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Crop loans still a far cry for tenant farmers in Telangana
Notwithstanding the fact that majority of cultivators who ended their lives were tenant farmers, the Telangana government, which boasts of being pro-agriculture, is yet to make a move to issue loan eligibility cards (LEC), a vital component to access crop loans from the banks, to the eligible farmers.
Hyderabad: Notwithstanding the fact that majority of cultivators who ended their lives were tenant farmers, the Telangana government, which boasts of being pro-agriculture, is yet to make a move to issue loan eligibility cards (LEC), a vital component to access crop loans from the banks, to the eligible farmers.
There are nearly 14 lakh tenant farmers out of the total 56 lakh cultivators in the State. With the government continuing to dilly-dally over issuing of the LECs, the lessee-cultivators are denied their legitimate right of getting benefits such as obtaining institutional loans, crop insurance, disaster relief and other facilities provided by the Central and the State governments.
It may be noted here that after the Land Licensed Cultivators Act-2011 was brought in, the then undivided Andhra Pradesh government had issued LECs to some tenant farmers. Thereafter, the Telangana government didnot issue cards to tenant farmers citing teething problems in the administration initially.
But for the 2014-15 year where tenant farmers in Telangana got around Rs 26 crore crop loans, the government provided nothing to them in 2015-16 and 2016-17, including the current kharif season that already commenced. Majority of the tenancy agreements are on oral basis. Even if the lessee-cultivators insist for a written agreement, the land owners are not ready to execute fearing alienation of their lands to the tiller if the lease is recorded.
On the other hand, tenant farmers need to submit a written agreement of lease to the Agriculture Department to access the crop loans. Moreover, in majority of cases whatever the largesse provided by the government is being enjoyed by the land owner instead of tenant farmers.
Even as the impasse in the issuance of LECs is continued, surprisingly, the ongoing RythuSamagra Survey conducted by the government has not included the data of the tenant farmers. Speaking to The Hans India, All India Kisan Sabha national vice-president SarampallyMalla Reddy said, “The government is denying the rights of tenant farmers by not issuing the LECs.
With no access to institutional loans, the tenant farmers were forced to approach private moneylenders. This apart, there is a steep rise in tenant fees every year. Even if the tenant farmers overcome all these problems including the vagaries of nature, there is no guarantee of getting remunerative price to their produce. The government, besides issuing the LECs, needs to allay the fears of land owners that won’t cause any dent to their rights.”
Stating that lack of institutional credit to farmers was the major reason behind agrarian crisis, he said studies revealed that at least 70 per cent of all those farmers who committed suicide were lessee-cultivators.
