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Agrarian Crisis
The 70th round of the National Sample Survey Office estimates the average income of a farm family at₹ 6,426 per month from all sources such as cultivation, animal husbandry, wages, etc. This personal account, which has been divided into two parts, traces the developments leading to the crisis in the context of a village in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. Needless to say, it is important to understand the ground realities as much as the statistical data for suitable policy and administrative interventions.
Much of the material in this article is derived from Dilemmas in Agriculture: A Personal Story written by Gorrepati Narendranath and edited and supplemented by me. I thank the reviewer for their insightful comments.
I acknowledge with gratitude the valuable inputs and suggestions on an earlier draft of the article by my friends, Ramana Murthy, Uma Chakravarti, Ananda Chakravarti and Jasvir Singh.
The agrarian distress that has been raging since 20 years is now threatening to become a full-blown crisis, with farmers taking to the streets in several states—Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, etc. This article traces the developments leading to the crisis in the context of a village in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Needless to say, it is important to understand the ground realities as much as the statistical data for suitable policy and administrative interventions.
In the past 30 years, many villages in Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh have been transformed from a viable agricultural region—which grew a variety of crops—to a semi-arid region. The groundwater level has depleted drastically, farms are filled with mango trees and a few farmers are left with malnourished cows. The income from neither mangoes nor milk is sufficient to run a family. Farmers as well as agricultural labourers are moving out of the village to urban areas for better options. The village community is diminished, frustrated, and dragging and limping with old people.
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