The agrarian crisis, especially pertaining to cotton and soyabean crops, has only peaked in with farmers resorting to distress sale of their cattle to slaughter houses. Indebted farmers in the cotton rich mandal of Adilabad Revenue Division have nothing else invaluable which can help tide over the crisis, at least temporarily.
“I am not bothered about who is purchasing by bullocks. If I get ‘proper’ price for this pair, I am willing to sell it to anyone,” observes a crestfallen Pasala Ramesh of Gimma village in Jainad mandal who had come to the weekly cattle shandy in Adilabad to sell his only pair of farm animals.
“For the last 50 years we have not passed through such bad times,” avers Gontimukkula Bhumanna, upa sarpanch of Nipani village in Tamsi mandal. “Of the 270 pairs of bullocks in our village, over 70 have been sold and the trend continues,” he adds as a measure of demonstrating the gravity of the situation.
According to information, some 40 healthy pairs of bullocks from Jamidi in Tamsi mandal, 100 pairs from Talamadugu mandal head quarters have been sold for slaughtering in Adilabad shandy. There are other villages from where farm animals are being sold in different shandies in the district.
The upa sarpanch says a majority of small farmers are neck deep in debts and have exhausted all sources for raising funds which could also see a rise in suicides in the coming weeks. “Whatever crop has come will go towards clearing part of the debt while the money raised from selling bullocks will see the farmers through the coming couple of months,” he points out.
“We purchase a healthy pair of bullocks which yields about 500 kg of beef for a price ranging between Rs. 40,000 and Rs. 50,000. These animals are transported to various places like Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Jagitial, Hyderabad and some places in Maharashtra,” reveals Syed Akbar, a veteran in the cattle business in Adilabad.
“No farmer is in a position to purchase our bullocks,” states Syed Nazir Ahmed, a farmer from Gona in Tamsi mandal, as he indicates towards the helplessness of his ilk in selling the cattle to slaughter houses. “I have no other means left to repay, at least partly, my debt of Rs. 1 lakh to private money lenders,” he concurs with Bhumanna and other farmers in the shandy.
