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1 out of 3 farmers are tenants in Telangana; are excluded from any government support
Context
A recent survey conducted on conditions of Farmers in Telangana, highlighted that while on one hand, there is mounting debt on tenant farmers; they do not get any substantial government support which is mostly given to land-owning farmers.
Details of the survey:
- Conducted by: Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV), an independent farmers’ organization based in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
- Key findings:
- One out of every three farmers in Telangana is tenant farmers, shows high tenancy rate in the state.
- The figure is double the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) estimates of 17.5 per cent tenant holdings in the state.
- The tenant farmers were found to be excluded from all government support.
- Statics of land distribution:
- 36 per cent of farmers were cultivating leased land. Also, 19 per cent of these were
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Telangana becomes the second state after Andhra Pradesh with such high tenant holdings in the country. |
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- High Debt: Average debt due to agriculture per tenant farmer family was Rs.2.7 lakh. Of this, 75 per cent were private loans.
- Dependence on Money lenders: Tenant farmers being dependent on moneylenders, fertiliser and pesticides dealers, gold pawnbrokers, commission agents, relatives, seed companies, and landowners for their investment.
Who are tenant farmers?
- A tenant farmergrows crops or raises livestock on land that's owned by someone else. Most tenant farmers pay rent to a landlord for a house and farmland.
- Originally, tenant farmers were known as
- Tenant farming, is an agricultural system in which landowners contribute their land and a measure of operating capital and management while tenants contribute their labor with various amounts of capital and management, the returns being shared in a variety of ways.
- Payment to the owner may be in the form of a share in the product, or in cash, or in a combination of both.
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Tenants and their families probably constitute two-fifths of the world’s population engaged in agriculture. |
Agriculture policy issues in India:
- Agriculture in India has been facing several issues such as fragmented land holding, depleting water table, deteriorating soil quality, increasing input costs, low productivity etc.
- Output prices may not be remunerative as farmers are often forced to borrow to manage expenses.
- According to a study jointly conducted by Nabard and Bharat KrishakSamaj (BKS), a farmers producers’ organization, in Punjab, more than 60 per cent of the ‘very high’ and ‘high’ distress small and marginal farmers (SMFs) did not receive farm loan waiver (FLW) benefits.
- In Maharashtra also, close to 42 per cent of the SMF whose distress category was ‘very high’ did not receive FLW benefits.
- Thus indebtedness is the key reason for several farmer suicides in India.
- Loan waivers can provide some relief to farmers in such situations.
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What is the difference between tenant farmers and sharecroppers?
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Why they face exploitation?
- Due to unpaid debt taken by them in undefined interest rates from money lenders and landowners.
- Lack of education about crops and leads to crop failures.
- Non-inclusion in several government schemes for farmers
- Lack of Capital support
- Unable to get loan from banks, due unavailability of land or assets for mortgage.
Other Government Initiatives:
- Rythu Bandhu Scheme of Telengana:
- It is a scheme of the Telangana government under which the state government extends financial support to land-owning farmers at the beginning of the crop season through direct benefit transfer.
- The scheme is open to all resident farmers of the state who owned land.
- Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi:
- All land holding eligible farmer families (subject to the prevalent exclusion criteria) are to avail of the benefits under this scheme.
- Mukhyamantri Harit Krishi Sanyantra Yojana in Bihar:
- To make available the various farm of agricultural equipment, farm machinery
- and other implements under the priority sector of Agriculture and allied activities to support the small and marginal farmers of the state
- To balance the adverse economies of scale due to the high cost of individual ownership
- To improve the mechanization in areas with low farm availability
- To provide hiring assistance for various agricultural machinery or implements that are applied for the different operations
- To expand more mechanized activities during cropping seasons in the large areas especially in small and marginal holdings
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