Thousands of Indian farmers demand government support

The farmers, wearing red caps and carrying red flags, arrived in the city following a six-day trek from Nashik, situated 165 kilometers (103 miles) north of Mumbai. The farmers, the bulk of them impoverished, plan to surround the state legislature of the western state of Maharashtra in Mumbai. Many had walked barefoot in the already soaring March temperatures.

The farmers want the government to ensure they earn at least one-and-a-half times the cost they incur in producing their crops. They are also demanding that the government waives all farm loans. Many of the protesters are tribespeople who have farmed for generations on land they don't own but are demanding recognition of ownership.

The Maharashtra government has said it is willing to consider the demands and is working to find a solution. Last year, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said his government would write off loans to farmers estimated to be worth around 305 billion rupees ($4.75 billion, €3.86 billion).

Maharashtra is one of India's most important agricultural states. In recent years, it has suffered disappointing rains and severe drought which led to crop failures. More than 2,500 farmers killed themselves in the state in 2017, according to official figures. But the problems are not limited to Maharashtra.

It has been a season of agrarian discontent in India and farmers across various states have regularly been holding demonstrations over the past several months pressing the government to offer them more help. The situation exposes the precarious state in which the country's struggling farmers and impoverished landless agricultural laborers find themselves in.

Many farmers are struggling with high debts and poor earnings from lower produce prices. Experts say many farm commodities are trading below support prices set by the authorities, because the government only commits serious sums to buying wheat and rice, but not other crops. 

Analysts say loan waivers amount to quick fixes and they cannot tackle the structural flaws in farm policies, which have encouraged higher production of crops previously in short supply but offered scant protection on prices.

The outburst of discontent poses a challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has promised to double farmers' incomes over the next five years. There is a risk that the protests could spread and intensify if no effective measures were put in place to resolve the issues.

Two-thirds of India's population of 1.3 billion depends on farming for their livelihood, but agriculture makes up just around 14 percent of the nation's total economic output. Despite growing migration to cities in the past two decades, over half of the population still lives in rural areas.