Crop holiday

Subject : Geography

Section : Economic Geography

Context:

Lack of payment of dues, no change in MSPs and creaking infrastructure has caused farmers in Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari delta region to refrain from sowing paddy

Crop holiday

Farmers in the fertile and water-rich delta of the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh are contemplating a ‘crop holiday’, not growing this year’s Kharif crop, citing non-payment of dues, bad policies and shoddy infrastructure.
They had not been paid for their crop; the rise in input costs had not been matched with a rise in minimum support prices (MSP) and water from canals was flooding their fields. Also, there was a shortage of labour in the area.
There are farmers who left their crops without harvesting due to lack of labour.
Many tenant farmers in the region also said most of the benefits accrued to the land owners, leaving little for them.
Farmers in Konaseema had declared a crop holiday way back in 2011 too. Non-payment of MSP was a reason then as well. And it has been awaiting resolution since.
- The then-government had appointed a committee under Chief Secretary Mohan Kanda, which made some 30 recommendations. These have remained unaddressed though three governments have completed their tenure since then.

Fetilisers, seeds and canals

The rates of fertilisers have risen some 60-70 per cent in the last 10 years. But the price of paddy hasn’t risen commensurately.
One of the reasons for the 2011 crop holiday was the role of canals. Narrow canals had led to water ingressing into fields.The canal drainage system is bad and leads to flooding of fields.