Andhra farmers go on crop holiday against CM Naidu

Protesting chief minister Chandrababu Naidu’s preoccupation with Amaravati at the cost of their region, thousands of farmers in the lush Konaseema area declared a 'crop holiday' for this cycle of harvests. 

 

A crop holiday has become a new form of protest in Andhra Pradesh, with farmers choosing not to sow seeds for a new harvest at all, to avoid losses and subsequent indebtedness later.

 

According to farmers in the region, there will be a crop holiday in about 40,000 acres.  Compared to the total area under cultivation in the East Godavari district, the area under crop-holiday is small. 

 

However, the protest does reveal that all is not well in farm sector under the ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) regime.

 

Konaseema, which is comparable to exotic locations in Kerala, is a fertile stretch on the Coromandel Coast in Andhra Pradesh. 

 

The region is a delta created by the River Godavari before it empties itself into the Bay of Bengal. Surrounded by picturesque hills with a carpet of green paddy fields, now Konaseema is simmering with anger against CM Naidu’s government’s apathy in maintaining the canal system in the area.

 

Farmers have been complaining that drainage and irrigation canals have lost their carrying capacity because of silting and weeds. 

 

Also, the incursion of seawater into fields and land subsidence (sinking of land due to lack of groundwater) have forced farmers to abandon the Kharif (monsoon) crop this year. 

 

Farmers say they are not sure of getting sufficient returns on their investments due to the uncertainty of the yield.

“Naidu is not able to see beyond his dream project Amaravati. The lifeline of Konaseema is the canal system. But poor maintenance of the canals is leading to crop loss. Instead of losing the investment, farmers in Konaseema announced the crop holiday” said Kumar Swamy of Bharatiya Kisan Sangh.

 

The decision of the farmers, if fully implemented, will result in a significant drop in paddy production, besides denying employment to thousands of farm labourers in the area.

 

“The government has used every method available to it to ensure that there is no crop holiday. Home Minister Chinna Rajappa himself threatened farmers with dire consequences. Prohibitory orders have also been imposed to prevent farmers from being organised. Still, the farmers decided to go ahead with the crop holiday,” Kumaraswamy told Asianet Newsable from  Vijayawada.

According to Kumara Swamy, the late release of water into the canals is also one of the reasons for the observance of a crop holiday by the farmers.

 

“It is better to go in for crop holiday than face the huge losses of the investment. The government is busy on other issues, with little interest in addressing the issues of farmers” he said.

State home minister Chinna Rajappa has the responsibility of prevailing upon the farmers against going on a crop holiday since the TDP doesn’t want the practice to occur under Naidu’s regime, whose avowed policy is to promote agriculture, claiming it was the most remunerative sector.  

 

“Earlier Naidu backed farmers when they observed crop holidays in the Congress regime and promised that he would ensure that there would be no crop holidays when TDP came to power.  In the past two years, none of 23 recommendations of the Mohan Kanda Committee have been implemented. Now, farmers think that going in for crop-holiday is the best option than losing the crops in floods or water scarcity,” Kumara Swamy said.

 

When contacted, state agricultural commissioner Dhanajay Reddy said that the government was in touch with the farmers.

 “Home minister Chinna Rajappa, who hails from the district, is talking to the farmers.  Paddy transplantation is going on in 80 percent of irrigated land,” he said and hoped that farmers would not resort to a crop holiday as all issues were being addressed.