Expressing deep concern over the plight of the farming community in the State, former chief minister and TDP president, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, on Tuesday regretted that though the farmers are on the ventilator, there is no response from Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Talking to media persons at the TDP headquarters, Naidu said that the four-year rule of the YSRCP reflects how the farming sector is pushed into a serious crisis. Though the Kharif season started long ago, the State is still experiencing drought, he felt.
”Till now 27 percent less rainfall has been recorded in the State. Nellore district recorded the lowest rainfall of 42 per cent, while in Chittoor 36, Kadapa 48, Kurnool 28 and Anantapur 26 per cent rainfall has been recorded. East Godavari recorded 42 while West Godavari recorded 40 percent less rainfall till now,” Naidu said.
Naidu is of the opinion that Jagan has absolutely no understanding of agriculture and no affection towards the farming community. He said that the situation is really alarming as 3,000 farmers had resorted to suicide in the past four years.
Ganja farming is, however, on the rise in the State while other crops are totally damaged, Naidu said. Any farmer in any part of the State in the past four years can claim that he is doing better, the TDP supremo asked.
”I strived hard to transform Rayala Seema as horticulture hub and Coastal districts as aqua hub. During the TDP regime steps were initiated to increase the extent of commercial crop farming,” Naidu recalled. But in the YSRCP rule only ganja is being cultivated without any hindrance, he stated.
The State is in second position in tenant farmers suicides while in the farmers suicides it stood in the third position in the country which is really an alarming situation, Naidu said. Jagan is a master in submitting wrong statistics, he said and expressed apprehensions about what will be the future of the farmers in the State.
The less said the better about the chilli farmers as the standing crop got damaged in four lakh acres, Naidu said. Worse than this is that the Chief Minister has shut down the Agriculture Department and there is no such wing now, he added. Groundnut is the major crop in Anantapur district and surrounding areas and this year the extent of this crop has come down by seven lakh acres, he noted.
