If you want to learn about gold prices, speak to an Indian farmer

London

TO gain insight into the weakening gold market, talk to an Indian farmer.

In a country where an estimated 800 million people depend on agriculture and many revere gold as an ornament and store of wealth, growers flush with cash during harvest season have helped India vie with China as the world's largest buyer of bullion.

Sales usually surge this month in the main festival season of Diwali, with farmers buying gold as religious offerings and elaborate wedding adornments that serve as a bride's dowry. Less so this year. El Nino weather patterns have led to the driest monsoon season in six years, reducing farm output and incomes. Farmers like Ranjeet Chavan are cutting back. "I was hoping to buy gold earrings for my daughter, but I have given up hope," said Chavan, 35, who grows sugar cane on two acres about 240 kilometres from Mumbai. "The rains weren't great and my crop didn't fare so well. How can we even think of gold?" He's not alone. Demand is so weak among the rural Indians making up almost 60 per cent of domestic gold consumption that dealers who stocked up befor…