Tenant farmers are the worst-hit in Andhra Pradesh

Vijayawada: Tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh are the worst-hit with adverse impacts of demonetisation of high currency notes. As the money circulation in the agricultural sector is bare minimum now, the situation led to a halt in lending of money by private financiers to tenant farmers for investment on harvesting in present Rabi season. Taking advantage of the situation, many financiers have raised interest rates from two or three per cent to five, six or seven per cent. This situation is a double-hit on tenant farmers as they are already facing drought conditions due to lack of rains.

In Andhra Pradesh, more than 70 per cent of those in the farm sector are tenant farmers. In Rabi, the major crops are corn, black gram, bengal gram, tobacco and paddy. The farmers in the state are caught in a Catch-22 situation. The harvested crops in the Kharif season have no buyers at the wholesale markets due to non-circulation of money in the markets. Hence, the price has come down especially for cotton, mirchi, onion and black gram. This has resulted in farmers selling their crops at unbearable losses. Farmers who do not harvest their crops in Kharif are waiting for Rabi. Now, they are not getting loans to invest in harvesting.

As per the observations of Pedaparupudi Rangaiah, a farmer from Gannavaram who has experienced difficulties in the state, each and every tenant farmer used to take more than half of the money for cultivation by loan with interest. Paddy rate has fallen and the fate of the farmers is hanging in air.