GROUND REALITIES OF AGRICULTURE CREDIT - SERIOUS CONCERNS Role of credit in farming systems: Credit plays very vital role in farmer’s crop production systems. In fact, farmers decide what to grow, seeds & other inputs, choice of the crop etc depending on the scale of finance available. Despite best possible efforts by successive governments in reaching out to the farmers with formal credit systems, the reach is still limited due to severe lacuna in the operational strategy. Micro finance which emerged as an alternative credit to reach farmers in remote areas, addressing the procedural hurdles in formal credit banking institutions, met with very limited success due to high interest rates charged by these institutions and unfortunately they emerged as legalised money lenders. The seed & input supply shops are another avenue for crop loans, again with high interest rate. Other than the interest, the farmer is bound to buy whatever brand of seed or inputs that pa

TAMILIANS ONCE AGAIN PROVED THAT THEY ARE DIFFERENT BJP and it’s alliance parties at different times during last one year ( after sudden demise of JJ) created media image of Sasikala and her family as “MANNARGUDI MAFIA” but people of TN with voting in RK Nagar byolls created “MANNARGUDI MANIA”. BJP soon after JJ demise tried to grab power in TN using Sasikala. Once she refused to bend, they moved with OPS. Another shock came to them when OPS failed to garner support from MLAs. Quickly Sasikala going jail and Palanisamy becoming CM happened. With the blessings of national party, OPS became Dy CM in KP ministry and successfully kept Sashi faction away from power by using speaker Office very efficiently. Still national party have doubts about AIADMK leadership and started parallel dialogue with DMK , keeping 2019 elections in mind. Tamilians clearly understood the game plan of BJP and gave thumping reply through their vote in bi polls. PM meeting Karunanidhi and inviting him

  GOVERNANCE OF FARMERS- IS IT FOR THEIR WELFARE OR ILLFARE ?  Sugarcane cultivation is under control of Govt with zonal system, where in each sugar factory is defined as zone and cane cultivation in that zone is monitored by cane director/commissioner. Factories enter into purchase agreements, arrange for soft loans, provide extension services which include bio fertilisers, seed varieties, cash subsidies etc. The cane commissioner role is to ensure cane development, improved productivity , farmers welfare and also cane regulation in order of priority. But in reality 90% of their effort and interest is in cane regulation, not in farmers welfare, for the reasons best known to them. Though the sugarcane act talk about zonal regulation, farmer is always at liberty to not enter into cane agreement with local factory and at his free will he can grow sugarcane and market it as he likes. The opportunities include supply to fresh juice venders, jaggery making, supply to factories in oth

PADDY CULTIVATION- NECESSITY BRINGS INVENTIONS  In Delta area wet lands , one can grow annually 2 crops of paddy followed by paddy, paddy followed by maize or pulses or single crop of sugarcane. When paddy transplanting, harvesting etc were manual, some farmers were preferring cane cultivation. With change in cultivation practices and increased harvesting problems in cane, in wetlands cane cultivation almost came to an end. In krishna Delta , when the irrigation was not available on time,  farmers out of necessity moved from paddy nursery and transplanting to direct sowing method. Direct Sowing resulted in huge reduction of cost particularly manpower requirements which is scarce in present situation. Due to direct sowing and better drainage facilities, paddy yields increased by 20 to 30% ( 30 bags to 40 bags of 75 kg each). When scientists used to prefer and advocate for direct sowing farmers were not in a mood to listen. With limited options available farmers shifted to direct s

MY  AGRI JOURNEY CONTINUES-TALES OF SUGARCANE FARMERS . Sugarcane rates are more stable as it is decided based on fair & remunerative price (FRP) fixed by GOI annually coupled with sugar recovery. Hence the minimum guarantee is assured to farmers. Due to prevailing zonal system of cane movement regulation, farmers are automatically tied up with sugar unit located in the respective zone. Factories arrange crop loans from banks based on the cane purchase agreements, due to which the tenant farmers, defective title land holders ,also get easy access to loans, which was not case with regular crop loans. Few factories lure farmers with notional subsidies in the form of seed, fertilisers etc , but finally adjust in the cane pricing. Though Rangarajan committee on sugar industry formed during UPA Govt,came out with sound recommendations in favour of farmers , like free zone, comprehensive pricing formula for cane considering value for baggase, Molasses and other products etc, it wa

