Coastal Andhra farmers to go on a crop holiday
No minimum support price for paddy and the high cost of production are encouraging the farmers of Coastal Andhra to go on a crop holiday.
THE FARMERS of Coastal Andhra are in great distress as they are unable to get minimum support price for the yield. While the minimum support price of paddy is Rs.1110 per quintal for the first grade and Rs. 1080 for the common variety, the farmers have no other option but to sell the crop to the millers for a price between Rs.600 to Rs.700 per quintal.
In this scenario, the farmers are threatening the government that they will go on a crop holiday if it does not assure them a minimum support price of Rs.1500-Rs.1600. The peasants are reluctant to sow paddy this Kharif season as they have not been able to meet their expenses from the sale of their crop. While they had a bad time during the previous Kharif season due to crop failure, a bumper harvest this rabi season also dealt them a big blow. The government, which announced a compensation of Rs.1800 per acre due to the crop failure during the past kharif season, seems to have forgot its words.
In addition to all this, the soaring prices of seeds, fertilizers and the wage rates are troubling the farmers and pushing them further into debt. The government’s policies like interest free loans, loans at 25 paisa interest, and loan rescheduling, providing inputs at subsidized prices have also gone astray.
“The amount we get by selling a quintal of paddy is not even enough to pay the daily wage of two labourers who demand Rs.300 toRs.400 per day,” says a farmer. “The government has joined hands with the millers and not letting us get even the minimum support price,” reports another farmer. The situation of tenant farmers is even more deplorable. It has become difficult for them to put their heart and soul together, eventually leading them to end their hapless lives. These circumstances have made them stubborn to follow the idea of crop holiday.
It is really shameful that we are unable to redress the sufferings of our farmers, who are the backbone of an agricultural economy like India.
“The amount we get by selling a quintal of paddy is not even enough to pay the daily wage of two labourers who demand Rs.300 toRs.400 per day,” says a farmer. “The government has joined hands with the millers and not letting us get even the minimum support price,” reports another farmer. The situation of tenant farmers is even more deplorable. It has become difficult for them to put their heart and soul together, eventually leading them to end their hapless lives. These circumstances have made them stubborn to follow the idea of crop holiday.
It is really shameful that we are unable to redress the sufferings of our farmers, who are the backbone of an agricultural economy like India.
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