Tenant farmers in Telangana caught in OTP trap

Hyderabad: In Telangana’s fields, tenant farmers are pouring money into leased land but remain locked out of the state’s welfare system—held hostage by a single OTP tied to the landowner’s mobile number. This digital choke point has turned into a modern barrier, exposing deep flaws in farm support delivery.

Tenant farmers across Telangana depend on landowners’ one-time password approvals to sell crops, claim compensation, or access govt schemes. With benefits linked to the landowner’s mobile number, this dependency has become a major hurdle, according to a survey spanning 22 districts. K Sadanandam, a farmer from Karimnagar, explained: “Landowners often take advantage. When we ask for OTPs, they suspect us and refuse, causing us to miss out on many benefits.”

Most tenancy agreements remain informal, based on verbal understandings rather than registered contracts. As a result, official records recognise landowners instead of cultivators, leaving tenant farmers vulnerable during critical agricultural phases. Delays are common when landowners are unwilling or unavailable to provide OTPs.

Institutional credit remains elusive too. Banks demand formal proof of cultivation, forcing tenant farmers into private lending markets. Despite making up nearly 36% of farming households, 92.6% of tenant farmers have never received loan eligibility cards. For many, the central struggle is not farming itself but gaining recognition as the rightful cultivators of the land they till.