Review of Chapter 3: Poor Peasants

FROM PEASANTS AND WORKER IN NEPAL

D. SEDDON, P. BLAIKIE, J. CAMERON
P R ESENT E D BY
YO G E S H S H R E S T H A , P H D S C H O L A R , C D R D, T U
22 AUGUST 2020

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Outline of Presentation
1. Peasantry in Nepalese state
2. Peasants economy
3. Responses
4. Consumption
5. Collective action

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 1. Peasantry in the Nepalese State
▪ Nepalese economy is overwhelmingly peasant economy (supported also by
foreign aid)
▪ Economy is in severe pressure due to increasing population and declining
productivity.
▪ Role of peasantry from unification to first quarter of 20th century: Provide bulk
surplus to aristocratic ruling land holding class which resulted in crisis peasantry
faces today
▪ After unification, privatization of land were enhanced; King Prithivi Narayan Shah
granted land and right the produce tax to royal family member and favored
generals on their and state’s behalf

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 1. Peasantry in the Nepalese State
▪ At turn of the century, extravagant life of handful of ruling families uncaring of
crisis further depleted resources by trading timber to British India
▪ Bureaucracy boomed, partly to lend credibility to requests for foreign aid had a
very limited capability to achieve developmental effects
▪ Peasants at that time, faced with the crisis of production, increasing
impoverishment and eventual destitution; state uninterested in providing the
necessary reforms, information, credits and inputs
▪ In efforts to protect the surplus, advised not to impose harsh tax otherwise they
would flee to jungle for their subsistence
▪ Forest land were communal only in title but belonged to state and were main
source for peasants for fuel and construction, fishing, hunting and herding of
cows, buffalo, goat

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 1. Peasantry in the Nepalese State
▪ Population grew and within the extent of arable land, forest were cleared and
hence private ownership and control were extended but shortly labor shortage
arose.
▪ Need for cultivable land resulted in depletion of forests in hills (terai was
unsuitable for habitat until eradication of malaria in 1960s) and sloppy stiffy
farming were practiced that resulted in erosion and landslides
▪ Declining yields in the hills resulted in serious energy crisis because of insufficient
transfer from forest to arable lands; Environmental stress was seen in hills.
▪ During world war I, 56,580 Gurkha soldiers served oversees, remittance therefore
tend to mask the production crisis

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 2. The peasant economy
▪ Domestic economy: Production for use of household and surpluses are
redistributed to payments to temple, festivals and poor relatives
▪ Inequality in domestic economy: because of unequal redistribution mechanism
and access to communal resources
▪ Productivity per land and labor declined through time which resulted in risk of
fundamental aim of self sufficiency.
▪ For purchase of goods, cash had to be found
▪ Tightening availability of land, loss of grazing and declining levels of plant
nutrients, increasing privatization forced some peasants to look outside of
domestic economy

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 2. The peasant economy
▪ In terai, migrants from 12th century had brought rice culture, terracing, plough,
irrigation
▪ However, endemic malaria in terai disrupted settlements. Tharus were dominant
and immigrant from Oudh (U.P. of India)
▪ Terai’s importance grew nonetheless with growing number of immigrants from
India; land grants were exercised by Rana regime to top military, government
officials and their family. This created class and semi-feudal structure after land
reform act of 1964.
▪ After malaria eradication, hill-man started to migrate to terai; they purchased
lands from either indigenous people or from Landlords (Rana relatives) and other
settled illegally in uncleared forest

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 2. The peasant economy
▪ Marginalized peasants vs State: Police brutality and the practice of local officials
demanding share from squatters’ (Sukumbashi) production for turning a blind eye
to them. State interest to ruling class were providing license to sell timber
▪ Irrigation entirely depended on monsoon season and hence seasonal land less
and marginal peasants to hills as to fulfill labor shortage during this period were
observed.
▪ A counter trend to declining market surplus in terai might be the extension of
capitalistic behavior of advantaged farmer characterized by use of machineries,
chemical fertilizer and improved seeds
▪ Capitalism penetrated in India since 20 years has been headway for Nepal

