The cattle shelters used in winter and rainy seasons in Krishna district are offered as temporary living spaces for migrant labour from northern Andhra Pradesh who take up agricultural operations during summer.
However, the majority of the migrants from Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts are small farmers but drought-like scenario forces them to migrate here. “All the twelve women including my wife and unmarried daughter, 19, sleep at night in a cattle shed turned shelter, and prepare food here,” Anupothula Ramu of Kothavalasa area in Vizianagaram district told The Hindu . He says that several farmers from his district are attending the agricultural operations to last till May in Krishna.
Mr. Ramu owns 1.7 acre of land in his village but opted temporarily to migrate to Krishna along with his three-member family for agriculture operations – harvesting of Black Gram and Green Gram – as his family was forced to tap the livelihood option in the absence of rabi season crops there. Most of the cattle shelters, which are now full of migrant labourers, are not even equipped with electricity or other facilities to spend an entire night after a laborious day spent on the field.
“We barely stay here for forty days. Hence, we made up our mind to adjust to any state of accommodation that came our way. We are delighted to find good space to erect a temporary stove with bricks to prepare food on our own,” say A. Bhagya Laxmi and her troupe of migrants.
Normally, the Krishna farmers shift their cattle from shelter to the nearest fields in summer during the night time.
A farmer, Adapala Nani of Vadlamannadu says that the shelter will ensure security for women during the night time.
