After the Godavari delta, it is now the turn of Rayalaseema to contemplate the ‘crop holiday’ option. Though water is available aplenty, the high input cost and unremunerative market have apparently made the farmer drop the plough.
The palpable unhappiness in farmers has taken a serious turn and is not limited to a district or a particular ayacut, but is spread across Rayalaseema-Nellore. Kurnool Cuddapah (KC) Canal, which has an official ayacut of 90,000 acres, generally gets ready for its second crop in around 50,000 acres by July, but there is hardly a semblance of activity.
Most farmers go for paddy, while a few prefer groundnut and turmeric here. “Fifty per cent of farmers are dropping cultivation this season due to unfavourable conditions,” says Iragamreddy Venkata Maheswara Reddy, former chairman of KC Canal Distributory Committee, Mydukur. Mr. Reddy, whose forefathers had held the post of Village Munsiff, is now ready to offer his 30-acre land on lease, but has no takers.
The situation under minor irrigation tanks in the drought-prone belt is worse. Paddy cultivation under Rangasamudram tank in the arid Thamballapalle constituency of Annamayya district, which reaches 1,000 acres normally, may not touch 100 acres this time. “Our farmers are so disenchanted that paddy will be grown for personal use, as sale is no longer fetching,” quips Konareddy Mallikarjuna Reddy, a progressive farmer.
Even the rice-rich Somasila ayacut has its cup of woes. Buoyed by abundant water availability, the Irrigation Advisory Board (IAB) has recommended sowing in 4 lakh acres for the second crop, but hardly 50,000 acres are expected to go under the plough. “Generally, the acreage swells beyond the recommended figure, but it is dwindling for the first time,” says Federation of Farmers’ Associations (FFA) State secretary Chirasani S.R. Koti Reddy, hailing from Dagadarthi Mandal of Nellore district.
Diesel price hike
The common thread passing through all the above cases is the high input cost and lack of remunerative price. The diesel price hike has had a direct impact on tractor rent, slew of welfare schemes made farm, labour costly and the unremunerative market price has proved to be a disincentive. “Instead of clamping regulatory control on farmers, the government should consider exporting the surplus rice. When we are exporting spices and prawns, why not rice to China, which is an evergreen market?” wonders FFA All India honorary president P. Chengal Reddy. He said the government need not nurse any undue worry on food security in the foreseeable future and unshackle the poor farmer.
