Union budget disappoints farmers

Karimnagar: The farming sector across the district is highly disappointed with the interim Budget-2019 presented by Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday as they find it has nothing for small, marginalised and tenant farmers who are outside the banking network.

The government has announced Rs6,000 per year to each farmer whose land holding is less than 2 hectares in three installments under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) and allocated Rs75,000 crore for 2019-20 which would be directly transferred to farmers' bank account.

The representatives of various farmer's association think that the government has not done enough to help the farmers who had been affected adversely for not getting Minimum Support Price for their produce and loans from the banks on time.

T Ramulu, the representative of 'Telangana Rythu Coolie Sangham' alleged that about 50 percent of the farmers across the district are outside the banking system. They depend upon the informal sector for loans. 

Farmers were also promised that they would get a price of 50 per cent above the cost of product along with linking the farming with MNRGA. The budget that was presented on Friday has nothing to to fulfill such promises, he alleged.

Another farmer Nampally Veeraiah said that a farmer invests at least Rs 10 to 15,000 in one cropp season on at least 2 hectares of land and the government's offer seems to be no help for them.

Many small and marginalised farmers including tenant farmers across the State and in the country are in debts because of investing huge amounts for cultivating various kinds of crops. With uncertainty of farm income and unable to pay the borrowed amount back, many of them are committing suicides.

Farmers have been staging protests demanding better price for their produce and such a small amount would offer no real support to the debt-stricken farmer, he added.

The agriculture experts expressed that like in the previous budget, the government claimed that they have met the promise of providing 50 percent income over the cost of production. But in reality, the government has done nothing like that to the farming sector, they alleged.