Effectiveness of the tenancy farmer schemes in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana

Abstract

To study the effectiveness of the tenancy farmer schemes in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Telangana and provide possible recommendations to improve the schemes. The analysis and the recommendations are aimed at improving the formal credit system and crop insurance opportunities for the tenancy farmers. The main motivation forthis study is that 80% of the farmer suicides are related to tenancy farming.(Live mint, n.d.) Tenant farmers don’t have access to formal credit they depend on local moneylenders to get their working capital. These moneylenders charge usurious interest rates, hence, if the yield is not good for two consecutive seasons, the tenant farmers are trapped into perpetual debt. The benefit of Zerointerest loans doesn’t reach them. They also don’t get crop compensation when there is any natural disaster, or input subsidy, or crop insurance. Even when they commit suicide, they are not recognized as farmers.(“Kisan Swaraj | Loan-eligibility-cards,” n.d.)