January 19,2023 - 08:00 AMThe world of mental health is quite expansive. It interacts with practically every facet of our lives. The moment something affects the way we think and feel, that already becomes mental health. Counter to stereotype, mental health is not just about psychiatric disorders or talking through our feelings. It also includes our experience with stability and security.
A farmer’s life is a high-risk life. If stability and security contribute to good mental health, it makes sense that our farmers are one of the most vulnerable groups. Depending on nature for your livelihood is essentially risky: You may experience bounty in one season, and devastation in the next. But we can’t completely blame nature for their suffering; farmers and fishermen have long understood how to work with nature instead of against it.
There is a lot we can do to increase farmers’ sense of stability and security. There are many empty platitudes of farmers as heroes. Behind that, however, has been a systematic stripping away of their right to self-determination. Rather than a symbiotic working relationship with nature and their land, they have been pulled back and forth, swayed helplessly by external political and economic forces. First, let them take the lead in determining farmgate prices that are just and reasonable.