Crop insurance schemes have put tenant farmers at disadvantage, a public hearing on the problems of tenant farmers revealed here on Sunday. There is a need for a comprehensive crop and income insurance scheme covering income and yield risks which are currently plaguing farmers, stakeholders said at the meeting.
Tenant farmers who have no legal claim over the land cannot avail of bank loans, input subsidy, crop insurance or loan waiver. In Telangana, tenant farmers do 30 percent of agriculture. Several of them have committed suicide as crop failure could be fatal for them. Licensed Cultivator Act is not helping farmers in need as cards which certify them as tillers of the land have not reached many. “In our village 18 tenant farmers have not got benefits under LCA. We are highly dependent on money lenders for farming,” said Purushotam Rao, a tenant farmer who narrated his woes. Another farmer Mallaiah, who requested government aid said, “We are excluded from other schemes including electricity subsidies and irrigation cost cuts.”
Several farmers have not got Loan Eligibility Cards which allow them to get subsidies and loans. Some who have already got cards have not managed to get zero percent interest crop loans, complainants said.
