36% farmers in Telangana are tenant farmers,10% of them are women

36% farmers in Telangana are tenant farmers, and 10% of them are women

A survey by the Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) found that as many as 36% of farmers in Telangana are tenant farmers and that about 10% of them are women.

RSV is a group of farmers’ groups, non-government organisations, agri-economists, and scientists.

RSV talked to 7,774 farmers in different parts of the State to learn more about what life is like for renter farmers. ‘We looked at all 7,774 farmers and found that 2,753 of them are renters. ‘This is more than twice what the NSSO thought,’ RSV’s Kiran Kumar Vissa told.

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Mounting debt

He said that the average debt for a tenant farmer family was ₹2.7 lakh. He released the report here on Wednesday. ‘Of this amount, ₹2 lakh comes from private lenders, who charge between 24 and 60% interest,’ the survey said.

‘Because the State Government won’t recognise tenant farmers, they can’t get credit from institutional investors or take part in government programs,’ he said.

‘Banks don’t lend money for land that is rented.He explained that farmers can’t get bank loans because the government won’t give them Loan Eligibility Cards.

Number of issues

The report says that tenant farmers face different kinds of problems. ‘Their investment needs are met by private money lenders, input dealers, gold pawnbrokers, commission agents, and landowners,’ the report says.

‘Since they don’t have a name or land ownership, it’s hard for them to sell their crops,’ it said. Related Agri News | Telangana discovered the first case of lumpy skin disease LSD in cattle

The government said that there was a lot of turnover among tenant farmers and that it was hard to find them. The survey shows that this is not true. ‘More than half of them farm by renting land for more than 5 to 10 years.’ The report said that more than 53% of the tenant farmers farm in areas that are watered by rain and that 21% of them use borewell irrigation.

About 38% of them pay the rent upfront, and the other 20% pay 50% of the rent when they sign the lease. This makes them feel a lot of pressure because they have to get a lot of money together before the planting season.