Farmers on Holiday - Farm Truths

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

Crop Holiday on Bumper Harvest in AP

Extract from article that appeared in MINT - August 23, 2011

Thousands of farmers are opting to take a break from growing paddy for at least one season.

Rising prices of farm inputs including seeds and fertilizer, a shortage of labour which, when available is becoming increasingly expensive, and lack of procurement by government agencies that have no space to store more foodgrain are responsible for the phenomenon known as “crop holiday”.

“This time, in place of rice, we have decided to cultivate grass for our cattle,” says 63-year-old M. Hanumanth Reddy of Irukodu in Medak district of Telangana region.

“Getting farm labour here is a major problem, and mechanization is not feasible as paddy fields are small and scattered. Even if we take a risk, we are not getting minimum support prices,” Reddy says.

It costs Rs 780-800 to cultivate 1 quintal, or 100 kg, of sona masuri, a premium-grade medium-size rice variety. The minimum support price for paddy set by the government was Rs 1,080 per quintal, but farmers received only around Rs 600-700 per quintal from rice millers who procure their produce, translating into a loss of Rs 100-180 per quintal.

In Andhra Pradesh, farmers are blaming the policies of the Centre as well as the state government for the predicament they are facing.

“Over 5 mt of paddy is still lying in the hands of farmers in Andhra Pradesh with no takers,” says agriculture scientist and food policy analyst Devender Sharma. “If there is normal rainfall, there will be another good crop, only to compound the crisis.”

“The crop holiday problem cannot be seen in isolation, it is a symptom of a bigger crisis that’s going to unfold at a national level in near future,” Sharma warns. “Unless there is an assured procurement and a guarantee minimum support price, farmers will be at a losing end.”

                             ( Pic Source - Mint - August 23, 2011)
The crop holiday in East Godavari is expected to affect the livelihood of around 80,000 farm workers.

“There are serious policy lapses. The state government did not focus on building more mandis (markets) and connecting them to production areas,” says Chengal Reddy, the Head of the Federation of Farmers.

“But it’s not too late. If all the panchayat (village council) buildings can be converted into makeshift godowns, a large portion of the grain can be saved from rotting in the farmers’ hands.”
Read the total article in Mint by Viswanath Pilla here