MY AGRI JOURNEY CONTINUES... CABBAGE TALES As it was shared 20 days back, we sold our 1.5 acres standing cabbage crop for 2.75 lakhs@ Rs. 1.8 lakes/acre. Trader who bought the crop,paid us one lakh as advance and lifted about 30% crop during last week of November and got good rate @ Rs.23/kg average in Vijayawada market. As the prices were more or less range bound for 10 days , in anticipation of same rates for another month or so, he stopped further harvesting thinking that he can take advantage of weight gain. As Vijayawada market cabbage arrivals increased with supplies from Pune and Bangalore and also due to downward trend in onion rates, cabbage crashed to Rs 10/kg suddenly from Rs23/kg. Further price drop is expected. The standing crop which was sold for Rs 1.8 lakhs/ acre is now available for less than Rs 0.4 Lakhs /acre and even further downward trend is expected. Trader came to us with sorrow face and expressed that he is not in a position to pay, as for the contrac

FARMERS-THE BREAD GROWERS ARE TREATED AS BEGGARS IN MANDIS It is really unfortunate to see that small and marginal farmers are treated very shabbily by commission agents, transport operators, hamali syndicates etc in markets. They have forgotten the fact that the entire supply chain is surviving  due to farmer and his produce. The middle who bring produce from farms are given preferential treatment over real farmers. There is nexus operating to discourage farmers bringing produce directly to markets and its more prevalent in fruit and vegetables markets. For example from 50 kg cabbage bag agents reduce 5 kg as allowance for wastage from direct farmers, whereas it is 3 kg from middlemen. Similarly there are huge variations in hamali, commission other than preferential treatment in auctions and loading. It is very clear that there is coterie operating systematically to ensure farmers not coming to markets directly. If there are credit linkages the situation is even worse. 

BANANA TOO HAVE BAD TIMES- FARMERS SHOULD KNOW  Banana is one of the very few fruits available through out the year and known as common man fruit. You may be surprised to know that the consumption of banana drops by over 30 % during summer months. Do you know the reason? Please scroll down to validate your facts. In India mango the king of the fruits take the lion share of fruit market and most of the regular banana eaters completely shift to mango. As the shift from banana to mango is huge, there is always a considerable drop in banana sales during mango season hence price drop also for banana farmers. It is better for farmers to have proper banana crop plan and avoid banana harvest during summer months. BGR

MY AGRI JOURNEY CONTINUES..... BANANA 🍌EXPERIENCE Took up banana cultivation on 3 acre plot as inter cropping in 1 year old lemon 🍋 plantations ( though it is not a good idea still doing it to compensate the huge loss we made with chillies cultivation on the same plot) We took up chekkrakeli variety which is premium banana in AP market. The drawback with this extremely tasty banana is it’s keeping quality is very low and can not be exported to long distance markets. Banana is 10 months to 1 year crop and for acre 1000 tubers can be planted ( number vary with variety of banana). Cost of cultivation is 1 lakh /acre in which major expenditure is land lease of rs 50000/acre, followed by manure and fertilizers. Pesticides are not used on banana crop. During Sept-Oct banana prices are very attractive and traders were moving around to enter rate contracts. We sold our crop @ Rs 200/ each bunch and took token advance. If the trader can sell around Rs 250 he will reach break even p

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT AGRICULTURE  Do you know why cabbage rate gone up from Rs 10 to 30 / Kg in short span of time ?? Guess it and to validate your answer scroll down As the onion rates reached around Rs 60/kg, cabbage is being used in mix with onions in hotels and bulk consumers. Resulting in drastic increase in cabbage price and also stabilization of onion prices as the consumption dropped due to replacement by cabbage. BGR

