Govts' lack of foresight distresses farmers

Telangana is passing through a period of agricultural crisis. Policy instability, ritual rollout of annual action plans etc., meant that procurement of paddy, its marketing and exports are hit hard in the State.

In the past, there was a sort of regulated cropping. Farmers used to be advised on what to raise, cultivation practices and the like. All this is no longer in vogue. Unilateral steps without any consultations with opposition and stakeholders have messed up things. In fact, since 2014, the biggest problem in India has been that all governments feel they are the ultimate authority and their know-all attitude sees no need for any cooperation from any organisation or political party. They do not take opposition into confidence on such issues as crop pattern, ignoring that if they co-opt opposition or experts as partners in decision-making, it would prove beneficial for farmers.

Ministers instead of convincing farmers on crop shift and showing alternatives seem to be only keen on impressing the CM by speaking before news channels, attacking the opposition. The opposition in turn merely dubs the government anti-farmer. While claiming to be pro-farmer, neither speaks to the farmers. All this has caused utter confusion among paddy farmers and forced CM K Chandrasekhar Rao himself to hold a press meet and explain why they do not want farmers to sow paddy during the rabi.

Rather than apprise the farmers of no market for paddy or bleak procurement chances, both ruling and opposition parties try to derive political capital by blaming it on the other. TS government says Centre is not purchasing but pats itself for raising storage capacity. It adds meekly that massive output has, however, caused lack of space for the produce.

It is not easy to convince a farmer to change crop pattern instantly. It needs education, proper reasoning and strong awareness on which crop would be advantageous to him. Instead, we have seen a District Collector say that he will not allow any seed company to sell paddy seeds. The farmers are now seeking that paddy or fodder crop be allowed during rabi season. The issue of water to every acre was one of the main slogans during the separate Telangana agitation. The statehood has been achieved, but the farmers continue to despair for want of a sound action plan from the government. The government cannot say the present crisis was unforeseeable.

The Telangana government has been boasting that it is the only government in the country which directly purchases paddy from farmers. But it is now finding it impossible to keep its promise. It claims that paddy was cultivated in 63 lakh acres this year but the Centre disputes it, saying the acreage is not visible in satellite images. The State claims they had asked for ground-level inspection, but the Centre has not responded to date. Under these circumstances, the government is asking farmers not to go in for paddy.

If the farmers have to shift to a different crop, the government needs to assure them about procuring their produce. But no such assurance is forthcoming. Another problem is the State does not have proper plant and machinery to mill the paddy as per international standards and also lacks testing laboratories. Hence, exporters are not preferring Telangana Sona rice. Poor connectivity is another major issue which deters them.