Hyderabad: Sowing of crops for the ongoing kharif season has picked up in the state despite farmers facing hurdles in obtaining crop loans.
The sown area witnessed a decent growth over the last two years due to good rains in all the districts.
However, farmers are depending heavily on private moneylenders as banks have failed to disburse loans citing cash shortage and non-clearance of crop loan waiver scheme arrears.
While the kharif season began on June 1, crops have already been sown in 8 lakh acres so far. This figure is considerably higher compared to the 5 lakh acres in 2016 and 3 lakh acres in 2015.
“This year, the onset of monsoon was early over previous two years. All the districts have been witnessing rains right from last week of May. As per the latest data for June, the TS witnessed 150 per cent higher rains over previous years. This led to increased agriculture activity in the districts,” said agriculture secretary C. Parthasarathi.
He pointed out that continuance of rains till July-end is crucial to maintain the pace in crop sowing area.
“Last year, there were comparatively good rains in the beginning of June but there was a long dry spell in July and August, due to which the crop sown area was hit. However, it recovered later due to downpours in September,” Mr Parthasarathi said.
However, the delay in disbursal of crop loans has been posing a major challenge.
Several villages in districts are witnessing agitations by farmers demanding loans.
On Wednesday, farmers blocked the Kamareddy highway to protest the failure of banks to disburse loans citing cash shortage.
Though some farmers got loans, the amount was credited directly in their bank accounts. However, the farmers could not withdraw cash due to “dry” banks and ATMs.
Farmers are queuing up in front of banks for cash, which are offering just Rs 2,000 at a time, while the loan sanctioned was Rs 35,000 per acre.
With this farmers are annoyed over not being able to purchase seeds and fertilisers for sowing of crops.