FARMERS ARE ALWAYS CORNERED- MY EXPERIENCE WITH CABBAGE CULTIVATION  I took up cabbage cultivation in little less than 1.5 acres and the crop is really good. The estimated crop value at current wholesale rates is around 6.5 lakhs. For 90 day duration crop it’s very good yield in terms of expected realization. Discounting 10% commission, 7 % transportation, 5 % harvesting cost, 3% packing, loading, unloading and 5 % towards marketing expenses, so in total discounting 30% towards expenses and keeping cushion for price fluctuations I decided and sold my crop to local trader for Rs 2.75 laks. He harvested 1500 kgs initially and sold @Rs 25/kg excluding expenses. As the crop did not attain full maturity the weight is less and decided to wait for few more days. As the market is moving towards lower side he harvested few more bags yesterday and sold @ Rs 22/kg. As the produce is coming from Pune, Bangalore etc to different areas the market rates are not consistent resulting in huge f

VENKAIAH NAIDU GARU - REAL PROTECTOR OF CONSTITUTION?? Vice President in the capacity of floor leader of upper house took a decision to disqualify two JDU Rajyasaba  members  as they questioned the leadership of Nitish Kumar and protected the democratic values by implementing the anti defection law. There are few very similar cases pending with speaker of Loksabha for years together and madam speaker could not find time to dispose them. Hope the path of democratic values shown by VN Garu prevail on Loksabha speaker and even on speakers of various state assemblies and they will perform their duties with out any fear and favour. BJP party and NDA has to send positive feelers and give confidence to public and judiciary that the free and fair justice will start from the house of democracy. Otherwise public will feel and establish the fact that the rules are used only to the advantage of ruling parties ( Nitish switched sides and hence the favour?).In such case this action of VN Ga

FARMERS WOES CONTINUE - MY OWN EXPERIENCE WITH SWEET CORN CULTIVATION  American corn popularly known as sweet corn which is very popular among youth and urban elite for its yummy taste left bitter memories for it grower. Sweet corn is 70 day crop and cost of cultivation is about Rs 25000/- acre excluding land lease. It needs good soils with abundant water and good crop management. I grew sweet corn in three acres and the crop was ready for harvest in third week of November. I was exploring organized market tie ups with professional organizations but met with no success. Final ended up with a agreement with local trader for 80000/3 acre crop and received token advance of Rs 5000/- As the crop attained maturity and ready for harvest the trader did not turn up and we had to plough the crop by investing another Rs 10000 for rotovator application with tractor, as there were no buyers . American corn is highly perishable and it can not be dried and used like other maize crop. It c

FARMERS ARE BEING TAKEN FOR RIDE- FIELD REALITIES  I met a farmer who sent 5 bags (150 kgs) bringal to Tenali municipal market from Kollipara village. In an auction it was sold for Rs 160/10 kgs. The farmer spent about Rs 300/- towards transport from village to mandi, Rs. 60/- hamali , Rs 20/- Asheel( market cess). Rs 100 to 150 is farmer expenditure if he goes to market for monitoring the transaction. Farmer paid Rs. 250/- as commission @10% on the sale consideration of Rs 2500/- . For a sale of Rs 2500/- expenditure is about Rs 750/- and it’s working out to 30%. From sale price of Rs 16/kg, farmer spent about Rs 5/kg as marketing expenditure. As all the expenditure is fixed cost except commission in case of less realizations the marketing cost will become as high as 50%. Even after charging hefty commission of 10% from farmers , the agents try to give advantage to the traders by my managing auctions with eye lid movements etc and exploit the farmers. I was told they op

