Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao’s scheme to club small farm land holdings to make agriculture profitable for farmers is facing stiff resistance in the two villages that he has adopted.
While Mr Rao is keen to get farmers to club their land holdings and take up model farming in Erravelli and Narsannapeta in Medak district by Kharif 2016, farmers are not coming forward citing possible losses. The government had even offered free registration of land for the purpose.
Mr Rao directed officials to complete the clubbing of land holdings in the two villages by January and take up model farming to showcase to farmers all over the state the advantage of land clubbing and the need to have big land holdings for making agriculture profitable.
Following this, officials from the revenue, agriculture, horticulture departments are extensively touring the two villages and approaching farmers to club their land.
But, the farmers have many objections. They told officials that they hold productive land in one location and not-so-productive or waste land at other locations. Those owning waste land would benefit from clubbing, and the others would incur huge losses.
Another objection being raised by farmers is about the variation in land prices. While one acre fetches '5 lakh at one location, it is '10 lakh elsewhere. Clubbing of lands may result in some losing valuable land to club with cheaper land.
With deadlines nearing, tense officials informed Mr Rao of the unwillingness of farmers to club their land holdings.
Mr Rao is said to have told them that he would conduct gram sabhas in the two villages and persuade farmers to earn profits in the long run instead of looking at temporary gains now.
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