Other States - Orissa   

Sharecroppers the worst sufferers of crop loss

— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

HOPES DASHED: Maturing paddy is flattened to the ground near Narendrapur in Ganjam district on Friday as a sudden spell of rain accumulates water in the fields.

BERHAMPUR: ‘Sharecroppers’ in Orissa are the worst sufferers of agricultural upheavals and financial crisis attached to it.

Usually the ‘sharecroppers’ face the brunt of low rainfall, pests or fluctuating prices of seed and fertilizers. But they have no access to the agricultural loans provided by nationalised banks and cooperative banks. Their agriculture is not eligible for crop insurance as they do not own the land on which they cultivate. Without any security and official recognition the sharecroppers face severe mental stress during crop loss like what has happened during the recent kharif season, which compels them to commit suicide, says social activist Prafulla Samantra.

Over 50 per cent of the agricultural land in Orissa is under sharecropping, claim social activists. But there is no official record about sharecropping in Orissa as government is yet to recognise ‘sharecroppers’ as bonafide farmers, says CPI-ML (New Democracy) leader Bhala Chandra Sadangi.

The absentee landlords hand over their land to ‘sharecroppers’ through a verbal agreement. Usually the ‘sharecroppers’ make total investment for cropping in the field. The owner of the field takes 50 per cent of the paddy procured from the field. The land owners claim they do not take any share from the pulses grown in the field after paddy. In some areas the landlords share half of the price of the fertilizer used in the field. But there has been no norm or tenet of share cropping in Orissa.

As the ‘sharecropper’ has no legal right on the land on which he takes up cultivation due to absence of any lease deed, he is not eligible for any agricultural loan from banks. But ironically the land owner is eligible for agricultural loans for the same land which is not cultivated by him. The ‘sharecropper’ is compelled to take loans on high interest from private money lenders, which drags him into a debt trap in case of continuous crop losses. The greatest irony is that the ‘sharecroppers’ in Orissa are not eligible for any compensation from government for crop loss. They are never covered under crop insurance schemes.

During displacements for industries the worst sufferers are the ‘sharecroppers’ as they do not get any compensation for the land which is their source of income, while the land owner gets the total compensation benefit.

So, the social activists of Orissa have asked the Orissa government to take cue from adjoining West Bengal and recognise share cropping. They also want norms of ‘share cropping’ to be codified with documentation of lease deed. These measures would provide some respite to the ‘sharecroppers’ and provide them access to loans.

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