El Niño: Tenant Farmers Worried Over Paying Rents to Landowners

Tenant farmers, who sowed different crops by hiring lands, are worried over the payment of money to land owners as the yield would decline drastically due to the El Nino effect.

Scores of tenant farmers sowed different crops, especially paddy and cotton by hiring lands in the erstwhile Karimnagar district. In the wake of a decline in the yield, the farmers are unable to pay the rent to land-owners.

Depending on the availability of water sources, the rent would be between `10,000 and `15,000 per acre. Fertile lands with water sources such as canals or agricultural wells or bore well facilities are being leased out for `12,000 to `15,000.

If there is no water source, `10,000 is being collected.

While some owners collect the amount in the beginning of the season, others do so after harvesting. Farmers, who have already paid rent, have to suffer the loss while others are in a dilemma how to clear the amount.

Sharing his troubles with Deccan Chronicle, a tenant farmer from Vedira of Ramadugu mandal, Duryapu Lachaiah, said he sowed cotton in five acres of land by hiring three acres. Besides paying `35,000 rent to the land owner, he spent `2 lakh on the cultivation of the crop.

However, right from the beginning, there was no adequate growth in the saplings due to lack of rainfall.

Usually, there was a possibility of picking cotton three times in a season. However, it seems that there was no such situation this time around since a portion of plans have already withered.

Stating that the yield would decline by 50 per cent, he opined that it was not possible to get at least three to four quintals of cotton in an acre as against eight quintals.

Another farmer Ujjagiri Gangaiah said, “Forget about benefits, farmers are unable to get back at least what they have invested in the cultivation. We urge the government to extend its support to farmers by paying a compensation.”