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K.V. Kurmanath

Hyderabad , Nov 4

FARMERS in Andhra Pradesh are upset over the Government threat to make them ineligible for free power supply scheme if they go for paddy in the ensuing rabi season.

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, on Thursday had warned the farmers against going for paddy in dry land areas as that would severely hit groundwater levels.

Reacting to the statement, Mr S. Malla Reddy, General Secretary of CPM-affiliated Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sangham, told Business Line that the Government was under the World Bank pressure in taking such decisions.

The move would throw the agricultural sector into a crisis.

"It is a ploy to deny free power to the farmers. First they barred them from having more than three pump sets from the scheme.

"Then, they excluded those paying income-tax and farmers having two-and-half acres of ayacut land," he said.

The association was planning to organise dharnas in all mandals, protesting against the move.

Mr Balarama Reddy, President of Federation of Farmers' Associations of Andhra Pradesh, said the proposal was ridiculous.

"There are about 24 lakh pump sets in the State, covering some 33 lakh acres. The farmers must have of spent Rs 60,000 on each pump set. What will happen to them if the Government puts bars on paddy cultivation," he asked.

He blamed the Government for not having a clear-cut policy on cropping pattern.

Dr Devinder Sharma, a food and trade policy expert, said the reason for steep fall in water table was faulty cropping and increasing shift towards hybrid crop varieties.

"Traditionally, Andhra Pradesh is a dry land region. It grows not only high-yielding varieties of rice (which consumes on an average 3,000 litres of water to produce one kilo of rice) but is keeping a blind eye to the huge area that is being brought under hybrid crop varieties, be it rice or sorghum or cotton or vegetables," he said.

Banning hybrids would be the right decision rather than asking farmers not to produce more rice.

The water requirement of hybrid varieties was nearly 1.5 times to 2 times that of high-yielding varieties. These hybrids should not be grown in the dry land regions.

Crop diversification to cash crops was no solution to the problem.

"The crops that are being promoted under diversification require more water to be pumped out. Therefore, if water is the issue, diversification to cash crops should not be allowed at all," he pointed out.

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