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 2. The peasant economy
▪ Nepal as a whole has the lowest chemical fertilizer to cereal production in South
Asia (1.17 percent)
▪ 13% land sale in hills and 9% in terai (667 farmers)
▪ Poor peasants in terai: little cases of poor peasants forced off their lands, labor
markets are pre-capitalist (Chapter 6), wage rate 4 kuruwas (2.48 kgs paddy) were
well above Indian wage rate and hence labor migration could be seen in
harvesting seasons.
▪ Declining yields, environmental decline, ineffective state apparatus, absence of
any significant rapid progressive development in the productive base are the main
constraints of economy

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3. Responses
What can peasants do?
▪ Process of impoverishment of the peasantry has prompted peasants to seek
on an individual basis by which their domestic economy can be maintained or
supported from other sources
▪ Main problems is in production which could be addressed by increasing yield,
small amount of market commodities, sell labor of households locally or by
migrating

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3. Responses
▪ Access position of the peasantry:
▪ (a) control over the sum of various physical assets, both private (land , labor,
livestock, implements) and public (forest and water for irrigation
purposes); and
▪ (b) from the sum of social assets (e.g. the household's membership of a
certain caste which enables the individua l to have a better chance of
obtaining a post in the army or the administration, or merely a
predominance of the male gender in the household opening up many
more employment opportunities outside the home than exist for
women).

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 3. Responses
1. Accumulation Opportunities
1. Buy land
2. Buy assets
3. Buy irrigation
4. Buy animals
5. Lend money
6. Start business
7. Arrange investment loan
8. Buy education for children
2. 'Maintenance' Opportunities
1. Use chemical fertilizer
2. Grow cash crops
3. Join army
4. Get post in administration
5. Obtain land for share-cropping
in
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3. Opportunities to Make Good Chronic Shortfalls
1. Sell labor locally (workers still live at home)
2. Partial migration of household (e. g. work in
India)
3. Downgrade consumption levels.
4. Opportunities to Make Good Acute and
desperate Shortfalls
1. Total migration of household
2. Obtain loan for current consumption
3. Close business
4. Sell assets (houses, implements etc.)
5. Sell land
6. Sell livestock
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 3. Responses
▪ Domestic economy is defined by its characteristics relation to production, relation to
market and use of the surplus
▪ Domestic economy is to ensure sufficient food grains for its members and cash for items
not produced by the household (salt, kerosene, cloths)
▪ Any shortfall in these requirements cannot be covered by sale of labor alone except for
households that have large number of young men; sale of assets is other option if
available
▪ Continuous accumulation lie either on ownership of sufficient land or employment in non
agriculture sector
▪ New technologies are essential for high yield and accumulation by outer employment
does necessarily be true for already poor peasants rather substance only.
▪ Opportunities as Indian army or Gurkha officers-not for all

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 3. Responses
▪ Cash crops and manufactured
products-problem transportation-
cost per load/km e.g. ghee, ginger,
eggs, curd, turmeric, bamboo mats,
winning fans and baskets, paddy,
wheat, pulses and sugarcane
▪ Out of 660 HHs, 47% in group 3,
38% saving labor

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 4. Consumption
▪ Consumption of household was related to its relation of production, its
involvement in producing for the market, and its access position to non-
agriculture income
▪ Almost all households are in debt (Rs 662 income Rs 993.5 expenses, deficit Rs
331)
▪ Largely spent in food stuffs and other non-farm items salt and spices
▪ Household belonging to domestic economy does not accumulate and cannot have
prospect of reliability
▪ Consumption on festivals, life-cycle ceremonies, consumer deliverables, enhanced
level of daily consumption
▪ Fish, meat, eggs and milk mostly consumed; Millet and maize replaced rice to
some extent
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4. Consumption

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4. Consumption

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 5. Collective action
▪ In order to halt the process of quickly decline the process which drive peasantry
into land-less or near landless situation
▪ Fundamental shift of replacing land-owning aristocracy
▪ End to dependent nature of dependency within India
▪ Soil conservation methods, re-afforestation, re-settlements, new relations of
productions
▪ Fundamental changes in property relations
▪ Strengthening domestic economy, smooth relation and treatment with employers,
▪ Thus the turning point in future of the poor peasantry will be instigated by their
inability to feed themselves, but as long been the case, decided outside Nepal
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