Andhra Pradesh Common farmers of Rayalaseema region are currently facing serious economic crisis. Despite the good yield of major cash crop Totapuri mango, the fall in prices in the market and limited purchases have increased their problems. Farmers of Chittoor, Tirupati and Annamayya districts are particularly affected, as the pulp industry is not purchasing sufficient quantity citing low demand and export related challenges. In this way, farmers have appealed to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), the management of Lord Venkateswara temple to come forward and buy these fruits so that they can improve their economic condition.
M. Bhanu Prakash, a common farmer from Tirupati, said that farmers do not want to get into any political dispute, they only want to save their livelihood and guarantee fair price for crops. He also said that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) -led government had promised a support price of ₹ 4 per kg, but is delayed. Meanwhile, transportation and increase in labor costs have made farmers’ problems more complicated.
Record mango production this year
Common farmers of Andhra Pradesh are facing a huge economic crisis despite the bumper yield of Totapuri mango this year. According to Tirupati farmer M. Bhanu Prakash, this time the production rose to about 1.5 lakh tonnes, compared to 90,000 tonnes last year. More supply caused demand in the market and prices fell sharply. Prakash, demanding the formation of an organized general board in Andhra Pradesh, questioned why no concrete structure has been formed to support them so far despite such a large scale production and farmers’ participation.
Meanwhile, Minister of State for Rural Development Chandrashekhar Pemmasani said that to provide relief to the common farmers, the Central Government has reimbursed Rs 130 crore to the state under the Mandi Intervention Scheme (MIS). He informed the social media forum ‘X’ (earlier Twitter) on Tuesday that the state government has released a total amount of Rs 260 crore, out of which farmers have been paid at the rate of four kg. Under MIS, the Center has borne 50% of it.
Farmers say that delay in policy support, increasing transportation and limited possibilities of labor costs and exports are deepening the current crisis. They clearly say that they only want to protect their livelihood and permanent solutions by staying away from political controversies.
Farmers forced to sell land
SV Subbarao, another common farmer from Chittoor, said that due to failure of crop purchases and increasing debt, he had to sell 20 acres of his 50 acres of land. Farmers accused of discrimination compared to Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, where governments guaranteed the support price of Rs 18 and Rs five per kg respectively, while Andhra Pradesh’s support price is low. Farmers suggested that the state temples, especially TTDs, can help by buying mangoes for the temple kitchen. Prakash said, TTD earns crores of rupees daily and feeds thousands of devotees. They can easily buy mangoes directly from farmers directly. In this session, due to 6.5 lakh tonnes of production and decreasing demand, farmers are fearing increasing debt. He has demanded a permanent solution to end this repeated crisis.
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