DONYI POLO and the Overwrought Fruits of Labour
The sleepy sun rose above the horizon
and streaks of dawn dressed the darkened sky
snowy plumes billowed from the lonely locks
and the plains resounded with the rooster’s cry
The farmer’s wife came out into the bumbling barn
the children wiggled out of bed with joyous cries
the farmer looked at the his golden wheat farm
all had a glint of pride in their slumberous eyes
The tough farm clockwork clowns wound round
and the noise likened them to bees in a hive
as they reared gold from the sunny rugose faces
and pampered barn animals all plump and naive
All the while the covert orange in its bridal robes
skidded slowly up the blushing red banquettes
festooned with birds against blissful morning hues
and the dreamy snow white french baguettes
But soon the round tasty fruit turned fiery red
and toasted the plains below with flaming wild fury
mercilessly it beat upon the tired sweating farm
and the family retired to the cool confines of pot-puri
Aloof the infuriated ball of fire stood overhead
waiting for life to return to the desolate field
patiently it held on to an ire-some beetroot red
and then waned west wards in vain and defeat
Then once again the farmer ventured out
with wife and children – a laborious company
and by and by they threshed the fallen crop
and shoved it into the cavernous granary
Meanwhile in a divine, dusky, iridescent stupor
the ocean of satanic anger did withal vaporize
and flowers bowed to the departing succulent soul
that leisurely glided down to a deceptive demise
The night sky was flooded with an array of stars
the overwhelmed farmer called off the day’s labour
and leaving alone the leftover stalks and cropland
all returned to tables adorned with food to savour
We live in a bifurcated world of worlds
whose fields are replenished by such irony
on one hand is health, wealth and happiness
on the other is struggle for every single penny
Yes there exists a happy land where the sun rises
and there exists a happy land where the sun sets
but in both these lands there’s a hidden crevice
where it never shines never fades yet forever frets
There the farmer says that the “sun” is a giant bug
for he toils in the fields under the big boiling potato
with hands hardened by an unspeakable misery
exploited, sweating and bitten by buzzing mosquitoes
But he says that he can’t live without the humbug sun
because it gives life to his darling new born wheat
that grows unabashed and unaware of all the care
even though no one pays nought to his daddy’s needs
Yes, there’s a landlord, a money lender, a hoarder
a middleman – oh an army of blood suckers aboard
that murder the hapless farm souls for sadistic pleasure
as lifeless ghosts sag under a seemingly weightless load
The scamming govt tummy needs quick black money
via grain hoarding, black marketing, agricultural scam
the big budgets bury their faces in long nefarious sleeves
the great rural administration is a shameless fraud and sham
The precocious fund allocation for basic institutions
is just as transparent as their ubiquitous establishment
and if by an accident they happen to visibly exist
only the lord knows what happens to its poor student
Evidently, there are no hospitals for the sick and aged
no technology or tools blessed upon any fertile futile acre
for it is the knighted obscure land they call “the lost paradise”
where malnourished bodies are common like country liquor
And each day the morose, helpless, lost paradise wakes up
with great reluctance to greet the endless bitter nights
sans clothes sans food sans water sans security
but with a fever to live even devoid of all sweet delights
THEY SAY, “THIS IS LIFE ; THIS IS LIFE ; THIS IS LIFE”
In 2009, the most productive farms for wheat were in France producing 7.45 metric tonnes per hectare. The five largest producers of wheat in 2009 were China (115 million metric tonnes), India (81 MMT), Russian Federation (62 MMT), United States (60 MMT) and France (38 MMT). The wheat farm productivity in India and Russia were about 35% of the wheat farm productivity in France. China’s farm productivity for wheat, in 2009, was about double that of Russia. If India and Russia could adopt the farming knowledge and technology of France, the world production of wheat would be 40% higher with a farming area same as the area farmed for wheat in 2009.
In addition to gap in farming system technology and knowledge, some large wheat grain producing countries have significant losses after harvest at the farm and because of poor roads, inadequate storage technologies, inefficient supply chains and farmer’s inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Various studies in India, for example, have concluded that about 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts lost at retail level. One study claims that if these post-harvest wheat grain losses could be eliminated with better infrastructure and retail network, in India alone enough food would be saved every year to feed 70 to 100 million people over a year.
AxelleGupta 