Tenant farmers shut out: 15 years on, 9 out of 10 still excluded from Telangana’s welfare net

Hyderabad: Fifteen years after Telangana passed a landmark law to recognise tenant farmers, the vast majority remain invisible to the state’s welfare machinery. Despite cultivating more than a third of the state’s farmland, nine out of ten tenant farmers are still excluded from formal support systems—raising urgent questions about whether govt schemes are reaching those who till the soil.

A survey of 1,816 farmers across 57 villages in 22 districts by Kaula Rythula Gurtimpu Sadhana Committee (Tenant Farmers Identity Committee) revealed that 92.6% had never received loan eligibility cards (LECs)—the very instrument designed to establish cultivator status under the Telangana Land Licensed Cultivators Act 2011 and unlock access to credit and welfare benefits.

Invisible cultivators

Successive govts have introduced mechanisms to extend support, but coverage remains minimal though tenant farmers account for an estimated 36% of the state’s farming households.

Among cotton growers, only 6.7% sold produce through official procurement channels and received payments directly. For paddy farmers, the share was 20% in the 2025 Kharif season and 17.2% in the Rabi season. Just 24% of eligible farmers received the fine rice bonus.

The gap is stark during crop losses. While 85.2% reported damage from floods, rains, or hailstorms, only 0.7% received compensation directly. In most cases, payments went to landowners because official records failed to recognise the actual cultivators.

This exclusion has forced tenant farmers into informal credit markets, where they borrow at punishing interest rates of 24-36% annually. “Both the central and state govts provide benefits for landowners, but all that money goes to them and not to the tenant farmers who are toiling for their livelihood,” said S Mogilamna, a farmer from Sangareddy.

Loan eligibility cards

The survey report calls for immediate issuance of LECs, direct transfer of compensation and procurement payments, and integration of tenant farmer identification with e-crop booking systems.

“I got a farmer card when Andhra Pradesh was a unified state when Kiran Kumar Reddy was the chief minister. Having an identity helps govt extend eligible rights to us,” Pasha Ahmed, a farmer from Vikarabad, said. Surprisingly, the 2011 Act provides an eligibility card to unrecorded tenant farmers and sharecroppers, who cultivate land. And all cardholders are entitled to claim input subsidies, crop insurance, and agricultural damage compensation.

Farm researchers urged the govt to establish a uniform tenant farmer identification system, directly linking procurement, compensation, and agricultural support to the actual cultivators rather than landowners.

“There is severe stress in the system; the govt spends Rs 25,000 crore for farmers, but less than one-third benefits tenant farmers. Unlike before, when tenant farmers were largely silent, now 80% are ready to mobilise and fight for their rights,” said agricultural researcher Kiran Vissa.