The Bomb is Ticking

In its fifth consecutive year of drought, even a small crisis can precipitate mass suicides among the farmers of Andhra Pradesh, reports Vijay Simha

No Respite:The farmers have been caught in the irreversible cycle of droughts Photo Vijay Simha

This year, not much work has begun which can generate employment. So the farmer is largely idle

Once the rice bowl of Asia, Andhra Pradesh is into its fifth consecutive year of drought. In terms of statistics, 802 mandals have been declared drought-affected by the Andhra government (a district has 25-30 mandals, and a mandal has 20 villages). This is up from 453 mandals last year. Eight districts are drought-prone: Anantapur, Mahbubnagar, Kurnool, Cuddapah, Nalgonda, Ranga Reddy, Chittoor, and Prakasam. A new addition is Medak, where 143 people died of starvation last year.

How did things come to such a pass? How have people been caught in an irreversible cycle? Many years ago, different areas in Andhra had different cultivation patterns, millet in Telangana and Rayalaseema, and paddy, cotton, and chillies in coastal Andhra. When the British arrived, they began intensive cultivation in the coast. With plenty of water in the low-lying coastal areas, paddy was a favourite.

When the state of Andhra Pradesh was formed, decision-making passed into the hands of farmers from the coast who were powerful and rich from the money made from paddy. The coastal farmer didn’t like the Telangana methods of irrigation like shallow wells and tank irrigation. Over a period of time, Telangana began to farm like coastal Andhra.

In the mid-1980s, Telugu Desam Party founder NT Rama Rao announced a scheme where rice was sold for Rs 2 a kg. This caught the people’s fancy, and areas that used to grow bajra, ragi and jowar, began to cultivate paddy.

Paddy cultivation is labour-intensive and needs a lot of attention to timing. It soaked up ground water. Levels of ground water began to fall, and have been dipping rapidly since the mid-90s. Around the same time, government allocation for agriculture began to stagnate. For example, budget allocation used to increase at 8.5 percent between 1980 and 1990. Between 1990 and 2000, however, it grew only by 1.4 percent.

Falling water levels and decreasing allocation led to drought. Some things happen when a district is declared drought-affected. The government stops collecting land revenue. Banks begin to reschedule repayment of existing loans and grant fresh loans. Agencies like the District Rural Development Agency begin to undertake employment-generating work like building tanks and roads.

This year, not much work has begun which can generate employment. So the farmer is largely idle. Maize has begun to wither in the heat. In any case, the farmer is cultivating only 20 percent to 30 percent of the arable land. Since farm work is down to less than a third of the normal, landless labourers have no work.

There’s no fodder, and cattle are sold. In the past, rich farmers used to buy cattle that would be sold back to its owner in better times. Now the circuit has been broken. Meat exporting firms are the new buyers, and are offering a better price. The farmer goes for the better deal.

He sells his best cattle to the meat company. This animal is exported as food. The weaker cattle are left with farmers. And with cattle gone, there’s no buyback. Even a small crisis is enough to precipitate suicides.