Adilabad: Many farmers have been mortgaging gold ornaments of their wives and other family members to cultivate white gold (cotton) in the district. They have no institutional financial support or from private money lenders this kharif season. Cotton is popularly known as white gold.
Farmers are queuing up at finance companies for loans. Farmers are resorting to gold finance or loan as there is no option before them to save the standing crops and sow the seeds. Farmers feel that gold loan schemes are flexible to take loan unlike crop loans from banks.
It is general practice that banks keep the pattadar passbooks and ownership papers of lands or property with them to give loans. Various companies are offering gold finance or loans by mortgaging the gold ornaments and jewellery. Farmers are choosing this, as middlemen and private money leaders are not giving them loans for agriculture this kharif season anticipating the drought conditions and poor yield. On the other hand, banks have failed to extend crop loans to the farmers.
Moneylenders are not coming forward to give fresh loans to the farmers as they failed to repay the previous loans they had taken from them. Small and marginal farmers are facing financial crisis and lack of support towards investment cost for agriculture following the crop failure in two successive seasons due to prolonged drought conditions and this third season, farmers were facing the same situation.
The state government released only 12.5 percent in the second instalment of crop loan waiver that is 20 percent to the banks which was in turn was remitted into the bank accounts of the farmers. So far cotton was sown in 2.7 lakh hectares against the expected cotton cultivation area 3.5 lakh in the district.
Now the farmers are facing difficulties in procuring pesticides, fertilisers and paying wages for labourers for weeding. Bankers were not extending financial support this kharif season unlike in the past. The money lenders on whom the farmers depend for loan every year also rejected the pleas made by the farmers as the leaders were of the opinion that there would be no good yield if the present weather conditions continue and farmers will not be able to repay the earlier loan.
A farmer from Ichoda who had taken loan from a finance company located in Adilabad by mortgaging the gold ornaments of his family members said for the first time he did so as there was no other option before him. Both banks and private money lenders denied crop loan for this kharif season.
