Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said suicides are more farmer related than the government’s failure. This was revealed at the State Level Bankers Committee minutes of the meeting recently held in Vijayawada. The minutes were circulated to the officers by the SLBC.
According to the SLBC minutes, the Chief Mi-nister expressing angu-ish over farmers’ suicides wished that AP should not have any more farmers committing suicides. He pointed out the reasons as bore well failure, disproportionate land use, cultivation of commercial crops like cotton and tobacco, low yields, informal debt, depression and lack of crop insurance, non remunerative prices from the government side.
He said the government needs the cooperation of bankers to make agriculture aprofitable business and to create confidence among farmers. The CM said that due to lack of finance from banks, tenant farmers are borrowing money from money lenders at higher rate of interest. He observed that percentage of achievement in crop loan disbursements particularly in Vizianagaram and Krishna districts was very low. He said the government will provide all kinds of inputs to farmers and ensure no shortage of chemicals and power supply and also provide all inputs to the farming community.
He has suggested strategies to overcome crop failure in the state by providing power, all inputs and marketing facilities, minimum support price, possible intervention, financial counselling, online marketing facilities, alternative occupation and alternative activities, water sharing mechanism, mixed cropping pattern and providing input subsidy to small and marginal farmers. Mr Naidu said that crop insurance has become a major problem despite timely payment of premium by farmers.
The government has systematically implemented the agriculture debt redemption scheme and said that the banks are doing business in a routine manner and asked the banks to think differently. The meeting has decided to constitute a sub-committee to overcome drought and dry spells and farmers' suicides.
