ANANTAPUR: Farmers are among the worst-affected by the Covid-19-induced lockdown. Staring at huge losses, many of them have left their crop to rot in their fields.One such farmer, V Linga Reddy, from Tadimarri mandal of Anantapur district, incurred losses of Rs 12 lakh as he could not sell the banana, tomato, and onion he cultivated on 12 acres of land. To deal with his debt, he decided to sell his land, but couldn’t find anyone to buy it for even Rs 10 lakh per acre.
Linga Reddy owns eight acres of land, and cultivated banana on six acres and tomato on two. Besides this, he took land on lease from his relatives to cultivate cucumber.Amid the lockdown, when transportation was restricted, he had no option but to leave his crop of banana in the fields. “I even asked traders to take the crop for free, but none came forward. I left the crop so at least cattle could eat it,” he told TNIE.
A trader agreed to buy the cucumber crop for just Rs 40,000, and paid a paltry sum as an advance. “But after taking the crop, he stopped responding to my calls. He still hasn’t paid me,” Linga Reddy said.But the farmer didn’t lose hope, and continued to cultivate crops — watermelon and onion on three acres each. “It was a bumper crop. Under normal circumstances, I would have got a huge profit. But the lockdown restricted transport, and all my crop was either left in the field or didn’t even fetch me the money I invested,” he rued.
Aims to clear debt of Rs 20 lakh
Linga Reddy had taken loans of Rs 20 lakh and invested it in agriculture. But then his wife met with an accident, and the farmer had to spend Rs 2 lakh on her treatment.To clear his debts, the farmer decided to sell two acres of land. “An acre used to fetch at least Rs 17-18 lakh before the lockdown. But now there are no buyers even if I reduce the rate. A couple of weeks ago, a farmer from a neighbouring village came forward to buy the land for Rs 13.5 lakh per acre. But he too backed away. Even If I want to sell it for Rs 10 lakh, there are no buyers,” he said.
However, Linga Reddy has not lost hope, and is again relying on farming to rescue him. “I am a farmer. A farmer does not know anything but to invest in agriculture. Only time will tell if I get out of this situation,” he said.
‘Even Throwaway prices not helping’
“An acre used to fetch at least Rs 17-18 lakh before the lockdown. But now there are no buyers even if I reduce the rate,” Linga Reddy said, and pointed out that he can’t find anyone to buy his land even for
Rs 10 lakh per acre. Meanwhile, he continues farming, saying it’s the only thing he knows to invest in