MEMORIES OF DR KURIEN ON HIS BIRTH ANNIVERSARY  In 1960s, Dr Kurien used the opportunity by importing milk powder and butter oil free of cost (surplus being dumped in sea) and created end to end infrastructure , thereby India became largest milk producer of the world. At present few dairies are importing milk powder at cheaper cost, few others adulterating milk with chemicals and killing our production systems. Once farmers start losing interest in milk production, the imports will become exorbitant and milk may become scarce commodity. Is this the tribute we give to father of white revolution on his birth anniversary? B Guruva Reddy- 9866889246 grbonthu@gmail.com

MAIZE FARMERS ARE TAKEN FOR RIDE AGAIN ?? During 2015-16 season maize farm gate prices increased from Rs 1400 to 1800. Immediately poultry lobby came into picture and got an order issued from commerce minister to import 5 Lakh MT of maize. As the nonGM maize was not commercially viable to import hardly any quantity was imported and also there was no need of imports as sufficient quantities are available locally. In fact the lobby misguided GOI with less production figures. This order was purely used to create negative impact on market to reduce maize market rates and the lobby was successful. This season maize rates started around Rs 1500 and came down to Rs 1200 now. Its unfortunate there is no lobby to protect farmers interest, not even media support to highlight such issues. In fact egg prices almost doubled during this period and poultry industry can affer better rates to maize. GOI and even state governments are not serious about supporting the farmers even with MSP. Ho

TIME IS RIPE FOR PRESIDENT OF INDIA TO INTERVENE AND SAVE DEMOCRACY  In TN 18 MLAs were unceremoniously disqualified by speaker without any valid reason and without giving them chance to make an appeal with speaker office. In Telangana, TDP and Few congress MLAs defected to TRS and one of them even became minister. In AP 21 YSRCP MLAs defected to TDP and four of them became ministers. Despite the repeated requests from respective parties even after 3 years time lapse no action from respective speaker offices. Recent defections in Goa, Manipur etc though they attract anti defection law no action was taken as it was advantageous to ruling outfit. In TN when OPS maintained a splinter group, speaker did not take any action and gave them their own sweet time to settle with booty and power sharing. Now same speaker acted at jet speed and disqualified the MLAs to ensure stability of KP government in TN and to ensure AIADMK joining NDA govt at centre. This is real sad day for dem

POLITICIANS PROMISES ARE LIKE WRITINGS ON THE WALL During AP state separation bill discussion in parliament Dr MMS made statement in the capacity of PM that AP will be given special status on far with NE, HP & UC for 5 years. VN was very vocal and demanded for 10 years. During campaign at Tirupathi in the presence of lord Balaji, Modi ji promised that AP will be given ST for 10 years along with railway zone if BJP is voted to power. CBN insisted for 15 years. This continued in all election meetings in AP. Once voted to power, VN was felicitated everywhere and  declared as champion of special status. After a year or so in power , NDA started turning cold to ST and sent feelers like congress did not put it in the bill, Neeti Ayog is against ST to any state in future, ST is been withdrawn from existing states. Finally NDA govt declared that ST is not possible and spl package is announced. Regarding railway zone utter silence is being maintained. VN garu again enjoyed one m

DEMOCRACY IS AT DOLDRUMS IN TAMIL NADU BJP with its greed for power in TN, made premature moves of uniting KPS & OPS by grossly underestimating Sashikala. KPS who was sitting comfortably in CM seat and sure of sailing through for next four years with blessings of Sashikala, had fallen into the trap of BJP and now fishing in troubled waters. BJP once again overestimated the strength of OPS and miserably failed in understanding Tamil sentiments and localized politics of this region. With about 30 MLAs in Sashikala camp, openly opposing the merger of OPS & KPS groups and seeking for vote of confidence in assembly, is real test for BJP and unfortunately Governor 's office is dragged into controversy again. DMK is looking at the options of forming Government by taking advantage of present confusion in AIADMK. One thing is clear Tamilians after tasting regional parties power for over 5 decades, are not going to entertain either BJP or congress. Due to these latest de

