Guntur: Leased farming, also called as tenant farming, has been a bane to tenant farmers in Andhra Pradesh with 70 per cent of cultivators who have committed suicide seen to be tenants.
The increased farmland lease rate, non-availability of loan facility from public sector banks and drop in prices at the time of harvest for the output are the major reasons why tenant farmers tend to commit suicide. Farmland lease prices shot up largely post-Amaravati forcing tenant farmers to borrow money from private moneylenders. In addition to the land, they also need loan to buy pesticides, urea, seeds and agriculture labour. Natural calamities like untimely rains and drop in prices during the time of harvest apparently put immense financial burden on tenant farmers who sometimes see the only way out of the problem to be to commit suicide.
Farmland lease was earlier between Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 per acre or they were asked to part with 10 per cent to 25 per cent of the yield. Post-Amaravati, however farmers are demanding 50 per cent of the yield or Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 lease amount per acre which pushes the tenant farmers into severe financial difficulties.
Nearly 100 farmers committed suicide in Guntur district over the past three years of which around 60 were found to be tenant farmers.
A tenant farmer K. Brahmaiah committed suicide at Guntur collectorate on January 18 and implored the Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to help his family which explains the plight of tenant farmers who incur huge losses.
On January 20, a staunch supporter of Telugu Desam and tenant farmer Ch. Raja warned that he would commit suicide on Grievance Day at the collectorate on January 22 as he was unable to bear the crop losses.
As many as 22 tenant farmers committed suicide in AP in a span of around a month from August 24 to September 24 in 2017.
K. Nageswara Rao, a tenant farmer, said that they generally cultivate commercial crops like chilli, paddy, cotton and tobacco. The slump in market prices at the time of harvest leads to their incurring heavy losses.
He pointed out that if the tenant farmers did not clear debts to private moneylenders and pesticide dealers, they will not be given credit and the debt keeps piling up in Kharif and Rabi agriculture seasons.
Rythu Sangham president M. Srinivas Reddy said that the tenant farmers have to hypothecate the harvest to pesticide dealer and private moneylenders to get money and pesticides. He also said that post-Amaravati, the cost of lease increased to 50 per cent of the crop or Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000 per acre which is unjustifiable. The tenant farmers, however, have no option but to continue farming as they do not have the knowledge of any other other work. He demanded that the government regulate lease price and provide bank loans to tenant farmers to contain suicides.
