ONGOLE: Tenant farmers of Ongole district are facing the brunt of the government’s apathy due to the non-issuance of Crop Cultivator Rights (CCR) cards as per the promise made by the government.
As per the official estimations, around 4.77 lakh farmer families have taken up cultivation as their livelihood in the Prakasam district. The district has around 6,05,800 hectares of cultivable land and the authorities are aimed at issuing the CCR Cards to around 38,430 tenant farmers of the district in this year, who are also the small and mini farmers in nature doing agriculture in less than 1hectare extent of lands. So far nearly 600 farmers are only recognised as tenant farmers of the district
In July 2019, the AP Assembly approved the AP Crop Cultivator Rights Act 2019, thereby repealing the AP Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011. This new Act provided for the issuance of the CCR Cards to the Tenant Farmers.
Earlier, Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011, had provided for the recognition of lessee cultivators (tenant farmers/sharecroppers) as ‘licensed cultivators’ and issuance of ‘Loan Eligibility Cards’ (LEC) to them. But it did not materialise. In fact, this segment of farmers cannot be ignored, because they play a most important role and yet are most vulnerable. The tenant farmers face a dire situation as they are victims of a triple whammy.
Firstly, in addition to the regular costs of cultivation, they bear the additional expenditure of very large land rents. Secondly, they are excluded from most government support systems like low-interest rate crop loans or interest-free crop loans, crop insurance, disaster compensation, crop procurement, marketing facilities, and the cash support schemes such as Rythu Bharosa, etc., which are essential to make agriculture a viable livelihood. Thirdly, the tenants become dependent on the land owners or input and output dealers for loans and they are caught in a cycle in which they not only pay high interest but also lose their bargaining capacity when purchasing inputs or selling the produce.
The Government reiterated its commitment to ensure recognition and inclusion of tenant farmers in all its schemes including the newly announced Rythu Bharosa scheme of Direct Cash Transfer to farmer households. But the issue of CCR Cards has not yet started in a big way across the district.