PANDURANGAPURAM TURNS SIXTY TODAY I feel proud to say that we hail from Kollipara village which sown seeds for a model village "Pandurangapuram" in Nandyal area, Kurnool dist. Hard working farmers, migrated by selling their rich lands in krishna delta and proved that one can do wonders with self discipline, collective action and determination. If I am not wrong, the land rates in Kollipara in 60s itself are around Rs 15000/acre and by selling 1 acre they could buy about 15 to 20 acres in Nandyal area and rep licated kollipara value systems and the flair for best cultivation practices. Though kollipara is very old village, it is known for good master plan with wide and straight roads, clean environment and lush green fields .  In our lifetime , we had not come across any major disputes, law and order problems in kollipara and politics begin and end once election process is over. Kollipara boasts for its best socio economic agrarian systems. Repeating koll

THE TRADITIONAL VILLAGE CULTURE IS FAST DISAPPEARING  I am camping in our native village for 3 days to participate in my 4th puskarams. This is the most hyped and participated puskaram but coming to traditions it is the least practised. Indian villages evolved with farming community and support communities coexist with communal harmony and sustain the complete agrarian system. Purohit, trader, Dobi, barber, cobbler, tailor, Toddy tapper etc used to play supportive role effectively keeping farming community as center of activity. Farmers used to pay most of them in kind (farm produce) and celebrate festivals with offerings to them. Now the situation at least in coastal AP is completely different. Dobi charging around Rs.200/per head/month, so Dobi is being replaced by  washing machines, similarly cobbler, Barber etc. Enterprising people among farming community got into trade  replacing traditional vysyas. This impact is clearly seen during puskarams. No traditional supp

ROLE OF FARMERS IN DEFENCE FOOD PROCUREMENT Indian Defence: India is always proud of its armed forces and right from the independence they are doing commendable job to safeguard the country from external forces. Be it with Pakistan or China our armed forces proved their exemplary skills in dealing with any situation and when it comes to helping neighbours like Bangladesh, Srilanka we played the role of big brother/mentor. Let all of salute our armed forces for performing the task of saving the nation at the cost of their lives. When it comes to the international relations and peace accords,   we are conducting ourselves in a dignified manner and maintaining perfect balance. Defence expenditure is one of the major budget items and despite huge pressure on finances, India is never compromising on defence budget allocations and always priority is given for allocation as well as releases. Off late the capital expenditure in defence is coming down and certainly it’s a ma

DOES SLOGANS MAKE FORTUNES FOR LEADERS? 9 historic political slogans Jai jawan Jai kisan -1965- LBS- Historic mandate for congress in 1967 Garibi Hatao-1971- IG- landslide victory for new congress in 1971. Indira hatao Desh Bachao-1977- JPN- Janata party rule Ek sherini sau langur-1978- Devraj Urs- IG win in Chikamaglur bielection and return of congress in 1980 Jab Tak Suraj Chand Rahega Indira Tera Naam Rahega-1984 - sympathy wave after indira assignation Bari bari sabki bari -abki bari atal bihari -1996- first Bjp govt Jai jawan jai kisan jai Vignan -1998- ABV- 1999 clear mandate for BJP Congress ka haath -aam admi ke saath - 2004 -brought back congress rule India Shining - 2004- VN & Pramod Mahajan - turned as reverse missile (BJP shining India fading) and ABV lost power despite his clean image Compiled by BGR

FAMILY ENGAGEMENT - PRODUCTIVE AGRICULTURE Today I happened to be be in  my village Kollipara, Krishna Delta in Guntur dist known for its highly fertile soils with abundant water resources. My interactions with few farmers from Reddy community revealed that own farming is uneconomical and many of them are leasing out lands to farmers from SC and BC communities. It is interesting to note that for this new generation farmers ,agriculture is giving decent livelihood other than elevated social status I.e., agri labourer to cultivator. It is possible because of involvement of their entire family in agri operations, resulting in better productivity and operational efficiency. In upper class communities like Reddys, Kammas etc who are traditionally farmers, the entire womenfolk is almost out of agri operations and men seldom work. The over dependency on external labour resulting in lower productivity and inefficient operations resulting in lower  production. My interactions wi

