A view of Himanshu in Mint, November 11, 2011
A gist of the article -
Farmers in East Godavari, AP have declared a crop holiday, refusing to cultivate paddy even though this is a fully irrigated region. The issue has grabbed media attention.
The Indian farmer has been always vulnerable to fluctuations that are both natural and manmade. The crisis was at its height in 1999-2000 and 2004-2005 where farmer suicides were at the highest. But after that there has been a general improvement, barring the drought of 2009. Agricultural investment picked up, off take of agriculture credit increased, minimum support prices of wheat and paddy increased, there was a waiver of farm loans and all these helped the farmer. As a result there was better agricultural growth and significant improvements in yields were observed in many crops.
The fertile delta region of AP contributes a significant share to the overall paddy procurement in the country and has been at the forefront of the Green Revolution. And these farmers were the largest beneficiaries of the loan waiver. Then why are the farmers protesting?
East Godavari and the adjoining areas are sites of serious inequalities in landholding. Most land in this area is tenanted, and in some villages it is close to 70-80%. Although there are tenancy laws in AP, they have not been implemented in the right spirit. There is no system of recording tenancy, and most contracts are oral and no legal right of cultivation. Although most of the land is cultivated by tenants, they are unable to get loans due to the absence of recorded tenancy or legal rights. And in most cases, the landlords double as moneylenders, charging exorbitant rates of interest. As a result, though there is no worsening of agricultural conditions, the farmers have not seen any improvement in their income, and in many cases there has been a decline in real income.
The state government is aware of this and farmer commissions have advocated according tenancy rights to tenant farmers, at least for loans. And the government decided to enact a legislation making it mandatory in June to record tenancy. The strong landlord lobby made it categorical that the loan passbooks be given to tenant for one year only and not give them any legal right on the land. There is a fear in the mind of the landlord that the tenancy rights could translate into legal rights to cultivate.
The crop holiday in reality is not by the tenant farmers but by the landlords and the farmers have no choice but to abide by the dictates of the landlord.
Read the story in detail here
A gist of the article -
Farmers in East Godavari, AP have declared a crop holiday, refusing to cultivate paddy even though this is a fully irrigated region. The issue has grabbed media attention.
The Indian farmer has been always vulnerable to fluctuations that are both natural and manmade. The crisis was at its height in 1999-2000 and 2004-2005 where farmer suicides were at the highest. But after that there has been a general improvement, barring the drought of 2009. Agricultural investment picked up, off take of agriculture credit increased, minimum support prices of wheat and paddy increased, there was a waiver of farm loans and all these helped the farmer. As a result there was better agricultural growth and significant improvements in yields were observed in many crops.
The fertile delta region of AP contributes a significant share to the overall paddy procurement in the country and has been at the forefront of the Green Revolution. And these farmers were the largest beneficiaries of the loan waiver. Then why are the farmers protesting?
East Godavari and the adjoining areas are sites of serious inequalities in landholding. Most land in this area is tenanted, and in some villages it is close to 70-80%. Although there are tenancy laws in AP, they have not been implemented in the right spirit. There is no system of recording tenancy, and most contracts are oral and no legal right of cultivation. Although most of the land is cultivated by tenants, they are unable to get loans due to the absence of recorded tenancy or legal rights. And in most cases, the landlords double as moneylenders, charging exorbitant rates of interest. As a result, though there is no worsening of agricultural conditions, the farmers have not seen any improvement in their income, and in many cases there has been a decline in real income.
The state government is aware of this and farmer commissions have advocated according tenancy rights to tenant farmers, at least for loans. And the government decided to enact a legislation making it mandatory in June to record tenancy. The strong landlord lobby made it categorical that the loan passbooks be given to tenant for one year only and not give them any legal right on the land. There is a fear in the mind of the landlord that the tenancy rights could translate into legal rights to cultivate.
The crop holiday in reality is not by the tenant farmers but by the landlords and the farmers have no choice but to abide by the dictates of the landlord.
Read the story in detail here
