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