Farmers lack support from the government: survey

September 22, 2021 02:10 am | Updated 02:10 am IST

Former MLC M. Geyanand speaking at a conference in Anantapur on Tuesday.

Former MLC M. Geyanand speaking at a conference in Anantapur on Tuesday.

Sufficient allocations are not made for dryland farmers despite the cost of cultivation going up in areas like Anantapur, says a survey taken up by the Rythu Sangham along with other people’s organisations in 22 mandals.

Close to 43% lower sowing was reported in dryland farming in the district as all the budgetary allocations and strategies are meant for farmers in irrigated areas, the survey said.

S.M. Basha, convenor of the survey and president of Sodhana(one of the organisations involved in the survey), held a board meeting with farmers on Tuesday where he said most of the small and marginal farmers had kept themselves away from agriculture activity during the kharif season as they did not have the confidence to recover the input of cultivating groundnut or an alternative crop.

Many of the farmers were either selling small pieces of lands or going for ordinary labour work either in fields or construction activity to pay off debts, the team members said.

Another social activist, Bose, was of the opinion that the NGOs and the political parties should ensure that enough budgetary allocations are made for agriculture and that the scientists reach out to the farming community realistically.

Giving a few examples, the members said Obaiyya(60), a farmer, had sown groundnut last year in 6.5 acres and spent ₹52,000 on cultivation but got ₹4,800 only, which dissuaded him from sowing the crop this year.

Same was the fate of Siva Rudrappa, a farmer in Palasa village in Amarapuram mandal, who grows areca nut in 10 acres and groundnut in another 10. He lost ₹50,000 last year, which made him keep his land fallow during the current season despite good rain. “Losses during the past 10 years has not given me enough strength to sow groundnut this year,” he told the survey team members.

Former MLC and practising doctor M. Geyanand said the expertise of the scientists in the Rekulakunta Agriculture Research Station was not reaching the farmers despite the Agriculture and Horticulture Departments having a large team at the grassroots level.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.