rinivas, a farmer of Yerdanur in Sangareddy mandal, has about one acre of land and took up another four acres near his village on tenancy for cultivating paddy. However, difficulty in procuring a tenant farmer certificate is making him ineligible to avail of crop loan.
When Mr. Srinivas approached the village revenue officer (VRO), he was asked to submit an application at Mee Seva centre, which would be forwarded to the mandal revenue officer and then to the VRO. Later, a grama sabha would be conducted in the village to ascertain whether he is a genuine tenant farmer. Based on that, he would be issued certificate. Mr. Srinivas is not sure when the process would be completed and he will get bank loan. As the rainy season commenced, he took loans from private parties at Rs. 3 interest on Rs. 100 per month. Last year he was asked to pay a lease of two quintals of rice per acre and he paid 8 quintals rice which cost about Rs. 28,000. This was in addition to the investment of Rs. 25,000 per acre for cultivation which includes tilling, ploughing, weed removal, fertilizer, pesticides and labour cost.
“Earlier the officers used to collect applications at the village level and conduct grama sabha, followed by forwarding of the application to the mandal level. Based on the certificate issued by mandal officers banks used to give loans. This time, the process was reversed and I am not sure how many farmers can come to the mandal headquarters and submit their applications as a majority of them are illiterate,” Mr. Srinvas told The Hindu . Last year, Mr. Srinivas invested Rs. 1 lakh on paddy cultivation in four acres land and the revenue generated was Rs. 1.15 lakh. He says that the old system was beneficial for farmers.
Mr. Srinivas is not alone. It is estimated that there would be around one lakh tenant farmers in Medak district alone cultivating in about 1.5 lakh acres. Many of the farmers are having small holdings between half acre and two acres and are leasing between two to six acres of land depending on their loan availability capabilities. Many tenant farmers are going for cotton cultivation and landing in debt trap as the yields are not at expected levels.
“The lease amount is ranging between Rs. 8,000 and Rs. 14,000 depending on the quality of land. Many tenant farmers are unable to get certificates as the land owners are not ready to make the agreement official. In addition, asking farmers to come and submit application at Mee Seva is more inconvenient,” said K. Jayaraj, Rytu Sangham district leader.
“The officials have informed us that there will be 1,050 tenant farmers in the district and all of them will be issued certificates. The fact remains that their number will be more than one lakh and no land owner comes forward to go for written agreement,” said a bank officer on condition of anonymity.
Many tenant farmers are unable to get certificates as the land owners are not ready to make the agreement official,
K. Jayaraj,Rytu Sangham district leader
