SANGAREDDY/ KARIMNAGAR/ADILABAD/WARANGAL: Rains and hailstorms have dealt a deadly blow to the farmers who are already weighed down by the debt burden in Siddipet district. With rains causing irreversible damage to crops, farmers have no hope of paying off the debts incurred for the Rabi cultivation let alone securing fresh loans to raise Kharif crops.
Many small and marginal farmers managed to raise Rabi crops with the investment subsidy given by the government and loans from money lenders or banks. Their hope of earning enough from the harvest to clear the old debts and raise fresh loans for the next cultivation lay in a shambles as the rains ravaged the standing crops and the produce at the procurement centres.
When TNIE spoke to farmers in Komaravelly mandal, they had one thing in common: insurmountable debts and an uncertain future. N Srinivas Reddy of Posanipally cultivated paddy in 12 acres by borrowing money from private money-lenders.
Now, the entire paddy has been destroyed by rains and hailstorms, leaving him no hope of repaying the Rs 1.6 lakh loan he took from a bank. His chances of getting a fresh loan for Kharif cultivation are bleak. Though private money-lenders are his only hope, he has to be prepared to pay a very high interest of 2.5 per cent which could prove backbreaking.
The condition of tenant farmers is even worse. Silla Latha, a tenant farmer, is saddled with a debt of Rs 4 lakh at 2 percent interest and rent payable to the land-owner. Though she has lost her crop due to rains, the land-owners are pressuring her to pay the rent.Several farmers have been waiting at the paddy procurement centres of the Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society (PACS) for the last one week for the government to buy their soaked produce which could give them some relief.
Another farmer, Kandi Raji Reddy, says he pays Rs 9,000 every year towards interest on the loan he has taken from a bank. In Adilabad district, farmers after suffering a huge loss due to rain damage, are turning to private money-lenders to take up Kharif cultivation. Their hope of some relief from loan waiver has receded as the government is mum on its promise made in 2018.
According to Rythu Swarajya Vedika district president Sungarapu Borranna, in the erstwhile Adilabad district around 30 per cent of the farmers did not approach banks for loans as they did not clear old debts in the hope of the government fulfilling the Rs 1 lakh loan waiver promise.This ‘default’ has resulted in bank loans of some farmers multiplying. According to sources, 5.13 lakh farmers are eligible for the crop loan waiver in the district.
P Srikanth of Adilabad took a crop loan of Rs 2 lakh in 2018. This mounted to Rs 4 lakh as he did not repay the amount in the hope of getting Rs 1 lakh loan waiver. The bank credited to his loan account Rs 70,000 he had received under Union government’s Fasal Bima Yojana and the amount the State government had paid him under the Rythu Bandhu scheme. Now, his total outstanding loan stands at Rs 3 lakh.
“Good governance is just a mirage for farmers in the district,” said A Kumaraswamy of Rajavaram village in Jangaon district.When TNIE spoke to farmers, they urged the State government to provide them with a minimum loan facility.
According to them, though they pay interest on loans, the public sector banks are reluctant to sanction them fresh crop loans. Consequently, several farmers are forced to borrow money from private money-lenders at a high interest rate, stated N Janardhan of Peddapendiyal village in Hanamkonda district.
The farmers in Chinnapendiyal were upset over the government’s delay in paying them the compensation for crop damage.
Some said that they would rather take loans from money-lenders for Kharif cultivation than wait for the compensation announced by the government.Another farmer, Methuku Mahesh of Komaravelly, has a similarly tragic story to tell. His paddy crop in 7.5 acres was decimated by rains.The destruction was so widespread that he was not able to take home even a few kilograms of grain he so painstakingly cultivated.
According to Mahesh, hailstones flattened his paddy crop. He recently borrowed Rs 8 lakh for his son’s wedding and Rs 2 lakh to cultivate paddy in the Rabi season, but now he is not in a position to repay even a single rupee. Even if he gets Rs 10,000 per acre as compensation announced by the State government, it would be a drop in the ocean. Either he has to take loans from money-lenders to cultivate Kharif crop or abandon the idea of farming. Another problem that haunts him is payment of EMI for tractor loan.
In Karimnagar district too, farmers stare at a bleak future because of mounting debts and crop damage. A 65-year-old Salla Rajaiaha and several other farmers were toiling to dry paddy that was soaked in rain at a procurement centre when TNIE met them.
They were hit so hard by rains and hailstorms that they have lost all interest in preparing for Kharif season. Whatever money the government deposited in their accounts for paddy procurement before the rain havoc, is being deducted by banks towards the loans they have taken. They don’t have any money left for Kharif cultivation. The promise made by the State government to waive Rs 1 lakh crop loan in 2018 is yet to be fulfilled, said Silla Ravi from Chigurumamidi.