The Hindu : National : Suicides by Andhra Pradesh farmers continue

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Thursday, Jun 10, 2004

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National

Suicides by Andhra Pradesh farmers continue

By S. Nagesh Kumar

HYDERABAD, JUNE 9. As many as 161 farmers have committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh since May 14 when the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy Government assumed office. Drought for three successive years, crop failure and mounting debts are cited as the reasons for the present state of affairs.

Senior State Agriculture Department officials told The Hindu that this had happened despite the good agricultural performance in 2003-04 when the output was the best in three years. However, they were unable to explain the spurt in the number of suicides in the last three and a half weeks.

Official statistics show that 137 farmers ended their lives on account of debts and crop failure. Five more committed suicide due to failure of borewells, and in the remaining 19 cases, "other reasons" were cited. The present tragedy is comparable to the spate of suicides by cotton farmers in Telangana in 1997-98.

What has really baffled the Government officials is the widespread occurrence of the suicides, reported from 17 of the State's 23 districts. Guntur, a district in the relatively prosperous coastal Andhra region, has reported 22 suicides — the third highest after Medak (26) and Karimnagar (20). An age-wise analysis reveals that a majority of the victims (130) were in the highly-productive 25-50 age group.

While the Government has cited `natural calamities such as successive droughts and pest attacks' as one of the causes for the suicides, figures show that agricultural production actually rose last year, thanks to the normal rainfall of 817 mm during the SW and NE monsoons from June 1 to December 31, 2003. In comparison, the rainfall during this period in 2002 and 2001 was 572 mm and 797 mm.

The Additional Director of Agriculture, P. N. Chowdary, said the situation was so comfortable in the rainfed areas that cotton farmers in Telangana received Rs. 2,500 a quintal against the minimum support price of Rs. 1,925.

According to bankers' projections, the credit requirement for agriculture in the State during 2004-05 is Rs. 20,000 crores. But this represents only institutional lending which accounts for 20 per cent of the total requirement. The rest apparently comes from moneylenders, who charge usurious interest rates, and dealers of fertilizers, pesticides and seeds.

Even the institutional credit has several shortcomings, including uneven spread. Last year, banks disbursed Rs. 7,903 crores in crop loans against the target of Rs. 9,660 crores. The target this year is Rs. 11,205 crores.

Now, the bankers' task is to ensure that more borrowers are brought under the net and to see that the crop loans are properly utilised. Another challenge is to mitigate the plight of the 35 lakh tenant farmers and sharecroppers who are outside the institutional credit system as they cannot furnish any collateral security. Alarmed over the spate of suicides, the Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, announced a special package under which Rs. 1 lakh would be paid to the family of every farmer who had committed suicide. In addition, a one-time loan settlement with a ceiling of Rs. 50,000 would be paid to the creditors. Banks are yet to approve Dr. Reddy's proposal. This is a complete reversal of the policy of the Chandrababu Naidu Government, which was totally averse to payment of ex gratia on the plea that it would only encourage farmers to commit suicide. Congress leaders had been sharply critical of the Telugu Desam Party's policy as it ignored the distress of families of nearly 3,000 farmers who, they alleged, ended their lives during Mr. Naidu's rule. Apart from harassment by moneylenders, spurious seeds and lack of water, it has been acknowledged that poor delivery of agricultural extension services has also contributed to the farmers' distress. Regulation of the quality of seeds remains another grey area since existing laws do not cover all hybrids leading to spurious seeds ending up with the farmer.

According to Mr. Chowdary, until Parliament passes appropriate laws, all that the Government can do is enter into a `non-enforceable' memorandum of understanding with seed companies to ensure minimum quality.

The poor state of the State's farm sector, considered the granary of the South, was highlighted by the Chief Minister in the Assembly recently. He said the share of agriculture in GSDP had fallen to 13.13 per cent in 2002-03 from 24.62 per cent in 1993-94.

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