Precisely a month ago, in the midst of several quintals of paddy, Itharaveni Rajesham, a farmers from Telangana, died from heat stroke as he sat on top of it waiting to sell it at a government-run procurement centre. All through last week, the 48 year old had stood guard over his two-acre farm’s harvest while languishing under the sun which eventually caused his death. This is a period when Choppadandi mandal and other parts of Karimnagar district have experienced temperatures as high as 45° Celsius.
On that afternoon Rajesham left home on his moped and travelled half a kilometre to reach the procurement centre on the village outskirts.
At this time when he was yet to hear good news despite having been waiting for long without selling any produce; such news is when by then my dad had gone away leaving me with such agony
The wife Malleshwari, son Raju who is pursuing B.Tech in first year and daughter Sravanthi were all left in shock after his demise.
“My father wanted me to become an engineer and my sister a nurse to serve society and bring fame to the village,” says Raju wiping tears off his face. “He worked very harder in the farms ensuring that we would have better lives even during tough times financially. During off-peak seasons he used to work as a porter (hamali) so as to add some money into our family budget.” He said.
One of his relatives remembers finding him lying unconscious over here paddy heap. There were attempts at resuscitation by some people at the purchasing center who tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), but it did not yield any positive result. He was rushed to hospital near from where he lived but even though he was declared dead once they arrived there
The farmer felt helpless due to low rice production during the Yasangi/Rabi season because of water shortage for irrigation. “He looked very tired, going back and forth from his home to the procurement centre, trying to sell his paddy for more than a week,” explains Lingaiah, another relative adding that Rajesham struggled with crop losses caused by untimely rains in the last few years. Within days of his passing away, all the common variety paddy he had was procured at MSP of ₹2,183 each quintal.
The bereaved family received ₹5 lakh claim amount under Rythu Bima, the State government’s life insurance scheme for farmers. However, the Rabi season instalment of Rythu Bharosa (previously known as Rythu Bandhu), an investment support incentive, is yet to be disbursed to the deceased farmer’s family, say official sources. ‘Revenue department officials have also sent a proposal seeking sanctioning of `5 lakh compensation to Rajesham’s family.’
Challenges in Procurement
Rajesham is one of many such farmers in Telangana who had to wait for weeks before disposing their paddy produce at purchase centres despite this year’s Rabi season being relatively better than last year’s corresponding period in terms of procurement.
The State Civil Supplies Corporation, the principal agency for paddy procurement, has already procured about 4.5 million tonnes of paddy through nearly 7,200 procurement centres till May 28 this year from April 1. Paddy was cultivated on over 5.192 million acres in this Rabi and the production is estimated to be around one crore tonnes. The government plans to procure at least 754 lakh tonnes of it at MSP, leaving the rest for private purchase by traders and millers and self-consumption by farmers. In 2022-23, paddy production was recorded as 65.82 lakh tonnes.
Bereaved family members of farmer Itharaveni Rajesham at their home in Ragampeta village of Telangana’s Karimnagar district
Several rice growers in the erstwhile composite Karimnagar district—the state’s major rice bowl—had to bear the brunt of recent spate of unseasonal rain and before that, scarcity of water for irrigation. Kondaiah who comes from Kodimyal village in Jagtial district says his harvested paddy got soaked due to mid-May rain. “A portion of wet grain sprouted which reduced my efforts to salvage back some little success coupled with loses,” he said regretfully.
Even those farmers who grew super-fine varieties like HMT with its good grain quality had to wait until elections were over for the purchasing officers came to them.
“I have been waiting to sell my super-fine variety paddy lying at the Wyra market yard hoping for remunerative price,” said Venkateshwar Rao, a farmer from Somavaram village located in Cana part of Nagarjunasagar Project (NSP) Left Tail-end area [in Khammam district].
Marred by delays
Although all grains received at these centres are supposed to be procured at MSP, there have been delays in transportation to storage facilities and rice mills and sometimes shortage of gunny sacks.
“The delay has hampered the procurement process. Many farmers in our mandal have sold their paddy to private traders at prices less than MSP,” says a woman farmer from Choppadandi who did not want her name revealed.
The late sowing of rabi paddy cultivation in some parts of Peddapalli district proved costly for hundreds of farmers as unseasonal rains destroyed paddy crops in the four mandals of Peddapalli, Sultanabad, Kalva Srirampur and Ramagiri on May 7.
Official data reveals that more than 300 acres were affected by damage to the paddy crop impacting slightly over 230 farmers from these four mandals.
In Manthani mandal, a total of 212 paddy growers suffered losses due to crop damage in the latest spell of unseasonal rain on May 17 that damaged paddy crops on large tracts randomly interspersed with vegetable crops.
As per official sources, post-harvest rain caused minimal damage to the crop elsewhere in Karimnagar district except for some areas that lie closeby.
A waiting game
Instances where farmers are made to wait for sourcing inputs like seed and fertilizer for the coming Kharif season are also increasing all over the State. On May 28, police had to step in and control a crowd trying to buy cotton seed at Adilabad.
The ruling Congress is in conflict with the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who are the opposition political parties. K.T. Rama Rao, BRS working president, has accused the Telangana’s Congress government of failing to procure Rabi paddy, leaving it exposed to spoilage by unexpected rains that ruined its crop at market yards, procurement centers as well as in fields. He claims this was because of more interest shown on election activity than farmers’ needs.
The same four agencies were allocated tenders for both previous stocks of paddy and procurement of fine rice or rice grain which measures less than 6 mm for schools, hostels and anganwadis. His words were;” This group sought to make windfall profits from sweat-less work while leaving the paddy where they found it and forcing millers to buy it at ₹200 higher per quintal than what they paid just before.”
A similar allegation has been made by A. Maheshwar Reddy BJP floor leader in the Assembly against the government.
But N. Uttam Kumar Reddy Minister for Civil Supplies rejected these claims from BRS and BJP stating that a larger quantity of paddy has been procured in this season compared to what happened when BRS was in power during same time last year. Moreover, he also said that farmers receive their payments faster than under the previous government. Finally, he blamed Opposition parties impugning government’s reputation without reason.
Green manure seed (Jeeluga and Janumu) shortage leading to non-availability of seed through proper planning, placement of indent for required quantities well in advance is another farmer leader who also hails from Jagtial district Tirupathi.P.
Before planting paddy crops green manure crops should be grown in order to improve organic matter content of soil so as to enrich fertility status of the soil. He emphasizes the fact that queues at outlets operated by primary agriculture cooperative societies in Jagtial or Kalleda and other parts of the district are becoming longer with each passing day because of shortage of green manure seeds.
“The farmers have to stand in endless lines outside stores under scorching heat waves during peak summer for purchasing green manure seed,” he grieves.
The farming community is now scrambling for credit for input needs as we approach Kharif cultivation season in June. “Hence, early disbursement of crop loans to small and medium farmers, and supply of quality seeds in adequate quantity would meet the needs of farmers for Vanakalam (Kharif season) in view of fast approaching monsoon” says B. Rambabu a Telangana Rythu Sangham State leader from Wyra.
“State government should write off all loan dues up to ₹2 lakh per farmer henceforth and from this season itself give a bonus of ₹500 per quintal on all varieties of paddy being procured during ongoing Rabi procurement”, he adds.
