The Hindu Business Line : AP Govt moots cooperative farming on trial basis

Hyderabad, June 29 With the number of agricultural holdings shooting up to 1.2 crore and farm incomes showing no attraction, the Andhra Pradesh Government has proposed to encourage cooperative farming in at least two villages in each district.

Talking on the model at a gathering here on Monday, the Chief Minister, Dr Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has said that the farmers in these villages would pool up all their land and take up cooperative farming.

“It can be a company, a society, a mutually aided cooperative or a cooperative society. They have to transfer their rights on their chunk of land and get it converted into share capital,” he said. “We are not going to enforce this on farmers. Only those villages that pass a unanimous resolution in favour of cooperative farming would be picked up.”

Stating that this was only a proposal and the Government would take feedback from several quarters, he said the model would give economies of scale to the farmers, resulting in better yields and incomes. Making a presentation, Dr D. A. Somayajulu, Deputy Chairman of Agricultural Technology Mission of Andhra Pradesh, said the farmers would have the option to come out at any time.

“The farmers can sell their share to others in the society. If it is not done, the Government should agree to buy it at a pre-determined market price,” he said.

The scale would help the farmers focus on agri-allied activities such as piggeries and value-addition to get income from other sources.

The proposal drew more criticism than commendation from the Opposition. Dr Jayaprakash Narayan, Lok Satta founder and MLA, felt that technology was scale neutral. Citing the example of Bt cotton, he said despite many hurdles 80 per cent of cotton farmers took up Bt cotton, seeing good returns.

“There is no basis to think that yields would grow if we aggregate land,” he said. “If farmers come voluntarily it is okay. But it is not correct to make it a Government policy,” he cautioned.

Mr D. Veerabhadra Rao, Leader of Opposition in AP Legislative Council, said the history of cooperatives in Andhra Pradesh was not quite encouraging. “There are concerns that it (the model) would take away ownership. It is not agreeable to us,” he said.

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