HYDERABAD: Teenagers are not inclined to take up agriculture as a profession despite the initiatives taken by the governments of the two Telugu states to instil confidence in the farming community.
Even those whose families have been into agriculture for generations prefer opting out.
As part of the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), a survey has been regularly done for the last eight years, New Delhi-based Pratham organisation spoke to 35,000 rural teenagers in Nizamabad (TS), Srikakulam (AP) and 24 other districts nationwide in the age group of 14-18 years.
Asked about their ambitions, not even one per cent expressed any interest in agriculture. Instead they spoke about wanting to work in the Army, police or even get a job in a private organisation.
According to Pratham’s Nazmal Shaikh, survey teams spoke to more than 1,000 teenagers each in the two Telugu districts. Not even one out of the 100 youth wanted to pursue farming or agriculture for a living.
Mr Kiran Kumar Vissa of Rythu Swarajya Vedika said that this situation could be attributed to the governments’ attitude towards agriculture for the last several decades. “Those in power only focused on increasing productivity in agriculture, but never bothered to ensure financial security of the farmers. As a result, the next generation of farmers is definitely not looking at farming as an occupation.
Even 30 to 40 per cent young farmers are not happy and are shifting to new occupations,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that various schemes and initiatives like loan waiver, continuous power supply, subsidised seeds and fertilisers and minimum support price for a few crops are being extended to farmers in the two Telugu states.
