The scars of the last crop season had hardly healed when several factors now threaten to plunge farming into a deeper crisis this kharif period. An independent count reveals that over 25 farmers in the district have ended their lives since January, and the season ahead looks ominous.
Cotton and soya bean farmers in Adilabad are most likely to face a fund crunch. Adding to their troubles is the less-than-normal monsoon forecast by weather scientists. This has come to haunt the 3 lakh small and marginal farmers in the district, who bore the brunt of the failed crop last season.
Of the nearly 7 lakh hectares of cultivable land in the district, cotton and soya bean account for about 3.25 lakh hectares and 1.25 lakh hectares respectively. The area under cultivation is likely to decrease in the coming season owing to the inability of farmers to raise sufficient funds.
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“My land will be left fallow this season as nobody is coming forward to cultivate it on lease,” discloses cotton farmer Gangam Narsa Reddy from Pusai in the cotton-rich Jainad mandal. “My tenant says his cotton commission agent has denied him loan in this instance,” he adds to drive home the point.
“Yes, most of us are reluctant to fund farmers this season as our recoveries in the last two seasons were dismal. We cannot take any further risk as the prediction for the season ahead is also not encouraging,” says Addi Ramchander Reddy, a leading cotton commission agent in Adilabad.
By May, private money lenders would have distributed at least a third of the amount they do every season among poor farmers for cultivation. According to independent estimates, this could be in the range of Rs.100 crore to Rs.125 crore in Adilabad Assembly constituency alone.
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Farmers are also aghast over the delay of the government in releasing the second instalment of loan waiver. “The government may find some solution as the target for crop loan in this year’s Annual Credit Plan has been increased from Rs.1,400 crore last year to over Rs.2,500 crore,” a banker hopes.
My land will be left fallow this season as nobody is coming forward to cultivate it on lease. My tenant says his cotton commission agent has denied him loan
- Gangam Narsa Reddy
cotton farmer
Most of us are reluctant to fund farmers this season as our recoveries in the last two were dismal. We cannot take any further risk as the prediction for the season ahead is also not encouraging
- Addi Ramchander Reddy
cotton commission agent