Over the past decade rising cost of groundnut crop production has been driving away farmers to other remunerative crops like horticulture, as a result of which the total area where the groundnut is sown has come down in Anantapur district, the largest producer of groundnut in the State.
If the total crop area in the district was 7.33 lakh hectares in 2011 with the cost of cultivation being ₹1,284.15 crore, it came down to 3.71 lakh hectares in 2019 when the cost of cultivation was ₹1,874 crore.
The cost of cultivation further rose to ₹2,913 crore last year, when the crop area was 4.8 lakh hectares, and the agriculture department estimated the total production at 2.18 lakh metric tonnes, according to Joint Director Agriculture Y. Ramakrishna. Yerragunta Ramireddy and Pullalarevu Chenna Reddy of Raminepalli in Rapthadu Mandal are two such farmers who gave up cultivating groundnut crop as now they have to buy seeds, engage labour at an average wage of ₹500 a day. On top of that, the ever-increasing need for using fertilizers and pesticides made the profits vanish.
“Earlier, we used to store our own seeds and sow them next year and were sure of the quality, but now we have to depend on private sellers or the ones offered by the government at subsidised rates. Apart from this, labour charges have increased considerably,” said Mr. Ramireddy, who owns with 30 acres of land. Mr. Ramireddy, who used to live in a joint family, did not have to hire many labourers earlier as his family members were all engaged in the work.
“But now, most of the children go to school or colleges and settle for jobs with none to take care of the agriculture. This has led to dependence on labourers and tractors, shunning the bullocks,” Mr. Chenna Reddy pointed out. The current cost of cultivation was over ₹25,000 per acre and the increasing rates of diesel and petrol have pushed up the cost of hiring tractors also. Both the farmers are now growing pomegranate.
Average net income
As per a study, the average net income per acre by farmers was the highest in Rajasthan ₹10,442, followed by Chhattisgarh at ₹9,925, Gujarat at ₹7,963 and Jharkhand at 5,663.
