VIJAYAWADA: The new sops announced by the Narendra Modi government - Rs 6,000 per annum per farmer family (PM Kisan Samman Yojana) and farmers pension scheme - evoked a mixed response from the farming community in Andhra Pradesh.
A section of farmers, mostly small and marginal, welcomed the announcement stating that however little the financial help may be - for a person in distress, it really means much and hoped that it will get enhanced in the coming years. Farmers in most of the 13 districts in the State are in a sorry state of affairs due to continuous drought, depleting groundwater table and deficit rainfall.
“It is a start and whatever little it may be, it is a help. As we have seen in case of social security pensions which started with Rs 75 and reached Rs 3,000 today, the aid for farmers too may get enhanced,” opined Srihari, a farmer in Nellore.
The opinion was echoed by Venkata Reddy of Jambuladinne in Anantapur district and M Srinivas of Palamaner in Chittoor district. K Rajeswara Rao, a 50-year-old farmer in Nakkapalli mandal of Visakhapatnam district, expressed happiness that he would get Rs 6,000 in three instalments which would help him in purchasing seeds and fertilisers. Similar were the views of Doraswamy in Kayampeta near Tirupati and Gokari, a farmer who owns three acres of land in Bairapuram village of Kurnool district.
Farmers were by and large happy over Kisan Samman Yojana said Visakhapatnam district Tenant Farmers Association president A Balakrishna.
However, he opined that the scheme would benefit only landowners and not tenant farmers. “Though 70 per cent of the lands are being cultivated by tenant farmers in the State, as per norms of the scheme only those farmers who have pattadar passbooks are eligible for the aid. Thus, real cultivator is denied help. The scheme should be extended to tenant farmers as well,” he said.
Bhaskar Reddy, a farmer in Kadapa, said that unless tenant farmers are included in the welfare schemes, there will not be any real help to the farm sector. Another section of farmers and farmer organisations were of the view that what help the Centre is extending will not be a permanent solution for the farmers’ woes. They say, only by ensuring remunerative prices for the agriculture produce following MS Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, a better solution can be found to the farmer distress.
“Only with remunerative prices, farmers’ distress can be solved and farmer suicides can be prevented. The real cultivators (tenant farmers) instead of landowners should be extended help,” said Musunur Ramesh, AP Mirchi Rythu Sangham leader of Guntur.
Pala Hari Krishna, a farmer of Telukunchi village in Ichchapuram mandal of Srikakulam district, said they incur an expenditure of more than Rs 25,000 per acre every year to raise crops. “What the government is offering is just Rs 6,000 that too for the entire family and not based on the extent of land. It is better, if the government focuses on supplying quality seeds, irrigation water for two crops and ensures remunerative prices for farm produce,” he said.