IMPACT OF INDISCRIMINATE IMPORT OF AGRI. PRODUCTS In fact I mentioned about indiscriminate import of Agri produce and it's negative impact on our farmers in my recent blogs. Despite bumper production India food imports gone by 110 times in last three years. What is the need for such imports by reducing /zero import duty and making local markets unremunerative to local farmers, in turn farmers are getting into agitation mode? Whom are these unwarranted policies benefiting? Is the consumers benefited? I really doubt. As I know the influential links in the supply chain made tons and tons of notes. As it was given to understand GOI is seriously considering probing into the bofors issue again. In reality the dynamics involved in indiscriminate import of cereals, maize, pulses is creating doubt about the integrity of the system and looks to be on much larger scale than bofors. GOI under Sri Modi ji ,which is projected as clean govt has to look into the real dynamic

https://thewire.in/157527/india-agrarian-import-bill-2015-2016-farmers/ Requesting friends to read the above article. In fact I mentioned about indiscriminate import of Agri produce and it's negative impact on our farmers in my recent blogs. Despite bumper production india food imports gone by 110 times in last three years. What is the need for such imports by reducing /zero import duty and making local markets unremunerative to local farmers, in turn farmers are getting into agitation mode? Whom are these unwarranted policies benefiting? Is the consumers benefited? I really doubt. As I know the influential links in the supply chain made tons and tons of notes. As it was given to understand, GOI is seriously considering probing into the bofors issue again. In reality the dynamics involved in indiscriminate import of cereals, maize, pulses is creating doubt about the integrity of the system and looks to be on much larger scale than bofors. GOI under Sri Modi ji ,

FAMOUS QUOTE: “The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways.” » John F. Kennedy The situation reasonably changed in USA markets due to promotion of farmer markets and better bargaining capacity of USA farmers due to large holdings and capacity to hoard the stocks. This famous quote from then USA president is very much relevant to Indian agriculture where over 70% of the farmers sell the  produce soon after harvest. Any attempts to alter this quote will certainly bring positive changes in Indian agrarian systems and it is the need of the hour. An innovative thinking with farmer centrist approach is the essence and more and more brains with commitment have to come forward to secure the lives of our bread growers. Youth has a major role to play, utilise some of your IT skills, technology, networking for innovations, value addition in agriculture markets, rather than saturating IOT/APP st

Doubling farmers income by 2022 - vision Increase in fertiliser, pesticide, tractors , agri implements prices considerably with new GST. Even organic fertilisers are not spared. e NAM is being projected as big achievement, but in reality it is just functioning as data entry tool. Zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) is being projected as an alternative. Is there any scientific validation for improving yields through this method? Can we really scale it up? Unwanted import of food grain s and throwing them into gutters after price crash locally - present mission If this mission continue like this, forget about doubling farmer income, it may lead to doubling farmer debts. Please wake up and be sincere to farmers. BGR

HAR KADAM KISAN KI BAROSHA MEIN --COMPREHENSIVE SOLUTIONS FOR COMPLICATED INDIAN AGRICULTURE Introduction: India is gifted with rich soils, most suitable climatic conditions and water resources to produce variety of crops throughout the year. Being tropical country with different climatic zones we are in a position to grow variety of fruits round the year and Indian food and fruits taste better due its natural conditions. Due to these advantages, despite huge population, fragmented holdings, lower investments we are able to meet our requirements and by and large recognized as self sufficient country. Green revolution, white revolution, thrust on major irrigation dams soon after independence richly contributed for growth of Indian agriculture. Recent challenges: The impact of inappropriate minimum support prices, lack of timely credit facilities, storage facilities, failure of APMCs, globalization, technology, rising input costs, erratic prices, inconsistent govern