The situation of paddy farmers in AP has turned pathetic, having faced crop damage following Nivar cyclone. Though the AP government announced a nominal help and washed its hands, the crop decreased by 40 percent and the colour of the paddy too has changed resulting in huge losses to farmers. Some of them even sold their crops to the civil supplies department. However, even after three months, they did not get the money deposited into their bank accounts. With this, the farmers from Godavari and Krishna districts are gearing up for protests.
The food grains procured from the farmers are first supplied to millers. They shift the grains to warehouses of the central government. The ration which is supplied every month is collected from these warehouses. The Centre has to release funds for the crops procured with minimum support price. The civil supplies corporation has procured 60 lakh tonnes of grains during the last three months and for this, they have to pay Rs 45 crore to the farmers. With no release of central funds and the state in a financial crisis, there has been a delay in payment for the last three months. This has forced farmers to approach private money lenders for investments related to the Rabi crop.
The AP Civil Supplies Corporation is reeling under loans. During the 2018 end, the Corporation had loans of Rs 10,000 Crore and during the last 19 months, it reached Rs 27,000 Crore. The banks are not coming forward to provide loans additionally to the corporation and with this, the corporation is not in a position to provide money to the farmers. There are allegations the state government was diverting the money by collecting the loans in the name of Civil Supplies Corporation.
The Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy met and requested the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi to release the funds of the state government and also the delayed payments to the farmers. With this, the Centre released Rs 1200 Crore. With the money being insufficient, the authorities decided to make payments for the procurement made in November. The farmers are under distress as they were not getting money even after three months after procurement.
During the 2020 Kharif season, arrears of grain procured from farmers accumulated to the tune of Rs 800 Crore. Palakollu TDP MLA Nimmala Ramanayudu went on a one-day hunger strike protesting against the state government for its failure to pay farmers even after one year. However, no assurances were received from either the government or the authorities. Despite Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy announcing in the assembly that cash would be deposited in farmers’ accounts within 15 days of purchase of grains, farmers are voicing concerns that the assurance was not being fulfilled at the ground level.
