Farmers' club in Guntur set to invigorate 'Rythu Mitra Sanghams'

In a novel effort to activate the 13,433 'Rythu Mitra Sanghams' in Guntur district, for the first time in the country, the district administration has opened a loan recovery club consisting of 11 farmer-members at Chiluvur village near here.

The club, called 'Mahatma Gandhi Recovery Youth Club' will persuade 100 assigned fellow farmers of the Rythu Mitra Sanghams "� the farmers' self-help groups (SHGs) "� in the village to repay bank loans on time, collect installments from them and remit the amounts to the banks.

Similar clubs "� the brainchild of joint collector B Janardhan Reddy "� will be inaugurated at other villages also in the coming days. This is expected to give a new meaning and impetus to the Rythu Mitra Sanghams, which otherwise have remained practically lifeless.

The sanghams, started a year ago as a pilot project by the state government to alleviate the conditions of the farmers and thereby erase the menace of farmers' suicides, have not yet grasped the basic objectives and benefits of the programme.

The officials, led by joint collector B Janardhana Reddy, extension agriculture director A Satyanarayana, lead bank manager S V Rasool, Nabard assistant general manager B M Pradeep Kumar, and agriculture joint director B J Y M Chaudary, have drawn up an ambitious programme to inculcate the culture of self-help among farmers.

Guntur district, with 13,433 Rythu Mitra Sanghams, stands first in a total of 2.1 lakh sanghams registered across the state.

The administration has already identified 1,200 sanghams in the 55 mandals of the district for implementing the state government's pilot project.

The district, also first in suicide deaths of farmers, has been selected along with Vizianagaram (coastal Andhra), Ananthapur and Cuddapah (Rayalaseema), Mahboobnagar and Nizamabad (Telangana) districts by the government for implementation of the pilot project with a new orientation.

The Rythu Mitra Sangham project intends to provide immediate crop loans in the first phase, long-term benefits like tractors, cattle, bore wells and horticulture projects in the second phase, and education, medical and consumption loans in the third phase.

Most of the suicide victims among farmers were found to be tenants. As the system of pattadar passbooks has come in the way of their getting any government or bank loan, the farmers are forced to approach private lenders.

The government, through the sanghams, is determined to help the hapless tenants without own lands. Now a tenant's declaration that he has taken a particular farmer's land on tenancy is enough to make him eligible for loans and he need not produce any certificate from officials or other evidences.

The district officials come across a number of ticklish problems while taking the pilot project to farmers. The thrift-linked sanghams were also conceptualised to provide latest farm technologies to small and marginal farmers and help them produce quality crops with higher yields and with reduced cost of production. The essence of the scheme is 'each farmer for all farmers and all farmers for each farmer'.

A sangham consists of 15 members, including five big farmers, others small and marginal farmers, and tenants without own lands. The government first sanctions Rs 2,000 for setting up infrastructure for the sangham.

The sangham members pay Rs 50 per month and pool up the amount to Rs 10,000. The government then releases Rs 90,000 matching grant for that sangham. The money should be disbursed among the needy farmers in the sangham. The big farmers and the small and marginal farmers, who have already availed themselves of the bank loans on the basis of passbooks, are not eligible for loans.

This is said to be weakest link in the scheme. These farmers are reluctant to stand guarantee and execute a bond for members who are eligible for sangham loans.

It is found that in most of the sanghams, the members distributed among themselves Rs 2,000 initial maintenance allowance sanctioned to them. The officials have been pointing out to the farmers that if they do not want to help one another, they couldn't expect bank managers (outsiders) to help them.

Loans will be given for wet crops up to 2.5 acres and dry crops up to five acres. If any farmer owns land over and above the stipulated acreage, he will not get loan for the extra land. If the group's requirement is Rs 50,000, the bank would sanction that amount only and not Rs 90,000. If the group's requirement is Rs 2 lakh, it will not be paid that amount, but is eligible only for Rs 90,000.

These are considered to be the other weak points in the scheme. The farmers argue that the loan dispensation will not serve their needs fully. The officials, on the other hand, tell them to make an earnest beginning, and they stand to benefit in a number of ways through Rythu Mitra Sanghams in the long run.

Meanwhile, around 240 branches of commercial banks, with Andhra Bank in the lead, have identified 24,000 farmers, who have not availed of any bank loans in their life, and advanced loans to them. In all, the banks have sanctioned Rs 75 crore to 39,000 farmers this season.

The banks have also hiked the loan amounts given to individual crops "� from Rs 7,500 to Rs 9,000 in case of paddy, from Rs 16,000 to Rs 20,000 for mirchi, and from Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000 for cotton.

Of the 3.5 lakh farm loans accounts recorded in the district, 2.2 lakh accounts are with 29 co-operative banks linked to the District Credit Co-operative Bank (DCCB). The DCCB, which has got entangled in the rules jungle, has failed to come to the rescue of farmers.

The remaining accounts were lying with the commercial banks. Of them, 50 per cent of farmers repaid loan amounts. The banks have rescheduled the remaining 75,000 old loans.