Hyderabad: Mamidi Beeraiah had been waiting in line for two weeks with 200 other farmers to sell his paddy when he collapsed on bags of his crops and died on November 5.
The 57-year old farmer from Ailapur village in Telangana’s Kamareddy district had suffered a massive stroke, it was reported.
Rajendar, Beeraiah’s elder son, told The Wire that the farmer had reached the Lingampet centre with three tractors of paddy, around 60 bags.
“I repeatedly called him on his mobile in the morning of the day [November 5]. When there was no response from him, I asked my mother to go to the centre and find out what has happened. She found him lying dead on heaps of paddy,” Rajendar said.
The Telangana Rytu Bhima Pathakam promises Rs 5 lakh insurance to families in such situations but is limited to land-owning farmers who have a pattadar pass book.
The K. Chandrashekhar Rao government has been paying an annual premium of Rs 3,200 for each ‘eligible’ farmer covering a total of 31 lakh farmers in the state in the age group of 18-59.
Also read: Telangana HC’s Landmark Order Extending Crop Compensation to Tenant Farmers Gives Hope
However, Beeraiah is a tenant farmer who cultivates no more than two acres of farm land. His family is doubtful they will receive this amount.
Another farmer
The authorities at paddy purchase centres issue tokens on a first-come-first-serve basis for farmers who wish to sell paddy. This system was introduced in the current kharif season.
However, out of the 6,500 paddy purchase centres, the state government has opened only 3,40 centres so far, even though reaping operations of the have season picked up and the produce has begun to reach purchase centres.
Failure to sell produce on time would mean exposure to rains and damage to the grain. With requests mounting, farmers have been waiting for several days for such tokens.
Though a purchase centre was opened at Ailapur village, where Beeraiah lives, he decided to sell his crops at the neighbouring centre at Lingampet, close to where his land is located.
A few days after Beeraiah’s death, another farmer, Shankaraiah, of Hanumajipet in Banswada mandal of the same district was found dead in his paddy field. He was believed to have died by suicide by consuming pesticide.
Shankaraiah had had to secure permission from officials of the agriculture department to harvest paddy as authorities had imposed curbs on harvesting paddy in one go so as to reduce the rush at purchase centres.
S. Malla Reddy, secretary of the farmers’ union, Telangana State Rytu Sangham, told The Wire, “Deep in debts and under pressure from lenders Shankaraiah was worried about the sale of his produce.”
The FCI had stated that its procurement limit from Telangana would not cross 60 lakh tonnes this time. Photo: Caisii Mao/Flickr, CC BY 2.0
Politics and policy
Meanwhile, chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has urged his party cadres to stage statewide protests against the NDA government’s alleged laxity in procurement of food grains from farmers.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the Union government’s agency, has been tasked with procurement of grains, but it has allegedly not been hearing pleas of the KCR government to lift stocks from his state and has been citing demand and supply issues.
Ironically, with the ‘one nation one market’ objective, the Narendra Modi government had claimed to have begun the effort to eliminate state-owned agencies from the purview of procurement so as to allow growers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
Though KCR’s party had opposed the farm laws in the parliament, the chief minister, however, also dismissed demands from opposition parties to adopt an assembly resolution opposing them.
With an electoral setback in the just-concluded by-poll in Huzurabad, KCR is keen to capitalise on the paddy issue to counter the Union government.
Meanwhile, the FCI had stated that its procurement limit would not cross 60 lakh tonnes this time and that it would not procure para-boiled rice in the kharif season, citing a drop in the demand for the particular variety in the market.
Keeping in mind FCI’s procurement restrictions, KCR had imposed a blanket ban on paddy cultivation, asking farmers to go for alternative dry cops. This had sparked protests across the state.
Also read: Why KCR’s Crop Regulation Policy Has Telangana Farmers up in Arms
While KCR has often stated that his government is committed to procure even the last grain from farmers, bumper crops in the last couple of years have made it a near impossible task for him to keep his word.
The KCR government has improved irrigation in the last seven years by building major dams like Kaleswaram and Devadula, besides offering free power for agriculture and a cash incentive scheme, the Rytu Bandhu. KCR has even expressed his wish of turning his state into a “koti yekarala maganam”, which means a state with one crore acres of fertile lands.
Consequently, paddy area under irrigation canals and bore wells increased to up to 64 lakh acres from 12 lakh acres before the state’s formation and paddy production in a year reached 2.5 crore tonnes.
“Even if the FCI accepts 60 lakh tons out of total output of 2.5crore tonnes from the state as per its commitment and the state is to retain another 25 lakh tons for self-consumption, it is difficult to find takers for another 65 lakh tons in excess,” adds Malla Reddy.
G.V. Ramanjaneyulu, an agriculture scientist who heads the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, said the plans of the government to promote paddy cultivation lacked “rationale and forethought”.
“After all, paddy is a water-intensive crop requiring a huge quantum of 60 lakh litres for just an acre. In addition, water in Telangana has to be mechanically or physically brought to the fields, which consumes a lot of energy,” he said, adding that it is high time farmers shift to market-driven crops with relatively less production cost.
The production cost of a kilogram of rice in Telangana is estimated at Rs 39.
