhance the income of farmers today.

We need new technology and new ways of farming. I think it's got tremendous potential. Given the very large numbers of people in India who are farmers who feed themselves and their families, and maybe beyond in their villages and larger markets, anything we can do to get more of the food dollar that you spend when we buy food for yourself back to the farmer who produces it will be a very big benefit.

So I think we are looking at this in a very holistic way. Again, I don't want to undermine the complexity of it and sometimes there are unintended consequences but we are trying to be very careful and very vigilant about how we do this. I met with a group of leading Indian business executives on Saturday. I was very impressed at how many of them are concerned about agriculture, productivity and nutrition. We talked about a range of issues including micronutrients which a lot of scientists here are trying to figure out how to get into the food supply so that we can fight malnutrition from birth. I think we are looking at this in a very creative way and I am going to do everything I can on behalf of the US Government to be a good partner with India.

Question: Have you heard about farmer suicides in our country?

Hillary Clinton: Yes, I have heard about farmer suicides. That happens because of the loans that they take. In our country they just go bankrupt and leave the land. This is a serious issue. I think we lose a lot when people cannot stay stewards of the land. We hope to address that, the financing of farmers.