Vidarbha farmers not pleased with FM's budget

STRIVE TO SURVIVE: Most cotton farmers of Vidarbha district are still struggling to pay their debts.

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Mumbai: Over the last 10 years, Maharashtra has had over 30,000 farmer suicides — however real figure may actually be more, which is the most for any state in the country. Although the FM's farm loan waiver should have come as a welcome relief, but the farmers of Vidarbha — which has the highest number of suicides, are not very happy with the FM's decision.

Namdeo Eknathji Kubde a cotton farmer in Aaspi village of Vidarbha district faced a bleak future until three days ago, as his 4 acre cotton farm looked like it would yield no more than Rs 3,000 worth of crops.

And with a Rs 21,000 rupee bank loan to repay, he would have had to face a lot of difficulties. Now however, its a new beginning and he cant believe his good fortune.

"Now that the loan has been waived, I'll take a new one," says Kubde.

But not everyone in this village is as fortunate as Kudbe as there are still many farmers who face debts.

Muralidhar Narayan Rao Bobde has a 9 acre farm, and a Rs 26,000 debt — he found himself above the 5 acre ceiling cut off. And just like Bobde there are no fresh beginnings for most farmers in Aaspi village, for example, Bhaskarji has an 11 acre farm and a Rs 24,000 debt.

Mhatreji has an 8 acre farm and Rs 16,000 debt, for Manoharji there is a 9 acre farm and Rs 20,000 debt. In fact, in Vidarbha over 70 per cent farmers have between 5 to 25 acres of land and just don't make the cut.

Bobde says, ''Farming on 5 acres of land is loss making and even if you have 10 acres, survival is still difficult"

With three consecutive years of minimal rainfall a large part of land is infertile and very dry, because of which yields are continuously falling.

Farmers in the largely cotton growing areas of Vidarbha, feel they would have been better served if the FM had announced a new irrigation system, or an alternative way out of this vicious debt and count cycle that they have now become trapped in.

The farmers say an alternative solution could have been if the govt waived off Rs 50,000 of every farmer's debt then most of Vidarbha's farmers would have now been debt free and ready for a fresh start.