Jowar farmers wait to receive arrears for over two months in Adilabad

Farmers in Adilabad are awaiting jowar procurement payments for over two months, with around Rs 10 crore still pending. They said the delay has affected their ability to buy inputs for cotton, paddy and maize and forced them to borrow at high interest rates

Adilabad: Farmers have been waiting for over two months for the arrears for jowar procured by the government during summer. They said they were struggling to meet expenses to grow various crops due to the delay in receiving payment for the grains.

Facing hardships, farmers sold jowar or sorghum produce to the government, which offered a minimum support price of Rs 3,699 per quintal from May to June. They claimed that they were yet to receive payment for the grains procured by the government through primary agriculture cooperative centres, Girijan Cooperative Corporation and other agencies.

---

The farmers experienced problems while selling the grains. For instance, they were compelled to wait in scorching heatwave conditions after their vehicles were not allowed to enter the market yard. Nugure Panduranga, a 48-year-old farmer, allegedly died by suicide after consuming pesticide as he was depressed after his damaged jowar produce was not loaded onto a vehicle at a market yard in Ponna village in June.

The hapless growers lamented that they were now encountering problems buying fertilisers and pesticides to raise cotton, paddy and maize crops. They regretted that they were forced to borrow loans from local traders at exorbitant rates of interest following the delay in paying the arrears. They disclosed that they were paying around Rs 30,000 towards interest if they had taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh.

Officials informed that 7.36 lakh quintals were procured through 26 centres. A major portion of the cost was already credited to the accounts of the farmers. However, arrears of around Rs 10 crore are still pending, apparently due to a fund crunch. Steps were being taken to pay the cost to the growers at the earliest.