{"id":1942,"date":"2007-08-28T15:55:19","date_gmt":"2007-08-28T19:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/2008\/07\/23\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/"},"modified":"2018-09-11T14:17:53","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T18:17:53","slug":"the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#8217;s Notes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-1942-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4\">https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Vidarbha, India<\/p>\n<p>June 2007<\/p>\n<p>Indian cities have enjoyed breakneck economic growth in recent years. Hundreds of multinational and Indian companies are bursting out of the seams of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bombay and Delhi, cities that now carry well beyond their carrying capacity.<\/p>\n<p>This film was situated in Vidarbha, in the cotton belt. It is an India few foreigners &#8212; or Indians in the new urban economy &#8212; know or feel connected to, even though it represents more than two thirds of this nation&#8217;s one billion people who live in its rural hinterlands.<\/p>\n<p>New technology has indeed come to India&#8217;s villages in the form of satellite television, beaming pictures of materialism few people can fathom.\u00a0\u00a0 The latest in agricultural technology is also here, aimed here.\u00a0 The pictures of abundant yields on the seed, fertilizer and pesticide package and in the salesmen&#8217;s pitches must sound attractive to farmers who plow and clear (by ox and human hand) some of the sub-continent&#8217;s most forbidding rocky terrain.\u00a0 Yet the pictures may be all many growers understand about the packages of seeds and chemicals, which they&#8217;ve likely borrowed heavily to purchase.\u00a0 Many growers cannot read the package instructions.<\/p>\n<p>For optimal yields, the high-tech (mostly genetically modified) seeds require careful management and watering, especially difficult in a region where most farmers rely on the temperamental rain gods to irrigate their fields. The government, which once provided some shelter from market vagaries, is criticized for launching schemes as far-fetched as they are ineffective, like mass weddings.\u00a0\u00a0 At harvest many farmers find themselves confronted by a global cotton market of record low prices-and their lenders.\u00a0 The latter are not just the government-run banks but also local private entrepreneurs, armed with liens to confiscate land that&#8217;s been in the growers&#8217; families for generations.<\/p>\n<p>Its not debt that is killing farmers, says activist Kishor Tiwari, a major character in our film.\u00a0 &#8220;It is humiliation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>That echoes for this journalist, having also covered the economic changes that swept the American Upper Midwest the 1980s. So many farmers found themselves desperately indebted and socially humiliated.\u00a0 Hundreds of family farmers in Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa took their own lives.\u00a0 That continues to happen in Vidarbha on an Indian scale-a rate of one cotton farmer every eight hours in 2006.<\/p>\n<p>The offspring of those Midwestern farmers moved on to Minneapolis or Chicago, New York or the West coast and have thrived in an urbanized American economy. That is not a feasible policy option for India, even as millions of rural Indians-driven by despair or drawn by the glamour they see on television&#8211;move into cities each year anyway.<\/p>\n<p>It was with indelible awe that we watched farmers here toil in 100+ degree temperatures, for days on end.\u00a0 Many have endured wrenching personal grief and yet, in a rural land where time moves slowly, there isn&#8217;t time to grieve.\u00a0\u00a0 There can be very little stamina either.\u00a0 It was difficult to watch farmers and their beast of burden move tons more rock than earth to prepare their fields &#8212; for yet another season of uncertainty.\u00a0\u00a0 Through it all, we were received warmly; our hosts could hardly have seen any dividend from the constant presence of a camera crew.\u00a0 If anything they aroused neighbors&#8217; suspicions, perhaps resentment.\u00a0 I am deeply grateful for having been allowed to tell their story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4 Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Vidarbha, India June 2007 Indian cities have enjoyed breakneck economic growth in recent years. Hundreds of multinational and Indian companies are bursting out of the seams of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bombay and Delhi, cities that now carry well beyond their carrying capacity. This film was situated in Vidarbha, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviews"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#039;s Notes | Wide Angle | PBS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#039;s Notes | Wide Angle | PBS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4 Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Vidarbha, India June 2007 Indian cities have enjoyed breakneck economic growth in recent years. Hundreds of multinational and Indian companies are bursting out of the seams of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bombay and Delhi, cities that now carry well beyond their carrying capacity. This film was situated in Vidarbha, in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Wide Angle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef\"},\"headline\":\"Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#8217;s Notes\",\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\"},\"wordCount\":584,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"Interviews\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\",\"name\":\"The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director's Notes | Wide Angle | PBS\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#8217;s Notes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/\",\"name\":\"Wide Angle\",\"description\":\"America&#039;s only program exclusively devoted to international current affairs documentaries.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef\",\"name\":\"admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director's Notes | Wide Angle | PBS","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director's Notes | Wide Angle | PBS","og_description":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/2\/files\/directorsnote.mp4 Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Vidarbha, India June 2007 Indian cities have enjoyed breakneck economic growth in recent years. Hundreds of multinational and Indian companies are bursting out of the seams of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Bombay and Delhi, cities that now carry well beyond their carrying capacity. This film was situated in Vidarbha, in [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/","og_site_name":"Wide Angle","article_published_time":"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef"},"headline":"Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#8217;s Notes","datePublished":"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/"},"wordCount":584,"commentCount":0,"articleSection":["Interviews"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/","url":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/","name":"The Dying Fields ~ Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director's Notes | Wide Angle | PBS","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-08-28T19:55:19+00:00","dateModified":"2018-09-11T18:17:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/interactives-extras\/interviews\/the-dying-fields-fred-de-sam-lazaro-director-s-notes\/1942\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fred de Sam Lazaro, Director&#8217;s Notes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#website","url":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/","name":"Wide Angle","description":"America&#039;s only program exclusively devoted to international current affairs documentaries.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/search-results\/?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/#\/schema\/person\/16edb94b807b9f4e0d059b38580dabef","name":"admin"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1942"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6982,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1942\/revisions\/6982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pbs-wnet-preprod.digi-producers.pbs.org\/wnet\/wideangle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}