No relief from drought: Telangana farmers told to ration water

As if the impending drought was not enough, the government of Telangana has imposed another restriction on the agricultural farmers here. Jayashankar Bhupalpalli district agriculture officer Anuradha is now asking farmers to opt for crops that consume less water and electricity. These crops include grains and pulses.

The department, meanwhile, has promised to provide 3,100 quintal seeds at 50 percent subsidy. The agriculture officers are creating awareness among the farmers about the benefits of cultivating pulses. 

Quite contrary to the weather forecasts and the incessant drought-like situation worsening the situation for the farmers, the district officials expect that the extent of cultivated land will increase this year. It said that close to 3,94,836 acres of land could be cultivated this year. Therefore, approximately 9,258 quintal seeds and 85,733 tonnes of urea have been kept aside for the purpose. 

However, the water quota seems to be an add-on to the issues that the farmers of India are already facing, which include:

Credit-related issues: Undue delay in the dispensation of credit by government authorities leads to loss of time and crops. Moreover, the scale of finance fixed by the authorities is inadequate as farm labour has become costly.

Income gap: Even if the farmer manages to grow a healthy crop, he has to embrace himself for the huge gap in income that is incurred by the involvement of middlemen. The price with which the crops are sold to the middlemen is far below the market price. And with no avenues to sell them directly in the market, the farmers end up earning much less than they deserve.  

It has to be seen now how the farmers fare after overcoming all the obstacles and the government impositions this monsoon. 
 

• telangana
• farmers
• agriculture