Diverting farmers from cotton cultivation, as has been envisaged by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, may not be all that easy in Adilabad district, especially in the absence of a proper action plan. It is more difficult in the case of small and marginal farmers who, for their personal and family needs, normally depend on the comparatively larger amounts of crop loan raised both from banks and private money lenders for cultivating cotton.
Adilabad is a prime cotton growing district in the country with almost the entire small and marginal land holders depending upon it for livelihood and unless the government addresses their need and requirement for personal spending, nothing much can be changed, according to experts.
These farmers will in all probability spend for personal use a good portion of the Rs.3,249 crore available to them in the shape of crop loans in the coming year.
As cultivation of Bt cotton has become un-remunerative and the resultant distress has driven thousands of farmers to commit suicide, the State government has planned to launch efforts to divert the farming community towards alternative crops, a first-of-its-kind effort in the country. The plan is to divert at least 25 per cent of the cotton area in the ensuing kharif to other crops like soyabean and red gram which are commanding good price in the open market.
“Small and marginal farmers cannot raise the kind of money for cultivating other crops or food grains as they do in cultivating cotton. Cotton has a scale of finance at a maximum of Rs. 32,000 per acre of irrigated crop much above other types,” opines retired Adilabad Assistant Director of Agriculture C. Narsingu as he talks of the most important impediment in so far as weaning away farmers from cotton is concerned.
In a quandary
Meanwhile, the Agriculture Department here is in a quandary over how to go about increasing the quantum of seed which may be required once the targeted 25 per cent of the cotton area goes under other crops.
While cotton seed are marketed by private businessmen, many seeds like soyabean are made available by the government with handsome subsidies.
“We are forced to increase the requirement of seed for soyabean, pulses etc despite the risk involved. What we cannot guarantee is farmers will jettison cotton and shift to alternative crops,” reveals an official as his department is trying to grapple with the problem.
