Crops wrecked by unseasonal rains, farmers want agri loan rescheduled

HYDERABAD: Battered by unseasonal rains and crop damage, farmers are demanding rescheduling of crop loans by banks which will allow them more time to repay their previous loans.

Agriculture activists also believe crop loan rescheduling will be an interim relief for farmers to begin preparing for the kharif crop as the government’s assistance of Rs 10,000 per acre for 1.5 lakh acres damaged in the rains and hailstorms is yet to reach the farmers.

“Once the government enumerates and decides on the areas where the crops have been damaged, banks will reschedule loans, allowing us more time while also receiving new loans,” said Raju Yadav, a paddy farmer from Nizamabad.

Farmers are also urging the government to designate villages and mandals as distress zones. “Once the government announces the distressed areas, banks will automatically reschedule the loans,” farmer K Ravi Reddy from Vikarabad said.

Vissa Kiran of Rythu Swarajya Vedika, however, said enumeration of crops damaged in rains after March 21 has not been completed yet. “Farmers need money for tilling the land and spending on farm labourers. So, financial assistance will be very helpful,” he said.

During the 2018 elections, BRS government promised crop loan waiver of up to Rs 1 lakh but waived loans up to Rs 37,000 only. This put farmers ill at ease as many are still waiting for the crop loans to be waived.

Crop rescheduling will also benefit paddy farmers who are struggling because millers are refusing to buy wet paddy soaked in the recent rains, activists point out.

Farmers also want the state government to display the list of input subsidy recipients (compensation or crop damage) in the villages. “Under disaster management rules, names of farmers should be listed by officials as this will give them a chance to represent their claims and also any wrong estimates should be deleted,” said Pakala Srihari Rao, president of Telangana Rythu Rakshana Vedika.



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